Introduction and some beginner questions

[thinwater]

Regarding learning on a dinghy.

The merits of learning on a small boat

The main advantage of dinghy sailing is learning the feel of waves and wind on an instinctive level. No need for instruments and you can feel what is coming next. The second is that you learn what things feel like as the weather progresses from nice to fresh to too damn strong. You never get that expereince in a cruising boat, if you are lucky, but luck runs out. A dinghy teaches you what it feels like just before thing go pear shaped, because a small craft advisory is all it takes, not a full gale. How often do we hear of new cruising sailors, without a solid dingy background, becoming overwhelmed by conditions that a dinghy-trained sailor would consider strong but manageable? They take down sails, try to motor, the motor dies or can't cope, and they call it in. Finally, a dinghy teaches you respect for the sea. Like The Old Man and the Sea, a thunderstorm will teach you what it is to be both beaten and destroyed, without real danger or expense. When I hear about a boat getting knocked down in a squall with the sails still up, I read inexperience, not evil squall. Hubris.

Sailing a cruising boat in nice weather doesn't teach you how to sail. Sailing a boat that is pushed to the edge of the envelope teaches that. I don't trust a sail on watch on a multihull, in any kind of weather, that does not have beach cat expereince. Just sayin'. Sailing tender boats teaches attentiveness and sensitivity.

IMO, learning the systems--winches, electronics, hoisting--is trivia by comparison to sail trim, balance, and weather management.

 

[ylop]

I learned to sail in dinghies so I like your suggestion it makes me a better sailer! I’m not really convinced though:

The main advantage of dinghy sailing is learning the feel of waves and wind on an instinctive level.

Yes, but it takes a LOT of dinghy sailing to get to that level. People think it doesn’t either because they learned as children when we are good at picking stuff up, or because they’ve never added up the hours they spent and the many different boats and conditions they learned in. My view is that my real “feel” for the wind actually came when I tried windsurfing.

as the weather progresses from nice to fresh to too damn strong. You never get that expereince in a cruising boat, if you are lucky, but luck runs out.

I think you can get that experience on a cruiser, but you might also never really get that experience on a dinghy. You could spend a week on a nice sunny beach holiday somewhere and never cross the line nor have to make that decision for yourself as if it’s likely to stretch a lot of the people they will call it off.

How often do we hear of new cruising sailors, without a solid dingy background, becoming overwhelmed by conditions that a dinghy-trained sailor would consider strong but manageable? They take down sails, try to motor, the motor dies or can't cope, and they call it in.

To be honest - very rarely. Perhaps we sail in different waters. Conditions on my day skipper were “interesting” and I’ve often remarked that it was the best training possible as otherwise we would probably chicken out in moderate weather in case it got worse but now we know what that will be like. Those were conditions where all dinghy sailing would be cancelled at any club/training centre I’ve been involved in.

Finally, a dinghy teaches you respect for the sea.

Not sure it does in a typical U.K. dinghy teaching setting. It teaches you that when you screw up there’s someone in a RIB who comes to help you fix it. Then you move to a yacht and you are all on your own!

IMO, learning the systems--winches, electronics, hoisting--is trivia by comparison to sail trim, balance, and weather management.

But so much of a dinghy is about balance and moving around and it’s largely irrelevant on a big boat. Sail trim is a useful skill, but not all dinghies translate - travellers, Genoa cars, even more than one sail are not found on many dinghies! Back stays and practical reefing systems are even rarer. Weather management rarely too much of a concern when you can still see the clubhouse - compared to making sure you can make it back to work on Monday.

I’m not saying there’s no value in dinghy sailing, I have a friend who “learned to dinghy sail” as an adult and is actually pretty good at sail trim, helming and understanding the wind. But she learned on Neilson beach holiday where someone else handled the rigging etc, and warm water awaited any mistake! She’s never tied a boat to a pontoon and needed quite a bit of watching so she didn’t put her hands/fingers in places that could hurt. But she can actually sail a dinghy and has learned a feel for the wind - but she certainly isn’t ready to jump in a yacht and work the rest out for herself.

 

[Sea Change]

If the OP has aspirations to live aboard full time, then unless he has very deep pockets he'll likely find that he needs to spend much more time learning to fix stuff than his to actually sail the boat.

Sailing is easy. If you're a complete berk you might run aground on a charted shoal, or leave full sail up as a huge black cloud thunders towards you. But most people who are paying a bit of attention have enough self preservation to not make those kinds of mistakes.
Getting the boat to end up at the destination you had in mind is generally pretty easy, especially if you don't mind using your engine.

What's much less easy is fixing stuff. Jammed sails and lines, recalcitrant engines, intermittent electrical gremlins, persistent rainwater leaks.

Good though they are, the RYA don't really teach you much about these things. But the good news is you can adopt that DIY problem solving mindset without even leaving your house. Start servicing the car yourself. Fix the bike and the mower. Don't delegate your problems to other people, and learn how to do everything yourself.

(Those with deeper pockets than mine may choose to ignore the above, but we can't all afford to be credit card captains).

 

[Mistroma]

Sailing is easy. If you're a complete berk you might run aground on a charted shoal, or leave full sail up as a huge black cloud thunders towards you. But most people who are paying a bit of attention have enough self preservation to not make those kinds of mistakes.

Just watched someone run hard aground this very minute in Messolonghi. Not even a charter yacht.

They didn't do anything for quite a while and then put out the Genoa. Now driven even more into shallow water.

Not much I can do as my dinghy and outboard both stowed. It's 37C in the shade and blowing about 25kts. Not being blown on shore so should lay a kedge from stern and winch back to deeper water whilst trying to heel. Bet they just wait for help.

Of course charter boats take this sort of thing to a whole new level.

I agree on DIY and hate letting anyone else fix things. Just going below now to try fixing my AIS transponder.