What's the best place to learn how to sail?

[Zombie 284]

I've been wanting to learn how to sail for a while and reading the boat threads on here has ratcheted that up. Any advice on the best place to learn to sail assuming a modest budget. There's an outfit in the British Virgin Islands that appears to have a good reputation that does week long onboard living sailing courses for beginners that gets you the ASA 101 & 103 certifications for $2,500. Their site said the itinerary would likely include Tortola (including Cane Garden Bay), Cooper Island, Virgin Gorda and Jost van Dyke.

It looks like a good way to get a hands on realistic view of sailing and should give a better idea if this is a hobby that I would enjoy. I've never been to the BVI, but from what I've read it looks like a nice area to sail minus some hurricane damage on some of the islands. I'm open to other parts of the Caribbean, U.S., Mexico, etc... Any thoughts?

[Guest]

On the water.

[LebongJames 1,791]

If you live in Austin you may want to try and learn on Lake Travis before heading down to the BVI. 

 

https://www.outboundsailing.com/sailing-lessons/

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

On the water in a sailboat you idiot. Next question.....

[DefinitelyNotHollywoodColt 12,301]

[RDCanecutter 26,377]

Can't remember the brand, but when I was a kid I learned to tack on a lake in something that was a glorified square-sterned canoe with a sail. Similar but not same to this:

[Thetexashammer 1,062]

 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

Get a sunfish, and hit your local lake on a windy day.

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

On 11/10/2018 at 8:39 AM, LebongJames said:

If you live in Austin you may want to try and learn on Lake Travis before heading down to the BVI. 

 

https://www.outboundsailing.com/sailing-lessons/

Definitely agree. 

Another option  http://www.texassailing.com/sailing-lessons-1/

 

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

On 11/10/2018 at 1:12 PM, Onboard 2.0 said:

Get a sunfish, and hit your local lake on a windy day.

If you can get access to an Opti, that's what all the sailing schools tend to use.  Easy boat to learn on.

My kids learned on Optis and Lasers in a 2-week summer day camp at Ray Hubbard's Rush Creek Yacht Club.  They can sail a one-person boat with ease now.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

6 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

If you can get access to an Opti, that's what all the sailing schools tend to use.  Easy boat to learn on.

My kids learned on Optis and Lasers in a 2-week summer day camp at Ray Hubbard's Rush Creek Yacht Club.  They can sail a one-person boat with ease now.

Probably similar to a sunfish ?  Or are they an actual hulled boat. I learned to sail on the Cheasapeake bay on a Sun fish.  You learn pretty quickly what makes you go and what stalls you out.  Nothing teaches you quicker to get it right than being surrounded by hundreds of stingrays as you wade to shore hauling your skiff behind you.

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

Opti:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)

Sunfish is much harder to learn because it reacts more.  It's closer to (but I think a bit harder than) a Laser, which would be the next step up.  Laser:

 

Oh, and it's a bit easier to learn the basics on a lake than the ocean unless you're in a really protected bay or cove.  Wind can do weird stuff in open water.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

8 minutes ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Opti:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)

Sunfish is much harder to learn because it reacts more.  It's closer to (but I think a bit harder than) a Laser, which would be the next step up.  Laser:

 

Oh, and it's a bit easier to learn the basics on a lake than the ocean unless you're in a really protected bay or cove.  Wind can do weird stuff in open water.

Gotcha.  The quick reaction does make it nice when you're in the correct position. You're rewarded with speed and movement, hopefully in the intended direction.  

Had a buddy whose family owned a gaff rigged Boston whaling boat. 26' double ended, wood hull, canvas sheets, drew about 2' of water.  

