Learning to Sail

We have been working at learning the art of sailing a boat for a few years now. I've often heard that anyone can sail a sailboat within a couple of hours. It just takes the rest of your life to get good at it. Brenda's sister and her husband recently told us that they had booked sailing lessons in the Caribbean for this spring. How fun would that be! Sailing lessons on a beautiful yacht in the blue waters of the Caribbean. This got me thinking about the best way to learn how to sail. Should a person take a sailing lesson, join a sailing club, participate in local sailboat races or just do what we did and jump into a little dinghy and sink or swim?

My guess is that the best method really depends upon the individual. We each learn in a different way and with sailing there are no shortages of methods available. No matter how you start, you will become hooked on this sailing bug and you will immerse yourself in reading sailing books, taking lessons and pulling on the sheets and halyards of your own boat. Brenda and I haven't taken any classes yet, but we dream of a 7 - 10 day charter in the Caribbean with a captain who certifies us in the ASA classes. Maybe after we are done paying for our daughter's upcoming wedding we can make this dream a reality.

In the meantime, Brenda and I will continue to read everything we can lay our hands on about sailing while we continue our self-taught lessons aboard the good ship Wrinkles.