# Newbie needs EXPERT advice about how to get started.



## jojobead (Jun 28, 2019)

*Thank you* sincerely for your time and for reading this. I am 38 years old and have a dream of sailing (within 5-10 years) with my family (wife and two boys ages 4 and 6). I want to sail the Mediterranean, Caribbean, the world, stopping at small islands and ports and places I've never heard of, and do this for about 2 weeks every year. I want to skipper myself. But, I've never had any sailing course and I don't live (very) near the ocean. I am however starting to put my vision and dream into an achievable goal and for that I want to kindly ask you for advice.

* How do you recommend I start? What education is required and what is the best way to get it?
* Financially, buying a sailboat is not within my 5-10 year future, but renting one for 2 weeks a year very much could be. Is this a recommendable option? What brokers / websites do you recommend?
* What books should I read?
* What else should I have asked or should know?

I can't thank you sincerely enough for your valuable time. I hope you know I appreciate it and I hope to repay it back to others someday. I hope you have a great day.

Sincerely,

Jeff from Virginia


----------



## Markwesti (Jan 1, 2013)

Sounds like your plan is good Jeff , why buy when you can rent . 
learn how to sail here https://asa.com/learn-to-sail/
Good luck and keep us posted .


----------



## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

If you plan to charter boats and sail in different locations around the world, you will probably need to minimally get ASA certifications. In addition to that, another way to build skills is that you can also perhaps get to sail with people who own boats within driving distance of where you are. Depending on where you are located within Virginia you may be able to get some sailing time in with people on the Chesapeake, Potomac, or on some of the larger lakes near you. 

Jeff


----------



## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

This can be done!

Begin by immersing yourself in media... books about sailing, how to sail, cruising, owning a boat... videos... subscribe to sailing magazines. If all this still excites you find some time to get to someplace to take some learn to sail courses... all along the ocean coast and many large lakes should have programs.

You need the "book knowledge" before the hands on experiences. Your research will reveal the size and type of boat that matches your sailing goals. As you become armed with some knowledge and perhaps some experience start looking for a boat to buy. Look at lots of them to get an up close and personal sense of what is out there an what feels right.

You may be able to take on water cruising classes... even in the Caribbean. This should give you confidence and some experience. Living away from the sea will make this a bit harder. I am not sure how you can do the hurdle to buy the boat and be confident to begin sailing it. 

This will take quite some time as it's a big project... not less than 5 years could be more. Others have done it... so you can. But you will enjoy the learning curve... and know when you have enough knowledge and experience under your belt to go for it. Don't forget the budget. You'll need to figure out what it will / might cost... and begin to develop a financial plan.

One last thing... sailors are very smart, very competent and very prudent. Their wisdom informs their choices.


----------



## jojobead (Jun 28, 2019)

I want to truly thank you for your time and responses. It means a lot to me. Actually interacting with people like you who have done it really helps my more than I can say so I hope you know I appreciate it.


----------



## PhilCarlson (Dec 14, 2013)

Jeff,

You're asking the right questions. While I hesitate to claim expertice in any particular area, I'm in year number 5 of a very similar plan to yours; cold start to sailing away. At present I have about two years to earliest possible sail-away date (751 days, to be exact). So here are some thoughts in hindsight:

-Financial planning: @SanderO already touched on it. You've defined a goal, (I assume the wife is on board) now build a roadmap. Money will define the boat you ultimately buy, when, where, and what training you get, how long you can cruise and what you come back to, etc... Finances are every bit as important as learning seamanship.

-Training: Three aspects: 1) Self directed learning: Read and watch everything you can. Study where your interest takes you. My first book was Sailing for Dummies. 2) Formal training: To bareboat charter most places (that is charter a cruising boat without hiring a skipper) you will need to complete ASA 104 or the US Sailing equivelent. Sailing classes are extemely helpful but as many here will point out; the time the school devotes to the curriculum is inadequate which brings up the third aspect, Experience: Even the oldtimers here (especially the oldtimers) will tell you they learn something every time they go out. So go sailing every chance you get! Charter boat, friend's boat, your boat, skipper or crew... it doesn't matter, just get sailing. Start a log and record your sailing days and some notes about the experience. (I use a simple excel spreadsheet). Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement.

