Adult learning to sail Dinghy/Keelboat

[H M Murdock]

Hi All,

My current sailing experience is limited to spending days on a local lake on my dad's Wayfarer, and bailing out the family Dory with my toy policeman's helmet after the outboard packed in somewhere off the Lizard when I was about 3 years old.

At 33 I'm now keen to start sailing myself. I do appreciate that the middle of a pandemic probably was not the wisest decision, but we are where we are nonetheless. Ideally I would like to buy a 9 metre ish boat to go out at weekends and for longer coastal passages, to be moored somewhere on the North Wales Coast / Liverpool.

I understand the basic but clearly i'm not at the level of being able to go out and do the above yet. I've searched the forum and seen the very sensible sounding advice to start off on Dinghys. The issue is that I am 6 foot 3 and about 14 stone - probably not the ideal candidate for some of the craft that i've seen bobbing around the local freshwater clubs. I am based around Bury so there are a number of sailing clubs locally but I don't really want to seem as though I'm wasting their time either by turning up to find that I capsize their craft/can't duck my frame around the boom, or otherwise tel them that I don't really want to be dinghy racing long term and just want to get a bit of confidence by doing their courses. I appreciate that I might love dinghy racing but again unless they have something more Wayfarer ish I'm not sure how practical this is.

Am I probably better trying to find someone with a similar boat to the one that I want to get and (post Covid / Covid restrictions) going out and about with them to learn from doing, or taking a coastal RYA course?

Thanks all and sorry for the slightly rambling question!

 

[prv]

If you want to sail yachts and have no interest in dinghies, ignore the perennial advice to start in dinghies because that's what the people giving it happened to do fifty years ago. Yes, it probably makes you better at instinctive sail trim a little quicker, but that really isn't the most important thing in starting out yacht cruising.

You could learn from a friend (possibly a new friend) or on courses - the ideal is probably to start out with someone else for a while and then do Day Skipper to consolidate, fill in any blanks, and gain confidence that you don't have any unknown unknowns where your informal teacher was weak themselves. But whether this is practical depends on who you know or how comfortable you are finding someone you don't. There's nothing wrong with jumping straight to RYA courses if that's how it pans out.

Pete

 

[Easticks28]

I Googled sailing clubs near Bury. There seem to be a few. Certainly I would advise one of these as a first step . Starting off in dinghys teaches you so much about 'the five essentials ' , Five Essentials of Sailing - Attenborough Sailing Club These apply from the smallest child's sail boat to top end cruisers. As a Keel boat instructor, I have encountered cruising sailors of 'considerable experience' who, whilst knowing a great deal about navigation, tides etc hadn't a clue about boat handling . 'The five' came as an absolute revealation to them.

 

[Neeves]

I'd suggest that as you are getting on in years you will lack there agility to fit in with most dinghy courses. Additionally many of the skills of dinghy sailing are simply not relevant, or factorially less relevant, for keel boat sailing. You will learn to read wind, or you should, and will learn about sail trim - but you should learn that if you find an appropriate keel boat 'venue'

I'd suggest finding a yacht club that races small keel boats - 24' (I'm too far removed to suggest what is fashionable, and maybe better unfashionable, now). But I'm thinking of, showing my age, Impalas, Sonatas, J24s. Something that looks and performs like a cruising yacht, in a smaller scale. Joining a crew of a yacht with a big bowsprit might be exciting - but you are unlikely to use some of that experience if you want to cruise.

Jonathan

Sorry - I forgot - welcome to the forum. Don't apologise for a rambling thread - it was not and it would be par for the course

 

[H M Murdock]

Thanks all,

It does seem a little bit like learning to drive in a go kart. Seems like it would make perfect sense if you want to go on to drive F1 cars, but less so if you want to go bumbling down to the south of France on holiday in a Volvo estate.

I take it that Keelboats inland are going to be limited to fairly vast lakes like Windermere etc? That may not be a bad option.

 

[johnalison]

I don't know your area but appreciate that a dinghy is not going to be easy for you. I started with a Firefly when I weighed 9 stone and reckoned that for average winds a maximum of 19 stone for helm and crew was the most I could enjoy. Nevertheless, I still think that you will learn to handle a boat quicker and for less money the smaller the boat. The classroom sailing stuff is easy to add when you wish and is what winter was designed for.

As well as the boats suggested, a small day boat such as a Squib might be good for starting. Whatever your temperament, racing is the quickest way of tuning your skills, and don't ignore the usefulness of sailing in very light winds, which can be as challenging as the exciting stuff. Your idea of a 9 metre boat to start with sounds sensible, but a lot depends on your area.

 

[RJJ]

I would do dinghies, every time. As Easticks says, you'll learn so much more about the elements of actual sailing, so much more quickly, than on anything with lead underneath. You can go on an Impala or whatever, but you won't be helming. Only on a dinghy can you steer, trim the main, and act as the ballast all at the same time.

It's not "necessary" if your intention is to move on to something bigger. Nor will you learn anything about winches or engines.

I wouldn't be shy of ringing the clubs and telling them what you want to do.

There are plenty of modern quasi-Wayfarer type boats around clubs and sailing schools, which can easily accommodate someone of your physique. Then there's nothing wrong with a Laser or even a Finn, depending on your appetite to work a bit harder and maybe get wet.

 

[H M Murdock]

I'll get on to a few clubs and see whether they have anything for, as someone delicately put it, a man of a 'certain physique'

The 'ground school' might be a good winter plan too in order to keep my interest growing over the winter / covid period.

Does anyone have any experience of Great Budworth sailing club? Its where my old man learnt and albeit a bit of a drive for me if they have a good reputation that could be an option