Sailing Schools - your thoughts please!

Stu Jackson · Nov 11, 2009

Goals

I find it interesting that with a boat your size that you'd want to spend a week on someone elses boat.

So, before anyone comments on a sailing school, just what is it that you think you need to learn?

And why do you think you can't do it on your own boat? How long have you had your boat? Where's New Hamburg? Could be your boat's up for the winter and this would be a good way to spend a week sailing! Not a bad idea.

Do you have any schools in mind already?

Just seems to me that a tad more input on what your goals are for this week of sailing would be helpful to those answering your question. Once we bought our first boat, a C22, we took lessons on other boats and then on our own. Since then, a progression of larger boats has led to us learning more about cruising and live aboard activities by simply doing it on our own boat. 'Course, we do get to sail year round here.

Look forward to seeing replies on resources for you.

dserrell · Nov 11, 2009

Stu Jackson · Nov 11, 2009

RonRelyea said:
Pacific Yachting School in Santa Cruz, CA is a possibility ... but more for it's location ... overall goal: get offshore in a gale and learn how to deal with it .. but I guess that's up to the luck of the weather!

Ron,

That's for sure!

My daughter lives in White Plains, I know the area. A quality sailing school will most likely NOT take you out in gale. Most of them are designed generally to teach folks how to sail bigger boats than they may already have.

There is the "Offshore Sailing School," advertised in Latitude 38 (the whole magazine is now available online - www.Latitude38.com). "Offshore" may offer you that ride of a lifetime, but you're right about the weather. This time of year out here is known for rougher weather.

Most of my personal experience and reading tells me that you might want to exercise some patience. You have a good boat but have only owned it for a short period of time. The goal is this: Learn your boat, and the maintenance required so that YOU feel SAFE on it and can fix anything and everything that breaks (within reason, of course - complete engine rebuilds are well past this theory). This all takes TIME.

Then, when you're comfortable with the boat, test it more, on YOUR time, on YOUR boat, in worse and worse weather. Since you live back east, you probably get a worse weather window on a regular basis than I ever do out here - like an every afternoon thunderstorm will give you high sustained winds for a period of time. Play ghostbusters within reason.

Unless you find an offshore sailing school similar to the type I suggested, one that WILL take you out in rotten weather, then your choice this winter is to find a nice place to sail for a week, or just wait it out til springtime.

Good luck finding a school that meets your goals.

jimmcgee · Nov 11, 2009

Ron,
A few years back my wife and I took an introductory sailing course at the Annapolis Sailing School. We made a weekend out of it, and it gave my wife confidence that sailing was something she wanted to do (I was already sailing with a friend). I agree that there's nothing like time and experience, but having a knowledgeable person aboard who can literally show you the ropes is a great confidence builder.

Offshore Sailing School (http://www.offshoresailing.com/) sounds like a good fit for what you're trying to do and they offer learn to sail vacations in Florida and in the Islands. I haven't sailed with them personally, but I know they have a very good reputation.

If possible take any course in the spring so everything is fresh in your mind when you get your own boat in the water.

Jim

Joe · Nov 11, 2009

J-World Sailing schools are located around the US. The have been widely regarded as the best sailing school in the U.S. Although their reputation was established with their performance sailing programs, they have built up a wonderful cruising program over the years. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Here's a link to J-World Annapolis.. cruising page.
http://www.jworldannapolis.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=4&id=18&Itemid=83

But you might check the other locations also. http://www.jworldschool.com/

Steve L22188 · Nov 11, 2009

Try Bluewater and/or Colgate

I took a 3-day class from Colgate on Stockton Lake in Missouri in about 1994 or 95. These classes were on a 23-24 footer with no engine -- it was a real education in sail trim and handling.

And, I took a week long, combined two ASA classes (as I recall -- coastal cruising and bareboating -- but truly don't remember what the exact classes were) in 1996 from Bluewater in Ft. Lauderdale. It was terrific. Had an outstanding teacher -- tough on us when it came to learning, but still a fun guy to sail with. Sailed from Ft. Lauderdale, down into the Miami/Key Biscayne and upper Keys areas in the week we were on the boat. Bluewater still gets good ratings as a sailing school (or so their literature states).

I'd recommend both based on my experience. But the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami/Upper Keys in the winter still sounds pretty good to me!

Ed Schenck · Nov 11, 2009

It seems you are looking for a winter vacation Ron. And it will be an expensive one. The liveaboard course is gonna' cost you. I think back to my US Sailing courses and am trying to remember what I learned on the water. I was new to big boats but had been on the water my whole life. So I guess it was mostly about MOB drills, safety, getting lower insurance rates, and eventually having my "The Moorings" card. It states "You are qualified to skipper any Moorings bareboat yacht worldwide". In other words a little sailing but mostly book work and tests. Certainly necessary but hardly prepared me for the Lake Erie storms or Gulf stream deliveries. For that you need to sail your boat.