-A boat: Boats are expensive, so is chartering. Chartering the costs are all up front. Owning, you get to experience "care and feeding." Buying a ready-to-sail boat is usually much less costly than buying a fixer-upper. However, nothing will teach you about boat systems like repairing boat systems. You need some experience to know what you want in a boat (performance characteristics and amenenities). Consider a small boat to learn the basics, then upgrade when the time is right.


----------



## scubadoo (Apr 5, 2014)

Many of us started out with the same dream. Sailing tugs at the soul, once its in your blood it is difficult to turn a blind eye to it.


----------



## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

PhilCarlson said:


> Jeff,
> 
> -A boat: Boats are expensive, so is chartering. Chartering the costs are all up front. Owning, you get to experience "care and feeding." Buying a ready-to-sail boat is usually much less costly than buying a fixer-upper. However, nothing will teach you about boat systems like repairing boat systems. You need some experience to know what you want in a boat (performance characteristics and amenenities). Consider a small boat to learn the basics, then upgrade when the time is right.


This post is quite good. I differ on the boat. Perhaps a very small boat to learn sailing basics. But it's better not be spending, selling and buying a bigger and then selling and buying a bigger one. Experience wise this is fine... but it's a waste of money.

Your research will reveal what min size you need... what maximum size you can afford and handle. I would survey what others with similar families have done. For offshore cruising I suspect the absolute smallest would be mid to upper 30s. This is fine for a couple... maybe with a kid or even two. But you likely will be more comfortable in something over 40's.


----------



## MacBlaze (Jan 18, 2016)

jojobead said:


> *Thank you* sincerely for your time and for reading this. I am 38 years old and have a dream of sailing (within 5-10 years) with my family (wife and two boys ages 4 and 6). I want to sail the Mediterranean, Caribbean, the world, stopping at small islands and ports and places I've never heard of, and do this for about 2 weeks every year. I want to skipper myself. But, I've never had any sailing course and I don't live (very) near the ocean. I am however starting to put my vision and dream into an achievable goal and for that I want to kindly ask you for advice.
> 
> * How do you recommend I start? What education is required and what is the best way to get it?
> * Financially, buying a sailboat is not within my 5-10 year future, but renting one for 2 weeks a year very much could be. Is this a recommendable option? What brokers / websites do you recommend?
> ...


There are about a zillion and a half ways to do this.

I started with a 1 week cruise and learn that had a competent crew and day skipper course combined, but it was powerboat only. I followed that up with a navigation course (bookwork only) and a vhf course. The next year the charter place let me take out a powerboat on my own (on the recommendation of my instructor) for a week and we took another week long cruise and learn on a sailboat. After that is was mostly sailing charters, 1-2 weeks at a time until we bought our own boat. We did do one 2 week flotilla cruise ( sailing in a fleet with with a lead boat) to explore some more remote areas and a two week circumnavigation course around Vancouver Island that included some open ocean sailing.

The only thing I would have changed is getting my ICC certificate during one of the courses as more and more Med companies are looking for something like it.

I would also encourage you to try and extend some of your trips beyond 2 weeks to get more practice or, if you can't, try and avoid, at least at the start, making just a holiday of it and concentrate on doing lots of sailing and anchoring and avoiding just going from point A to point B and tying up every night in a marina to eat out or drink at the local pub. There will time enough for that later. The more you do, the faster you learn.


----------



## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

JoJo wrote he doesn't live near the ocean. To get hands on experience with boats one needs to be where boats are... rivers, lakes and bays. This will become a barrier. The question is how far from a body of water where boats are found (sailboats) does the JoJo live?


----------



## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Where do you live? I did a week long Cruise and Learn vacation out of Vancouver Canada. It was based on the Canadian Yachting Association (CYA) curriculum. (It's equivalent to ASA 101 - ASA 104). They sent me the study guide in the mail which I read in advance, and then we sailed around the Bowen Island chain for a week with a live aboard sailing instructor, a very lovely young woman by the name of Maya, which greatly put my wife at ease.

I have since done two charters in the Florida Keys.

There are some great sailing videos that are included as part of an Amazon Prime membership.


