[Rhodes22-list] Learning to sail

[Joseph Hadzima]

Hello Barry & Chet:

I'll toss in my $0.02 here and state lessons are very
helpful for most people.  You may need to do a little
research to find the right school for your specifc needs.

TECHNIQUE 1:

My wife, Paula, is a little shy in a group class.  So we
did the "hire a captain for a week" thing.  I had take a
class from J World twoo years before, and we were members
of the J Port Sailing Club in Annapolis, happily doing day
sails on J80s.

The cost of a captain rental wasn't much more than the
three day, multi-student class the Chicago Sailing Club
ran.  Rather than three 6 hour days, we did 5 (may be 4) 4
hour rentals with one of the instructors as our captain. 
Much better for us.  I did a little phone work to locate
schools willing to accomodate us, and most were! 

It was a vacation/learning expierence.  That year, we
needed to drop off #1 son at CAP NGSAR school in IA (part
of the National Emergency Sercices Academy), so we did a
week in Chicago; got to sail somewhere different (Lake MI
is a GREAT place to sail), plus we had the afternoons and
evenings to party Chicago style. 


TECHNIQUE #2

To contrast this experience, my buddy learned via the
school of hard knocks.  He and his wife bought a used Hobie
16 Catamarn, and spent most of that Summer playing with it
on different lakes. 


ADVANCED TECHNIQUE #1
After learning enough to get me into serious trouble on the
water, I hooked up with a different sailing club (Downtonw
Sailing Center) in Baltimore.  Here I became part of a race
crew on a Sonar 23 and J 22.

IF, (I say again IF) you locate a club where winning the
race isn't life or death, then racing is a great place to
not learn, but to become a sailor!  Since you're part of a
crew you must show up when it's your turn, and thus, go out
in weather you may not have thought you'd like, and won't
skip sailing because you feel guilt over the never ending
"Honey Do List".  The benefit is you get consistant
practice, and you develop skills.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUE #2
There is a common piece the way George & MYSELF work
developing our sailing skills; which is taking additional
lessons.  As is true for other sports, the advice of a
"pro" should be sought out periodicaly.  Think about anyone
you may know that is serious about playing tennis, or golf.
 They may take lessons mostly to improve their game skills.
Regarding sailing, you want to improve your sailing skills,
and not get killed doing it!

JWorld has great performance classes for thoses into the
race, and general classes for specific things such as "how
to use a spinker".  They used different boats for classes
then for club use.  The J80 boats used for training have NO
windvaine, and NO engines, (the club boats have both).

They have GREAT training, but they're not a "super low key
laid back" form of instruction.  Plan on getting a workout!

Looks like I got a loooong winded here.  Sorry about that! 
The point is even if you start with a sunfish in a lake,
and then play with the Rhodes on larger waterways, lessons
for fine tuning are a good thing, IMHO

good luck Chet .. hope to wee on the water sometime!




--- b.ivers at att.net wrote:

>  Chet, Your choice of future sailboat in my opinion is a
> good one. We bought our r-22 after a year of compairing
> other simular trailer sailers.
>   I never sailed before this time and started reading how
> to books. I read until all the books started to blend
> together. I mean all the books made sence, but I had to
> imagion how the boat would respond to different
> adjustments.
>   I pushed back the idea of lessons mostly because of
> expence and travel to where professional lessons were
> offered. (400-500$ and 250 miles away) 
>   To make long story short I did go take lessons. And
> everything fell into place. They were awsome. I will
> admit now that going out on my own without the lessons I 
> may have been a danger to myself and others.
>   I'm not saying this is what it will be for you, only
> this is how I got started.  Barry
> 
>