Dinghy or Yacht

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Redrooster

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Hi all, new here. Which is the best starting point to learn to sail?. Dinghy or small yacht?. Intent on some costal cruising in the near future. Learn from an experienced sailer or an Rya course?
Kind regards
 
Welcome! The answer depends on what kind of person you are - some get it and some don't - and how deep your pockets together with your willingness to "stand in a cold shower tearing up £50 notes".
I would recommend joining a club, ideally with a mix of dinghies and yachts, and making yourself known as available.
 
Another welcome from me, too ?

I don’t think that there is a right or wrong answer to either of your questions. The wealth of experience from within this forum will probably confirm that “everything goes”. Sailing is a broad church and there’s room for all.

If your intent is near term, coastal cruising, it makes sense to follow a structured training path. Fred at the local club may well have been sailing all of his life but may not have the skills to pass on his knowledge in a structured, comprehensive and progressive way.

Sailing a dinghy is similar but not the same as sailing a small yacht. Many learn the basic skill of sailing a dinghy and then progress to a larger vessel. There is a well reasoned argument for doing this but plenty will argue against it.

However you decide to dip a toe in the water, I hope you enjoy it and that it opens a whole new world of adventure. Fair winds.
 
Welcome to the forum.

Many 'insist' that you start in a dingy as it give you a greater wind sense. Fine if you enjoy having a wet bum and believe the twaddle about feeling the wind. I don't and took the small yacht route. If you want to sail a yacht spend your beer tokens on training on a yacht.
 
No reason not to do both. You can join a dinghy sailing club for a 100 to 200 and sail the club boats for a bit of fun. They wil also run rya L1 and L2 courses very cheaply and within the space of a few weekends you will be happily sailing round on your own. At the same time commence rya day skipper theory and look for opportunities on big boats.
 
I agree with the others, that it doesn’t matter. Dinghies are a lot cheaper than yachts and more things happen more quickly, so you are likely to learn a lot quicker. There is a high degree of skill required to race in a dinghy, especially the more advanced classes at a high level, and there is a lot of truth in the saying that only someone who has mastered dinghy sailing really knows how to sail. If you start in a yacht, you may be one of four students on the course and have to take turns during maybe a week. This likely to be of more benefit if you have already covered the basics. Another traditional way is to learn what is necessary in a dinghy and then join a flotilla, typically in the Med, where you can have fun with the family and enjoy yourselves while wrecking someone else’s boat.
 
We bought a Wayfarer dinghy to learn to sail.

The advice we were given is that a Wayfarer has all the sails and controls a yacht has.

If sailing with a partner don't try to learn to sail in cold unpleasant weather. Remember that sailing is for pleasure not to prove how tough you are.
 
Wow folks, they were very quick replies. Thank you. I definitely am not interested in racing. Late 50's. Not keen on fishing myself out of the drink on regular occasions. If I was to go for the yacht, it may be a daysailer. To save the mooring fees. Dinghy, an Enterprise or a wayfarer I was thinking. It would be nice to have a night away with one. What feedback can you fine people offer me?
Kind regards
 
Redrooster said:
Hi all, new here. Which is the best starting point to learn to sail?. Dinghy or small yacht?. Intent on some costal cruising in the near future. Learn from an experienced sailer or an Rya course?
Kind regards
Click to expand...
Is budget a key factor?
If not I would recommend doing some dinghy sailing in warm waters (eg the Med) to learn the sailing bit and have fun, then a week course on a yacht. Then decide thereafter based upon what you find suits you.
 
I have sailed both - indeed, I'm looking forward to supplementing my "big boat" sailing with a dinghy next year! But the two are very different experiences. A dinghy reacts to changes in wind, sail trim, sea state and everything you can think of almost instantly - you have to respond almost instinctively to changes. As others have said, it teaches you an awareness of wind and sail-trim. A yacht, by contrast, is slower (though not always!) to react, and you have more time, and, of course, you don't have to shift your weight to balance the boat; capsizing isn't likely. But it brings in a whole new dimension of navigation and seamanship; a yacht is big enough to cause damage to others if mishandled in close quarters!

Further, both types vary enormously within the type. I have just acquired (for sentimental reasons!) a Heron, a type that I sailed as a young teenager. That's a dinghy that you need never capsize unless you're really sailing it as hard as it will go; sail it conservatively and it will look after you. You sail IN a Heron, not ON one! But a Laser is a very different experience. Similarly yachts - my Moody 31 monohull is a very different kettle of fish to a multihull, or an out and out racing type. It's a fastish cruiser; it's safe and sea-kindly, but capable of long passages.
 
You may find the general guidance from the Royal Yachting Association worth reading.
Start Boating

Many clubs run a Try a Boat scheme and it could be worth checking out your local clubs. Most are in May at the beginning of the main season.

Redrooster, if you let us know where you are based and where you intend to sail, then you should get specific recommendations.
 
ridgy said:
No reason not to do both. You can join a dinghy sailing club for a 100 to 200 and sail the club boats for a bit of fun. They wil also run rya L1 and L2 courses very cheaply and within the space of a few weekends you will be happily sailing round on your own. At the same time commence rya day skipper theory and look for opportunities on big boats.
Click to expand...

