Knowing nothing to solo sailing ?

[ross84]

Hi all,

I have virtually no experience but I'm massively enthusiastic to learn, I have some financial flexibility, no debt, no kids, etc. My objective is learn how to sail as fast as possible, buy a yacht - live on it for a while and maybe get qualified and even change career as a skipper, sailing instructure, etc. I've had a really diverse, nomadic life and I can't adapt back to normal life - I've just turned 35.

So I've looked at some fast-track courses. I've already booked dinghy lessons at my local sail club to learn the basics, and I'm open to courses. However, I learn best by myself and by making my own mistakes. I tried going out with the local yacht club but got shouted at a lot and it made me nervous.

My question being- I have the ambition, I even have some money, but what's the quickest/most effective way to get myself out there sailing solo without losing my boat or having to be rescued? I'm aiming to sale to Ireland solo. How fast can this be achieved realistically?

Any advice would be great!
Ross

 

[Kukri]

Many of us learned in just that way. I certainly did. Very few of us lost boats or had to be rescued.

Can you tie a bowline behind your back?’ Get a bit of cord and practice until you can.

Read lots of books, watch lots of videos, buy the magazines. RYA courses are excellent but expensive so to make the best use of each course, read around the syllabus first.

You can get there in six months.

 

[Malabarista]

I tried to work it out myself in Southampton water with some success. Made it to the IOW in a minisail ?
However once some kind hearted bloke offered to teach me things went epic quickly. Try and crew for someone else and listen when they shout. If you can shut up and muscle in a race you will learn fast

 

[Kukri]

I tried to work it out myself in Southampton water with some success. Made it to the IOW in a minisail ��
However once some kind hearted bloke offered to teach me things went epic quickly. Try and crew for someone else and listen when they shout. If you can shut up and muscle in a race you will learn fast

Sound advice.

 

[scruff]

Some of us learned from our dads, who learned from their dads right back throughout time. Others learned the fast track way.

If I were in your shoes, id book myself onto a competent crew weekend course. If you still like it at the end, book yourself onto a week-long dayskipper course. Tend towards the boat based ones - you can do shore based courses over the winter.

These will give you the basics of how to sail a boat without killing yourself.

To actually learn how to sail, trim the sails and get the boat going, there is a lot to commend time in dinghies...

 

[lpdsn]

So I've looked at some fast-track courses. I've already booked dinghy lessons at my local sail club to learn the basics, and I'm open to courses. However, I learn best by myself and by making my own mistakes. I tried going out with the local yacht club but got shouted at a lot and it made me nervous.

Try a few more boats and a few more clubs until you find one where you fit in. Non-racers think there's a lot of shouting on racing boats but racers know that shouty boats don't win.

You can learn by trial and error but it can be very slow and you can end up with engrained bad habits. Best to learn from other people - try a few as some skippers are better than others.

A lot of the self-taught brigade denigrate the RYA courses but they're generally a pretty good way of learning - and you can usually spot those that have been taught properly pretty quickly. Doing the individual courses as it suits your budget and time is one way - zero to hero courses are expensive and can leave you with gaps in your experience but if you have more spare cash than spare time they are an option.

My question being- I have the ambition, I even have some money, but what's the quickest/most effective way to get myself out there sailing solo without losing my boat or having to be rescued? I'm aiming to sale to Ireland solo. How fast can this be achieved realistically?

I'd say learn to sail first then learn to do it with fewer crew then none. Solo sailing requires you to be thinking well ahead of the game, until you can do that having a couple of crew on board makes it easier to get out of trouble.

As for getting to Ireland, where are you starting from? You should be able to do Cornwall to Kinsale or Cork in 24 hours ish. North Wales to Dublin about 12 to 15 hours. Easier crossing the Irish Sea via the IoM. Portpatrick to Belfast Lough can be done in about 4 hours.

 

[ross84]

Thanks all - I'm based in Liverpool atm.

 

[Poignard]

Unless you go out in bad weather you are most likely to get into a mess in marinas or when trying to moor or anchor.

