Starting Sailing

You've met people who were badly taught, that's not very compelling. I'm agnostic as I've met people who learned both ways and still can't sail for toffee. It's quite feasible to learn either way and for those coming to sailing as an adult with perhaps less flexibility and mobility than lithe youth there's a lot to be said for learning on a craft not dependent on them being sat in the right place to stay upright. The 'purity' argument is bunk, no doubt used to the benefit of whatever sailing establishment the 'purist' works for.

Agree entirely, racing a dinghy is almost like the boat becomes part of you, and you tend to take risks. After all if you capsize you just pop it back up, get back in and carry on.

It's nearly the end of May.
The season for cruiser sailing is quite short.

I wouldn't delay doing a crusier course 'because it's better to do dinghies first'.
If you want to get a cruiser coure in this year, probably best to crack on and book it.

I'm saying the OP doesn't need to be that good and if he has mobility issues or just doesn't want to look like an extra from a fetish film squeezing into a rubber suit, he doesn't need to. Learning to sail can be adequately achieved on any sailing craft, including the ones which don't turn upside down if the helm sneezes. Comparing bad sailors in cruisers to the pinnacle of amateur sailing in high performance dinghies is at best a bad faith argument.

You're not wrong; friends of the parents have a 40' cruiser which they charter out from Oban. It's just been reversed onto a rock and needs a replacement rudder, so 4 figure repair costs and probably a month without charter fees in the already small charter season Scotland has.

Nope, I didn't mean you! I meant there are some on this thread who seem to think that learning to sail on a yacht will make you just as good a sailor as learning to sail in a dinghy, and there's no advantage to starting small first. I disagree, I think you will be a better sailor with a better understanding of the types of forces at play if you initially learn to sail in a dinghy (or possibly a small fast keelboat such as an SB20 or Flying 15) before moving up to the whole set of new skills required for big boat sailing. But we can agree to disagree!

Some inland dinghy fleets are like banger racing.

Racing Rules of sailing, Rule14 and definition of 'keep clear' have only been much the same for about 25 years and education is a slow process.
https://d7qh6ksdplczd.cloudfront.net/sailing/wp-co...

When I first started dinghy racing, if you were in the right, it was more or less OK to hit the other boat!
Poor form to actually sink them unless they were French, American or HISC.

Having raced dingys and cats both inland and at sea and inland I would agree that the lake sailors are far more into close quarters racing, especially the laser and flying fifteen fleets. Sea sailing tends to have more room but gives the additional hazard of dozing yachtties to deal with. Sailing at holiday centres brings its own hazards as nobody owns the boat they are racing, having once had the fwd 1/3rd of a German crewed cat on top of my cat, I was on Starboard.

Strangest or funniest encounter was when I managed to yank another helm off his boat with my spinnaker halyard.

No offence intended but you do seem to be very set on the rules as written. But in the spirit of bonhomie, I've read your link and can confirm that they haven't changed that much since I last read them. There are a few modifications to definitions which are pleasing to see because some of them were dreadful. Apart from that, not a lot has changed.

Ok. A story and apologies if this is quite long. Back in the early 90's there was an incident between two boats at the sailing club I sail at. A National 12 and a Wayfarer had a disagreement which became a little heated and both were flying red protest flags when they came back from the lap they were on. For reference the incident happened beyond the view of the clubhouse and the rescue boats so the OoD and team weren't able to witness it. However, there was a witness who was taking a stroll on the bank. The OoD logged the flags and laps and after they'd been finished the protest forms were filled out and submitted to the OoD for a quick view. At that point in time, we (the sailing club) took a view that if the OoD could come to a decision regarding a protest then there wouldn't need to be a formal committee. However, in this instance each protest appeared to be legitimate and there was no obvious right and wrong so a committee would need to be stood up. A suggestion was made which almost everyone (including a large portion of the club) thought was a good idea. Rather than having a formal committee in a closed committee room, we'd have an open forum in the bar where everybody could listen in.

In the blue corner was Mike (Nat 12). Mike knew the rules inside out, could cite each and every one of them, all the corresponding 'worked examples' and if I remember correctly was a prosecution lawyer (not sure if that's the correct term). He was ardently disliked in the club because he would push every rule to the absolute limit and then protest at the drop of a hat. He became so bad at following the rules to the letter that he was almost protested for 'unsportsmanlike behaviour'.

In the white corner was Jim (Wayfarer). Jim was an A-level physics teacher who was fairly new to sailing but he'd read the rules and could be a bit of a stickler at times.

As you might have guessed, Mike wasn't in favour of an open forum but was eventually persuaded when the witness made himself known because for Mike, the witness was a slam dunk. He just happened to be an IYRU umpire / judge who adjudicated at international events.

The committee was stood up and the protests were heard. It was agreed that given his standing, the IYRU chap could provide guidance if things got a bit bogged down. Because of what happened in the run up to the incident and the incident itself most of the rules in the book were discussed and challenges were made to both parties. Only occasionally did the IYRU chap guide proceedings when things got sticky but his witness statement was unfortunately a blow to Mike. Although neither Mike nor Jim had actually broken any rules, Mike had pushed Jim into a position where all Jim could do was hit Mike's boat. The upshot was that Jim won the protest and Mike was given a DSQ.

I, and a large number of members learned a lot that day. Everyone (apart from Mike) enjoyed it and the IYRU chap said that more protests should be heard like that so that people can learn. But as you can see from my list, none of 'my rules' actually break any current rules although you could rightfully argue that extending the tiller extension is going beyond the definition of equipment in normal position

Yep. Dinghy sailing is an excellent way to get a feel for how a boat behaves and gaining experience. When I'm in my 14 I know exactly what I can and cannot do. When I sail other 14's I'm confident I know what I can and can't get away with. When I sailed Merlin Rockets, Wayfarers, OKs etc I have a fair idea of what to expect but add a healthy dose of caution. Anything over 30ft in length and I'm very wary.