No wheel just a tiller.  It was so well balanced, you could set the sails, and course and not even touch the tiller, and it would track without a degree of movement off the compass.  So much fun to sail that little boat as a kid.  It was a great boat to graduate to from the little single sailed Sunfish.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Onboard 2.0

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

I had a Catalina 20 that was like that.  I fucked up and traded it up to a Catalina 25 with a galley, head, and full cabin -which was great for parties and sleeping and all that show-off shit, but it turned like a battleship and ended up running on the outboard a lot just to make way.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

1 minute ago, Liquor and Poker said:

I had a Catalina 20 that was like that.  I fucked up and traded it up to a Catalina 25 with a galley, head, and full cabin -which was great for parties and sleeping and all that show-off shit, but it turned like a battleship and ended up running on the outboard a lot just to make way.

Yeah this had a cabin, which was basically a V berth space below the deck. Very sleek, Low profile boat. Made the cover of Wooden Boat way back when.  My dad had a Catalina.  Very popular boat.

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

The 20 had a cabin too - just not a full-blown small apartment.  Slept 2 if they liked each other, which was real nice out on Travis late at night.

Was it a Harpoon or did it predate those? Those are nice boats.  

[HornsOverIthaca 2,333]

I’m down for this:

[bernorange 8,359]

tl;dr csb warning

My father has always loved sailing (as a hobby/fun).  He even built several sailboats (eventually selling them) over the years.  I grew up getting to go sailing a few times a year with him.  I can't really say I learned a whole lot about sailing during that time because I was a kid and I was just enjoying the moments on the boat instead of trying to learn anything.

One year while attending college, I went home for Spring Break.  I didn't have funds to go party in Mexico or Padre or whatever.  Another old high school friend of mine was also home that week from the college he was attending.  He called me up and suggested we go rent a sailboat and sail around the local lake.  OK.  Let's do it.

It's a pretty windy on the day we head to the sailboat rental place.  The place looks like a little wood cabin built 2-3 stories above the docks right on the lake.  Rental counter guy has paperwork for us to fill out and asks if either of us know what we're doing - if we've sailed before.  My friend points at me and says, "he does".  So, I'm filling out these forms taking on all the liability / financial responsibility for the boat we are about to rent and I'm not totally comfortable with it, but fuck it, we're going sailing.

So, we rent a small Hobie cat.  It's basically a tarp stretched over two pontoons with a sail.  There are no storage compartments so we put our valuables (car keys, wallets, etc.) in a plastic grocery bag and tie it up.  We head out on the lake and golly that wind is blowing.  The wind is blowing so hard that heading ~southbound across the lake, we fly with one pontoon out of the water and cross the lake in roughly 60 seconds.  Heading back the other way we have to tack a bunch so it takes a while.

We've crossed the lake a few times and we're having a blast.  We start heading southbound again and the wind dies down a tad.  We're still moving, but with both pontoons in the water.  My friend doesn't like this, so he grabs the rigging and leans out over the water hoping his weight will help pull that one pontoon out of the water.  And it does.  And then the wind gusts up again and the boat flips.  We fall in the water.  The top of the mast is in the water and the boat is laying on its side with one pontoon up in the sky.  We are almost dead set in the middle of the lake.  Fuck me.

So, we crawl onto the one pontoon, grab the riggings and secure a rope over the top of the pontoon in the air.  We lean out and pull with all our weight to try and lift the mast out of the water and right the boat.  No dice.  The sail is in the water at this point and we can't generate enough force to pull it out.  Luckily, a dude in a motorboat drives over and asks if we need help.  So we hand him the rope and he secures it to his boat and motors out to get the line taut.  When it's taut, he guns the motor and yeah, the mast/sail slowly rise out of the water.  And when the sail clears the water, the force from the motor boat is so strong that it pulls the boat upright and all the way over onto the other side.  My friend and I were standing on the pontoon and are once again in the water.  Motor boat samaritan drives around to the other side, we climb back up on the pontoon and we try again.  Once again, we get the same result.  Sail exits water, boat gets righted and then continues until it flips on the other side.

