Sail Training: Part I Choosing a sailing school.

This is the first article in a series about learning to sail. I will attempt to pass on some of the information and lessons I've learned from taking sailing classes and researching various sailing schools. The focus will be on larger (greater than 20 ft) keelboats, because that's what I have experience with. In this article, I'll describe how to find and choose a sailing school.

First find a school that is affiliated with one of the two major sailing organizations in the U.S.: U.S. Sailing or the American Sailing Association. U.S. Sailing is the older organization. American Sailing broke off from U.S. Sailing a number of years ago, because they thought U.S. Sailing was too focussed on racing and did not address the concerns of cruising sailors. As far as I can tell, that seems to be the only practical difference between the two. If you are interested in racing, look for a U.S. Sailing affiliated school. If you are more interested in cruising, look for an ASA school.

This is not as a big deal as it might seem. Both organizations have essentially the same classes and certifications. The atmosphere at the school will probably depend more on the people running it than the organization they are affiliated with. For example, I learned to sail at a U.S. Sailing affiliated school, but the school was almost entirely cruising oriented. The sailing school right next door was an ASA affiliated school, but they had mostly racing type sailboats and were pretty active in the local racing scene.

So why learn at a school affiliated with one of these organizations? The first reason is that the curriculum will be standardized and recognized throughout the sailing community. The parent organizations deliver teaching materials (textbooks, tests, etc.) to the schools, so you can be sure you will cover all of the important material. Also, all the instructors will have passed instructor level certifications with the parent organization. You know nothing about sailing (otherwise why would you be taking lessons to learn how to sail?) so it would be pretty hard for you to evaluate the curriculum and expertise of the instructors. Joining a U.S. Sailing or ASA school solves takes care of this problem for you. You know that the school and instructors have met certain minimum standards.

The parent organizations will also issue you certificates upon successful completion of the class and tests. You will get a sailing log book to record your sailing time, and they will stamp these logbooks with certifications when you complete the classes. These certificates are recognized in the yachting community and can be very useful if you want to charter a boat. Most chartering companies will consider these certifications a strong indicator that you know what you are doing and won't destroy their boats. Without some type of certification, most charter companies will want some kind of sailing resume or even make you take a test to demonstrate that you know how to sail properly.

Another reason to learn at one of these affiliated schools is that membership in the parent organization is usually included in the price of the lesson. There are some nice benefits to membership including access to training material, discounts at merchants, meeting other sailors, etc..

So now you know what to look for. How do you find a school in your area? This is the easy part. If you live anywhere near the ocean or a major body of water, there will almost certainly be at least a few ASA or US Sailing certified schools nearby. I looked on the web and in a local sailing publication. Then I went and visited some and decided which one was the best fit for me. This is probably the most important factor. Just find someplace you feel comfortable. At the beginner level, the instruction will be standardized and pretty much the same at any ASA or US Sailing affliated school.

Some web resources for finding schools include:

Yahoo directory of Sailing Schools

U.S. Sailing list of affiliated schools

ASA list of affiliated schools

I hoped this helps you out. If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear from you. In Part II, I will talk about what to expect in your basic Keelboat training and combining sail training with sailing vacations.