I have been sailing for 7 years and I love it, and I think you will too, here is how you can get involved.
When people think of sailing they normally think of huge ships, with overly complicated systems, taking years to learn, often in awful conditions, in reality, starting sailing has never been easier, although you might need a rain jacket sometimes!
It the UK, the RYA youth sailing scheme works in stages, with Stage 1 being perfect for any beginner who wants to start to learn some skills such as tacking (turning) and rigging (putting the boat together) working up to more sophisticated skills such as using multiple sails and recovering from ‘capsizes’. And what’s more the courses are offered all over the country, you can do it on a lake, a reservoir, a river, canal and the sea!
I think that sailing is a great activity, as you get to improve your hand eye coordination, working as a team if you are In a larger, double hander boat such as a Argo or Fever, and it is a great excuse to get outside and do some exercise!
If you really enjoy sailing you are able to move towards instructing, the main route involves taking a one day ‘Pre-assessment’, before participating an a week long Dingy Instructor course, which goes over teaching styles, and methods of helping at different levels.
You can find your local course on the RYA website, courses tend to run during the May-October season, but there are some exceptions.
