what next?

[mathew_rog]

hello,

please excuse my bad english in advance...

i am about to finish a standard sailing course, 8 weeks, 8 people on boat on a 30 feet boat.

i loved the whole thing and planning to continue sailing and learning and also very interested to go into racing (maybe a bit too early for that).

anyway, now i''m completing the course but seem to have a problem on making a decision, so i home some of you can help.

there is a racing course starting up in a few weeks and i''d realy like to attend to that. however, many people say that it is the smaller boats that you realy learn how to sail, not the big ones. some suggested to me that i should do a course on the small (2 persons) boats and some even sugested that i shoud go for the single-person boats.

taking into account the above, what do you think is better to do? take up the racing course? (this is on a 30 feet-boat as well).

or should i go for the smaller boats first and then take up the racing course?

in the case of the smaller boats, which type would be best?

btw, my age is 32...

thank you in advance for your help


regards

mat

[Sailormon6]

Some people say you learn more quickly by sailing on small boats, but I don''t think the type of boat determines how quickly and how well you learn. I think your enthusiasm is the most important factor. If you love sailing and are eager to learn, you will learn on any type of boat. If you want to learn to race, take the racing course on the 30 foot boat. If you want to develop your boat handling skills, buy, borrow, or rent a small sailing dinghy and sail it whenever you have a chance.

[Sailmc]

You get feedback from small boats that you will not get sailing a big boat. A small boat lets you know right away when you''re doing it right and when you''re doing it wrong.