What is a Natural Sailor

[Serin]

There is no such thing as natural sailor as it is all learned abilities. Far better to say that a person is a quick learner or even an intuitive learner. A human is not born able to sail.

And an observant sailor, perhaps, and an interested one. I've often noticed that some people who come aboard are watching everything that goes on. Others are to busy chatting, looking about them etc. to learn. And I've had some who say they want to learn but never really do, because they are too easily distracted to watch or to listen purposefully, so they pick up bits and pieces but never really connect the dots.

 

[dunedin]

I have heard "natural seaman" more frequently than "natural sailor"[/ QUOTE]

I would see these as slightly different things. A "natural sailor" would be about the art of effortlessly making a boat sail at its optimum - fast and smoothly. All about light touch and feel on the helm, sail trim and balance. Able to jump into any boat, particularly dinghies, and be fast and safe immediately.

A "natural seaman" I would see is more about the wider art of being afloat in a larger boat, handling waves, weather and balance etc. Sadly many expert and safe "seamen" are not particularly natural sailors, when it comes to sail trim etc

 

[LadyInBed]

Natural seaman - used in artificial insemination to produce natural born woman

 

[STATUE]

My good friend who taught me to sail is a Natural Sailor.

My other good friend who taught me to navigate beyond land is a Natural Sailor.

It has taken me 36 years to give a good impression of being a Natural Sailor - but I took all those years to do it by rote.

The Natural Sailor knows when to tweek the main just slightly, move the Genoa sheet car just that inch... and they never want to take the sails down.

Me, an unNatural sailor is happy with something flapping aft of the mast and forward of the mast.

What underscorred the Natural Sailor for me was Ben Ainslie stepping aboard that Yankie yacht and winning the America's for them.

Up until then I thought he was just another lucky so and so who was able to afford and enjoy sailing early in his life.

That prejudice was shattered when he won the America's Cup - the Natural Sailor just has a different brain function to the rest of us.

Go and watch the close quarter action of the Salcombe Yawls or the Troy Class at Fowey - they prove there are a lot of Natural Sailors around - sadly I am not one of them !

 

[VO5]

There is no such thing as natural sailor as it is all learned abilities. Far better to say that a person is a quick learner or even an intuitive learner. A human is not born able to sail.

Yes but there again there are people no matter what cannot step up to the plate.
One example was my mother in law, bless her.
She would not step aboard even tied up alongside.
She was absolutely terrified of water.
It was this fear of the fear that held her back.
Curiously the only time she did come aboard was when the boat was ashore being antifouled.
Going up the ladder on the stern was not a problem for her, nor was it to look down at the ground below.
But afloat ? No fear !

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I think that starting early helps! My brother and I started sailing while still in short trousers (yes, it was that long ago!), perhaps at the ages of 4 and 6 - or maybe earlier; I'm not sure. Between us we agree that he is a better sailor and I am a better navigator! But both of us sail instinctively; one reason my brother wins the "better sailor" award is that he can explain what he's doing and why he's doing it better than I can; I'm a lousy teacher of sailing because I know what to do, but in a reactive rather than proactive way. But we both learnt to sail without instruments, and we both tend to react without thinking about it to events that aren't immediately apparent to others. I'm a better navigator because I have a more instinctive grasp of the maths and geometry, but it's more because I enjoy that aspect of things and did it a lot as a teenager than anything else.