Sailing Skills Transfer to a Dinghy?

[soapbox440]

Question: Will dinghy sailing skills be something I should be able to pick up easily/quickly as a result of my bigger boat experiences?

With a lack of time and money I hope that playing on a dinghy down in the docklands might quench some of my sailing thirst. Dinghy sailing is not something I have ever done before although I have always fancied it with a view to cruising in coastal waters. My on the water experience amounts to my DS and about 400 hours of crewing on yachts.

According to the local club my options are:

Pay £60 and have a couple of hours of 1-on-1 tuition (rigging and getting out on the water) then potter around on my own and hopefully figure it out. It would then be £10 a session for me to play on my own each week.

Pay £170 and do a 2 day RYA 1 Basics course - This would be with others and a little more social but the concern here is that they spend a lot of time teaching me what a halyard is and diferent points of sail etc. I might feel like I didnt get my moneys worth.

I hope some of you may be able to share your thoughts on the transition between yachts and dinghys and maybe provide some opinions on an action plan!

Best,

S

 

[dylanwinter]

buy a dinghy/build a duck punt and get stuck in

the worst that can happen is that you will get wet

Dylan

 

[l'escargot]

I would go for the first option, you have some knowledge and level 1 assumes no prior knowledge.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

Yes you will probably pick them up quickly but the dinghy will be less forgiving. For example, if you habit of pinching in a keel boat you can get away with it as the momentum carries way, on a dinghy you will feel the stall come on very fast and loose way rapidly. In general terms MOB on a keel boat is to place the man on leeward, on a dinghy its to windward, because a keel boat tends to blow off and you want to drift onto the MOB, dinghy you want to avoid a capsize. Also if you are used to momentum when approaching a mooring the dinghy will stop much sooner. Positioning of persons for balance and trim are important in a dinghy if you want to control it well. Mainsheet dumping and spilling wind is more important in a dinghy to avoid a capsize, or rather its more sensitive than more important.

 

[Achillesheel]

Another vote for option one.

Most people, I would imagine, start with dinghies and then move on to bigger boats; I would guess you'll have little difficulty with the sail trim, points of sail etc but keeping the thing upright will be the challenge!

 

[ctva]

Option one.

If you can sail and understand a big boat, then the principals are basically the same EXEPT balance (and lack of a fridge for the beer). On a big boat if you make a mistake in the 5 essentials, you just heel a wee bit more or lose a bit of speed. In a dinghy if you make a mistake you either get wet or scared (or both usually) however, you will grin more.

One thing is for sure though, learning to sail a dinghy will improve your big boat sailing skills no end.

 

[Skylark]

I'm sure that there will be as many opinions are there will be posts. I believe that dinghy sailing skills transfer well to a big boat but not necessarily the other way round.

There are pros and cons to both routes you're considering. As other have said, dinghies don't take prisoners! Get it wrong, go for a swim, simples!

The advantage of a structured L1 course is you will cover the basics and this will include "the 5 essentials" in a lot of detail

If you already believe that you are reasonably proficent at making a big boat go in any direction of choice then go fo a 1:1 refresher. If you "don't know what you don't know" I'd suggest the course. Granted, L1 is very basic but will give you a sound foundation upon which to build.

I didn't learn to sail until well into adulthood (many say I still can't and who am I to argue). Kids tend to sail intuitively, adults need to be trained, IMHO.

Dinghy sailing can be extremely rewarding. Sailing one of the modern, blisteringly fast dinghies with a modicum of competence is very satisfying (and improves your open water swimming ability, too).

 

[Evadne]

Go for option 1. It is how many complete beginners learn to sail dinghies as well. (I joined the sailing club at school, crewed for ages then got given the helm. Seemples. )

One skill that won't transfer if you have a wheel steered boat is steering with a tiller. It wasn't until I started to teach Mrs Evadne to steer that I remembered just how long it took me to get the hang of it in a dinghy, aged 13.

 

[FWB]

If you are used to tiller steered yachts you will probably hold the dinghy tiller in the same way. Dinghy sailors hold the tiller Extension across their chests. I find that I can't do that and revert to my bigger boat habits.

 

[KellysEye]

>Will dinghy sailing skills be something I should be able to pick up easily/quickly as a result of my bigger boat experiences?