One more time.  This time, motor boat samaritan loosens the rope from his boat.  He holds it and plans to release it when momentum rights our Hobie cat.  He guns the motor and once again the sail exits the water and the boat gets righted.  We, again, fall in the water as the pontoon we are standing on goes perpendicular. Motor boat samaritan released the rope and the boat rocks and bounces, but does not flip over again.  But as the boat is rocking, the bag with our valuables comes loose and falls in the water.  Somehow, it landed in the water right next to my friend and he manages to grab it before it sinks.  He didn't have much time to think about it though because as soon as the boat stabilized, the sail caught the wind and the cat takes off like a cannonball shot from a cannon.  We both managed to reach up and grab an edge of the metal railing that secures the tarp and we're being dragged across the lake.  We manage to climb back on the boat and turn it before running aground on the south side of the lake.

We make it back to the sailboat rental place and dock the boat.  The rental counter guy is busting a gut laughing at us.  He apologized for not coming out to help us but he was the only employee there at the time and he couldn't leave the shop.  He did enjoy watching us flounder around though. 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

1 minute ago, Liquor and Poker said:

The 20 had a cabin too - just not a full-blown small apartment.  Slept 2 if they liked each other, which was real nice out on Travis late at night.

Was it a Harpoon or did it predate those? Those are nice boats.  

I don't remember I was still in Jr. High when he had it, so mid to late 70's.

[Hamttx 419]

Bushwood country club. Tell em Ham sent you. And grab a hat in the pro shop. It’ll look good on you.

[G650 14,229]

On 11/10/2018 at 9:17 AM, Zombie said:

I've been wanting to learn how to sail for a while and reading the boat threads on here has ratcheted that up. Any advice on the best place to learn to sail assuming a modest budget. There's an outfit in the British Virgin Islands that appears to have a good reputation that does week long onboard living sailing courses for beginners that gets you the ASA 101 & 103 certifications for $2,500. Their site said the itinerary would likely include Tortola (including Cane Garden Bay), Cooper Island, Virgin Gorda and Jost van Dyke.

It looks like a good way to get a hands on realistic view of sailing and should give a better idea if this is a hobby that I would enjoy. I've never been to the BVI, but from what I've read it looks like a nice area to sail minus some hurricane damage on some of the islands. I'm open to other parts of the Caribbean, U.S., Mexico, etc... Any thoughts?

Go sail a dinghy or small keelboat before attempting to do anything on a big boat. Any sailing program will do, most YC's have adult classes as well. Something like a Sonar is a great learning tool.

[El Diablo 4,232]

Fort Worth Boat Club has a clubhouse at Eagle Mountain Lake. Good people there, they race J22's if you're interested in that aspect of the hobby.

[NWBuck 8,551]

There's a guy named Christopher Cross who seems to know quite a bit- maybe he gives lessons?

[CleverNickname 1,308]

13 hours ago, NWBuck said:

There's a guy named Christopher Cross who seems to know quite a bit- maybe he gives lessons?

Well, he does live in Austin. I imagine he gets out on the lake once in a while. 

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

23 hours ago, Liquor and Poker said:

Opti:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)

Sunfish is much harder to learn because it reacts more.  It's closer to (but I think a bit harder than) a Laser, which would be the next step up.  Laser:

Oh, and it's a bit easier to learn the basics on a lake than the ocean unless you're in a really protected bay or cove.  Wind can do weird stuff in open water.

An adult will have a bad time trying to sail/fit in an opti.

Sunfish is much easier to sail than a Laser for a beginner. By orders of magnitude. The Laser is very easy to flip while the sunfish chines make it a much more stable boat.

Yes, try to learn on flat water in 5-10 knot wind imo. Stay away from currents and big chop until you at least know the basics.

[G650 14,229]

1 hour ago, HOOKEM4 said:

An adult will have a bad time trying to sail/fit in an opti.

Sunfish is much easier to sail than a Laser for a beginner. By orders of magnitude. The Laser is very easy to flip while the sunfish chines make it a much more stable boat.

Yes, try to learn on flat water in 5-10 knot wind imo. Stay away from currents and big chop until you at least know the basics.

