Teaching friends how too sail?

[lapworth]

I believe that I am not very good at showing people how to sail. A friend of mine sailed at least 20 to 30 times with me some where over night trips and now he bought a boat 29' and claims he doesn't no how to sail. Most of the time when I take friends out I try to teach them a little but I dont want ruin the trip with to many instructions. Sometimes handing out the beers and letting people enjoy ride is much easier ( plus make you more popular).

[deniseO30]

funny.. he's got $ for buying a boat but none for learning. but then some people can sail on someone else's boat and not theirs.

[thesnort]

Instead of focusing on teaching him to sail maybe you could let him watch as you talk out loud to yourself when you do things on the boat. Let him jot down notes if "teaching" isn't your thing. Like anything I think learning to sail involves "motor memory" where you have to get your body and hands involved a number of times before it becomes second nature. Learning from forums like this and books is also important because there's a wealth of wisdom written down that some instructors may miss imparting to their students.

[Tempest]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

When he was sailing with you, he didn't need to know how to sail.
Now he does.

I have friends who have come day sailing with me for 30 years once or twice a year. Everytime they step on the boat it's as if it's for the 1st time.
It's not that you're a bad teacher, it's that he wasn't in learning mode. He was just along for the ride.

Watch how fast he learns now, and how many questions you'll get.

[lapworth]

Originally Posted by Tempest

Necessity is the mother of invention.

When he was sailing with you, he didn't need to know how to sail.
Now he does.

I have friends who have come day sailing with me for 30 years once or twice a year. Everytime they step on the boat it's as if it's for the 1st time.
It's not that you're a bad teacher, it's that he wasn't in learning mode. He was just along for the ride.

Watch how fast he learns now, and how many questions you'll get.

You hit the nail on the head, but I don't understand why someone wouldn't be in learning mode when all they think about is buying there own boat.

[Tempest]

If I were a betting man, I'd bet he sells this boat by the end of next season.

If you're not willing to learn how to sail, you're certainly not going to want to do all the maintenence

[lapworth]

Tempest place your bet! He isn't very happy with the boat.

[JohnRPollard]

Lap, don't fault yourself, some people just learn in different ways. Some need lessons, some will get nothing from lessons. There's really no accounting for it.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet he sells this boat by the end of next season.

If you're not willing to learn how to sail, you're certainly not going to want to do all the maintenence.

Very insightful, Tempest. I won't wager against you. then again, maybe Lapworth will get him back on track.

[CalebD]

Echoing JRP, don't sweat it. Most people do not have the situational awareness it takes to really comprehend sailing unless they have it already.
I just spent over 2 weeks volunteering to help teenage kids learn how to sail sunfish on Long Island, NY and a small percentage of them actually get it. Most just want to have fun and will actually just look at the tiller instead of where the boat is going. What may be common sense for some of us is kind of 'outside the box' thinking for most.
It can take some of the fun out of a day sail if you constantly are quizzing your crew on such things as: "which point of sail are we on?", "what is the name of this line (rope)?", "do you see that cat's paw/wind gust?", "do you see that boat you are on a collision course with?", etc. Then there is the use of the engine, through hulls, VHF radio, charts and GPS to teach them, much less reefing the sails.
For a pleasant day sail with friends and some beer they will always defer to you for that. If you want to teach them how to sail you have to make them do it ALL and perhaps save the beer for the return trip to port or after your sail.
As you pointed out most people will easily slip into enjoyment mode rather then learning mode. Find someone who is interested in learning and show them how to do it in a one on one rather then with a group and build it up to a team of 3 when you can.
Racing has helped us a lot to get a better quality of crew.
Hope you are well.

[Tweegs]

We are on the receiving end of the training, this being our first sailboat.

We have lots of friends with experience and take one of these friends out at a time, thought being to get several perspectives instead of learning from just one source.

We try to focus on specific areas of sailing each time out. From the basics of raising the sails and trimming, to chart reading and navigation, emergency scenarios, VHF operation and anything else our instructor cares to teach us.

This coming weekend we have a 30 year race veteran on board. His focus will be adjusting the mast via forestay, backstay and shrouds, inspecting the sails (I wouldn’t really know if they need to be replaced) and fine tuning the sail trim underway.

Typically, we read about it first, talk with the instructor about it, he shows us once, then we do it under his guidance for the rest of our time out. For payment, we make sure we have a good lunch on the boat, and then treat our guest to dinner at the posh little overpriced marina restaurant. The food is good, the service is usually good, and dinner with a few drinks is always a good way to wind down the day and reinforce what we’ve learned.

Because it’s our boat, we have a vested interest in learning. I guess that’s the difference. Now that he actually owns one, my guess is he will soon realize that it isn’t as easy as it looks, how much there is to learn, and he’ll be far more receptive and inquisitive in the future.