Yes, we did dinghy sailing after big boat sailing when we wanted son to learn to sail. We decided to do the dinghy course to show support for him and were thrown off the course after two days, we knew too much.

 

[soapbox440]

Thank you for the incredibly swift responses! I only had time to pour a coffee and i had plenty to read!

I feel drawn to he first option of the 1-on-1 tuition, with the hope that with a little practice i could go for the RYA Level 2 course to brush up in the future. Hopefully i wont develop too many bad habits. I think i am just paranoid that I will launch wrong, fall in head first and be laughed at by the 10 year olds racing around in skiffs!

 

[dansaskip]

I would advised the structured course level I course. Dingies are different beasts to yachts and harder to sail well.
I learnt on dinghies and later transferred those skills to yachts (and learned a whole lot of different ones as well).
Dylan makes a very good point about the differences in holding a dinghy tiller. The rigging and getting afloat is the easy bit which you could work out yourself but on the course you should learn more about boat balance, what to do with the centreboard on different points of sailing, as well as things you will probably never have attempted in a yacht. Lee shore landings and sailing alongside a pontoon spring to mind for instance.
Dinghy sailing is great fun and skills learnt can make you a better yacht sailor. Have fun.

 

[MissFitz]

I did the big boat to dinghy transition a few years ago, have to say I'd probably recommend doing the course - yes, some of the sailing theory will be very basic but there are different things to think about in a dinghy, & you'll need to be taken through all the rigging etc, plus it'll be more fun & sociable. And judging by my experience, you're a lot more likely to meet other adult learners on these courses than kids - in fact, they don't usually seem to put the two in the same classes.

 

[mjcoon]

I think i am just paranoid that I will launch wrong, fall in head first and be laughed at by the 10 year olds racing around in skiffs!

Just claim, in that case, that you have been told that capsize drill is more important in a dinghy than in a yacht!

Mike.

 

[Shakemeister]

One thing you might not learn on a 1:1 refresher dinghy course is stuff about launching and recovery - especially watching out for overhead power lines !

Capsize is just another point of sail in a dinghy

 

[[70521]]

Buy a dry suit.

 

[pagoda]

I would advised the structured course level I course. Dingies are different beasts to yachts and harder to sail well.
I learnt on dinghies and later transferred those skills to yachts (and learned a whole lot of different ones as well).
Dylan makes a very good point about the differences in holding a dinghy tiller. The rigging and getting afloat is the easy bit which you could work out yourself but on the course you should learn more about boat balance, what to do with the centreboard on different points of sailing, as well as things you will probably never have attempted in a yacht. Lee shore landings and sailing alongside a pontoon spring to mind for instance.
Dinghy sailing is great fun and skills learnt can make you a better yacht sailor. Have fun.

Having started off windsurfing, and subsequently got into dinghy sailing and latterly yachts, I think most of the skills are transferable, though as everybody points out, dinghies generally require more concentration than yachts. At worst, you just get wet, and the incentive to perfect a dry capsize turns out fairly strong!
I think both my dingy sailing - and yachts have improved each other as time has passed, though while I do manage to sail an asymmetric single handed, I haven't had the nerve to hoist a 70m2 gennaker on my own (yet).
I'm sure you will have a good deal of fun -you'll learn lots about aspects of boat handling under sail the which other yacht sailors almost never get to acquire.

 

[Kelpie]

It might depend on how you sail a yacht.
Do you regularly practise picking up moorings, MOB drills, coming alongside, etc under sail when yachting?
When we first moved from dinghies to yachts we did a lot of this but I must confess we have become a bit lazy about it... whilst we will still perform any manoeuvre under sail if possible/safe, we no longer go out of our way to set up the situation just for the fun of practising.

 

[Iain C]

Remember...flat is fast. This is the biggest thing that as a yachtie you are bound to struggle with.

 

[Lakesailor]

Just do it.
I did it and it was wonderfully successful.
Yes I did fall over a bit. And you do tend to bash your shins a lot in a small dinghy.

However dinghies are all different. I never capsized my Heron or my clinker dinghy. If you are getting a more tender one the first thing to do is practise capsizing in a controlled manner. Getting back in is the hardest bit for old men.