 |
Please
join us in welcoming Captain Don as a contributing member of
our site. Don just became the proud owner of a 1970 W.D.
Schock Corporation Santana 22' sailboat. Having never
owned a sailboat before, we thought Don would be an excellent
person to follow through the process of learning to sail, so
we setup a new section where he'll be posting his Sailors
Diary.
|
|
|
|
Without some training, even the simplest vehicle can quickly get you into trouble. That's not always a huge problem, but life is uncertain enough without adding unnecessary risk to it, so we suggest that if you're thinking about heading out into bluewater on some sort of boat, particularly a sailboat, you get yourself properly prepared.
To help you along with that education process, we've gathered
up a ton of resources here that are all geared specifically
towards helping you get ready to tack into the wind. |
|
-
Recommended Reading - |
One resource in particular that gets a strong recommendation
here is the book "The
Sailor's Handbook". This book is put together
in a very straightforward fashion, covering just about
everything you need to know to get started sailing. You
can also save some money on it by purchasing it online
directly through our partnership with 
Barnes & Noble. |
|
Besides
basic boathandling, you'll need to be able to figure out if the
wind is going to blow, and you'll need some basic skills to help
you figure out how you're going to get to where you want to
go. Understanding the weather can easily become one of the
most important skills a sailor can develop, and navigation is
equally as critical. We've found a couple of books that
are geared specifically towards helping novice sailors learn how
to understand the weather. Again, you can take advantage
of our affiliation with
Barnes & Noble
to purchase these books online at a significant savings over
retail, plus if you buy two or more items right now, they'll
ship them to you for free. Here's the books we're talking
about:
|
 
Weather to Sail: The Complete
Guide to Sailing Weather
|
 
Mariner's Weather
|
 
The Sailor's Wind
|
|
Once
you've started to figure out what the wind is going to do,
you'll need to understand how to use that wind to get you where
you want to go. Navigation on the open ocean is perhaps
the single most important skill you can acquire. To help
you get some introduction to basic navigation, we've gathered up
a couple of books that'll help you figure out how to get started
finding your way when you're underway.
|
 
Marine Navigation: Piloting and Celestial and Electronic Navigation
|
 
Minding the Helm: Marine Navigation and Piloting
|
 
Yachtsman's GPS Handbook: A Guide to the Global Positioning System of Satellite Navigation
|
|
Another
great way to get yourself ready to be your own capable sailing
captain is to spend time in a sailing school. We've
gathered up a pretty good assortment of schools (links in the
left margin of this page) that can get you started, or take you
to the next level if you're getting ready to move on. If
you'd like to let us know about another school, send
us the link to it and we'll be happy to add it to this area.
|
|
Now, lest we be
accused of making this all sound like too much work, we thought
we'd dedicate some space here to the growing number of charter
companies that are geared towards helping you learn to sail,
while at the same time treating you to a relaxing vacation in
some of the world's premier destinations. You can
typically spend as much time as you want to actually hands on,
but when you decide it's time to take a break, the crew steps in
and takes over. This can be a great way to get some real
sailing experience while at the same time picking up some
instruction from a patient captain. Check the links under
our "Charters" heading in the left margin for links to
some of these charter services.
|
|
Ok, how
about one more way to go about getting involved in
Sailing. There are a couple of companies that we know of,
who have put together a purchase / lease back type of
arrangement that puts your boat into charter service when you
are not using it. During the program, you get some form of
income from the company, they maintain the boat and take care of
all the operating expenses and such, and you get to sail when
it's convenient for you. Now we don't really have the room
to go into a great deal of detail about how this works, and
obviously this type of arrangement isn't for everyone, but if
you're interested you might want to check out The
Moorings and Stardust
Yacht Charters. If you've got some capital to work
with, and you don't mind the fact that other people are using
your boat, this might be something worth looking into.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