----------



## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

Sailing is the easy part. Here courses or crewing and your native intelligence can get you up to speed in no time at all. Hell, think any decent sailor can teach a person of average intelligence how to sail in an afternoon. The fine points take a lifetime but they would get enough knowledge to get from point A to B. 
Running a boat is the hard part. In learning the ins and outs of a successful cruising life the sailing part is the least demanding.
Developing the judgment of when to commence a transit and how to achieve that transit.
Where to go, where to anchor, where to get supplies, where and with whom to gets services for the boat and you.
How to decrease your boat expenses, how to service your boat, how to maintain and monitor all the systems on your boat, how to make do when something breaks and can’t be immediately fixed. 
How to prioritize.
All the multitude of requirements to keep going is endless learning curve.
People talk about reading or courses. It’s a great way to be aware of what the issues are but no substitute for experience and common sense. The worst crew I’ve had have passed all the ASA courses. Some also held US captain licenses. The best had no formal training nor credentials. But they ran boats for years and had the right attitude backed up by experience and intelligence. 
When people ask me about this I suggest own boats. It’s a very different experience than chartering or crewing. Being the owner and captain means it’s on you. Work your way up as you deem appropriate. Increasing complexity of the boat, weather exposure, open water travelled, complexing of the transits achieved. The old saying in medicine is you know swat until you see one, do one and teach one. If you’re going off cruising you will be the captain. It will be your life at risk, it will be your money spent. You will need to keep whoever is living with you engaged and happy ( spouse or significant other). The sailing is a piece of cake it’s the rest which will always remain the hard part and a never ending source of learning and personal development.


----------



## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Anyone but a fool can see that to master sailing cruising will take a lot of time.... intellectual / technical knowledge and experience. You need to be an intelligent person and be able to visualize and solve all manner of problems. You need to ascend the stairs beginning at the first step. And as you learn you will discover what sort of boat works for your plan. Obviously there are many choices... even within one size range. The first decision will be narrowing down the boat choice and that will be driven by its accommodation plan that fits your family. If possible get on and inside the best candidates. No matter what boat you'll buy you will have to modify, upgrade, refit, repair and so on to get the boat seaworthy. You'll decide on which auto pilot, nav electronics, ground tackle system/gear, creature comforts and so on... and of course what you can afford for the hull and the refit/upgrades. Research... and then be prepared to do as much of the work as you can. You don't want to be reliant of expensive hard to find mechanics. The entire process will prepare you for the mission. Once you get the boat and perhaps while you are fitting it out try to sail it locally as much as possible to learn how to sail and how to sail YOUR boat. My learn to cruise from scratch was about 5 years and was pretty intensive. I took courses... and ramped up my sailing challenges until I felt comfortable in conditions up to storm force winds. So you need to walk before you can run.


----------



## Zemurray (Oct 28, 2018)

On a similar journey. My wife and I started last year by taking the ASA courses. That’s a great start IMO. It confirmed that we wanted to do this before spending a lot of money, and gave us the confidence to go forward. 

We purchased a 28ft boat and have been slowly ramping up cruising. We keep it in Florida, and commute to it approximately one week a month for now. I can work from the boat. 

Learning to sail is the easy part. There is a learning curve we are still working through for real cruising, as mentioned before. Learning how to conserve water, learning the limits of your current systems and how to plan around the (like filling up your holding tank the first time at night, at anchorage ,, LOL). Provisioning, fixing things, getting setup for cruising, power requirements, safety equipment investments, rough weather experience, navigation, modernizing your rigging for safe sail handling, etc.

These are all the things we are working on. Even chartering a boat you’ll need some of this experience. I’m fortunate that we made friends with our old salty sailing instructor, and ended up getting a slip right next to his. We pick his brain constantly and he’s coaching us on stretching our boundaries and going further, and more advanced study. One advantage of having a decent starter boat is the friends you’ll make who can help guide you. We’ve met all kinds of great people in less than a year who are happy to share and guide us. Just last weekend we spent the day in a secluded anchorage with new friends who’ve sailed all over the world for 30 years on their Alberg 35.

Take the classes, get involved, and ease into it. Your journey will take a natural course from there.


----------