Here's a good book to buy, there's also some accompanying videos.

http://westviewsailing.co.uk/stress-free/

Also, if you can find them, the excellent series of booklets by John Goode entitled "Handling Under Power" and "Handling Under Sail" (illustrated perfectly by Dick Everitt)

 

[ross84]

Many of us learned in just that way. I certainly did. Very few of us lost boats or had to be rescued.

Can you tie a bowline behind your back?’ Get a bit of cord and practice until you can.

Read lots of books, watch lots of videos, buy the magazines. RYA courses are excellent but expensive so to make the best use of each course, read around the syllabus first.

You can get there in six months.

Thanks for the encouragement Minn - already starting with the books, videos, etc.

 

[Tomahawk]

OK... Help us out a bit... where in the world are you? This is the internet and you really can be anywhere the entire world so it does help to give some hint on location! Even if only to point you to folks local to you.

Sailing is a combination of science, physical ability, law, aerodynamics, practicality, meteology, experience and good luck...! There is so much you can learn, but equally so much you can do without.

 

[Uricanejack]

If you have no experience I would agree wit the doing the RYA comp crew course. As a good start.
If on the other hand you have a little bit of experience or you are willing to do some pre reading and prep.
Do the Day skipper course.
For experience after this there is the yacht club or charter options or by a small cheep and cheerful 30 year old boat 25ft give or take a foot or two and go sailing. A wee boat will cost less than a full fast track course and you can sell it again.
Get some experience sailing a wee boat then if still interested pursue the various levels of Yachtmaster.

If you want to do the fast track thing go for it. Better to find out if you like sailing first. Then consider it. Decide why you want to do it first.
For me the pleasure of sailing is doing it on my own at my own pace. I used to enjoy being an instructor. I met lots of nice people, sailed lots of nice boats. Trouble its often seasonal, low paid, casual work. I did for it fun.
If you find you enjoy sailing. Instructing can be a very enjoyable way to go sailing.

Working on supper yachts isn't gong to be like sailing. I've never had the desire, I liked sailing.

I often wonder just how may people who do these fast track course find it works out. Leading to working on supper yachts.

I did meet a young man recently who had done a power boat level 2. I think. (I'm not familiar with The RYA power system) with a big Solent sailing school. He had worked for a few months as a deck hand on a big yacht.
The advantage of going to the big school was the contact with employers.

If you do decide to pursue this go to a well reputed school with contacts. You don't need to do a full ocean YM to get started.

 

[lpdsn]

OK... Help us out a bit... where in the world are you?

He said Liverpool in post #7.

 

[lpdsn]

Thanks all - I'm based in Liverpool atm.

I've no direct experience of Liverpool. A mate kept his boat there for a while but I think it is out of the water now for an extensive refit. Tides are very strong and it is a long way out of the Mersey (much further than you might think if you haven't looked at a chart yet), so it's not an easy place to start sailing. A lot of people from around the Liverpool area end up keeping their boats in North Wales, so try asking around clubs there. There are marinas at Conwy and there used to be one at Holyhead, which they'll no doubt rebuild one day. Also Phwhelli.

You could definitely sail from any of those across to Dublin (usually Dun Laoghaire or Howth), but the tides are quite strong and the're banks off Dublin Bay so you'd want to be confident in your navigation before attempting that. I'd done DL to Holyhead in <12 hours but better to allow 15 or 18.

You could try getting on one of the boats that does the ISORA race series.

 

[ross84]

Being a RYA yacht instructor is low paid? I would have thought differently - casual suits me however. How about yacht delivery? I'm not that bothered about being rich - but definitely don't want to be struggling by either. Just doing random jobs here and there would be fine by me. I can pick up decent money working at universities in the summers, which is my current job. Working on superyachts would not really suit me.

 

[ross84]

I've no direct experience of Liverpool. A mate kept his boat there for a while but I think it is out of the water now for an extensive refit. Tides are very strong and it is a long way out of the Mersey (much further than you might think if you haven't looked at a chart yet), so it's not an easy place to start sailing. A lot of people from around the Liverpool area end up keeping their boats in North Wales, so try asking around clubs there. There are marinas at Conwy and there used to be one at Holyhead, which they'll no doubt rebuild one day. Also Phwhelli.

