I had no idea how to prepare for sailing school. Even though I was excited as a puppy going to the dog park, I didn’t know what I needed to do beyond read the textbooks that were sent me.
At the time of booking my sailing school adventure, I didn’t personally know anyone that had experienced the same program or likeness.
So, I did what I have conditioned myself to do: I researched. A lot.
I was on information-overload, analysis paralysis, whatever you want to call it. There was just way too much to take in, even though I had 6 months to do so.
In the event that you might be considering sailing school down the road, I thought it would be helpful to outline the top 3 tips I figured out to help you prepare for sailing school.
Of course there are plenty of other options, and everyone has their own style or preparation. These are just the most important aspects that I found most helpful for me to prepare for sailing school. Use them as a guide, outline, or a starting point for your own journey!
Read your sailing textbooks
I was the type of student that rarely (if ever) actually finished an assigned book in school. I tended to lose traction about halfway through and would be able to BS my way through exams and papers.
That wasn’t the case for sailing school. I was sent 4 textbooks, one for each of my certificates, and made a point of reading them from cover to cover.
The benefit with doing this was 3-fold: I understood more about my surroundings and was safe during the actual sailing portion of sailing school, there were practice tests throughout the books that helped me study for the exams, I had a certain amount of comfort and familiarity boarding the ship.
When I signed up for sailing school, I was instructed to read my textbooks. Since sailing was something I wanted to do, I read. What I didn’t expect was that there were others in my group that didn’t.
And it showed. I had a significant leg up when it came to talking about the ship, studying for our written exams, and performing daily tasks.
I think that reading the sailing textbooks can also help calm any nerves you might be experiencing. Or help quell any uneasiness that friends or family members might be feeling on your behalf.
Plus, there are tons of pictures, diagrams, and usually comprehensive glossaries so you don’t sound silly when you talk about parts of the boats.
Practice knots ahead of time
One of the most helpful ways to prepare for sailing school is to practice tying the basic sailor knots. Over and over.
And over again.
The textbooks you receive have diagrams and instructions on not only how to tie sailor knots, but when they’re most appropriate.
When you’re on a boat that’s heeling from side to side, pulling up to a dock for the evening, you’re going to need to be comfortable tying on some fenders, fixing a roving fender, or hopping off the boat to tie it to the dock. If you’re not comfortable handling the lines, you’re going to feel more pressure than usual and might fumble a lot more than you’d like.
Like most technical skills, you can learn the theory and understand how to do it, but that doesn’t always translate over into actually being able to physically do the act.
Do yourself a favor and get your hands on some rope ahead of time. Practice the motions. Feel the knots. Get your skills to the point when you can tie a knot without having to think about it or even look at it.
Even though it was different than the lines we had on board my sailing school boat, I purchased some inexpensive rope online, simply to practice.
I kept some rope at my desk at work, and the rest scattered at various points in my house. I would practice tying knots when I was watching TV. When I was reading. Waiting for dinner to cook. During meetings or reading emails. I got to the point where I could tie a few different knots without having to think about them. I doubt I was the fastest knot-tying fiend ever, but I was definitely comfortable with them.
And when it came time to tie specific knots under pressure onboard the boat, it was easier than I thought.
Watch YouTube videos to help you prepare for sailing school
My last piece of advice to prepare for sailing school is to search YouTube for other people who have gone through the experience. You can search for students that were in your specific program or general sailing school.
Chances are you’ll be able to catch another view of the boat you’ll be on, your instructor, get a feel for the schedule, and unfiltered reviews of the program.
The benefit of searching for individual, non-affiliated channels is that they’re completely honest and offer different viewpoints. It’s like finding a video review of a product. How many times do you research things you purchase online?
Another helpful reason to search out YouTube videos is that you get to see different information. When I was doing my research to help me prepare for sailing school, I found a YouTube channel that did the same program I did. The couple was a little older and their video quality was quite horrific, but I got to see the interior of the cabins, learned more about the shower situation onboard, and got to see some possible spots I would be visiting.
How else would you prepare for sailing school? Have you ever considered signing up for it?
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