New York City Sailing

[CrazyRu]

A little creative googleing brings this, note the link to NY club.

Joseph Conrad Yacht Club - Chicago

I'm not a member, just observer. They have big party barge moored in Getaway marina. Barge is a club house and dancing floor...

[Buzbo]

The Croton Sailing School is a good spot on the Hudson river. It's a 45 minute train ride from Grand Central. They offer lessons and have a sailing club which gives you use of Rainbow 24s and Pearson 26s anytime throughout the season.

I used to work there and we had a lot of club members from the city.
It's a beautiful area of the river--its widest part, Haverstraw Bay.

[MariaDelMar]

Christop- I'm in the same exact situation as you are. No idea where to begin, and I don't have money for classes... Could you maybe PM me if you find anything interesting? Thanks and good luck!

P.S.: I'm also in NYC.

[Yamsailor]

There is also a school in Atlantic Highlands NJ:

www.traceyschool.com ASA Sailing Instruction for Keelboats and Catamarans located in NJ and FL - Tracey School Sailing Instruction

[hellosailor]

Maria, the cheapest place to get sailing lessons in NYC is probably through a club/program that runs out of the boathouse on the Flushing Meadow Park lake. Yes, that one south of Shea Stadium. It isn't much and you will be learning on very small boats--but it is still formal sailing instruction, inexpensive (dont know how much these days) and they can "graduate" you into a club program that has a couple of larger boats operating out of the World's Fair Marina, whatever that's called these days.

Seasonal program only, as I recall, so probably nothing to be offered until late spring, but that will give you time to find them.

[AndrewMac]

I've actually spent the last couple months researching the different opportunities in and around NYC and my conclusion was that, just like boats themselves, each place has it's tradeoffs. In my case I was looking for a place to improve my skills, learn racing and an environment where I could enjoy ongoing sailing opportunities. After spending a lot of time looking into different places, I realized that there was a couple key criterea for me: i) cost; ii) convenience; iii) sailing conditions; and, iv) ongoing sailing opportunities.

Location quickly became a big deal. I don't know if you just want lessons, or whether you are also looking for a place to continue sailing throughout the season. Since I wanted a place to continue sailing, location quickly became a big deal. I checked out most of the places listed above, partly to get a feel for how far they were and quickly starting ruling several places out. I was impressed with the two places that Caleb mentiones, SailNY and New York Sailing Center on City Island. I also looked at the Offshore Sailing School which runs a program out of Chelsea Piers.

Offshore Sailing School probably had the most professional educational program and was convenient, but there was no ongoing sailing opportunities as far as i could tell and it was pricey.

SailNY has a racing program that goes through the winter which was appealing (i think) and it was also the cheapest. Downside for me was that it was in Jersey and I thought I would use the onging sailing opportunities less as a result.

The New York Sailing Center on City Island had an interesting offer which was that if you sign up for several classes, you got comped on the first year of club dues (which were the second cheapest I found). The fleet seemed great and the guy who runs it was clearly very knowledgeable (believe he was the son of the guy who first started it) and enthusiastic. Another nice thing was that you could take the boats out with crew that were not part of the club, whereas many of the other places restrict your ability to do that. Wasn't much in the way of facilities, but I figured who cares as it's all about the sailing. I also liked the place for sailing as you didn't have the same currents and boat traffic that you get on the Hudson and Harbor, plus it's reasonably sheltered so you don't get the seas you would get out at Sheepshead Bay area (lots of places out there - too far for me). The seasoned Sound sailors cautioned me about light winds in the summer though. This was ultimately my second choice, but I ended up passing for the same reason I passed on SailNY which was the convenience factor.

Ultimately, I settled on Manhattan Yacht Club. The lessons seemed pretty competitive with the other programs, but were more convenient to get to (starting nevigation class next tuesday). They have racing on Tuesday, Wendesday and Saturday nights in the summer and one of my goals is to learn to race so that worked. It's the most expensive of the bunch dues wise, but I figured I'd use it twice as much as it's basically on my way home from work - so I rationalized that the per sail cost would be less! Of course, there will be the currents and boat wakes in the harbor, but as I said, these places all have tradeoffs.

I'll be curious to see what you find/decide on. Hope this helps

Best,
Andrew

[CrazyRu]

Here is another opportunity, somewhat it was missed from the discussion.

It is some kind of small boat, dingy club. There may not be any kind of academic program teaching you how to sail. However, normally, boats are not expensive, there is nice group of people and there is some sort of racing program. So, you hop on little boat or find someone to crew for, and learn how to sail by trying and looking at others, and asking questions...
I can recommend catamaran club, located in Sandy Hook bay
Fleet 250 SHBCC
I'm pretty sure there are many other small boat clubs in the area.
I know there are small clubs on every big lakes in Northern NJ, Greenwood lake, Highlands Lakes etc..

Generally, if you go to any yacht club /dingy club in the area and post an add on their billboard, something like "Reliable male/female weighting 120/220 lbs willing to commit my time to racing", most likely you will find free ride for a season, learning more than you can get from any school, all for free...

[Christop]

I ended up going with SailNY. Great prices and in my opinion, a solid lesson. They're very welcoming and a good group.

As a recent Hoboken to Manhattan transplant, the trip through the Lincoln Tunnel was no problem for me. Without traffic it takes a matter of minutes.

I'd definitely recommend going with them.

[CalebD]

Tell Roger Roistacher that I sent you!
I have my own boat but I want to try sailing one of their Solings.

[davester]

This thread is a good resource for getting into sailing in the New York area, so I'll just throw in a couple of meetup groups: The Westchester/City Island Sailing Group The Westchester/City Island Sailing Group (Bronx, NY) - Meetup.com and Gotham City Sailing Association The Gotham City Sailing Association (New York, NY) - Meetup.com

They both hold events for skippers and crew to meet (for racing or cruising/daysailing) as well as seminars and other gatherings.