where did you learn to sail.

[sawman]

dirty boy said:

MBBlat said:

Brother D said:

I would love to carry on doing dingy sailing but am way too old. (Well past 30 with a bad back).

At mid 40's I'm one of the younger dart helms at my club, even the musto skiff guys seem to be in their 30'3 & 40's.
As for the bad back, as long as you stay away from Lasers you will be fine.

Back to topic - learnt to sail in a mirror dingy my dad built in his garage. Moved onto Toppers then a Laser 2. Raced 420's at school.

When I sailed, there was a chap called Alan Guisborne who was sailing a green laser well into his 60s. Appropriately it was named

"Green Coffin"

I remember racing against the green coffin at wobyc

[Snoggledog]

I started as 'moving ballast' at the age of 7 in an I14 on the Thames. After a couple of years I was allowed to pull the ropes at the front and have a go a trapezing. A couple of years later I was allowed to play with the stick at the back. Wasn't long before I pissed the old man off by beating the competition he'd failed to keep up with. Still prefer river sailing to sea sailing. At least the bank is never too far away....

[yellowjack]

27 years ago, inshore of the Dover Harbour breakwater.

Wednesday afternoons were 'sports afternoons' in the military back then, when I was a "Junior Leader" at Old Park Barracks. A group run down the hill to the slipway in front of the Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club, followed by some instruction, and some 'free sailing', then a run back to barracks in time for tea and ironing.

There were two types of dinghy, Bosuns for two to three newbie 'crew' to be taught in, and single handed Lasers for the more competent sailors. Later on I did make a crossing from Gosport to Cowes, then Poole and back under a blue ensign in a Royal Engineers sailing club boat, as 'adventurous training', but I didn't really take up sailing as a sport. I preferred cycling, boxing, kayaking and hockey. Ironically I was probably a better sailor than I was a cyclist back then, but it was easier to find the time to be a cyclist than a yachtsman, so I stuck with bikes, paddles and hockey sticks.

[dirty boy]

sawman said:

dirty boy said:

MBBlat said:

Brother D said:

I would love to carry on doing dingy sailing but am way too old. (Well past 30 with a bad back).

At mid 40's I'm one of the younger dart helms at my club, even the musto skiff guys seem to be in their 30'3 & 40's.
As for the bad back, as long as you stay away from Lasers you will be fine.

Back to topic - learnt to sail in a mirror dingy my dad built in his garage. Moved onto Toppers then a Laser 2. Raced 420's at school.

When I sailed, there was a chap called Alan Guisborne who was sailing a green laser well into his 60s. Appropriately it was named

"Green Coffin"

I remember racing against the green coffin at wobyc

that's the place, were you local?

[sawman]

Yeah, lived in norwich, sailed a couple of winters at wobyc in the early '90s when I had a laser - there were loads of them there in the winter, I was mainly sailing at Horning at the time, but not many lasers in the winter

[bazza white]

Ok tempted to get something about march time

http://www.minicatuk.co.uk/minicat-310

This looks tempting bar the price not seen any second hand. Ideal to take on for weekends away and I imagin performance isn't as good as a rigid.

[Psychobert]

Sailed for the first time when I was maybe 30, did a few weeks worth of courses/cruising and a little bit of racing and accidentally bought a 4.5m trimaran about a year ago. Been quite a learning experience as to put it frankly, the bloody thing practically flies along.. Really should have started this when I was young and fearless, (and more importantly when I can mend myself better after cocking up and straining something..

[surveyor]

I had lessons from a chap called Les Ferris based in St Mawes and learned on a St Mawes one design in Carrick Roads.. He was the picture of a sailor with big white beard and a pipe...

Don't get chance to do any unfortunately and the other half is not into boating, unless I can afford a Sunseeker - which is some way off!

[Burrow01]

bazza white said:

Ok tempted to get something about march time

http://www.minicatuk.co.uk/minicat-310

This looks tempting bar the price not seen any second hand. Ideal to take on for weekends away and I imagin performance isn't as good as a rigid.

