Sailtime info-Learning how to sail

[voice3]

I'm thinking about joining Sailtime (for 1-2 years) as a way to learn how to sail and gain experience on the water, before buying my own boat. Any opinions on whether this is a good approach to learn how to sail?

[merlin2375]

I don't have a direct answer but does Sailtime have lessons and instruction? I thought it was just a fractional ownership club. If it doesn't have instruction, I would suggest finding a club that has a solid education program and staff. Join the club, take lessons and sail as often as you can.

If you post up your location people may have specific recommendations.

[sailingdog]

Personally, I wouldn't recommend it. I think you'd do much better taking a ASA 101 course and then joining a sailing club or something like that. It would help if you said what part of the country you're in, since certain options are better than others, depending on your geographic location. For instance, in the Boston area, joining something like the Boston Sailing Center makes a lot more sense than sailtime.

Also, by joining a sailing club or yacht club, you can often crew on the round-the-can race series that most hold...which will give you a lot of good experience in a fairly short time.

Finally, it wouldn't be fair to the other Sailtime members IMHO. A complete novice sailor is far more apt to make costly mistakes, and any mistakes you make will adversely affect the other sailtime members who use the boats that you do. Smaller boats are far better for learning than larger ones.

Highly recommend you read the post in my signature to help you get the most out of your time here on sailnet. Welcome to the asylum.

[voice3]

I'm in NYC, and my local Sailtime does have instruction, but I don't know all the details.

[Brezzin]

You know that a good question Voice. There is a sailtime in Mystic and I've seen a number of the boats over the last few years. In Mystic, they have an ASA sailing school associated with them so It may be pretty common. Although you learn sailing fast on a race course, I've crewed on boats where the skippers and crew are way to competitive and you won't have any fun let alone learn anything. So my suggestion is this, Take the ASA basic keel boat class before you plunk your money down with sailtime. then meet people and follow the OPB (Other People's Boat) method of getting your skills up and in a friendly atmosphere. You will meet theses people during your class. You might even have the opportunity to day charter sailboats right from the sailing school. I think in NY it's offshore ( steve and Doris Colgate) and they do offer day day charter to the graduates I believe.

Good Luck

[dgiuliana]

It's my understanding that a large number of the SailTime bases are also ASA school, including New York and my own base in Boston. And we don't teach intro sailing on our large cruising boats, but rather use smaller daysailors which are more appropriate for such classes, as sailingdog mentions (in Boston we use a 2008 Colgate 26). I also agree with sailingdog that taking classes from a certified instructor is important.

The nice thing about organizations like SailTime is that they have new boats in their fleet rather than the beat-up old clunkers that clubs tend to have. I assume that when you buy, you plan to buy a boat that is fairly modern, so getting experience on that kind of boat will serve you well. It can also help you figure out what size boat and options you may want.

Sailingdog is a bit mistaken with his comment about joining SailTime as a novice member being unfair. SailTime welcomes new and experienced sailors alike. Our Novice to Captain training program is specifically designed to get novice sailors the skills they need to captain a cruising boat. We have had very few "incidents" over the years (most years we have none!).

Please forgive me as I didn't intend for this to be a ad for SailTime; just trying to defend from some false information.

Doug Giuliana
SailTime Boston and Black Rock Sailing School

[voice3]

Thank you for your comments. In response to one of the comments, when I purchase a boat in the future, I would like to get something in the 27-31 foot range.

I'm currently taking a National Park Service sailing class at Gateway Marina in Brooklyn, and I love it. However, in the future I would like my wife and daughter to join me sailing, which may not be available through racing at a local Yacht club, that is why I'm considering Sailtime. Also, it seems like Sailtime requires a bit of training on their boats anyway, so I thought it might be more efficient and less costly to do everything through Sailtime.

[Brezzin]

Wow, Doug 8 years a member of Sailnet and this is your first post! Welcome... I think.

[sailtimeci]

Just to chime in - our SailTime base in Channel Islands Harbor here in Southern California was awarded as one of the Outstanding ASA Schools of 2007. I think the majority of the SailTime bases offer instruction or have affiliations with a local school in their area.

We love novices. In fact 75% of our members had never sailed before they joined our club. Where we differ from traditional clubs, members pay a flat rate for their monthly sailing instead of hourly or daily rates. We have had many "old salts" comment that our members seem to be well trained and one of the few boats they can count on knowing the rules of the road, etc.

I think SailTime finds itself in between traditional clubs and boat ownership. You get more than the clubs offer for sailing time and of course, none of the hassle or costs associated with boat ownership.

Fair Winds,
Chris Tucker
SailTime Channel Islands

[sailortjk1]

Wow, lots of nice information for the Original Poster.
What I have observed over the years with fractional sailing, is people sign up for a time slot and they seem to be locked into that slot. So when its there time to take the boat out, their going out come hell or high water. They pack up all their gear, meet the friends at the boat, and guess what? Its blowing a steady 25 with 8 footers out there. Rather than think twice about going out because they locked in this time slot two weeks ago, they venture out in waters that they don't belong in and on a day when most are staying in, but again because they paid for that time and because the schedule is tight and they don't want to reschedule, they go out when they don't have any business going out. This is just what I have observed over the years, the peolple from SailTime might not agree with me, but its just the way I see it.