Sailing and Camping

Alright, so you've heard the call of the ocean and decided to learn how to sail! In this article we'll discuss what you can expect from your course and how to extract the maximum from it.

Here's the golden rule... preparation. Buy a simple sailing book for beginners before you start your course and read it thoroughly. The purpose of this is to become acquainted with all the sailing terms you're going to be dealing with during the length of your course. By giving yourself a head start and already knowing the names of all the ropes, points of sail and parts of the boat you'll find that you can concentrate solely on the instruction without having to worry about remembering or forgetting all this new sailing terminology.

Another fun thing would be to buy a short length of rope and start learning and practicing all the common sailing knots... preparation is the key to success in so many things.

Standard sailing courses are generally one week in duration but it's also possible to attend 2 day weekend courses too. Normally the mornings will begin in the classroom with a theoretical look at what you'll be learning during the course of the day. This is explained is simple terms which is easy to follow and by first understanding the lesson in your mind it will be easier to achieve it out on the water.

Testing is very informal and is done along the way, in fact with most schools and instructors you won't even notice you're being tested as it will all seem just part of the instruction. You'll learn how to be a useful member of crew, someone who can understand what is happening under sail and actively contribute to the sailing of the yacht.

The next stage after that should you wish to continue learning to sail will be to prepare you for the command of a yacht where you are making the decisions and a crew is obeying your directions.