Do ex dinghy sailors make good cruising yachtsmen?

[flaming]

As a cruising sailor I’d ask at what cost? A few more degrees, but can the crew still sleep? 1/2kt faster but can they still cook?

We don’t push the boat or the crew, it’s tiring enough just being out there for a day or two!

The point is that when it comes to heavy weather that speed and point normally come because the boat is flatter and more settled.

 

[lustyd]

We don’t cruise in heavy weather! We’re sitting in a sunny port on the French coast right now waiting for the conditions to improve before leaving. French beer, wine, cheese, bread are all better than a face full of salty water

 

[flaming]

I don't doubt that for a minute that racing is not a skill developer, just that it is not needed. Skills can be developed by anyone, at any time, if they are open to learning. I can usually be found sailing, light winds, onto and off my anchor, mooring, and practising MOB from time to time on passage, it's how I keep my skills up.

For sure it's not compulsory to race to develop skills. I was a perfectly safe and competent cruising sailor before I ever was a racer.

Didn't half accelerate my learning though. And what's more it keeps me interested in getting better. If I was "just" cruising, then the skill set I had 15-20 years ago was more than adequate. I could sail, navigate, moor in strong winds and tides etc. More than enough to enjoy being on the water and sailing from A-B.

But with a competitive streak, the incentive to keep improving, to move up the fleet, drives you to look at what's next.

 

[flaming]

We don’t cruise in heavy weather! We’re sitting in a sunny port on the French coast right now waiting for the conditions to improve before leaving. French beer, wine, cheese, bread are all better than a face full of salty water

For sure, it's a leisure activity. Sort of making my point for me about what exposes you to experience more conditions and learn more though!

 

[lustyd]

Oh I’ve experienced heavy weather while cruising. I learned the lesson that sensible people avoid doing so.

 

[RupertW]

This must be another reason we fly past every cruising yacht we meet. Any dinghy sailor who can simply remain right side up can cane the arse out of an auto helm. They have their uses, but making good progress to windward isn't one of them.

And you are in your bar when we are 100 miles into the trip, upwind. Horses for courses but when it’s just one person on deck then spending the time watching, tuning and tweaking sails, eating and drinking means endurance is pretty much infinite and the boat gets there.

 

[johnalison]

You don't have to be a good dinghysailorto be a good yachtsman, but all other things being equal a good dinghy sailor is going to be a better yachtsman than a non dinghy sailor because that is a skill and a familiarity with wind, tide, boat handling that the non dinghy sailor doesn't have

I entirely agree, except that I would narrow it down to the fact that a dinghy sailor will generally be better at sailing the boat and manoeuvring it than someone who hasn't sailed dinghies, but may be missing in other qualities that are needed at sea. These might include a certain caution, the willingness to take in the niceties of navigation, weather lore and administration, and the sort of personality that allows him or her to work with other crew members.

 

[oldbloke]

You are not wrong. A keen young hotrod who has Only sailed dinghies is unlikely to be a good cruising yachtsman. But a calm mature adult who has yachting AND dinghy experience has knowledge, skills and instincts that someone who has only ever sailed yachts doesn't have. There are p.enty of numpties, idiots and tyrants in both camps. But all things being equal....

 

[DownWest]

I am in the camp that starting in dinghys gives a good insight into the way things work, as they are very 'immediate' Which then helps as one moves on into bigger boats, where things are less 'immediate' but a lot heavier.

In my case: Started at age 3 in a 12 ft, at 6 yrs, was allowed out in it alone. Then into cruisers at 16, 21 and 27ft , usually racing..
Bit later.. not fussed when sailing a classic 36ft. And managing a 70ft.

 

[Slowtack]

Yes and No...

 

[thinwater]

IME, ex-dingy sailors have a leg up on knowing how to expect a boat to handle in very strong conditions. A dinghy sailor's gale is a small craft advisory. Many cruisers have no idea how to push a boat, because they've never had to. They've never pushed a boat to the edge of the envelope. If the engine fails, they don't have a heavy weather fall back. Dinghy sailors feel overwhelmed by the weather on a regular basis; survival conditions are common place.

Dinghy sailors understand:

• Sheeting out, and that a sheet watch is serious business.
• Steering for balance off the wind. When to bear off, bearing off preemptively, and when bearing off is not going to be enough. You learn helming with a chute up in a dinghy. You learn when things are about to go pear-shaped.
• Specific to multihulls, a good beach cat sailor has a MUCH better feel for capsize, pitch poling, and what it feels like before that happens. I would never be comfortable letting a person without considerable beach cat experience (and I don't mean the new water-down roto-molded toys) helm a cruising cat in really heavy conditions, or when over canvassed for fun or other reasons.

Dinghy sailors do not know how to deal with winches, high forces, reefing, striking sail, drogues, anchoring, and the like. No experience. Fixing and jury rigging. Cruising is a separate skill, not as much related to pure sailing.

The best background is both. Since it is ... strange ... to go back to dinghies after sailing bigger boats, I always suggest starting there, if only for a season. Even older people.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

IME, ex-dingy sailors have a leg up on knowing how to expect a boat to handle in very strong conditions. A dinghy sailor's gale is a small craft advisory. Many cruisers have no idea how to push a boat, because they've never had to. They've never pushed a boat to the edge of the envelope. If the engine fails, they don't have a heavy weather fall back. Dinghy sailors feel overwhelmed by the weather on a regular basis; survival conditions are common place.

Dinghy sailors understand:

• Sheeting out, and that a sheet watch is serious business.
• Steering for balance off the wind. When to bear off, bearing off preemptively, and when bearing off is not going to be enough. You learn helming with a chute up in a dinghy. You learn when things are about to go pear-shaped.
• Specific to multihulls, a good beach cat sailor has a MUCH better feel for capsize, pitch poling, and what it feels like before that happens. I would never be comfortable letting a person without considerable beach cat experience (and I don't mean the new water-down roto-molded toys) helm a cruising cat in really heavy conditions, or when over canvassed for fun or other reasons.

Dinghy sailors do not know how to deal with winches, high forces, reefing, striking sail, drogues, anchoring, and the like. No experience. Fixing and jury rigging. Cruising is a separate skill, not as much related to pure sailing.

The best background is both. Since it is ... strange ... to go back to dinghies after sailing bigger boats, I always suggest starting there, if only for a season. Even older people.

We still sail dinghys regularly, as well as the tri and a classic dayboat. The comparison in say, 25kn of wind is as you say. The absolute limit in a dinghy, uncomfortable on the dayboat, they roll like a pig downwind, but in a 30ft cruiser, even a flighty one like a Dragonfly, 25kn is just a bit noisy. You reef, and the boat behaves much as it does at 15kn. A little care not to be stopped by a wave while tacking, maybe.

 

[johnalison]

I hadn’t sailed a dinghy for many years other than an afternoon on a friend’s Mirror, but other friends got a Topper for their daughter and I messed around in it one afternoon, when I realised what fun it could be; the directness of the control compared to a cruiser brought it all back to me. From what people say, you would think dinghy sailing was some kind of penance.