Sailing

[Happy]

I know absolutely nothing about sailing, but I would love to be able to sail. My ambition is to sail the world over a long period of time.
Has anyone got proper advice about how I go about it. From courses to enrol on, buying a boat, what to look for, to sailing the world, what should I be looking at doing etc etc any info would be helpful for me to star compiling a check list etc.
Has anyone done anything like this before that they could share their knowledge with me.

Russ

[Richard Mason]

Join a dinghy sailing club, cut your teeth on something cheap & easy, like a Mirror, GP14 etc. Once you've learned to sail & helm in a dinghy, sailing a big un is fairly simple, in fact it's easier.

I last sailed in dinghys about 30 yrs ago, then a couple of years back, we took a trip on the Lady Nelson, a working replica of a 1790s square rigger and I got 20 mins at the helm and it was easy (although I didn't tack her or go about).

A season or two of dinghy sailing will give you a very good grounding on how everything works. Then go on to the big stuff.

[Adrian Kelland]

To build on Richard's advice, on the bigger stuff and bigger trips, joining something like the ARC is a greatway of using safety in numbers for building confidence for long periods at sea. Sailing holidays obviously, gaining the skills in different waters as well as language skills.

Oh, and if you thought diving was expensive...

Adrian

[frosty the snowman]

I was brought up to sail, my dad was a sailing instructor. Starting off in small dinghies gives you a really good grounding and is how the vast majority of sailing celebrities kicked off their career. I had a series of smalll boats such as Mirror dinghies, wayfarers (good for sailing up rivers and camping) etc.

I would get some introductory lessons from a nearby RYA school before you start spending serious money and seek advice after that. You might just hate it. But I doubt it!

[Richie]

I had sailed a lot as a kid, gave up because diving and sails don't really mix.
Then a few years ago a friend dragged me off to these guys in Kos.
I was nearly reconverted

New Adventures Sailing

Great team, they do catamarans in Kos but the main driver for the bossman is maxi racers and each year they run trips around the carribean in very serious kit.

[Happy]

Guys, thanks so far for all the advice.
Very helpful.
If I said to you I want to be able to sail and learn very quickly, what sort of advice would you give me.
Russ

[Beau Nidle]

Book yourself on a sunsail holiday.

They have a variety of boats to learn in and warm water to fall in until you get it right!

Turkey or Greece are reasonably cheap and can pretty much guarantee reasonable wind.

[Happy]

Sound advice guys thanks.
Keep it coming, need to build a good list of things to do etc

Russ

[Colin Marriott]

Here ya go
RYA - www.rya.org.uk - Home

ColinM

[Richard Mason]

Originally Posted by Happy

If I said to you I want to be able to sail and learn very quickly, what sort of advice would you give me.
Russ

Initially - definitely dinghy sailing - way cheaper than hiring a big yacht and you can tack, go about, gybe, trim sails etc lots and lots very quickly, so you concentrate your learning into a shorter time and more cheaply.

You can learn the bigger picture seamanshop later on, once you've got basic manouevres squared away. A bit like learning basic clutch control, changing gear, sterring & braking on a big carpark somewhere, before venturing onto the busy open road.