Tips on where to start as someone with no experience?

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Own_Leg_5595@reddit

It doesn't matter how big the dream is, not everyone is cut out for sailing. Before you invest much you need to get out there on some boats and find out if it is for you.

The more time you spend near boats, the more people you will meet, and the more opportunities will arise. Fact is, contrary to popular belief and despite the number of sailboats still being sold, there are fewer and fewer sailors every day. Boat owners are constantly looking for crew. If you can pay attention, learn, and keep good spirits there will always be a boat open for you to crew on.

Chicago has a decent sailing scene. There are certainly opportunities there. Get out and spend time on boats. Just because you enjoyed a day sail doesn't mean you will like spending days at sea. Go experience these things.

I have spent my whole life sailing and I can't tell you how many dreamers I have seen buy a boat, spend a ton of money, and then practically give it away because they didn't enjoy it like they thought they would. That said, I've also met a few complete newbies that have gone on to do great things in sailboats. Get out there and figure out if it's for you.

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throwaway56567554@reddit (OP)

I appreciate the bluntness of your response. I acknowledge that it may not be for me, but I am smart enough to try & dip my toe in before i dive head first.

I had a similar dream a few years back where I thought I wanted to be a farmer. i didn’t jump out the window & buy a farm, I got an internship on a farm, was supposed to be 10 months i think, but on like day 2 i was like “this is NOT for me.” Only lasted 2 months then we parted ways.

Definitely going to join a sailing club this summer & give it a try. If I like that, i’ll keep going little by little.

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Independent_Dog5519@reddit

I´m curious, did you join the sailing club?

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throwaway56567554@reddit (OP)

I hate to disappoint, but no. I’m still open to it though. I was just going through some stuff that had me feeling down & i just wanted to break free (literally & figuratively) & do something drastic like sailing to redirect my life in a more positive way. Things aren’t perfect, but im in a much better place now, so i don’t have this urge to break free & “sail away” 😅 if i do get into sailing, it’ll just be for fun, not like a whole lifestyle thing.

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Independent_Dog5519@reddit

Ah, that's life. I was just curious to know how the story ended. Tnks

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kdjfsk@reddit

Copy Pasting my comment from a similar thread:

Buy the book 'Sailing Made Easy' its the textbook for ASA-101, it comes with the class, but you can buy it separately.
buy esail sailing sim on steam. Imo, this is the best sim, as the boat is rigged realistically, and is more 'tactile' in that you interact with lines, winches and jammers where they are located on the boat physically, rather than just using a menu.
study the book and sim until you can ace the practice tests and tie the knots. Best way to study knots is flash cards with their use, then tie and name it. Complete and understand the tutorials in the esail sim.
take ASA-101. Its a bit overpriced, IMO, but its nice to have the credential for the next step
locate your local Yacht Clubs. part of the culture is casual 'beer can' races on Wednesday nights. Skippers commonly welcome newbies to come help crew and learn. If you mention you just took ASA-101 and are eager to learn, the skipper will immediately know your skill level and capabilities, and this puts you ahead of other random folks who havnt done it.
by the way, these races often start in morning or after noon, take under an hour to get from the dock to the race start, are over in a few hours, and often the finish line is on the way back to the dock.
meet the skipper and crew, talk about the skippers boat, the crew's boats and your boat. In my experience, like 80% of the crew owns a boat of some kind. Hang out with them on the boat after you dock and store lines, etc. Maybe hit up a local pub afterwards with some.
gain some basic experience in the beer can races, including boat operation, as well as getting familiar with the local waterways.
Make some social connections. You may get chances to crew those other boats for more casual day sailing, fishing, or learning expeditions, and you can invite others to crew for your boat when your ready.

If you don't live near Yacht Clubs...honestly, move to the coast, I recommend Chesapeake bay. Its a sailing incubator for many reasons. If you are stuck near inland lakes...look for dinghy sailor racing clubs or schools, and social network from there.

