The Expense of it!

There are definitely startup costs in learning to sail - but depending on what you find you like sailing can be not too much thereafter.

Joining a club is the best investment because there you meet people who can take you out, supply second hand equipment, usually offer much cheaper training to members - and you get a whole new group of friends who talk about sailing all the time!

If you meet someone who likes to train up crews you then only need clothing for years of fun.

Originally posted by craiggo I'd recommend not doing any formal qualifications. The text book approach to sailing very rarely works, and all they teach you in L1 & 2 is how to rig the boat and sail a triangular course. Go down to your local club, ask around if someone needs a crew and get out there. You'll learn far more crewing for someone, and then as you gain experience you can then move to the back of the boat between races and gradually build up your experience. All in all it will only cost you the annual membership of the club.

Sorry to disagree but the RYA method or variations of has
been successful getting people sailing since the 70s.
Secondly you must have experienced a very poor centre,
level 2 teaches you everything you need to sail safely in
winds up to about 15 knots, including coming alongside,
launching, man overboard, met, being towed, all points of
sailing except a dead run, capsize recovery and very
basic racing.

Even commercial courses are good value when you consider
the costs involved, most clubs offer something at a
considerably reduced rate. Crewing is good if you can
get out regularly, but unless really strapped for cash a
course is generally well worth the money and allows you
to succeed quickly.

ps a commercial L2 course is less than 1/2 the cost of a
new set of P&B sails - now that's expensive

Edited by Garry

I'd recommend not doing any formal qualifications. The text book approach to sailing very rarely works, and all they teach you in L1 & 2 is how to rig the boat and sail a triangular course.

Go down to your local club, ask around if someone needs a crew and get out there. You'll learn far more crewing for someone, and then as you gain experience you can then move to the back of the boat between races and gradually build up your experience.

All in all it will only cost you the annual membership of the club.

At my club I help organise informal training which is free to all members of the club. You can join the lcub for £60 a year as a single adult. Also we do not charge for use of our club boats, so I think you can learn to sail on quite a small budget, if the informal route is taken.

I agree with Jim that the formal training route witrh certificates can be very pricey though! far too pricey and is what I think keeps a lot of people out of the sport. The fact that you cannot get a certificate or a formal training course without paying an arm and a leg for it!

Oh forgot my club - Welland yacht club

Edited by Adam MR 1137

If you do it all formally then it can get quite pricey, but there are always options...

For instance my club does informal training sessions for non members on Tuesday evenings for a fiver an evening. No certificates or anything because its informal, and that's also how we keep the price down but provided folks do most of the evenings then they are at a level where they can get in a boat and sail in reasonable conditions.

From there they can join the club and rent club boats and learn more through more club training or spend the money on training courses safe in the knowledge that they actually like sailing and it won't be money wasted. Alternatively of course they may find they don't like sailing and walk away without having spent a load of cash...