If you are interested in that sort of thing, search for Catapult catamarans - similar concept, inflatable hulls, breaks down small enough to transport in a car - couple of my friends have them and they seem to sail pretty well

[RobM77]

I've never fancied sailing anything as big as a yacht, but wanted to learn to sail, so I learnt in a dinghy instead. Despite doing two courses, I never enjoyed it and went even smaller and learnt to windsurf instead, which I really enjoy and have now taken up as a sport and go once or twice a week. The moral to that story is not to sit around wondering whether to learn on a yacht or dinghy, but just to get out there and try and discover what you like and don't like - most centres offer some pretty cheap taster sessions. I'm more of a Caterham person than a Porsche person or a V8 super saloon person, but I only found out by trying all three

In terms of where to learn, it depends on your priorities, but for me how friendly and laid back a place is was my key criteria, both for enjoying the course and enjoying hiring and/or club sessions in the future. I've met quite a few instructors who just seemed to do it because they wanted to sail for a living and didn't fancy sitting in an office, rather than having any desire to teach and encourage newcomers. You get the same in any sport of course, but it's worth bearing in mind. In both watersports that I do regularly (kayaking and windsurfing) as well as my main sport of motor racing, I've found better and more friendly instruction at small independent places set up by people passionate about sharing their love of the sport.

[Ayahuasca]

Always wanted to sail, never got round to it until my mid 30s.

Started in a Topper in a gravel pit. Moved on to a Laser. Raced every weekend. Won trophies and became team captain. Became dinghy instructor. Started crewing on racing yachts. Done inshore and offshore racing including three Fastnets, two of them winning trophies.

For close duelling, tactical, chess-on-water technical racing the Laser is great.

For gut-wrenchingly hard, exhausting, sailing, physical slogging, putting up with no sleep, wet clothes and physical and mental discomfort, close teamwork, and endurance, long offshore races are great.

[anonymous-user]

I first went sailing when I was about 6 with my Grandpa on his Wayfairer. He had an old Mirror at home in the garage which hadn't been used since my Dad was a kid. When I was about 13 and had been sailing a bit we got the Mirror out and although we inspected it carefully we didn't realise quite how rotten it was. It fell apart in the middle of the lake and we had to be towed back in.

I really learnt to sail properly and race at school and at the club on a wide range of high performance Dinghies and Catamarans. Bloody awesome.

Since then I have done a lot of yacht sailing but was broadly put off by it after competing in the 2007 Fastnet race where the weather conditions were atrocious.

For what it's worth, I would recommend anyone who wants to learn to sail to learn on a dinghy. I would say that 9/10 people that I have seen who learnt to sail on a yacht have very little understanding of what each control on the boat actually does and how it will really affect its performance. If you are just pottering about on a yacht I suppose this is ok, but it helps to have a deeper understanding of the dynamics of sailing before jumping headfirst into big boat sailing.

[Brother D]

bulldong said:

I first went sailing when I was about 6 with my Grandpa on his Wayfairer. He had an old Mirror at home in the garage which hadn't been used since my Dad was a kid. When I was about 13 and had been sailing a bit we got the Mirror out and although we inspected it carefully we didn't realise quite how rotten it was. It fell apart in the middle of the lake and we had to be towed back in.

I really learnt to sail properly and race at school and at the club on a wide range of high performance Dinghies and Catamarans. Bloody awesome.

Since then I have done a lot of yacht sailing but was broadly put off by it after competing in the 2007 Fastnet race where the weather conditions were atrocious.

For what it's worth, I would recommend anyone who wants to learn to sail to learn on a dinghy. I would say that 9/10 people that I have seen who learnt to sail on a yacht have very little understanding of what each control on the boat actually does and how it will really affect its performance. If you are just pottering about on a yacht I suppose this is ok, but it helps to have a deeper understanding of the dynamics of sailing before jumping headfirst into big boat sailing.

I can recommend enough learning in dinghies - it's great for learning about the technical side of things and getting the best performance out of a craft, and massively increases your confidence. I go out with a couple of guys who sail (time share type) on lake Michigan and I asked about where they learned to 'sail' and both said the course to buy into the scheme really didn't cover actual sailing just how to avoid hitting things, but its always a pleasure to pass on knowledge that helps them get the most out of sailing (but slightly nervous about me falling in as pretty sure neither would be able to do a quick mob drill)!

