THE SAILING SCHOOL at New York Sailing Center & Yacht Club: Start Sailing!

"Great program... far exceeded expectations! I'll be back." (And she was!)
-Gale Wenberg, Manhattan.

Start Sailing^sm is our basic course for those with little or no prior experience. Whether you've never stepped a pair of Skechers onto a sailboat, or you've owned proper deck boots as a crew for years but you need to round out some loose ends before becoming a "skipper," this is how to do it!

SOME QUICK
STATS...

Above: two of our Beneteau 21's returning to the moorings for a mid-sail break. Unlike most other schools, we give you a short "B&B" break (bathrooms, beverages, etc.). This is much more comfortable, and keeps your concentration and enthusiasm up for the last couple of hours. It also guarantees extra practice starting and stopping - the two hardest things to do!

3 day course
18 hours on-water instruction
6 hours classroom instruction
Maximum of 3 students per boat (private groups of 4; we can keep you together if you prefer and give you more time as necessary)
Variety of schedules
Free supervised practice sails after the course without an instructor**
Easy access by car or public - we'll even pick you up from Manhattan!

...and, great teaching aids like our Obstacle Course^sm - the most fun and effective thing you can do at sailing school, an NY Sailing Center signature which appears to be an exclusive! Watch video of our students using it!

You'll learn on the Beneteau First 21.0, which has the best balance of properties of school boats in use today. The Beneteau 21 has twin rudders, making your learning experience much more effective, and making it easier for you to sail other boats later. Far from a gimmick, twin rudders are used in the most serious ocean races - Vendee Globe, Volvo Ocean Race, and Transat 650 (6.5 meters, or 21 feet!), to name a few. Learn more here.

** Beware: one school claims that they are the only one giving practice sails without an instructor. This is false; we have been doing this for decades. In fact, at least five schools do this. More on our practice sails below!

Prerequisites: none.
Certifications achieved:

-ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Certification.

and... (Start Sailing exceeds their standards.)

-Safe Boating Exam Certification. This is a nationally recognized curriculum from the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, NASBLA. Meets Safe Boating legal requirements for most states in the country.

Both the Keelboat and Safe Boating Certification are included in our tuition.

Curriculum: enough to require a separate page!

It’s safe, inexpensive and in the right hands, surprisingly easy, too. Our sailing school program combines decades of experience with fresh enthusiasm. Ideal for adults of all ages, whether complete beginner or with little experience or formal training, Start Sailing^sm navigates you through all the theory, terminology and maneuvers - putting you on a course toward a lifetime of pleasure in this wonderfully diverse sport.

Sailing is a healthy, accessible pastime that you’ll never outgrow! It can be as exciting or relaxing as you like. Maybe you see yourself cruising into a sunset after work, listening to your stress drain away with the sloop’s bubbling wake. If you “work hard and play hard,” one-design racing is probably the game for you.

Whichever you prefer, Start Sailing^smgets you started and gets you off to the best start, too. Location, instructors, boats and methods- we max out the industry gauges of excellence, yet our all-inclusive price is in line at $795 with only three students per boat!

Compare to as much as $1250 with 4 per boat, often before materials and/or certification!

Start Sailing^sm is backed up with the experience and perspective of 38 years in the sailing school industry, giving you a great foundation on which to start building your own experiences!

Not that it isn’t complete in its own right - after the course, you’ll be able
to skipper a daysailing keel sloop on inland waters in moderate weather.
(Yes, we’ll define all that nomenclature for you!)

Start Sailing^sm is 32 hours long, with 26 spent on the water. This includes more sailing time with an instructor than most programs, plus our supervised practice sails without an instructor that you schedule later.

Start Sailing^sm makes those extra hours even more effective by giving you plenty of time at the tiller, too. How? With small groups of just 3 students per instructor, you and a maximum of 2 others. (Most sailing schools assign 4 to each boat). In fact, we hear from students and instructors who attended or taught at other schools that overbooking, and instructor cancellations, or not uncommon. That can add up to five or even SIX students in a boat! That's ridiculous - yet one Basic Keelboat course in our region (with two days of sailing) has had that happen at least two times. Quality control is very important to us. That's why with this, our second school, we decided to try teaching with only 3 students in each boat instead of the unofficial industry standard of four. It works much better. Why don't most schools use a 3-1 ratio? It costs more!

We also use exceptional teaching aids, such as our exclusive Obstacle Course^sm series of buoys. Nothing is more effective at teaching you to manuever a boat. And it's also more fun! Watch video of students sailing around the Obstacle Couse^sm and see for yourself. (We're aware of one other school using a similar series of markers but not during the course days with an instructor on board.)

And unlike too many other schools, we never use an instructor who hasn't been certified by either ASA or US Sailing. (more on: Instructors)

Learning is by doing: instructors only demonstrate, coach and encourage. In fact, you’ll get to try singlehanding, where others keep clear as you handle all the basic tasks of steering, trimming sails, even tacking and jibing across the wind! You'll even singlehand around our Obstacle Course!

Sounds intimidating? Don’t worry, it’s actually fun!

And because you’re not sailing in New York Harbor or the Rivers, you won’t be intimidated by commercial shipping or adverse winds and currents. You’ll be sailing on the quiet side of City Island, which has the longest tradition of sailing schools in the region - and for good reason: nothing compares as a learning environment.

That’s critical. Most of your time is spent on the water -
and our waters have been coveted by other schools for years!

Stop by and see for yourself! We're very convenient by both car and public transit, and we can pick you up from Manhattan!
We'll even give you a free Preview Sail!

