Get trained
This page explains the principles. It is not a substitute for hands-on instruction from a recognized program such as US Sailing, the RYA or ASA, and it does not replace the safety rules that apply where you sail.
How the skills build
Every page in this section sits on the ones before it. Read them in order if you are new.
- Steering. Holding a course by feel and by the telltales, and keeping the boat balanced. See steering.
- Sail trim. Reading telltales and using the sheets, halyards, outhaul, vang and traveler to shape the sails. See sail trim.
- Tacking and gybing. Turning the bow or the stern through the wind with the crew working together. See tacking and gybing.
- Upwind and downwind. Sailing each direction well, with the settings and angles that suit the wind. See upwind and downwind.
- Depowering and reefing. Taking power out of the sails as the wind builds, and reducing sail when that is not enough. See reefing and depowering.
- Small-boat skills. Hiking, roll tacks and capsize recovery in dinghies. See dinghy technique and capsize recovery.
- Close-quarters handling. Leaving and returning to a dock, picking up a mooring and anchoring. See docking and mooring and anchoring.
- Navigation. Charts, buoyage, tides and sailing at night. See navigation.
- Racing. Starts, wind shifts and laylines. See racing tactics.
If the basic vocabulary is new, start with how sailing works, points of sail and parts of a boat.
Where formal courses fit
Training bodies teach the same progression on the water, with an instructor and a boat set up for learning. Several pages here (capsize recovery, reefing, docking, anchoring, navigation, tacking and gybing) deal with safety-related skills, and those pages stick to principles as the training bodies describe them. They are a companion to a course, not a replacement for one. More on choosing a program is on learning to sail.
US Sailing
US Sailing's first adult keelboat level is Basic Keelboat. It aims to prepare you to skipper and crew a simple daysailing keelboat responsibly in familiar waters in light to moderate conditions. The recommended boats are 18 to 27 ft tiller-steered sloops, and the stated wind range is 5 to 15 knots. The practical skills include crew operations, leaving and returning to the dock, boat control in close quarters and open water, reefing, a crew overboard rescue method and distress signaling. There are usually no prerequisites, though schools may set pre-course work, and an online version exists.
US Sailing's ladder continues through Performance Sailing, Basic Cruising, Bareboat Cruising, a Catamaran endorsement, Coastal Navigation, Coastal Passage Making, Celestial Navigation and Offshore Passage Making. Experienced sailors can "challenge" a level with an on-water check-out and written exams, though not every school offers this. Separately, US Sailing runs Safety at Sea courses and says it is the only US organization sanctioned by World Sailing to issue Safety at Sea certificates, which are valid for five years.
American Sailing Association
ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing is the first course in the ASA system. ASA says a graduate should be able to skipper a sloop of about 20 to 27 ft by day in winds up to 15 knots, after completing 52 required skills that include rigging and hoisting sails, leaving a dock or mooring, getting out of irons, all points of sail, tacking and jibing. ASA suggests starting with its online Intro to Sailing course. On course length, ASA's own FAQ gives both 2 to 4 days and 2 to 3 days, so check with the school.
Royal Yachting Association
The RYA's adult dinghy scheme runs Level 1 Start Sailing, Level 2 Basic Skills and Level 3 Better Sailing, with youth Stages 1 to 4 alongside it and advanced courses such as Seamanship Skills, Sailing with Spinnakers and Performance Sailing. The RYA says you need Level 2 or Stage 3 to start racing.
For cruising, Day Skipper theory covers navigation and pilotage, chartwork, tides, meteorology, collision regulations and safety, with an introduction to lights for night sailing. The practical is about five days aboard and includes night pilotage and mooring practice. A training centre gives the RYA's recommended experience beforehand as at least 5 days sailing, 100 miles and 4 night hours, with a minimum age of 16.
About the sources
Technique pages draw on the training bodies above, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, sailmakers' coaching articles (North Sails, Quantum, Doyle) and coaches writing in Sailing World, Sail and Yachting World. Sailmaker and magazine advice is presented as that author's view, and where sources give different figures we show each one. Every page lists its sources at the bottom.