BYYB Forums

If you had to learn to sail from a book and/or video.. What book would you reccomend that will get me and my weekender sailing quickly.

I'm just about done painting my boat and will be in the water in a month or two.

Annapolis Book of Seamanship and Chapman's Piloting are two hefty volumes that you'll keep going back to. Local libraries should have both, they're pretty well known. That's a good start...

How about Sailing for Dummies by JJ and Peter Isler, the book is in the Books section on the main page.

I have it and it's pretty good, it has a water proof, tear out points of sail and safety chart in the front of the book.
Heres a link to a sailing simulator that gives You the basics, it even has a printable points of sail chart.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/volvoo...index.html

Brian.

Wow the flash demonstration is very cool. I was going to buy the for dummies book when I went on amazon yesterday but I wasn't sure if it was goign to be enough The annapolis book was top on the amazon list too.

I really like the flash demo


Thanks.

I've read a few books on sailing and one of my favorites was "required reading" for a live aboard sailtraining I had. It is great on many levels. I liked the way each topic was discussed in a brief manner but with lots of detail on a page or two with lots of good pictures. It was not so basic that I didn't learn something about each topic. I highly recommend the Complete Sailor. I should add that some think it is not for the novice. It is packed with lots of great information, but a beginner may need a methodical introduction of basics.

I got it from the Woodenboat foundation, where I took the course.
Here is a link to their website for the Book.

while there is no substitute for actually sailing - I would agree with Brian that the Sailing for Dummies book is a great one for the beginner to study.

There's nothing to be afraid or alarmed with when heading out for your first sail. Sailing is very intuitive, with your body naturally wanting to do the things necessary to make the boat stay upright. When a puff adds pressure to the sails and the boats heels more, you're instinctive reaction is to lean the other way, which is just what the boat wants in this situation. Similar things happen when the helm or sheets get heavier, so sailing is an easily self learned thing.

It's a bit like sex. You where very likely pretty lousy at it with your first experiences, but soon learned, naturally, instinctively and got better at it, much to a future wife's delight. Maybe you will not develop the skills and expertise to become an America's Cub skipper, but you never made the "A" list in the porno industry either, so get a grip.

The best way to get a clue, is to sail. Pick an easy wind day (10 knots or less) for your first several attempts. Any sailboat will do, though avoid wind surfers and multihulls if you can at first, as they'll just confuse you. A little SunFish, Opti or any little beginners sailboat, will show you how easy it is to get mother nature to propel you, for free. It doesn't have to be a gaff sloop, anything with sails (preferably a single sail) will teach you the basics. With the primer you can get from a book, you're new found knowledge will get put to use and sailing will be one of your new skills.

"Piloting . . ." (Chapman) and "Annapolis . . .Seamanship" are pretty heavy texts, most of which is beyond what the novice needs, though should be completely consumed, before any real long distance cruising is done. "Sailing for Dummies" will provide the basics, but it means little unless you can relate the information with a tactile sensation in your butt, hands, eyes, etc. aboard a sailboat.

Borrow a buddies boat or better yet, find a local Power Squadron and take their beginners sailing course. It use to be offered for free, but don't know if it still is, though their "Small Boat Handling" course should still be free. There may also be a sailing club or school near by, try them out, they're always looking for extra crew to fill out their roster. You'll learn a lot quickly aboard a boat in a regatta or poker run.