Dont wait ten years, dude. Follow my plan, you could be a regular on someone elses boat this spring, and own your own boat within a year or less. GO NOW.

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throwaway56567554@reddit (OP)

Thanks for the advice & pep talk🫡 I’m definitely NOT waiting 10 years. I was saying by the time I’m 40, I would like to have my own boat & be confident enough to sail across the Atlantic on my own. If it happens in 2 year, even better. But like I just want to give myself time to learn & make the necessary changes to my life (i.e move to a coastal city, buy a boat).

I was honestly thinking of moving to Alabama. I lived in Norfolk, VA for 5 years when I was in the Navy & it gets COLD up there on the east coast & I want to live on my boat. Alabama also seems like one of the cheaper coastal states to live. But I’ll consider Chesapeake bay, it would be nice to go back to Virginia, i really liked it the area & am familiar with it.

I currently live in Chicago & from advice from replies, I looked up sailing clubs & found one that may be my start. It’s good that i’ll be able to practice sailing around Lake Michigan before I make the big move.

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IamAlsoDoug@reddit

Here's an interim goal - work your way up to crewing a Chicago-Mackinac race.

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finger_my_earhole@reddit

Best way to study knots is flash cards with their use, then tie and name it.

I bought this - Helped practice knots and I love it and its fun way to keep your hands busy any time like a fidget toy
https://www.amazon.com/ReferenceReady-Nautical-Tying-Boaters-Sailors/dp/B07VHLK5GJ

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Extreme_Map9543@reddit

Just find a small cheap trailer sailer on Facebook. Buy the books “cruising under sail” Eric Hiscock. And maybe the Annapolis book of seamanship. Start easy on a lake or pond. Then take it from there.

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SuperBrett9@reddit

If you live near the water I would suggest taking a sailing class or two and joining a yacht club.

At the club I’m a member of there are always skippers looking for crew to race with. A larger boat with a large assortment of sails may need 7 or 8 total crew members so they are always looking for people.

The club even has a racing crew class every spring where they then pair people up with boats needing crew.

So check out what’s around you. Even a lot of lakes will have clubs so don’t totally count it out if you’re not near the coast.

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the-montser@reddit

Take a sailing lesson at a sailing school near you.

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ProdByBeezi@reddit

Hi. I’m a boat rental agent. This comment is incredible. However some folks don’t live near a sailing school or commuting to one can be difficult. Depends on their location

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Plastic_Table_8232@reddit

So what’s your recommendation?

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ProdByBeezi@reddit

If you have a yacht or boating club near you - this can be helpful. Otherwise, if your schedule permits, you can plan a sailing vacation in the Caribbean (Virgin Islands), Florida, or New England area. Bareboat rental with a hired skipper to informally show you the ropes, talk shop, and get a little hands on experience helping or sailing under supervision.

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blogito_ergo_sum@reddit

Good on ya, I had a brush with death around 30 and signing up for sailing lessons at a local club was part of returning to life afterwards.

i REALLY do not fit the clean cut look that yachts seem to go for.

There is a cartoon that I like that I am not going to be able to find. It has pictures of two people, labeled something like "what people think sailors look like" and "what sailors actually look like". The first is a man in a peacoat with a fancy moustache, a captain's hat, and a pipe. The second is a man with several days' stubble, big dark circles under his eyes, a cigarette, and a sun hat.

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Dangerous_Studio_823@reddit

Yes and that smell my kids call.boat smell.

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Dangerous_Studio_823@reddit

Just buy one and go.

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EuphoricAd5826@reddit

I say skip the lessons and spend time racing. Find your local yacht club or sailing club and they usually have a list of boat owners looking for crew. Racing will give you 3x the knowledge you’d get in a classroom or even cruising. If they can’t help you just wander around the docks on a Wednesday afternoon with a 6pack and there’s usually a summer racing series going on. Good luck

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DevolveOD@reddit

Don't even take a lesson to start, take an afternoon sailing trip, many city and county ran marinas offer these as stepping stones prior to lessons. You tube is your best resource for learning the basics.

