Learn theRopes

Why do you sail?

It is a question that has many answers depending on whom you ask. Adventure, trying something new, tried it on an activity holiday, my friends
sailed, my family sailed, adrenalin rush, I needed to switch off from work or I read about a famous sailor and thought “that’s for me”.

Whatever the reasons we start or
want to start, getting into sailing is sometimes not as simple as we had hoped.
For a start we all speak a different language – transom? bow? why can’t we just call it the front and back! So many clubs and so many different courses, as well as different boat options - dinghies, keelboats, cruisers - let alone, whether to start in the UK or overseas! SailRacer’s Rob Andrews decided it was time to de-mystify getting started with our simple guide to schools, clubs, classes and much much more.
Where to start
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is the governing body for sailing in the UK, so their teaching scheme is an ideal place to start.
They have developed sailing instruction over many years and are recognised as world leaders in this field.

Their courses not only teach beginners to sail, but they also design courses to allow you to improve and certain
courses that train instructors to teach the
beginners. The complete package, from
starting sailing to running your own school.
The schools are registered and inspected by the RYA to make sure that you will be taught in the correct way to the
RYA system. Look out for the RYA tick symbol, which designates an official RYA Training Centre. Here you will find
RYA-trained instructors, teaching with set ratios of students- to-staff, the correct safety equipment, and suitable boats and teaching rooms.
These training centres can be found all over the UK and many schools have also been accredited overseas, all teaching to one approved system. This allows you to move from one
location to another and always guarantee standards, as well as consistency in teaching.

Some of the centres are attached to sailing clubs, while others are standalone commercial organisations.

get into sailing
Seamanship
Skills
Day
Sailing
Sailing with
Spinnakers
Level 2
Level 1
Start
Racing Sailing
Performance
The RYA National Sailing Scheme
Level 1
All the courses can be completed in just two
days, in dinghies, catarmarans or keelboats.
For starting out, most people choose the
dinghy option on a Level 1 course. This may be a specific two day course or, for many, form part of an introduction to sailing on one of the many watersport holidays that are now offered
in the UK and abroad.
Even on this course, we may have a choice between sailing on our own, or in a larger teaching boat with an instructor
and one or two other pupils.

On your own, you steer ALL the time; with the instructor option, you do less steering, but probably in a more controlled fashion. If you lack a little water confidence, then always go for the instructor option.
Eventually, you will end up in charge of your own boat and the teaching method and speed of learning will be reflected in
the route that you have chosen.
By the end of the course, you will have had a basic understanding of many aspects, including boat handling and
background knowledge, and you will be able to sail around a small triangular course.

Where to next?
Probably the Level 2 course, as this will
consolidate all that you learnt on the first
course, as well as introducing some new key skills. By the time you have completed this course you are probably in a position to decide if you want to take the sport more seriously.
Sailing may be changing for you, from an occasional recreational pastime to a more regular hobby.

You may be thinking about getting your own equipment, and it is at this stage that you are faced with a number of choices. Personal equipment is key at this point, falling into the following areas:
• Buoyancy aid;
• Wetsuit or dry suit;
• Footwear.
The cheapest route is the wetsuit, plus your own buoyancy
aid and footwear.

By careful shopping, this does not need to cost more than £200 with kit bag and will set you up for
many years. Alternatively, you can pay as much as £500 for a dry suit, and you should certainly budget to pay from £200 upwards, noting that to make it work correctly the thin thermal layer worn below is key.
Now that you have your own sailing kit, you can carry on renting boats (‘Pay and Play’ style schemes) at the local
sailing school, continue to take lessons or join the local club.
Do not think about buying a boat at this stage, as you will need to make sure that you are definitely committed to the
sport and will also need to see what types (classes) of boat they have at your local club.
Most clubs have numerous people needing regular or occasional crew, and this offers a good opportunity to get
some more experience, to get to know people at the club, and to get a better feel for what type of boat you might want to buy for yourself. Not that you necessarily ever need to buy a boat – once you have developed your skills, gained a decent amount of experience, and got to know other club members, you are likely to find yourself in great demand.

For a list of local clubs, again visit the RYA web site or simply ask the instructors on your course.

Joining a club
Clubs provide varying levels of facilities, so make sure that you join the correct club to suit your needs.

With just over a thousand clubs in the UK, there is plenty of choice. The first
option that you face is between a coastal or inland (lake/reservoir/river) venue. Some of this may be a simple case of geography, but remember that at the sea clubs, you will also need to deal with tides and waves (perhaps time to go on the RYA Seamanship or Day
Sailing course at a coastal venue).
The next thing to consider is whether you want to race.
Racing still forms the backbone of many clubs within the UK, so decide if you are interested in this aspect, as this may bias
your club decision. If you are interested, and thinking of buying your own boat, then you will want to look at the
classes of boat raced. Far better to look at purchasing a boat to race with others in class racing, than sail around on your own in the handicap fleet.
One thing to be aware of is that many clubs are run totally by volunteers, so may limit their opening times to the main sailing periods.