 

My first boat at 7 years old (and 55 lbs soaking wet) was a Laser. Full rig too, none of that radial bullshit.

It's no wonder I'm fucked up.

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

Lmao. I had an opti I raced around the US till I was 15 I think. Then transitioned to laser. My first boat I bought making $10/week payments to the rents at around 8 years old was a sunfish. The freedom it brought was awesome. It made all the chores I had to do for that money worth it.

[Sbbruin 21,825]

Just buy the most expensive boat you can afford.  Finance the shit out of it over a really long period of time.  Spend every penny you have acquiring it, because that's all you'll need.  They pretty much take care of themselves once you've purchased it.  Then just take it out and figure it out on the fly.

[davidg 4,036]

I was a sophomore in high school and wanted a wind surfer but we ended up with a Holder 12 monohull by Hobie cat.  I sailed the shit out of that thing, break the mast and tearing the sail on two different occasions.  In a good wind, you could get it up on plane and hang ass out over the side.   A buddy in school ended up with a Hobie 18 senior year and that consumed most of our sailing time after that.

 

Op hasn't came back to thread but if he is in the Houston area, there are 3 or 4 sailing schools in the Clear Lake/Galveston area.

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

12 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Just buy the most expensive boat you can afford.  Finance the shit out of it over a really long period of time.  Spend every penny you have acquiring it, because that's all you'll need.  They pretty much take care of themselves once you've purchased it.  Then just take it out and figure it out on the fly.

Yep, the two happiest days of your boating life - just go get the first one out of the way.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

18 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Just buy the most expensive ALL WOOD AND CANVAS SHEETED boat you can afford.  Finance the shit out of it over a really long period of time.  Spend every penny you have acquiring it, because that's all you'll need.  They pretty much take care of themselves once you've purchased it.  Then just take it out and figure it out on the fly.

Anything worth doing compulsively is worth doing this way.

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

5 hours ago, HOOKEM4 said:

An adult will have a bad time trying to sail/fit in an opti.

Sunfish is much easier to sail than a Laser for a beginner. By orders of magnitude. The Laser is very easy to flip while the sunfish chines make it a much more stable boat.

Yes, try to learn on flat water in 5-10 knot wind imo. Stay away from currents and big chop until you at least know the basics.

An Opti is built to hold a pair of 12-13 year olds, so it's probably fine unless you're a big guy.  I can sail an Opti and I am 5'11" 210.  It's not going to win any races, but that's kind of the point if you're learning.  It's not going to react super quick.

On the Sunfish vs. Laser thing.  I personally think Sunfishes are hard boats for what they are - mainly because the upper spar flexes and bends, spilling wind.  It makes them hard to tack.  A little wind at your back and they just go, but start to try to change course and the boat fights and then dies.

If you can windsurf, you can run a Laser - it's almost the exact same thing.  If all else fails, grab the boom and go.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Liquor and Poker

[davidg 4,036]

Just now, Onboard 2.0 said:

Anything worth doing compulsively is worth doing this way.

If you going to be conpulsive about a wood boat, you might as well get some hand planes and chisels and just make one from scratch.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

Just now, Liquor and Poker said:

I disagree on the Sunfish vs. Laser thing.  I personally think Sunfishes are hard boats for what they are - mainly because the upper spar flexes and bends, spilling wind.  It makes them hard to tack.  A little wind at your back and they just go, but start to try to change course and the boat fights and then dies.

If you can windsurf, you can run a Laser - it's almost the exact same thing.  If all else fails, grab the boom and go.

The quick repsonse was what I enjoyed about the Sunfish.  You're rewarded for dong the right thing whether you know what you're doing or not.  One of the hardest things I ever tried to do was windsurf. And I've learned how to hang glide, and played golf... a coupe times.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

2 minutes ago, davidg said:

If you going to be conpulsive about a wood boat, you might as well get some hand planes and chisels and just make one from scratch.

