Why Sailing Lessons Are Worth It

Why Sailing Lessons Are Worth It…

          I started sailing when my younger brother and I bought a sixteen foot long, wooden construction, Comet class sloop in about 1962.  Neither one of us knew anything about sailing… but we were convinced that it looked like fun.  I think we’d seen maybe two sailboats in our whole lives … except for the sailing ship in Walt Disney’s film “Treasure Island”.  We bought the Comet and loaded it in the back of my 1952 Chevy half-ton flat-bed pickup truck and took it home to our folk’s home.  We unloaded the boat onto three bales of straw and proceeded to try to figure out where everything went.  After nearly two weeks of trial-and-error, Bob and I had pretty well figured out where all the ropes, cables, pulleys, and other paraphernalia went.  We still weren’t sure how to sail… but on a Friday evening we loaded the Comet back into the pickup and drove two hours to Priest Lake and launched the boat at a ramp about two-and-a-half miles from our folks summer home.  There wasn’t much wind… only a slight (very slight) land breeze.  It took us till after midnight to reach our folks place.

          At that time, I had never seen a non-fiction sailing book that explained anything about sailboats or sailing them.  Oh yes, I’d tried to read Hornblower with all the buntlines, clewlines, t’galln’t sails and so forth…Which did nothing to help us learn anything about actually sailing the Comet.  We taught ourselves how to sail… again by trial-and-error… quite a bit of error…… We quickly learned quite a lot about running backstays.  By the fall of 1962, we could usually get the boat to go where we wanted – AND get back to the folks place.  We knew that flapping sails (luffing) didn’t move the boat very well.  We also found out that we needed to zig-zag the boat (tacking) to arrive successfully at an upwind destination.  The mainsail didn’t have reef points (we didn’t know what that word meant); so, we had several adventures when the breeze piped up and the boat was overpowered.

          Toward the end of summer 1963 I was in a bookstore and saw the first actual “how to sail” book I’d ever seen.  It was “Sailing” by Peter Heaton.  Bob and I devoured it… then devoured it again.  Finally there was actual expert information about how to sail a boat… never-mind that most of the boats featured in the book were twenty-five to thirty-five foot long British cruising sailboats.  With that book, we were able to finally figure out things that previously we had no clew about.  There were some language problems though…  We read that in a small sailboat something called a nylon hiking strap might be helpful to keep the boat from capsizing.  There were no illustrations of these hiking straps – only a description of a two-inch wide nylon strap (about ten feet long) secured to the boat.  So we bought two lengths of nylon strap, sewed a loop into one end and secured a snap hook there.  When the wind piped up, we’d hook the strap to the shroud chainplates and lean back holding onto the strap for dear life.  It was years later that we found out that the hiking straps were for looping your feet under so-as to hike out more efficiently.

          It is a wonder that we didn’t give up on sailing for all the mistakes we made.

          Take it from me… trying to teach yourself to sail is doing it the hard way.  Especially now when there are so many good places to have an expert teach you the best, safest way.  Learning little things like the fact that most sailboats have two sails – a mainsail and a jib sail – and that it’s probably not the best idea when the wind increases above the velocity that you feel comfortable with to take down (douse) one or the other; and sail with only one sail up… is important.  Why not try sailing in stronger breezes with only one sail up?  The sail plan is designed to be in balance with both sails.  If you take the jib sail down, the main sail will act like the feather on a wind vane; and continually try to swing the boat so that the bow points right at the wind’s eye.  If you take the mainsail down, the reverse happens… the jib sail pulls the bow continuously downwind.  Either situation makes controlling the boat's course more difficult.  What should you do when the wind pipes up?  Reef the mainsail; change the jib sail down to a smaller jib; or both.  Of course, doing either of these choices may not be intuitive… dangerous mistakes might occur… so, often a novice sailor will simply take down both sails all the way and start the engine to motor home.  For my money, I’d rather keep on sailing.  Besides, sailing in stronger breezes with a reefed main and/or a smaller jib is just as easy and as much fun as sailing in lighter breezes with “full up” sails.

