Beginners homework - where should a newbie start?
Posted by baconboy-957@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 15 comments
It's official, I've signed up for sailing classes next spring. RYA Competent Crew and RYA Day Skipper certifications in preparation to liveaboard.
I live in the middle of a desert, and I have no sailing experience lol. This will be a baptism by fire and a trial run of sorts.
What at-home resources would you recommend to a complete novice? Any particularly great books, YouTube channels, or other resources?
What skills can I be practicing right now that will help me as a sailor? I know a few knots from my time as a boy scout, but are there any extra useful ones I should be practicing?
Thank you!
SVAuspicious@reddit
OP u/baconboy-957,
Welcome to sailing. In comments you mentioned ASA and RYA. I'm a huge fan of RYA. Sailing from Scotland will be lovely. My strongest recommendation is to sail as much as you can between and after courses. There is nothing better than application to improve retention and to help you ask better questions in more advanced courses. Sail, sail, sail, sail, sail.
Weather is important. Reeds (you'll have to sort out .co.uk yourself). Starpath. I have links into UKMET if you want. Start listening to the shipping forecast on BBC.
Lots of good navigation material available online including from RYA.
Be sure you know how to cook. Never too early to learn to cook on two burners and with a small oven. A good test is juggling chicken tikka misala (a three burner meal if there ever was one) on two burners. Apropos since it was invented in Glasgow.
Others have mentioned knots and hitches. Good stuff. Anyone who can braid a little girl's hair can learn to splice. Not critical but helpful.
Basic plumbing, engine maintenance, basic electrical.
You can start working on SRC and LRC any time. Quiz: why should "over and out" make you laugh?
Radar imagery interpretation (which also applies to acoustics) you can do any time. Starpath has a good course for that also, but there may be something in the UK.
kdjfsk@reddit
Get the textbook for the class and start studying it now...no reason to wait. Its probably on amazon.
Esail sailing simulator is a game you can buy one steam, its great.
yorkshireingreece@reddit
You're doing the right things with learning any theory and things like knots. It's a shame you can't get any lessons sailing dinghies or windsurfing, that's what we usually recommend to students who have no background in sailing. The sails are obviously much smaller but the theory and understanding or 'wind awareness' is the same and it really helps you pick things up quicker when you get onto a yacht.
How long have you got between the Competent Crew week and the Day Skipper practical in the spring? Are the school arranging your DS theory course next spring too? The theory course has to be done before the DS practical week.
You could sign up for the more basic RYA Essential Navigation course which you can do online and is designed for people with no previous experience - that would be a good use of some time at home this winter.
Ardent are the online school I would rate most highly from the UK, I dont know any of the American RYA schools
https://ardent-training.com/essential-navigation.html
baconboy-957@reddit (OP)
Two days lol. My partner and I were planning on doing the theory courses online before spring. I completely forgot that aspect when I made this post.
I don't believe there are any - we have the ASA over here which is similar but not quite the same. It's cheaper for us to fly out to Scotland and get our RYA certs though, so that's where we're learning.
Thank you so much, this is great info! We'll definitely be checking out Ardent for our online course work
yorkshireingreece@reddit
Ah ok, Scotland will be awesome, I loved sailing in the western isles, it was so pretty, I went with a company based in Oban years ago when I first did my Day Skipper. Great place to learn.
Yes, do check out Ardent, I was working at a boat show recently and they were on the stand next to us, they were great and had so many of their ex students visiting, they are all based in Tobermory too and work from their boats!
Candygramformrmongo@reddit
IMO, all of Tom Cunliffe's content (eg YouTube) is excellent and he has a series books that track RYA courses "The Complete Day Skipper". Reeds has a very handy Competent Crew pocket sized book (skipper also).
Pastor_Geoff@reddit
Yes. Tom Guncliffes books are great resources but the guy is insufferable.
Candygramformrmongo@reddit
Haha. He is a character. I actually enjoy him. Would be difficult to take if he didn't have such positive energy. I had a teacher/headmaster very much like him, former WWII Lancaster pilot, so maybe that's part of it.
baconboy-957@reddit (OP)
Thank you! I'll check out his YouTube and book series
CanBoatKingston@reddit
Congratulations on starting your journey! Those are excellent practical courses to kick you off.
You'll get a lot more out of a time-constrained On-Water course if you brush up on seamanship & navigation theory by self-study over the winter
We (and our sister organization the US Power Squadrons) have a few very low-cost courses designed for people like you.
"Boating Basics" costs less than $50 and is a study online on your own time course, it takes 8 to 12 hours and covers all the new-to-boating must-knows (pre-trip check, weather, essential equipment, parts of the boat, risks, IALA B aids to navigation, emergencies, safety regulations, etc.) It is Canadian and the final exam is set by Transport Canada, so the laws & regulations content and the credential card are local, but the rest applies everywhere (and the credential is recognized across the US as well).
"Basic Navigation & Boat Handling" and "Seamanship & Coastal Navigation" are 3-month courses that are a mix of online self study and 1.5 to 2 hour weekly discussions with an instructor. They take you through working out compass courses, plotting routes and fixes both electronically (chart plotter) and manually (sighting compass & paper chart), responding to fires, groundings, crew-overboard, etc, interacting with rescue helicopters, anchoring, docking, weather, the Collision Regulations, and much more.
If you would prefer self-guided self-study, rather than a course, I would recommend:
Get your maritime VHF-DSC operator certificate.
Learn the major parts of the boat. This is a rabbit hole and you don't need to know the difference between a mizzen studding sail and a topgallant sail, but you should be able to identify all the major parts of a modern 30' sloop, the corners and edges of its sails, and its dozen or so sail control lines.
Get a paper chart for the area you'll be sailing in your class and download a free copy of Chart 1 from either the NOAA or the VHS. Study it. Learn what the symbols mean. Try to imagine what that area will look like from the water at various points. What landmarks will you see in which directions.
Read up on crew-overboard recovery procedures.
Read up on sail trim for close hauled, reaching, and running.
Think about emergency response options. Yachting Monthly did a great free YouTube series called "Crash Test Boat" that covers much of this in entertaining and very practical detail.
Look up handling guidance for the class of boat (long keel single inboard, fin keel single inboard, etc.) you'll be on. Pay particular attention to prop wash, prop walk, and spring lines. The "magic spring" (or "balance point spring line" or "after midship spring line") is your best friend for getting the boat docked. After bow & forward stern springs will help you get it undocked.
And have fun!
baconboy-957@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much for the detailed info!
akibilko@reddit
It's awesome that you start this adventure. You must practise bowline and clove hitch knots before. This is my dream too, I wanna try it but don't have time. Good luck to you.
Tessier_Ashpool_SA@reddit
You mentioned you are in a desert but if there is a lake and you can do some power boating, a lot of those skills will transfer to sailing (docking, tying up, balance aboard etc.)
Improve your swimming (you mentioned you're a boy scout so you may have skills here already)
Check out my sailing simulator if you want: https://sailing-simulator.vercel.app/
Read books (and take the tests in the back of the book) for ASA101 and ASA103.
Go camping or RVing to remember that things rarely go to plan.
Good luck!
bananabreadtr33@reddit
why wait for spring? Maybe take a class somewhere warm this winter. Nothing really beats time on the water for learning to sail.
baconboy-957@reddit (OP)
If only I could lol
Spring works for my work schedule and my partners school schedule