You might do better onthe scuttlebutt forum this forum is more for old oats ,doing up of!
I thought I was being helpful……I apologizeWell that is a good start--- "Can you help me please?"-- "Yeah, bugger off somewhere else"
Thanks Wansy
OK a different forum may be better, but first; How about asking him ( I am assuming he) for a few details about himself first. He has not filled in any details about himself such as age, location, parnerships, availability, career etc so one can base advice around something more tangible.
It is a bit more useful, before saying, Join a club, or attend a sailing school - which are the classic replies. Then relating how we did it, which is not much help anyway, other than boost one's own ego.
My dad,basic stuff then lit lose to use the old sailing boat ….attheage of 15
I don’t recognise this explanation of how people learn to sail. My maternal grandfather could sail but didn’t have a boat by the time I was born, but he also wasn’t local to me. My mother never really learned. No sailors on fathers side. Parents are pretty poor teachers of many things - even if you learn some of the key things they likely don’t cover a syllabus so miss out bits.
The RYA national schemes have been around since 1970, probably there were various local initiative before that. That means that anyone who was too old for the RYA route is at least 60 (if they started to sail at 5) and probably 70+ years old.
Exactly!
Sounds simple, eh! But will a genuine beginner really know what sort of boat is best to get in and float about in? Perhaps a dinghy because they are cheap and shallow - but they are also quite likely to capsize if you don't know how to gybe them carefully - at a Med beach resort no issue, in a quiet scottish sea loch it might be, especially if poorly dressed and not knowing what to do or how to get help. Perhaps its a yacht because they are more stable - but then the loads on lines are much higher. Will they really understand where is a sheltered place - plenty of paddleboarders seem to get in trouble because they don't seem to understand wind and tide. Sheltered might mean nobody about to help or it might be really busy and people assume you know the "rules of the road".
I must be really crap at learning - because I can't recall ever watching another boat and thinking - ah they are putting out 5x scope when they anchor and don't seem to drag; or their gybes are much more controlled, I see how they depower the main before the tack; or they still have 10 fingers maybe I'm using my winch wrong; etc.
The problem with more formal training is that once you've got a basic grounding you don't want to go back and learn the basics but you don't know what you don't know so diving in too deep may not be fruitful. As a result many never do go for the more formal training. I would actually say the opposite might be better - get the basic stuff right and then it will be easier to follow the more complex stuff from books / magazines / etc or ask for tips that aren't buried in an obscure language. That celestial navigation isn't going to make much difference in the solent, but being understanding when the Redjet will and won't expect you to get out his way probably will.
I actually think that the encouraging people to just get in a boat and have a go approach makes this less likely to persist - eventually someone who is obviously clueless is going to do something which results in an inquiry with a recommendation for minimum training! The best argument for not making people do a formal and innevitable rigid basic entry qualification is that most people find a natural way to better level of knowledge anyway.
I am entertained by the fact that the guy who has a reputation for being the forum's greatest procrastinating boat buyer is lauding the idea of just buying a boat and jumping into it! I can't recall a thread here which consisted of someone saying "I'm fairly new to sailing and thinking of buying XXX" which didn't include a significant number of people saying "buy something smaller/more confortable/bigger/faster etc". I can see how anyone could be expected to be in the very initial phase of boat ownership and make good buying decisions without some actual experience of sailing. The first boat I bought wasn't that different to dinghies I'd sailed before - it was still a mistake! My latest boat would have been outright dismissed if it hadn't been something very similar was what I found to charter and I realised that it did actually work for our needs.
Drowning, head injury, lost fingers all far from impossible if you jump in without a clue!
I am quite sure you can, but much quicker to understand why than blindly copy! Observation much easier if you are sure the person you are observing is competent, but also close enough to see the detail of what they are doing - much easier actually on their boat!