          Why not get a good sailing book or video and teach yourself to sail like I did?  Well, some folks can easily and successfully do this.  But many novice sailors may be intimidated by all the “lingo”; most of the pictures may not make any sense since you’re not actually on the water; and there’s no one there to explain and answer questions.

          What if you’ve already bought a sailboat?  Learning to sail on the boats provided by the sailing school will be easily transferred to your own boat.  How sails are trimmed to get the boat to move is pretty much the same on all modern sailboats.  So, enrolling in a class will work perfectly well for anyone who has already bought their sailboat.

          What is the difference between class lessons and private lessons?  First of all, there is probably going to be a price difference… with private lessons costing more than enrolling in a class.  Of course, if you hire an instructor for a private lesson, you might want to use your own boat and have as part of the lesson having the instructor “go over” your boat and suggest changes that could/should be made.  One consideration for the private vs. class decision is your time frame to learn how to sail.  I have found over the years that students learn more in a three-hour private lesson than they often do in ten or twelve hours in a class.  The one-on-one nature of private lessons is the reason.  Another good reason for a private lesson is that you might already have some sailing knowledge/skill and would like to start where you are, rather than go back to the beginning with the rest of the students.

If you are buying your first sailboat, why the guy selling you the boat isn’t probably the best teacher:  One obvious reason is that he may be selling the boat because he never learned how to sail it in the first place.  The seller might not really know much more than you do… now that’s a scary thought…  Another reason might be because the seller isn’t interested in that boat anymore.  Your “lesson” might be short ‘n sweet; with little to no actual learning going on.  The seller might know how to sail but doesn’t know how to teach sailing… another scary thought.  You might be hearing and observing poorer ways to get the boat to sail.  When you ask about reefing the mainsail… the seller says that “this boat is so stable, I’ve never had to reef.”  Balderdash!!!  What the seller has really just said is, “I really don’t know how to reef… so, never did.  I always just took the sails down when it got windy and motored back to the marina.”

The seller might not want to spend much time with you after the sale has been made because there is some defect in the boat that he doesn’t want to be around when you find it.  So, your “lesson” – again – will probably be a short one.  Or, the seller might be feeling really bad about having to sell the boat.  There might be a marital situation or a health situation that requires the boat sale.  This might be the worst day of the seller’s life.  You probably won’t get a great lesson.  And, of course, there’s the great possibility that the seller has already purchased his “new” sailboat; and really wants to be on it and having all the fun of that boat.

A series of classes or private lessons are probably much better at assuring you that your new boat will be enjoyable.  The instructor is not side-tracked and can focus on the class and student learning.

          Many sailors say that they really started to learn to sail when they started to race – either on their sailboat or as crew on someone else’s boat.  However, just the thought of racing – of getting out there with all those other boats so close together – of possibly embarrassing yourself – of possibly running into another boat – is terrifying.  Racing, though, is a very efficient way to learn sailing.  All the boats have to sail a specified course.  The boats are relatively close together, so a novice sailor can observe more proficient sailors and how they handle their boats and sails.  Observation leads to imitation… and perhaps learning better boat/sail handling skills.

Some yacht (sailing) clubs offer - for a small fee above the race entry fee -  programs in which experienced racers will crew with novice sailors in three of four races to help accelerate the learning curve.  This is a great way for novice sailors to start racing, learn huge amounts about sailing, and accelerate their learning and boat handling skills.  The experienced racers – while generally not instructors in the strictest sense – can show skills and techniques to the novice sailors.  It is usually lots of fun.

Talking to most experienced sailors (instructors and students alike), they agree that you will learn more in a couple three hour (on-the-water) private lessons than you will in ten or twelve hours of group/class lessons.  The instructor is able to concentrate on you and your boat (if you’ve already bought one).  One tip, before signing up for (paying for) private lessons, check out the qualifications of the instructor.  How many years has the instructor been sailing – what types of boats?  How many years has the instructor been teaching sailing?  Does the instructor have any references or testimonials from former students?

There is always more to learn.  In nearly fifty years of sailing, sailboat racing, and teaching sailing…… I’m still learning and finding out new things about boats and how they use the wind to go from one place to another.  Barnacle Bill Holcomb