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acecoffeeco@reddit

Get a sunfish and start racing. Cheapest way to do it and a lot of people in whatever sunfish club you race with also have bigger boats and usually need crew for Wednesday night races.

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danielt1263@reddit

Are you anywhere near water? Find a cheep dinghy in your area. Ask online to find other people who own the same kind of dinghy. If you can find some people, then buy the dinghy. Watch some how-to sail videos or read some how-to sail articles online. Get on the water. If you like it, then start saving for a bigger boat.

It really is that easy.

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ProdByBeezi@reddit

Hello! I am a biased, boat rental agent. But a great way a lot of my clients get hands on experience is renting bareboat with a skipper. For example, take a vacation to the BVI with friends, split the costs, and hire an instructional skipper to informally “show you the ropes”. They are oftentimes kind enough to allow you to safely help out and give it a go at the helm. This is often an informal way to get a little practice in before you plan to get an ASA license or buy your own boat one day. If you have any questions just let me know! Happy sailing.

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strictnaturereserve@reddit

people often start with sailing lasers so you could get lessons for that to start you off.

crewing on yachts for racing around the cans is good for learning (in broad strokes ) how stuff is done around a yacht.

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aosmith@reddit

Start little like a laser... Once you know the fundamentals they scale well.

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Kahliss814@reddit

Six months before I turned 30 I took my first sailing lesson. Those classes continued for 12 weeks. Week 13, I took a 3 day trip from Portland, OR down the Columbia and into the ocean in a special class. Week 14, I closed on a 38' hunter sloop. I hired a delivery captain to help me move the boat from Seattle to Portland. I then moved onto the boat the month I turned 30. Spent the remainder of the summer and the following summer sailing as much as possible.

A month after I turned 31, I quit my desk job and flew to fort Lauderdale to work on yachts. I got a few part time jobs, did a couple deliveries, then got an hourly job working for water taxi in fort Lauderdale. Did that for two more winters in Florida while spending the summers sailing my boat from Portland to Vancouver Island in Canada. I then got my inland 100T masters two months before I turned 33.

I captained a winter at water taxi, moved back to Portland, got another captain job running 150' dinner cruise boat. Did that for two years. Next I did a 1200hp jetboat for a summer in Portland. (0 to 50 in 3 seconds was a little to fast for this sailor) I upgraded my license to a near coastal and at 36 y/o I moved to Maui and got a job as head captain running at 65' sailing catamaran. Just turned 39 and I'm still in Maui. My boat is now just north of Seattle and I spend two months a year cruising the San Juan Islands. (The most beautiful place in the world, IMO)

Today was wild, we had a storm come through and we had to brave through 30+kts of wind and rain at 8am to get to the only good snorkel spot on the other side of the island. Coming back I clocked a max gust of 49kts. Then we ran a dinner cruise😁.

Long story short: if you put your mind to it, you can do A LOT by the time you're 40.

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AlexHoneyBee@reddit

Start with a map to locate the nearest body of water. Google Maps may point you to the closest Marina. Where I’m located, one out of 3 marinas has favorable location relative to the winds and swell, the wait lists for slips can also be on the order of years. Looking for boats for sale locally and talking to the owners may be useful. The previous owner of the sailboat I bought was extremely helpful with sailing lessons, docking practice, and boat repair, but that was an extreme case. The Don Casey books and any edition of Chapman Sailing would be good places to start. You could jump in head first and first boat could just be how you figure things out.

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Weird1Intrepid@reddit

I bought my first boat with zero knowledge of sailing, and the only hours on the water I'd done were sitting on a passenger ferry and pottering about in a dinghy.

I put an ad up on Crewbay, got put in touch with someone who had some experience and was going the same way as me anyway, and I basically learned to sail by jumping in the deep end. We coastal hopped all the way down to where I was moving to, and by the time we got there I'd say I had the basics down enough to not be a liability on the water. It helped that my crewmate was patient, cautious, and safety-conscious.

