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Dinghy or Yacht Sailing First?

17K views 39 replies 30 participants last post by  tarmes 
#1 ·
I have had several discussions with people on whether one should start dinghy sailing before yacht sailing to gather wind awareness. Just wondered what some of you guys think. I am convinced dinghy sailing is a must but others try to convince me otherwise.
Donna
 
#2 ·
Not a must, but I believe it really helps you understand and develop an inner feel for the complex interaction between sails, hull and rudder, wind and wave. Your responses become automatic from maintaining the balance needed.

You will however get wet. So those who can't swim and are afraid to tip may prefer a keel boat. The problem with larger boats is that it's hard to feel the nuances of balance, everything is big and slow and a bit masked by the size, in comparison.

I sailed on larger boats but felt I truly learned the limits in tiny center boarders, playing all day in them when a child.
 
#6 ·
I started on a 10 meter racing yacht. I am not a great dinghy sailor. Cruising is not just about be able to understand the wind and sail trim for which dinghy sailing will provide you a wealth of experience. Big boat sailing also involves navigation, boat systems, menu planning, anchoring, and many other activities not associated with smaller boats. In my experience what matters is helm time. Small boat sailing is, by its nature, less expensive.
 
#7 ·
Start with the dinghy. I sail to have fun, and a dinghy is as much fun as sailing my 31 foot cruiser. The only reason I put up with all the expense and trouble of the bigger bat is that it extends my season here in Michigan, provides some extra comforts, and it has a bathroom. Otherwise, a dinghy is just fine.

So, assuming a dinghy is the better way to learn, which IMO it is, why not start with the dinghy. I certainly never heard anyone say they regretted doing it that way.
 
#9 ·
Hey,

I think it depends on what your sailing goals are. If you plan on racing a keel boat, then learning to sail on a dinghy would be helpful. If you plan on living aboard and doing long distance sailing, then I'm not convinced that learning how to handle the sails on a real small boat will offer much value. There is much more to 'sailing' then just handling the sails on a small boat. Docking, anchoring, engine usage, maintenance, are all skills that you need to operate a 'yacht' that you can't get from sailing a dinghy.

Barry
 
#12 ·
(Hi Barry, great minds work alike and all that; and even post at the same time! I was composing my post before I saw yours. ;) )
 
#10 ·
I think it depends on (a) what's your goal?; and (b) what's your style?

If your goal is comfortable big-boat cruising, then dinghy may not help that much. As jackdale pointed out, there are many aspects of big boat cruising that dinghy sailing won't teach you. At the same time, the subtle weight shifts, etc that make such a difference in dinghy sailing just won't have nearly as much effect on a big boat. If your goal is racing a medium-size boat, then dinghy sailing would be a more critical set of skills first.

What's your learning style? If you're a learn-by-doing type, then dinghying first would be more important because you'd "feel" the wind, weight distribution, etc. If you're a cerebral learner, a month of dinghy sailing won't give you the understanding that a few minutes looking at a vector diagram will bring (I know; I'm the latter type).

And if you don't know your style or your goals? Sailing is a great way to get you in touch with yourself; those long contemplative passages with nothing to do but think; and those moments of terror and limits (do you panic? how do you react?)
 
#11 ·
How good of a sailor you become is more dependent on your aptitude combined with the quality of your instruction, then the boat you use.

Starting small and working your way up is great and most of did so out of necessity, more than as a plan. However, there are many excellent sailors that have never put the sail up on a dinghy, ever. I'm sure they had a natural aptitude for sailing. Spacial orientation, athleticism, comfort on the water, ability to think fast and others can be innate. If so, your learning curve will be faster. If not, and you push too fast, you would most likely just quit the sport.
 
#13 ·
I windsurfed when I was younger. Last year I purchased a fraction of a 33 Hunter. Next year, I'll renew the Hunter and join a local club that teaches and races Albacores.

All decisions were based on what I thought might be fun. I know a lot of people encourage starting on a dinghy, but if it's not something you want to do, the brain sponge doesn't absorb as well as it might otherwise.