You could definitely sail from any of those across to Dublin (usually Dun Laoghaire or Howth), but the tides are quite strong and the're banks off Dublin Bay so you'd want to be confident in your navigation before attempting that. I'd done DL to Holyhead in <12 hours but better to allow 15 or 18.

You could try getting on one of the boats that does the ISORA race series.

Thanks - there are avenues to get sailing here. Maybe I should try going back to the Yacht club - although it did seem a bit cliquey and not my scene. In the meantime, I'll pursue dinghy sailing and get competent with that. Like I say though, if I could get enough basic skills to feel confident heading out solo, I would learn quickly.

Maybe a good plan would be:

Achieve competency in dinghy sailing
Read as many books as I can in the meantime
Do a competent crew course
Buy a boat

Would that be enough? I've heard of people doing it with less...

 

[Uricanejack]

I cant give current # or RYA #.
I used to get paid 100 or 125 dollars a day back in the early 90s. Which I was happy with. Weekends and a few week long trips.
Like I said I did it for fun. Not money, My wife never accepted I was working. Life and other commitments got in the way. I might take it up again when I retire.
I expect its a bit more now. Still not probably not far above minimum wage.

Never really bothered with deliveries so I couldn't say

 

[GTom]

Being a RYA yacht instructor is low paid? I would have thought differently - casual suits me however. How about yacht delivery? I'm not that bothered about being rich - but definitely don't want to be struggling by either. Just doing random jobs here and there would be fine by me. I can pick up decent money working at universities in the summers, which is my current job. Working on superyachts would not really suit me.

As a customer, you see big numbers for deliveries and not-that-cheap ones for training. Once you added up all costs of a delivery trip (flights, supplies, business insurance, payment to the first mate, mooring costs along the way, bribes and ransom...) or being a YM instructor (~10k on trainings, a lot more on a decent school boat - which is likely larger than what you'd buy for yourself, insurances, taxes, advertisement ...) neither seem to me a goldmine.

 

[NormanS]

Many of us learned in just that way. I certainly did. Very few of us lost boats or had to be rescued.

Can you tie a bowline behind your back?’ Get a bit of cord and practice until you can.

Read lots of books, watch lots of videos, buy the magazines. RYA courses are excellent but expensive so to make the best use of each course, read around the syllabus first.

You can get there in six months.

What does being able to tie a bowline behind your back prove? As it happens, I think I've been sailing since before you were born, and still would probably struggle, but so far I've never felt the need.

 

[Uricanejack]

Thanks - there are avenues to get sailing here. Maybe I should try going back to the Yacht club - although it did seem a bit cliquey and not my scene. In the meantime, I'll pursue dinghy sailing and get competent with that. Like I say though, if I could get enough basic skills to feel confident heading out solo, I would learn quickly.

Maybe a good plan would be:

Achieve competency in dinghy sailing
Read as many books as I can in the meantime
Do a competent crew course
Buy a boat

Would that be enough? I've heard of people doing it with less...

Yep, good start anyway. Consider Day Skipper instead of Comp crew. If you do the dingy and reading. According to another thread a lot of schools teach Day Skipper and Comp crew at the same time.

 

[prv]

There are various different ways to get into sailing, all valid. Which is best depends on the person.

If you decide that "get a boat and figure it out" is your way - which it may or may not be - then my recommendation for a book is Tom Cunliffe's "Complete Day Skipper". Despite the name it doesn't really have much to do with the RYA course (though obviously they cover a lot of the same material) but is written for someone who has somehow acquired a boat despite knowing nothing of sailing. It literally starts with how to climb on board properly, has a first "lesson" of going out and motoring around your local river or harbour and back, and goes on to touch on everything from fixing dodgy engines to how to avoid annoying your neighbours when rafted up (tied to their boat instead of to a pontoon because the harbour is full).

Pete