I mighttake you up on that, but give me DIRECTIONS

After your 3 days of instruction, you’ll reinforce it all with two supervised Practice Sails* taken with your fellow students - but without the instructor on board. These half-day sails are our time-tested way to ease the transition from sailing school to the “real” world! Students schedule them at their mutual convenience after the course, with no "blackouts-" take them anytime throughout the season, am or pm, weekday or weekend.

** (Beware: another school claims that they are the only one giving practice sails without the instructor on board. This is false; at least five schools do.)

We don't just "throw you to the wind:" we review the chart and waters with you, talk about the day's weather, suggest an itinerary of where to go and what to work on, and supply a radio so we're always connected. Whenever necessary, we coach you by radio or by chase boat. The instruction doesn't end just because the course does.!

Very few schools offer this valuable tool; some scoff at it. It's even been suggested that the few schools using this method are just misleading you about their actual course hours.* But there's nothing misleading, and there's nothing like it for that final boost in confidence, and to start you off in making decisions on your own.

And that's what you'll have to do after sailing school!

After your Practice Sails, you'll truly be ready to keep sailing with options such as rentals, sailing club membership, and advanced courses - either with us or at other programs (although we hope you'll stay with us!).

*Our Practice Sails supplement the 24-hour regular course with an instructor, of which 18 are spent on the water and 6 in the classroom. This brings your total time-on-the-water to 26 hours, and your total course time is 32 hours. Do the math - compare hours on the water and tuition dollars, and you'll see that we charge less than other schools per hour on-water with an instructor hour as well as overall course hours. And, at almost all other schools, you share those hours with an extra student! The best sailing education is also the best value in the industry.
We think that practice sails are criticial to your sailing education, and recommend that when choosing a school, you give a lot of weight to those who give practice sessions. We supervise your practice sessions by checking on you visually, communicating by VHF radio from time to time, and coaching from a chase boat if and when appropriate. However, you do everything - including making all decisions - without the instructor on board. We just observe and check in by radio so you know we're doing it. If we see an area where you can improve, we'll hail you on the radio or come by in the chase boat and ask you "what's wrong with this picture," or words to that effect, to help you figure out what you can improve. Of course, if you have trouble sailing, help is only a quick radio or cell phone call away. When the course is over, the instruction isn't!
(The school making the false claim tells us that they do not supervise their students when they're on practice sails. If that's so, you go from always having an instructor in the cockpit with you to suddenly being completely on your own. No transition. No quality contrrol. That's just giving you a free rental. One student who attended this school told us that he and the other students had their practice sail with an instructor because it was "too windy." Afterward, the students were not invited to do another sail on their own! Beware of false, misleading, and/or empty marketing claims! Most schools are ethical and fair but, as in any industry, there is the occasional bad apple.)

What's wrong with this picture? See if you can figure out the error, and tell us! Get it right, and we'll give you a $25 gift certificate good for anything we offer! (Or, to Start your Sailing education, just ask us.) Hints: don't over-analyze the photo. It doesn't matter what was happening when it was taken. Look closely for something that's fundamentally backwards, regardless of what else might be going on!

These students are tacking the boat, or turning through the eye of the wind and crossing the sails over.

Sailboats can't go straight into the wind: they have to zig-zag in the general direction the wind is coming from. Each 'zig' or 'zag' involves a tack.

Steve Card, photo.

Course Format

We've learned a lot over four decades, not least of which is how to "teach without tiring." We present information in a logical sequence and give just enough breaks to keep students' concentration going the whole time. Here's the typical format:

**Typical Schedule, Day 1 - Day 3**
9:30 - 11:30am	Classroom session, introducing the skills to be covered on the water that day. Short break in the middle for coffee, bathrooms, etc.
11:30am - 12:30pm	Lunch break. You can bring your own, or stop by one of many delis or restaurants for take out to eat by the water - or even have a quick sit-down meal.
12:30pm - 6:45pm	Sailing session. We take a short break in the middle for bathrooms & beverages (giving extra mooring or docking practice in the process).

**Typicaly 1st Practice Day**
12pm-1pm	Certification Exam. It's a straightforward test consisting of multiple choice, diagram and true/false questions. After you're done, we grade them and explain any answers you didn't understand.
1pm - 2pm	Lunch break. You can bring your own, or... oh yeah, you read this already...
2pm - 6pm	Practice Sailing. You now sail with your classmates but without an instructor and consolidate your newfound skills under our supervision. Supervision means that we ensure you have the boat rigged properly before hoisting sails and casting off, observe you from afar, check in on the radio from time to time, give you hints on what to do better, and maybe coach from a chase boat on occasion. You're doing everything - yet you know that we're there just in case, and you're also getting valuable extra instruction by radio and chase boat. One competitor falsely claims that they are the only school giving practice sails without the instructor (several schools do), and also that they don't supervise their students when they're on practice sails. Yet, they charge hundreds more for this - after putting more students in the boat to begin with!

n.b.: this is a typical session, but the schedule is quite flexible.

**2nd Practice Day**
10am-2pm or 2pm - 6pm	Practice Sailing. Go out again without the instructor, consolidate, and have more supervised fun. We supervise you less at this point and generally give you greater range. This really reinforces things and further boosts your conficence. After this, you're ready to rent completely unsupervised - without your classmates! Bring whoever you want. Why go to a school that won't trust you to skipper the boat after the course, only allowing you to join a club so there is security in numbers with other students on board? That doesn't demonstrate much confidence in their training!

"What if my schedule doesn't "jibe" with those of my fellow students for practice sails after the course?"

Not a drama -we can mix & match you with other students. It only takes two to tango - and if you're taught properly, it only takes "1 1/2" to sail a small keelboat. So, you can go on a practice sail with just one other student. After the practice sails, you can join our sailing club, or rent a boat from us as skipper with just one other person on board. That's how confident we are in our school, and how confident you'll be after attending it.

Sign me up!