Many clubs these days have a website, (See Club Directory) so it’s a good idea to check that out first of all, to get some
preliminary information and find out when would be a good time to visit the club. If you have no success via that route, then it is usually best to visit on a Sunday, as this is the main
sailing day for most clubs (though check out when high tide is for clubs likely to have their sailing restricted to a few hours either side of high tide).
As well as sailing, many clubs have a bar and a lively social programme, so it is a good way to make new friends. The
cost of joining a club can be very low, although fees vary considerably, depending on factors like location (some clubs have to pay rent to water companies), size, facilities etc.
Membership can range from well below £50 to over £200 a year.

Boat berthing fees will usually be levied on top of this for people who wish to keep boats at the club, and some clubs
have a joining fee for the first year.

Buying a boat
If you do decide to buy a boat, make sure that you are clear which features are important. If you are ever not sure, simply carry on crewing until you are experienced enough to decide.
You should consider features such as: is it good to race, or cruise, according to your interests? how many people will it carry? is it light enough to move and launch? can I sell it easily if I want to change?

To get an idea of prices, look at the boats for sale section

You can pick up a reasonable secondhand dinghy for as little as a few hundred pounds or spend quite a few
thousand on a new, or relatively new, boat.

For larger keelboats and yachts, there is almost no limit on what you can spend.
This boat buying decision is quite complicated as it relies heavily on your specific personal circumstances and needs, and the options that are available locally.

If you ever make a
mistake in purchasing the correct craft, then the likely outcome is that you probably don’t sail. Too fast and
scary…no sailing; too heavy to launch on your own……no sailing. I think that you understand what I mean, so ask
advice at the local club once YOU have decided what is important to you. If after all this thinking, you are still unsure,
then the ‘pay and play’ market will hopefully expand in the future and the crewing option at the local club is a good one.

Youth options
Joining a club and deciding which boat to sail could not be easier if you are a youngster and
want to get into racing.
Look for the RYA/Volvo Champion Clubs, which now number about one hundred in the UK. They have training and coaching for youngsters and have great facilities for the under 19s, as well as supporting certain junior/youth classes.

To learn more about these classes, again try the RYA web site or purchase the specific handbooks. Classes are limited, aimed specifically at those who want to race, and give you clear guidelines about ages and suitable weights. However, the
scheme still has regional variations so check this out at your local club.

If you are not the racing type, or you are not bothered about getting into the specific RYA youth training
schemes, then simply check out the youth sections at your local club and make sure that they cater for the type of sailing you want to do.

SailSEVEN Steps to Sailing
CHECK
LEVEL Start at 1 and then onto 2
CLUB
KIT
important to you
Racer’s
Try it At a club, in a training centre or on a watersports holiday
That you are learning in an approved centre
(look for the RYA Tick!)
Check out your local club
YOUTH Find a RYA/Volvo champion club if you want to race
Sort out your own kit if you are going to sail regularly BOAT There are many choices, so make your decision wisely;
take your time and work out the things that are
Starting again
If you are coming back to sailing after a break, then you may find that it has all moved on in the last ten years. Sailing clothing and boat
designs have moved on at a frenetic pace, and the new designs reflect the need for exciting activity in a short time frame.

The RYA has responded to these changes and made all of its courses just two days long, accepting that you may keep returning to the same course, to simply keep improving and learning.
The new courses also reflect the new generation of boats that are found in most sailing schools and holiday companies, with centre mains and asymmetric spinnakers.

However there is still room to learn on transom main boats and conventional
spinnakers, so everyone’s tastes are catered for.

The best advice is to get out there and try different options, much like the beginners. Work out what you need from your boat, join a local club, get sailing and remember what you used to love about the sport.

guide to sailing jargon
Lingo Meaning
Pop/Fly the kite Hoist the spinnaker/sail with a spinnaker.
Beat, Sail upwind
Capsize go swimming
On the wire your feet on the side of the boat, using a harness with a hook to
clip yourself to a wire attached to the mast)
Hook on Put the ring on the trapeze wire onto the hook on your harness
Plenty of height Sail well upwind, with the boat pointing closer to the wind than
other boats around you
Stuff it/split the wind Sail very close to the wind – done well, this gets you upwind in half
Going downhill Sail downwind
Sit on someone Position yourself between another boat and the wind, so that the turbulence off your sails affects them
Duck Steer away from your current course to go behind another boat
Fully arced up Going at full speed in a good breeze
Go down the mine Nosedive and capsize, going downwind
Clear air Nobody directly between you and the wind, meaning that the
wind on your sails is uninterrupted
Barging Boats trying to push in where they have no rights to go, typically
on the start, and round marks
Round the front Lose your footing when trapezing and swing round the front of
the boat, while still attached to the trapeze wire
Killer Quote
Memorise this and they’ll think you’ve been sailing for years: “There was loads of barging at the start, and we had to duck a couple of boats. Going up the beat, John was trying to sit on height and got a good bit of pressure, so managed to get to the mark in a good position. Then on the wire and we headed downhill. There was even more pressure by then, and we were fully arced up! Then we hit a wave, Jane went round the front and we went down the mine!

Thanks to SailRacer for the above editorial.