That sounds like a dare ........

[Liquor and Poker 3,659]

Just now, Onboard 2.0 said:

That sounds like a dare ........

 

3 minutes ago, davidg said:

If you going to be conpulsive about a wood boat, you might as well get some hand planes and chisels and just make one from scratch.

Make sure to get two of every animal.

[davidg 4,036]

I have at least 6 different handplanes and both Gougen Brothers and Devlin's boat  builidng books to name a few.  Hi, my name is DavidG and I have epoxy in my hair.

[G650 14,229]

Woe be it to any newbie trying to learn to gybe a Laser in breeze.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

2 hours ago, davidg said:

I have at least 6 different handplanes and both Gougen Brothers and Devlin's boat  builidng books to name a few.  Hi, my name is DavidG and I have epoxy in my hair.

There's a Maritime historical foundation in. Va. Every year they build a beautiful 15' wood hulled, outboard equipped boat, classic lines.  Gorgeous lines, they raffle it off at an annual oyster festival in Urbanna, Va.  I'm thinking about building one of those.

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

15 hours ago, G650 said:

Woe be it to any newbie trying to learn to gybe a Laser in breeze.

Throwing someone with zero knowledge or experience on a Laser as their first introduction to sailing just seems like you want them to never sail again.  Hell, they may not even make it away from the dock before flipping it. 

[SimonBolivar 10,957]

On 11/10/2018 at 1:12 PM, Onboard 2.0 said:

Get a sunfish, and hit your local lake on a windy day.

This is what we used at Baylor for sailing class. Fun little boats, but we were required to flip them so we could prove we could recover and that's not fun in the Brazos in November.

 

And no a sunfish isn't big enough to rape someone in

[Viking 301]

What do you want to do?

If you want to charter big boats in the Carib with friends, then doing the ASA courses (up to bareboat cruising) will get you there.

If you want to sail around the lake then take ASA 101 and buy a small boat or join a club.

The ASA courses are good but nothing is better than time on the water.

[Sbbruin 21,825]

^^Listen to this man.  He clearly comes from a long lineage of sailors.

 

[High Plains Drifter 11,024]

Wife's boss took us out on his big ass sail boat a few times. We lived at the time near Port Isabel in S. Texas. Fun, but it was a lot of fucking work tacking against the wind going out of the ship channel. If we had gone out more, and I had stayed less drunk and paid more attention to what he was telling me, I might have learned a little something.

[El Diablo 4,232]

On ‎11‎/‎14‎/‎2018 at 1:16 PM, Sbbruin said:

^^Listen to this man.  He clearly comes from a long lineage of sailors.

 

I come from a long line of seamen.

[dcbc 14,464]

Grab a Sunfish or one of the many knockoffs from the late 70s/early 80s.  We grabbed one of the knockoffs (Lockly-Newport Panther) for about $500 with a trailer held together by rust.  Bought a new sail for about $135 on ebay, some varnish for the dagger board and rudder, and some top coat paint.  We've had a lot of fun on the lake with it.  Youtube is your friend for how to rig it.  Shallow in the picture, so rudder is up.

 

 

 

 

[RDCanecutter 26,377]

On 11/13/2018 at 10:36 AM, CleverNickname said:

Well, he does live in Austin. I imagine he gets out on the lake once in a while. 

So, he never made it to the border of Mexico?

[CoTex 1,160]

On 11/13/2018 at 12:54 PM, G650 said:

 

My first boat at 7 years old (and 55 lbs soaking wet) was a Laser. Full rig too, none of that radial bullshit.

It's no wonder I'm fucked up.

Why not call the radial the laser - girl’s edition?  No self respecting male would sail one.

[Jack Handey 57]

The canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see.

[Gladeite 375]

On 11/18/2018 at 4:22 PM, RDCanecutter said:

So, he never made it to the border of Mexico?

He lived on Niles Road in Old Enfield in the 90's.  I think he lives on Barton Springs Road now.