Sailing videos for beginners by a beginner. Could you help me make one?

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Manuel_Hung

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It has been said, on here, that the RYA training syllabus doesn't prepare people for good sailing.
I am a beginner and have been diligently working through my day sailor theory and wobbling dinghy's around at my local lake. One of the main parts of my training is coming onto this forum. I ended up in a discussion with a friend of mine and was mentioning the merits of the forum. I commented 'If I could get some of those guys to train me, I'd be sailing around the world in two years' (probably a little optimistic :o). Then I started thinking... Why not just ask and see what I get.

I want to do some videos for other new comers. I know some of you take sailing in your stride, but being out at sea is an intimidating prospect for many people starting out(I certainly find it intimidating). So I was hoping that you guys could help me get started on the videos and hopefully I can provide you with some entertainment, take some criticism, improve my sailing, and show other beginners what it's like to be a beginner.

Once the first video is done then i'd like to keep them going until I'd met a sailing standard (You guys can set the benchmark).

So, what things should I put in my first video? Boat shopping? Sailing a dinghy? Courses that are available? Me, acting like a proper Muppet at the helm? Talking to some of you in the flesh?

Any help would be gratefully received :D
 
Manuel_Hung said:
being out at sea is an intimidating prospect for many people starting out (I certainly find it intimidating)...
Click to expand...

If that feeling goes away, be afraid.

Interesting project, but most people learn better from seeing and doing. But a good starting point might be what all the bits on a boat are called, and what they do; with demonstrations.
 
Huge subject. You'll never engage everyone's (or even a majority's) attention, as they are all looking for different things.

I'm sure the replies you will get with various suggestions will demonstrate that.
 
Hi Manuel

If you want to look at some good videos have a look at the ones Duncan Wells of Westview Sailing has put up on YouTube - I quite like them (No connection to Duncan or his school)

Cheers

Gerry
 
Thanks for the comments. I'll take a look at Duncan Wells tutorials, hopefully they will help.

It's the bit after the exams that I was hoping to concentrate on.
So, let's say I've had some training, bought my boat and I'm ready to go. What should be my next benchmark? I'd love to sail a couple of thousand miles in one go, but there is a dirty big gap between DS and an ocean passage. Whenever I ask people what I need to do to prepare I always get quite wishy washy answers ranging from 'Nobody should sail that kind of distance on their own' to 'Sod it, get yourself a year under your belt and just go for it'. I believe that posting my sailing up on here would get me plenty of healthy criticism. You lot can be vicious when people make mistakes.... I want that critique pointed in my direction, it will make me safer and I'll end up travelling greater distances. I think it could interesting for some people as well.
I don't want to be pottering around, 50 miles from my home mooring, for the rest of my life. I want adventure, and I want it to be hard. I want you to make it hard for me and I want everyone to watch *snigger*
 
I have to agree with that.
The RYA DS and Coastal Skipper content is very much geared towards chartering a boat and going weekend/week long sailing. And to be honest it is great for that.
What those courses and exams are not so good at is giving you the skills to do the things which aren't everyday tasks. The things you need to do when you own a boat rather than charter. (Something these forums are really good at.) There are lots of examples ranging from how to take a mainsail from a bag on the pontoon and attach it to the mast+boom, to getting an idea of what kit a well found yacht would have on board, or understanding how to sail a ketch rig.
To be honest I expect most of this grows a bit at a time through experience and the secret to success is to push your boundaries - but not to hard or fast!

Still though it sounds like what you don't yet understand (and I'm in the same place) is how much stuff you really need to know beyond what the RYA teach you.
 
I think if making videos you will never be able to cover the myriad of random ways that different boats do things so whilst you could certainly make a video on how to feed a sail into the track on a boom etc you would need to point out that this is one way of doing it.

Equally things like what kit, probably best pointing to things RYA guides, but also the equipment lists for various racing bodies, MCA etc. Again, worth pointing out that these are one view but that their are others.

I admire your ambition here but this is one of those cases of trial and error with a lot of things!
 
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