So next year I'm looking forward to being on the other side of the traffic jam that ensues outside of my marina when 50 odd little boats start tacking all over the channel like drunken squirrels, while big not very maneuverable keel boats try not to squash them.
 
#14 ·
If you have the opportunity to sail dinghys I would take it and sail every chance you get. You will learn a whole lot more in a much shorter period of time. Sail trim, mechanics of maneuvers, how the boat handles, seamanship...the list goes on.

The thing I have noticed after sailing for 37 years... is dinghy sailors do things instinctively or anticipate and people who started sailing on large displacement type boats tend to REACT to things. This is a generalization and there are degrees of how much and to what extent it's true but most really good sailors either started in dinghys or spent some time in them.

My wife has made the comment that when I'm sailing it's like the boat is a part of me or vice versa. I'm just that tuned in to how the boat is moving. And after I've been on a boat for a while and get used to it's motion I can usually tell how fast the boat is going to within a couple of tenths of a knot. I just feel more aware.

But hey, don't let this stop you; if you only have access to a big boat or you just don't like the idea of having to scramble around on a little boat and duck the boom do what works for you.
 
#15 ·
Two ways work for most people.

Join a dinghy club with a sail training program and spend the time to learn on the club boats. Then do some training on a keel boat course to learn the ropes and winches (literally)

Go do a sail training course on a keel boat. Sometimes even experienced skippers should do a keelboat training course.
 
#18 ·
when 50 odd little boats start tacking all over the channel like drunken squirrels
Haha! That's the best part. Those are so much more fun to watch than a 50' yacht motoring off to a distant destination.

I'm definitely in the dinghy camp. Something with low consequences for disastrous failure will encourage you to take more chances -- which is how you learn. Also, an unpowered boat forces you to learn how to read light air and work with it, instead of just taking the easy out and firing up the inboard. Then work your way up from Sunfish/Snark (well, depending on your size and mobility. Some adults are just too big to handle a Sunfish) to Laser to Flying Scot over the course of a summer. You can and should learn how to dock them, too.
 
#19 ·
There's more than one way to skin a cat, so they say. You can learn either way.

I'll tell you that I learned about unnecessary stress on rigging by sailing dinghies. It'll wear your arms out. Hooked up to winches and cleats, you might not learn about that.

It is a different type of sailing though and requires you to be more limber. Someone with a fused neck could get hit in the head.
 
#21 ·
I started sailing as crew member on a racing keelboat. I have done pretty well. Am I going to say that the best sailors are racers and that is how you should start?

Small boats and race boats will both provide platforms for learning to sail.

Now if you want to learn to cruise ....
 
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#22 ·
You can certainly learn to sail on an opti or a laser... but that doesn't do much for learning about engines, systems, heads, holding tanks, bottom painting, travel lifts, docking a heavier vessel, why it's such a bad idea to run aground, what to do if you do get stuck, anchoring, serious navigation....

As Jack alluded to above, sailing is just a part of all that, and not even the biggest part...
 
#30 · (Edited)
I disagree. Engines, systems, heads, docking etc is about boat ownership and driving a boat. Those things are not exclusive to a sailboat. Learning to sail does not require knowledge of those things. And optis, lasers, sunfish, etc prove those systems are not important to sailing. They're important to owning a boat, owning a boat you can live on or cruise for several days, or just keep in the water. It has nothing to do with sailing. Powerboats can have all of those systems and requirements.
Sailing is about using the wind to move a vessel. The OP was about sailing, not boat ownership. Had the OP been about which is better for learning cruising boat ownership, your answer would be spot on.
Sailing is very simple. Luxuries we want have made it seem much more complicated. But the art of sailing has absolutely nothing to do with that extra riff raff.
 
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#23 ·
In the beginning of one of his books Bernard Moitessier writes about his recommendation to his friends to sail optimists before larger boats. He mentioned how after a day of having fun and getting wet, they were miles ahead of others who learned on larger boats. When they stepped onto larger boats they understood the physics of what was going on a lot better.