Coming cold to the sport that's similar to what we did: Signed up for a basic dinghy sailing course (half a dozen evenings) with a group run by an instructor/examiner at the local reservoir - we didn't join the club itself - where we learnt the basic principals of 'how to sail' and see if we actually liked it/wanted to continue; as I recall the whole course was less than half the price of a sail training weekend in a keel boat. With that under our belts (do it in summer) and having agreed that sailing might be fun, we helped filled in the following winter's evenings by doing the RYA's Day Skipper theory course at a local night-school class - again costing less than if we'd instead spent those nights in the pub . By then we knew we wanted to take it further and had attained the first idea at least of what we were doing, before we moved on to and committed to the cost of the Day Skipper practical course.

That worked for us, and may or may not suit you? But don't get stressed about it, like most things sail-related, there's no right or wrong way to go about learning and I would only recommend that you be rather wary of advice from anyone who tries to tell you that there is 'only one way' (invariably their own) to do anything on a boat.
 
Learning to sail on non tidal waters i.e. reservoirs or lakes may be worth considering. Tides can come later. Often the water is less bumpy too and more chances of being local.

Sailing without the need of an engine is a big confidence booster. About 6 Saturday or Sunday afternoons dinghy RYA course in early spring should do it. After about 4 afternoons they may let you out on your own. Then you can buy a small cruiser if you still like the idea.
 
Redrooster said:
Wow folks, they were very quick replies. Thank you. I definitely am not interested in racing. Late 50's. Not keen on fishing myself out of the drink on regular occasions. If I was to go for the yacht, it may be a daysailer. To save the mooring fees. Dinghy, an Enterprise or a wayfarer I was thinking. It would be nice to have a night away with one. What feedback can you fine people offer me?
Kind regards
Click to expand...
I would avoid an enterprise in the interests of keeping dry and I would also avoid a wayfarer unless you have a stout friend to help you launch and sail it. They are very heavy.
If you tell us where you hope to do your sailing it would help and someone might invite you out. If it is on the sea then I would forget dinghies completely except to learn on at a club.
 
I did my first sailing in a GP14 and did a little more over the years before doing some yacht sailing as an adult. The nothing more than the occasional sail on a friends boat for years… Then the Admiral and I did a 2 week competent crew/day skipper course in Corfu: the idea was driven by the Admirals wish to avoid UK for a significant birthday.
We so enjoyed the course that we bought a yacht and lived on it for 6 years, tramping round the Med.
Based on this experience, I’d suggest doing a practical course in warmer climes. That’ll allow you to focus on the sailing rather than surviving the weather. But seeking experience at a club is also worth looking at if pennies are tight.
 
Sandy said:
Welcome to the forum.

Many 'insist' that you start in a dingy as it give you a greater wind sense. Fine if you enjoy having a wet bum and believe the twaddle about feeling the wind. I don't and took the small yacht route. If you want to sail a yacht spend your beer tokens on training on a yacht.
Click to expand...

Agree wholeheartedly with this. My progression over 10 years or so is 23ft, 26ft and then my current 31 footer.
 
I'd agree with those who say to learn to sail on a dinghy, in spite of the fact that I didn't. A club is a good way to start. Local is good, having dinghies for members to use and training is better. If you decide you prefer cruising, a Comp Crew course plus a willingness to muck in with all the hard work will soon open doors to sail on all sorts of boats.

Trailer sailers may be cheaper to run than bigger cruisers, provided you can find places to launch for free - they exist, but not everywhere. A small cruiser on a swinging mooring doesn't have to cost a lot more than humping your boat home every weekend, especially if this means you need to upgrade your car. The other thing is that rigging the mast and packing it away can get old pretty quickly. Plenty of folk end up leaving their boat on a swinging mooring because of this. The big advantage of a trailer is that you can decide I want to sail in Devon this year, so load up kit and caboodle and head south. Next year, Scotland; load up and head north.
 
One comment from a yachtmaster examiner was that in any sailing exam on a yacht they can always tell those that have dinghy sailing experience as soon as they have to tack up a river.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
I have sailed both - indeed, I'm looking forward to supplementing my "big boat" sailing with a dinghy next year! But the two are very different experiences. A dinghy reacts to changes in wind, sail trim, sea state and everything you can think of almost instantly - you have to respond almost instinctively to changes. As others have said, it teaches you an awareness of wind and sail-trim. A yacht, by contrast, is slower (though not always!) to react, and you have more time, and, of course, you don't have to shift your weight to balance the boat; capsizing isn't likely. But it brings in a whole new dimension of navigation and seamanship; a yacht is big enough to cause damage to others if mishandled in close quarters!

Further, both types vary enormously within the type. I have just acquired (for sentimental reasons!) a Heron, a type that I sailed as a young teenager. That's a dinghy that you need never capsize unless you're really sailing it as hard as it will go; sail it conservatively and it will look after you. You sail IN a Heron, not ON one! But a Laser is a very different experience. Similarly yachts - my Moody 31 monohull is a very different kettle of fish to a multihull, or an out and out racing type. It's a fastish cruiser; it's safe and sea-kindly, but capable of long passages.
Click to expand...
Somewhat in between dinghy sailing and a heavy slow yacht is something like this:-

First 27 SE - Sailing yachts For Sale | BENETEAU

This is trailerable. Just. And is the smallest yacht with a proper marine toilet (a basic requirement for me for staying overnight at anchor).
This is the go fast version with the swing keel. There is a cheaper version with a fixed keel. Both a just about trailerable.
 
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