Stephen,

Your course sounds very well thought out and thorough. I have to contrast it with how my father learned to sail. Back in the '30s he had someone build him a Comet sailboat, similar to a Lightning but smaller (monohull). When it was ready, he spent all night reading a book on how to sail. He worked on and around the water and had powerboats but had never sailed. The next day he and my mother entered a race in the Raritan Yacht Club on Raritan Bay, NJ. It was blowing a gale. My Dad was dressed up in a white outfit with a white captain's cap. The first thing that happened was the boom came over and hit him in the head so blood streamed down all over his white shirt. They went out anyway and started in the race when a shroud broke and they dropped the sail. They drifted into the old ferry slip where they were when the race ended. The other sailors came over, offering to tow them home but my Dad insisted he would sail home or he was afraid he would never go out again. After the wind dropped they sailed home on the jib and from that point on sailed and raced for years.

Howard