When learning anything start small and work your way up. When my wife and I bought our first cruising boat, she was so uncomfortable sailing it. She went for sailing lessons on small boats, and after she had a whole new look upon sailing and was much more comfortable handling the larger boat.

I think the real bonus to dinghies is the fact that you are the only one on the boat. You are responsible for everything, you are the decision maker, so you pick it up quickly. Sometimes it's hard to learn when someone else is the captain.
 
#24 ·
I learned to sail on a Laser. I found it very difficult at first but was determined to learn. I was told at the time that if I could sail that boat, that I could sail anything.. There is nothing nice about a jibe done incorrectly, in four foot swells, a strong current and sharks on a Laser.

I just bought my first boat. An S2 7.3. I haven't sailed her yet but I'm interested in seeing if what I was told is true. Someone mentioned being in tune with the rig. From my experience when sailing a laser, you and the boat do become one. I can't speak for larger boats because like I said, I haven't sailed it yet but I'm taking her out as soon as I can. I hope my laser skills transfer to the S2.
 
#25 ·
Conventional wisdom has it that you start on dinghies (to learn interactions of wind, waves, sails and hull while getting wet) and then you upgrade to yachts while you expand to the wider nautical world (of navigation, motoring, anchoring and mooring, logistics, cooking, meteorology etc. etc.) to be able to cruise safely. This is the road travelled by most sailors and I don't think that we regret it!
 
#26 ·
Small sailboats are a hoot. They give you hands-on experience of what NOT to do without the danger of a major catastrophe. I think the first sailboat I was ever on was a Sunfish. It did about everything a keelboat does (except for the headsail). I had a sailboard for a while. They are a lot of fun and can fly but I don't think they are a good way to learn how to sail. They are far removed from a standard rig being that moving the mast and weighting the board are what creates turning. You are creating forward movement by the same aerodynamic means but that's about where the similarity ends. They also can be dangerous in many ways, not the least, going far from shore very fast and not being able to get back. I once rescued a newbie to sailboarding who was being forced farther and farther offshore and was entirely terrified and exhausted. They are also dangerous in any traffic because they are small and move fast, sometimes into other objects.
 
#27 ·
Perhaps the "right" answer rests with the learner. If you are uncomfortable on a small sailboat because you may not be able to right it and clamber back on board, you might feel more comfortable on a keelboat. If you are uncomfortable with the size of a keelboat, you might try consider some small boat sailing. There are likely lots of factors to be considered in making the choice. Where I sail, the water is bloody cold.

Overgeneralizing about the abilities and skills of one type of sailor versus another is not going to beneficial for those who have no experience of sailing.
 
#28 ·
There is no 'right' answer...

...but the OP asked our opinions; mine is 'dinghy first'.

The less displacement a boat has, the faster things happen. Then you can make several mistakes in a single afternoon and really learn (how to sail or how to swim; you'll get better at one of them!)

A smaller boat also means less damage when (not if; not when you're learning) you hit something. My first 2 minutes as captain of a Sunfish ended with a collision (my wife was not impressed). If I'd hopped into a 19' keelboat and done that, it would have been the end of the day.

You might have 2 or 3 bad days in a row and get discouraged; don't. The moment will come when you've got the angle to the wind just right, the sheets are tuned 'pretty close' to optimum and your butt is in just the right place. You will realise that you have found 'the groove' and you will never want to leave it.

Enjoy.

Ken
 
#29 ·
I have never out grown my love for small boats.
I just recently rehabbed the original Sunfish that my Father bought in '75. It was the boat I learned on.
Than I went out and bought a project boat. I didn't buy a 40 foot project, no I bought a 14 foot O'Day Javelin.
When we go to Boat Shows now I am always drawn to the small boat section. I would love to add a Flying Scot to the fleet.
Small boats are a lot of fun and yes you do learn a lot on them and if you are like me you never stop loving them.
I like to think of it as having the best of both worlds.
To the original poster, my thoughts are learn on small so that you don't have the original investment. Learn small with small cash out put, than move up to where you want to be but keep that dinghy sitting on its trailer for when you want to go out for a blustery thrill ride.
Nothing wrong with having the best of both.
 
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