Well, I would have really made you laugh if you could have seen me today. David started calling the ropes 'the blue jib sheet' after he just said 'blue rope' I heard 'big rope' and started to pull the spinnaker out of the snuffer sock 10 feet off the beach and upwind. LOL. oops.

Mary:

I think the most important part is just getting them on the water first. Try to take 1 new person a month out. Make it a day when there is not a lot of wind or take it easy. Don't scare them. That is at least 6 newbie per person a year.

Next IF and WHEN they like it get them to read "Catamaran Racing for the 90's" I ALWAYS explain that this not just for racers. That is is the Bible of cat sailing (As I said I have pasted my old 2nd copy to grand daughter, she is getting stick time this year). Have read and ask questions. Try one new thing each time they sail. Go out as crew if needed to explain what they have read.

We are taking marks and a start/finish line. NO RACES. Just to play and practice starts WITH no PRESSURE on them. Make it fun.

Just my opinion.

Doug Snell

Sunny:

I'd definitely be laughing WITH you! Space doesn't permit telling all my mistakes, especailly as a beginner.

Sorry to overwhelm you you on day 1, but I have to say you are certainly a fast learner and you did an excellent job concentarting on the spinnaker, it gets easier after "learning the ropes". But then it gets harder again when you step up the game with the big guns,its like being a beginner again.
Sailing is a sport that allows you to continue to learn everytime you go out. You never know it all, and thats what keeps us hooked.

here is my opinion on the 2 part question posted originally in this post.
1 How do you teach someone to sail?
Patience, time on the water, preferably on a few different boats and with more than one teacher.
If you want to learn more about sailing and already have a boat, go racing. You can ask questions and see how people are setting up their boat, than how they sail it on the water.

2 How do you get people into sailing?
Invite them to crew, or help with RC. Even just inviting them to a regatta, if just for the party, it will allow them see the passion that people have for this sport, and maybe it will spark their interest in it too.

My 2 cents

Thom,
The boat is slowly getting ready. The (accepted) goal is to get it ready in time for me to follow the Volvo inshore race in Rio - March 25.
After four years I am never optimistic about goals.
Luiz

Dave,

Your comment about taking people out reminded me of a day on North Myrtle Beach when I was dragging the boat towards the water. A fellow asked if I could use his help and I said yes, and asked if he would like to go sailing. He agreed. I always ask 2 questions before I take anyone out, 1. Can you swim? and 2. Have you ever sailed?. He could swim but hadn't sailed so my thought was: this will be exciting for him. As we sailed out I asked him what he did. He said among other things he flew F-4 Phantoms in the Air National Guard. So much for excitement. I don't know if he got hooked on sailing but he did enjoy it.

Howard

I ask those plus these:

Are you afraid of heights? How about the relative sensation of speed? Do you mind getting wet?

Luiz-

You are definitely more optimistic than the last time I heard from you...

thom

This is a direct consequence of ceasing all contact with the designer.

The guys at the university take their time to do the work, but at least they seem to know what they are doing. To my surprise, they are totally indiferent to the supposedly "advanced technology".

I'll go see the boat by the end of the month, ready or not.

I want pics...

thom

I want sailing pics...

thom

Ok. Sailing pictures, if I'm lucky and they finish in time.

Why have you hijacked this thread?

Maybe my original question was too vague. Let me rephrase it:

How did each of YOU learn to sail? Did you learn from reading a book? Did a friend teach you? Did you attend an organized learn-to-sail program at a community sailing center or yacht club? Did you just go out and teach yourself by trial and error? Did you learn by first crewing for someone? Did you originally learn on a monohull or on a multihull? On a small boat or a big boat?

When I was a child I used to build small foam sail boats. This is how I first got introduced into sailing. Then I landed a crew position on a 34ft Erickson in the early 90's. We raced cruising class, all over Puerto Rico. I used to sleep on the pier or deck. Used the sails as a bed and sheets. FUN TIMES!

Then late 2003 I purchased my first hobie 16. Learned on my own by trial and error. But I already had the basics of sailing, so it was not terribly hard. The hardest part of learning beach cat sailing for me, was to backwind the jib. I was constantly getting stuck in IRONS the first couple of times out.

Mary, I think it's genetic. You either have the "Sailing Gene" or you don't. I remember as a kid at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, watching the sailboats go by, I said to myself, "I'm going to do that some day..." and eventually I did. I started out on a $600 monohull dinghy with not a clue, not a book, and no instructor, but after nearly capsizing, I bought a "Learn to Sail" book, then another! Then a buddy got me into Laser racing, every Sunday. He said, "You will learn more about sailing in one season of racing than in 3 years of cruising." Then another buddy got me a job doing foredeck on an Etchells 22 every Saturday, in Marblehead, Mass. The skipper told me to read every Stuart Walker book, and get a compass for my Laser, which I did, and presto, I started winning races. So every weekend and Weds. nights, I was racing, all summer (which is only about 12 weekends in NH!) And all winter I was reading Stuart Walker and Yacht Racing/Cruising. It's was nice to be single and have that kind of time (100%) to devote to sailing. But it cost me a lot of girlfriends...they couldn't accept that sailing was more important to me than going to the mall.