[AndrewCrown]

Bazza

I learned to sail with the scouts when I was 8-12... we learnt in Mirrors, Wayfarers, Toppers, Lasers and Enterprises... greast fun and one totally understands the basics... a bit like cycling before learning to drive... much much later on we had one to one training with RYA instructors for 40-50 footers... but that absolute basic understanding from a smaller boat helped massively, something my OH didn't have...

Why don't you pop along here and these guys will get you out and start you off... http://www.cbwac.com/default.htm
Cheers

A

[grumpy52]

Learnt the basics when the old man was stationed in Singapore .
Crewed for a mate of his in a B Snipe also sailed with the school at RAF Seletar yacht club and RAF Changi yacht club in GP14's and a local type called a Thunderbolt (very fast but easy to flip )
Tried it in this country a few years after we returned to the UK and even in high summer on Graffham water I found it far too cold having been used to 80f plus sun and shorts and flip flops, couldn't get on with having to wear all that gear to keep warm in summer !

[kilty2]

Brother D said:

I can recommend enough learning in dinghies - it's great for learning about the technical side of things and getting the best performance out of a craft, and massively increases your confidence. I go out with a couple of guys who sail (time share type) on lake Michigan and I asked about where they learned to 'sail' and both said the course to buy into the scheme really didn't cover actual sailing just how to avoid hitting things, but its always a pleasure to pass on knowledge that helps them get the most out of sailing (but slightly nervous about me falling in as pretty sure neither would be able to do a quick mob drill)!

Whereabouts in Illinois?

I have a boat in Winthrop Harbor (sic) and would love some more sailing company. It is my first "big boat" (Catalina 28). I sailed a fair bit back in Scotland crewing for other people on 35'+ boats, but most of my personal experience is from windsurfing, and after a 20 year hiatus from all of this, I bought the boat last year with the JFDI mentality.

SWMBO is not impressed, but she is learning the drill. Round the cans on a Wednesday night at Gourock on a club 'Piper' was the best thing ever.

Not much racing out of Winthrop, but, Chicago is cost prohibitive for me (wife wants a slip, not a can).

PM. me if you are interested in getting out on the lake.

Colin

[DJFish]

tokyo_mb said:

Ardleigh reservoir near Colchester, on Toppers, Enterprises and Wayfarers.

Same here.
I was at school & had to choose a work experience placement so I chose Ardleigh as it was just up the road from me, thing is I thought I'd be working at Anglian Water.....
So I turned up & this little bearded chap threw me in a Wayfarer, taught me to sail & within the week I was taking school groups out....

[Fishtigua]

If you are sailing out of Chicago, some members of your club may remember my old man's boat he designed and built for an old buffer. The boat lived there for many years.

http://www.gimcrack-yacht.co.uk/Gimcrack.html

[Perik Omo]

I taught myself in 1975 when in Botswana. SWMBO had gone back to the UK for 6 months so I went and bought a Laser off a bloke who was returning home. There was a large dam outside the town with a yacht club which I joined. I guess a Laser is not the best boat to learn on and I spent more time in the water than on the boat before I got more confident but at least the weather was hot and dunking was quite welcome sometimes. After a year or so I was able to take part in races against 505's, Fireballs and Enterprises and a couple of Mirrors but the most numerous boat was the Laser and after a couple of years was winning races and series. When we went back to the UK in 1980 I had my boat shipped as part of my baggage allowance but unfortunately it was stolen from a locked enclosure at the local yacht club along with 10 other Lasers so I haven't sailed since, the insurance paid out but it was a pittance as the boat by then was quite old and I often wonder where 43774 ended up (it was a unique colour too as it was re-finished in a dark green when I had it refurbished on returning to the UK). Just remembered I've got a brand new sail in a box in the garage that I only managed to use once!!

[PedroB]

I did a little bit of pottering about in a Mirror Dinghy with my Dad on Bewl water when I was about 10 or so. Didn't set foot on a boat till 3 years ago when I moved to a new area and wanted to meet people. There is a decent yacht club a couple of miles down the road now and I volunteered to crew. I have been bow/mastman on an X-35 ever since.