10 Steps to Begin Sailing

You want to sail? You don’t know where to start? At some point or another every accomplished sailor once was a beginning sailor. While some may have begun at a young age, many beginning sailors enter the sport in their twenties, thirties, or even later. Here are ten steps you can take to become a beginning sailor. You can start with just one or two of these steps or you can combine them, but either way you will quickly be on your way to beginning sailing.

Did you always want to glide around a local lake or river on a classic American board boat?

1. Join a community boating organization in your area. Most have instructional programs for beginning sailors on small dinghies or board boats.

2. Buy a primer and learn some basics – at home and on the water. A good one is Sailing for Dummies, by ___.

   Is racing more your speed?

3. Some yacht clubs and club racing organizations provide beginning sailors with racing lessons to get them started.

4. Look for a pulbic racing traing program at your local college, high school, adult ed program, etc.

5. Inquire at a local yacht club for race boats willing to train inexperienced crew from scratch. This may be a long shot in some clubs, but many skippers are willing and excited to train beginning sailors for their own programs.

6. The governing body of competitive sailing in the US, US Sailing, has further tips for beginning sailors, as well as for more experienced sailors.