I have 5 siblings, they all were at the same beach, all summer, every summer, yet none of them ever wanted sail, they have never tried it and yet they tell me how boring it is! "Like watching paint dry..." My older brother was into drag racing his Chevelle 396 and my younger brother was into racing Motocross. My 3 sisters...at the mall.

Now, 30 years later, I live on a lake in Florida. There are maybe 5 of us around the entire lake who sail. The other 99% of residents on the lake have pontoon boats, jet skis, ski boats, bass boats, etc. Many neighbors have said to me, "I'd like to learn to sail." But when I offer to take them out, they always seem to have something else to do. If they really wanted to learn, they would make it a priority, but they don't, and you can't force someone to learn to sail.

I also fly airplanes, since I was 8 yrs. old. I have found the exact same thing holds true there. Many have told me, "I'd like to learn to fly." but when it comes time, they are always too busy doing something else, even to take a FREE ride with me. None of my 5 siblings fly either. Our father was an instructor with a Cub, we lived 1/4 mile from the airport, so they had every opportunity I did, yet they never wanted to.

So I have come to believe you either have the gene or you don't, and no amount of -pushing- is going to make people "get interested" in sailing or flying or anything else. Of my own 4 kids, only the last one shows any interest in sailing today. I started all the older ones sailing, they lost interest. And when the last one loses interest I'm moving out...

But then I don't golf or play tennis or ride horses, or play video games all day, and I have no desire to learn. I just don't have that gene. And I'm OK with that.

My dad and brother and I rented a small sailboat in SC when I was in college. Almost sank the thing by running into a marker. My Dad had sailed a decent amount 40 years earlier but hadn't done much since. The only other experience my brother had was when he was really young. He and my Dad rented a cat somewhere in florida and had to be rescued by the coast guard after it sunk because my brother took the plugs out before going out!
Then my Dad bought a catalina 25 and my brother and I drove 4 hours each way every weekend one summer and learned how to sail the thing. Trial and error and reading books. Don't know why I ended up liking it so much. We then bought a Pearson 303 and sailed that for years and I soloed it across lake michigan a few times.
So, in answer to your question... I guess one has to have the interest to start then the availability of boat to learn on.

Mary:

The local radio station had a deal with the March of Dimes. They gave a ride on a cat and a T shirt for $10. I liked it so much I bought the boat later (Hobie 16). The guy was a A fleeter, he crew for me and taught me to sail. I went from C fleet to A in year and a half. That was when we had 100 Plus regatta. 35 boat starts in C fleet. Went on to Turbo 14 then present 17. Have done a lot of monohulls too. I think if all of us just take out 6 newbies a year the sport will continue to grow. We must especially concentrate on the youth. I am going to give Ashleigh (grand daughter you put picture in magazine about) stick time this year. I think your book "Catamaran Racing for the 90's" is the best for any newbie. Keep up the good work.

Doug Snell
Hobie 17
Soon to be Nacra A2
www.tcdyc.com

Yep, sailing gene was present in my make-up. Did a few sailing hollidays when I was younger with me dad and sister, we all did a sailing course together. After a few times my sister has enough, my Dad lost interest a little later. I however always felt the lure of the water and wind. Finally decide to buy my own boat and sail it, I was 23 and made some big slam dunk pitchpoles and capsizes back learning to sail it. Pretty much taught myself to sail a catamaran, with helpo from books, old sailors and asking alot of question over a prolonged period of time

Wouter

I was a crazed café racer that would go on group rides where we would sometimes cruise at 100 mph plus on the back roads of the San Francisco peninsula. It was great times! I started dating a girl who came from a sailing family. She called one day to ask if I could tow a 1980 Nationals Hobie 16 home that she’d just purchased from the Santa Cruz dealer. She bribed me with a quick sail before towing it home. After an hour, I was hooked. We did a couple of races on her boat but she decided I wasn’t dating material so we parted.

I had seen a couple of crashes that were too close for comfort and decided to sell my bike. That made it very to start my 26-year love of sailing. I bought a Hobie 16 from a dealer in Foster City that knew less about the boat than I did. I bought a few books, found people to crew for me and basically learned by trial and error.

I discovered that there was something called a Hobie fleet and joined Fleet 20 in San Jose. Excellent move. At the first fun sail, the other members were all over my boat like locusts making adjustments and giving me tips on stuff to buy to improve the boat. We’d probably do six or seven races every weekend so it was easy to observe what the fast guys were doing and to ask them questions.

Over the years since I’ve done a lot of racing, met my wife at a Hobie Christmas party, run very successful committee boats, taught Hobie sailing through local junior colleges and am now heavily involved with a juniors program using Sabots. I guess you have to sail monohulls occasionally.

One of the best moves I ever made was to unload the bike and buy my Hobie. It probably kept me from killing myself and opened up a huge new world of sailing and lots of new friends. The old girl friend? She traded the Hobie for two motorized surfboards. What a dope!