Do Ex Dinghy Sailors Make The Best Big Boat Skippers?

[nortada]

Started my sailing career on big boats (Nic 55s to be precise) & as I climbed the greasy pole of experience, I was frequently told, “If you want to be any good, best you go off & learn to sail/race a dinghy”.

This I did (even took dinghy sailing qualifications) but when I came back to bigger boats (Contessa 32s) my mentors advised that they would now have to beat all of the bad dinghy habits out before I could progress further. This they preceded to do. Such was the regime I sailed with.

Both disciplines taught much but I often wonder – dinghy to off-shore or off-shore then dinghy, which is the best path to success?

 

[V1701]

Very similar recent thread here - http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?335162-Do-Dinghy-Sailors-Make-Better-Cruising-Sailors

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

No

 

[photodog]

EX-dingy sailors are SAILING GODS!!!

 

[wadget]

I think sailing the biggest variety of vessels possible make you a better sailor.

 

[epervier]

EX-dingy sailors are SAILING GODS!!!

Some get given knighthoods and get to race a cat on Topgear.

 

[savageseadog]

I would have thought so

 

[Searush]

Define success & change that god-awful font style & colour please.

Dinghy sailing is often suggested by people like myself because it is relatively cheap & you can sail on a local lake so that you focus completely on the sail setting & wind shifts. Their smallness & instant response to wind shifts & body movements are very effective at driving home the sailing skills. On a big boat you can tweak the sails all day & hardly notice the difference - the difference between just right & near enough is hard to detect, yet you will feel a dinghy accelerate.

You have a lot more time to react on a big boat & it carries its way much, much further all of which makes sailing them generally easier. I see no reason why anyone would "need dinghy habits knocking out of them" some of the World's best dinghy racers have become the World's best Americas Cup & Match Racers, they are a different sort of boat & behave differently, but the principles are just the same. I don't know of any top yacht racers that have then excelled in a dinghy class, perhaps you can enlighten me?

 

[ratbag]

i think ex mobo-ers make the best sailers

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

Sailing and Yachting are different things. Learning in a dinghy at young age gives you a solid appreciation of the wind and sails interaction, but it does not provide you with yachting experience such mooring, anchoring, navigation etc. I will put my money on a sailor who cut his teeth on dinghies to win yacht races.

 

[BigJoe]

Yes............................

Eh........

Well.........

Eh........yes......

I am an Ex Dingy Sailor

 

[Iain C]

Ex dinghy sailors make excellent yachties. Current dinghy sailors are even better...

 

[Woodlouse]

Dinghy sailing gives you a great insight in how to sail. It does not necessarily make you a good big boat sailor where more skills in managing people and navigating are also needed.

Basically it's a good start. It's not the be all and end all.

 

[onesea]

Do Ex Dinghy Sailors Make The Best Big Boat Skippers?

No, but it normally makes them better sailors.

A good skipper does not need to know much about sailing as long as he gathers a good crew about him.

 

[dylanwinter]

i think ex mobo-ers make the best sailers

ex dinghy sailors make the best moboers

it helps them to stop being surprised when yachts tack "unexpectedly"

Dylan

 

[vyv_cox]

As a straight answer to the OP, well of course, I am an ex-dinghy sailor and now a skipper.

However, when it comes to helming I'm not sure. Jill always crewed for me on dinghies and cats but she never helmed them. Now she always helms the Sadler and does it far better that I do because her concentration on heading is better than mine. Upwind she relies entirely on instruments, whereas I always use telltales and feel, but once we have established what angle to watch she keeps precisely to it. So maybe not the classic dinghy sailor's technique but very effective for the boat she is on.

 

[snowleopard]

Tom Cunliffe wrote an interesting article on this subject in YM. He related how, having started in keel boats he switched to dinghy racing. He said that in a breeze he always capsized at the windward mark because in heavy boats he could bear away before easing the sheets but a dinghy got knocked flat.

That really sums it up - a dinghy will bite if you do things badly but a keel boat will let you get away with it. OTOH a dinghy is light enough for you to be able to stop it with a hand or foot if you approach something solid too quickly.

I'd say dinghy sailing makes you an instinctively better sailor (but non dinghy sailors can catch up with thought, practice and training). Big boat sailing makes you better at berthing.

 

[pampas]

ex No2 was brilliant at helming but not much else, refused to wear glasses on deck,hence short sighted (about 100 yards) so I,kept the visual watch trimmed sails, often wondered how she could do it, when asked,replied that she could feel the wind shift on her face.
Skipper of the lugger Ibis also said the same thing as she always sails without contacts saying salt spray irrates the eye and is another very good helmsman especially when tacking.

 

[ProMariner]

Yes.

 

[blackdogsailing]

Interesting subject and one swmbo and I have long discussions about. We both have about the same mileage, but I have more ocean experience, she has more tidal. And she started at the age of 6 in dinghies. I have very little dinghy sailing experience. Sailing upwind in any yacht she is miles better than me. Doesn't need instruments, just a few woolies on the sail. When we were in the Caribbean we rented a couple of lasers for the day. She left me standing. She is good. However, sailing downwind when judging how much to come up to increase the apparent to get the best vmg is my forte. Guess who sails what in a race !!
However, this is only a small part of being a good skipper which includes people management, engineering skills, boat handling under power, navigation etc. etc.
So in my opinion, a dinghy background probably makes you a better helmsperson, makes you more wind aware and makes you concentrate more. It doesn't necessarily make you a better skipper.
Chris