In my opinion you can read all the theory you want on sailing until you understand the concepts like a highly technical science, but once you're out on the water it becomes more of an art form. Conditions and circumstances can change so wildly and quickly that you don't really have time to think back on your reading to choose the "correct" response according to a book, and it all boils down to intuition and feeling in the moment. That's something you can only get through experience and hours on the water.

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MissingGravitas@reddit

because i REALLY do not fit the clean cut look that yachts seem to go for.

I think your assumptions are a quite bit off here! Scruffiness will be the norm up at least until you're talking about yachts with full-time hired help, which will be far larger and vastly more expensive than the average cruiser.

In brief, US Sailing or ASA courses should give you the basics of how everything works aboard a boat, how to sail and navigate, and a tiny bit of the rules of the road. If the school is larger and rents boats, then chances are you can keep the cost down by splitting them with the other students so you can build up much more experience between each course, and long after.

Beyond that, you learn as you go. Sometimes you can find additional resources, for example a diesel shop near me puts on a one day class every so often that teaches the basics of how they work and how to do basic troubleshooting and repairs. But in general, with the aid of a few good books and online forums you should be able to tackle most jobs; the hardest part might be finding suitable parts in remote areas, so you'll need to be good at improvising fixes.

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VirtualRock2281@reddit

eSail is clunky but accurate if you want to add digital learning. You're really going to want hands on with a smaller boat. You can probably find something on Facebook marketplace that could be a small project to learn some maintenance and repair stuff too

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Fit-Blacksmith-149@reddit

I’m old school. Join a sailing club or better yet a yacht club. Find one with a sailing program. Though not a deal breaker try to learn the basics on a center border under 20 feet. You will learn the basics very quickly. When you get into something larger with a keel you will appreciate your experience you had on center boarders.

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Didsomatic@reddit

I started 5 years ago. Never sailed in my life. I took ASA101, bought a sunfish, joined a yacht club, joined a boat that needed crew, race weekly in spring/summer, bought a laser, frostbite in the off season on said laser, bought a 17 ft trailer sailer to sail with family, now a 22 ft keel boat to try overnighting. It has been a great 5 years.

I will say the club was the best thing for opening opportunities. ASA was decent but not worth the money… i learned more just racing watching youtube and taking out the sunfish.

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Turbulent_War4067@reddit

Find a local club and see what day of the week they have their beer can races. Show up, ask who needs crew. Do what your told. Stay late and help out away the boat. Show up early each week and help rig.

In parallel, take a ASA basic keelboat course.

In parallel get a cheap small boat and start going out on your own.

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IntoTheWildBlue@reddit

Find someone working on their boat at the Doc. Learn the systems and how to fix it.

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mousenest@reddit

Sailing club boat owner are always looking for crew for the weekly races in season. It is a good idea to do a sailing course such as ASA 101, so you get the basics.

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StatisticalMan@reddit

Find a sailing club. If you can't find one then look for local races, find out when they race, and volunteer. They usually need crew.

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Infamous-Adeptness71@reddit

Yacht "image"? Most F-150s cost more than a yacht.

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Willing_Park_5405@reddit

You learn how to sail on a dingy! Get yerself a laser or ledo or force 5 or any of the greats. You really learn about the forces and maneuvers and thrill of sailing on a dingy.

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Strict-Air2434@reddit

Join a yacht club. You might mistake the millionaire at the bar as a homeless man. Clubs only have one common denominator, sailing/boats. Everything else is hard to identify. Get on a boat as crew. Shut up and listen. If the skipper's a screamer, find another boat. The yacht club probably offers classroom and in the water instruction.

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n2bndru@reddit

There are a lot of websites that ask for crew members to go from one island to another or small places try one of those and see what might work for you period crewfinders, sea people are 2. Yhey are out there