Hi. My husband and I just bought a 1975 22ft seafarer sailboat, but neither of us knows how to sail... My husband has a co-worker that offered to give him lessons, but aside from that, can someone offer advice/tips for a newbie sailor?
Yes, when using "neither" in the sense of both of us, treat the subject in the sentence as plural, and make the verb agree - "...but neither of us know how to sail..."... but neither of us knows how to sail... but aside from that, can someone offer advice/tips for a newbie sailor?
His co-worker used to own a sail boat and said his wife is the expert sailor and was captain of a sailing team or something but they don't have a boat any more. So we'll be needing to learn on our own boat but they will both be available for as long as we need them. I just want to take some time before the boat is launched in the spring to learn what i can so i'm not totally clueless when they are teaching us.Does the coworker have his own boat? What kind and how big? It might be best to do your first lesson on his boat (for liability and familiarity/safety). If his boat is a smaller boat, that might be an EVEN BETTER lesson for you, because smaller boats give quicker "feedback" when you make mistakes. Then if that goes well, invite him on your boat for a test run.
I have come across some new "words" that I have had to look up and I have yet to see the work reef so I will definitely look that up and learn how to do it When we lived in FL we owned a motor boat so are familiar with the generalities, just not how it relates to sailing. Will definitely read the dummies book.Congratulations and commiserations...
The Sailing For Dummies idea is a good one.
Seeing as you asked for advice here are a couple of pieces (take em or leave em):
- let both of you take turns helming/crewing - both of you should be comfortable in either capacity.
- learn how to reef
- meet, talk to and sail with other sailors
- be aware of the rules of the road but give way early if you suspect that the give way boat may not be aware of you or cannot change course
- your boat can probably handle more extreme conditions than you can
- have fun
They are available for as long as we need them. We are new to sailing but not new to boating...Take some ASA sailing classes, do you really think an afternoon with your husbands buddy will prepare you for things that could happen at sea....
No my husband has had a motor boat for years now and we had one together when we lived in FL but sold it when we moved back up to MA.I understand this is your first sailboat, but is it your first boat overall? Knowing some boating basics makes it a lot easier to focus on the unique aspects of sailing.
LOL, I think we just got a window into Sal's life ! :laugherFirst thing is jump into one of those "Is sailing sexist?" threads and get in all the man bashing you can. Do a search for "stupid-penis" or "man hate".
It doesn't matter if your husband doesn't know anything right now -one day he will. And then he will start...saying stuff.... and calling you "the admiral" while rolling his eyes.
You want to be prepared for that.
We do have boating experience but just not sailing. Are you in Warwick?Youtube is your friend.
If you have no experience on the water then take a quick boating safety course to make sure that you don't get in someone's way. That area can get busy in the summer but a month in and you will wonder why you waited so long.
Enjoy!!!
I'd encourage you and others to try it again. I've found the "advanced search" feature to be excellent, allowing searching by keyword, title/body, user, date, subforum, etc. The one in Thread Tools can also limit the search to within one thread (useful, since some of them can be very long)....The website search function is not too good...
FYI, ASA101 has moved on to a different textbook.Congratulations on your new boat !
I would say buy the ASA textbooks. I consider them to be the most complete beginners books to buy. Easy to understand.
Sailing Fundamentals: Gary Jobson: 9780743273084: Amazon.com: Books
Visit your local library as well, read, read, read.
Thanks for the tip... Heard the term a couple times now. Reefing is when you "shorten" the mainsail?A couple more tips-
Learn to reef at the dock. Do it several times. Get the line set up. Its nearly impossible to figure this out in heavy wind and waves but its easy to take the reef out and raise the sail up later.
"When it doubt, let it out" - the sheet that is,
That must be the New "Sailing Made easy" textbook. was wondering what that was.FYI, ASA101 has moved on to a different textbook.
Mark, some good advice but as most ASA 101 programs are 24 hours, I would add some additional criteria for class selection.I'd like to second (or third or fourth!) the advice about taking some classes. No insult to your friend, but a structured course run by professional teachers is better.
Look for the one that takes LONGEST, as this should mean maximum on-water time...