Learn how to sail

Learning to sail is a beautiful mix of experiences, reading, and small adventures. What are the ways to learn, whether you live on the coast or in the city?

If you are passionate about the sea, you will want to learn to sail. Before buying or renting a sailboat to travel, discover the world, or to do coastal sailing, you need to know the maneuvers, the boat, the mechanisms of the wind… Let’s see the different possibilities available to you to take sailing lessons. From dinghy sailing, in an aquatic center, to skipper, sailing instructor, onboard a houseboat, through the cruising school and sailing courses, there are many possibilities. And learning to sail at the age of 50 won’t be more complicated than practicing at the age of 15.

Boarding as a team member

The best way to learn to sail a is, as for any leisure or work, to practice and make mistakes. For water sports, it’s the same. In order to practice sailing when you don’t have a boat, you have to embark on a other people`s boats. For this, there are several solutions.

The first possibility, and probably one of the best solutions to learn the basics, is to find boarding for winter regatta training. Sailing, in a regatta, with a crew that is continually trying to perfect its maneuvers and adjustments is an excellent exercise. And you’ll learn quickly. At the same time, it allows you to sail on yachts that are more sensitive to trim and wind.

The second solution is to board an owner’s boat, in his presence. A large number of sailboat owners are, indeed, looking for company, for helping hands, to sail with. This can be for a day or a more or less long cruise. The learning process will be different than in a regatta. In addition to sailing, you will learn a lot about the boat, in the company of the skipper. And you will immerse yourself in the sailing culture; you will be able to improve quickly.

Finding boardings is simple. If you are on the spot, don’t hesitate to take a walk on the boats or visit the captain’s offices. On the internet, it`s very easy to find boats. You can search on the sites of sailing clubs, forums, associations, captain’s offices. Some sites specialize in “co-saturating” or boarding announcements.

Sailing schools

For people who don’t live near the sea and can’t get away from the weekends, it’s not always easy to learn to sail. In this case, if you want to be accompanied by professionals, there is another solution: sailing schools. Sailing schools usually offer classes with a well-defined program, a specific theme. These sessions can last from a few days to several weeks. At the same time, they allow you to sail on several sailing vessels and they know the easiest sailing boat to learn or learn how to sail. Different sailing schools often offer several levels, from beginners to advanced.

In this type of training, you will be in a more or less large group depending on the size of the boat. You can learn to sail through maneuvers, vocabulary. Still, you can also go much further, such as navigation on a map, weather routing, night sailing. By following training courses with professionals, you will be in good hands and learn the rules of the art of sailing.

Start your training on a cruise ship

And yes, why not? Before embarking on the discovery of sailing, you can familiarize yourself a little more with this universe that deserves your attention. It is not enough to take out a boat and the sails to sail successfully; you have to learn a lot of information. Working on a cruise ship can be very interesting as you will learn relevant information.

Even if you don’t want to work onboard such a boat, a simple cruise can already give you a glimpse of this world.