Napa Ed · Nov 11, 2009

I bristle at the idea of learning from friends. Like learning to snow ski with your buddies. Unless they're professional ski instructors there isn't any curriculum. I always advocate taking lessons. Yes, it will cost money but you'll probably get insight faster than farting around on your own. I say go for it. The only school nearby that I know won't take you offshore if you're a first timer. The classes are tiered, so you start off with boat handling in the marina (and they are really good, you'll never bump anything by accident again) then move up to keel boat basics. The upper lessons are coastal and celestial navigation. A pretty penny to matriculate the complete program. Kind of like going for your 100 ton license. If you're serious, it's the way to go. Also aimed at the charter crowd; owned by the local Hunter brokerage so you learn the boat, rent the boat, then buy your own. Of course you can just take the value from the lessons and move on in your own way.

adirondackbob · Nov 12, 2009

Ron, I agree with others who point out that you'll likely learn best by sailing your own boat and sailing with more experienced friends. But living in upstate NY and having taken up sailing a few years ago as a total novice, I completely understand your desire to take a sailing course. My wife and I did a weekend sailing school when we first bought our boat, and although we learned more by sailing our boat, we also gained a lot of valuable knowledge from the sailing instructor that perhaps would have taken us many months or even years to learn on our own. It was a very good way to get us started as sailors.

Partly because of that experience and for some other reasons, we took a week-long live-aboard course with Blue Water Sailing School last summer. We have sailed with friends who have much bigger boats than ours and who sail on the coast, but we learned a great deal by doing the live-aboard course that we may not have learned so quickly from friends. Yes, it's pricey, but it was a good way to gain a lot of experience and knowledge relatively fast. And we earned three ASA certifications in the process. The experience also convinced us that we were ready to move up to a bigger boat (which we've done: we recently bought a Catalina 30, moving up from our O'Day 23).

As for recommending Blue Water Sailing School, I'd give them a mixed review, mostly because of the instructor. He knew his stuff, and we learned what we went there to learn, but I'd never take another course with him. BWSS has many other instructors and courses in Florida and in the BVI. PM me if you want more details. You might also check out http://www.sailingschoolreviewer.com/.

Good luck.

Bob

Roger Long · Nov 12, 2009

This is the fellow you are looking for. He will sail with you and teach you right on your own boat so you get to know it well. Great guy, fun to be with, and impeccable credentials.

http://www.atlanticyachtdelivery.com/

DougM · Nov 12, 2009

I did a J-World racing course for a week on Chesapeake Bay with my son. We did it fairly early in the spring. The weather was warm by "up-north" comparison and it was an outstanding course. They were doing weekend cruising courses at the time and the participants were quite enthusiastic too about those too.

My wife did a Womanship course a couple of years ago in September and was very impressed. Her boat handling skill and confidence increased considerably as a result.

Minhala · Nov 18, 2009

In April 2008 I did one of those intensive classes from Fair Winds Sailing down in the Virgin Islands on a 45' Leopard catamaran. It was an awesome vacation and I learned a lot but it was too much at one go. (As I suspected before I went) I chose that class as I had been looking at 40-45' cats as my potential retirement boat in a few years. One good thing I learned was that a 45' cat is a lot of boat, and more than I'm going to need or want. But it was a great experience and an awesome vacation.

Last May I took an ASA 101 class with the Maryland School of Sailing out of Rock Hall and thought it was fantastic. After 3 days of concentrating on the basics I felt a lot better. I highly recommend that school. I also wanted a liveaboard class and many of them in Annapolis are not. Of course, on that course you'll never leave the Chester River so it's probably not what you were looking for. They do also have coastal and ocean training classes however. I keep looking at their DelMarVa circumnavigation class....that sounds pretty interesting.

Good luck in your search.
Gail

Dan Johnson · Nov 18, 2009

Ron...

if you want to save some airline money, hop on I-95 south and get off at Harve de Grace in Maryland. Find Tidewater Marina and you'll find Baysail, their charter and ASA rated school. Check them out on the web.

As someone else suggested, the best known Chesapeake Bay sailing school is Annapolis Sailing School.

You can't go wrong with either one.

Todd Smith · Nov 18, 2009

My wife and I have taken courses at J World, both in Key West, FL and Newport, RI

Key West was a basic keelboat in a J24, good if you want to practice actual boat handling such as trimming, steering, tacking, etc on a responsive boat.

Newport was a 3 day cruising course on a Benetau 42ish. We sailed and motored around RI waters and practiced sailing, navigation, anchoring and docking. The longer cruising courses might include a trip out to Block Island.

All of these types of courses tend to have a mix of student experience levels, and if the students are mis-matched, you can be frustrated with the pace of learning. You don't want to take a course on skills that you already have mastered, but if you take too big a leap forward you could end up wasting your time and money.

By the way, we did the Key West course during the week on New Years, which is a pretty fun time to be there

Have fun

Greg · Nov 19, 2009

Ron,
Since you own a Hunter it might be helpful to know that three of the sailing schools mentioned in this thread use Hunter sailboats in their school, Offshore Sailing School, Annapolis Sailing School and Baysail.
Greg