Your First Time Sailing: What to Expect and What to Learn

Your First Time Sailing: What to Expect and What to Learn

Discover Boating, the consumer program of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), says learning to sail starts with three things: how a sailboat moves, how to work with the wind, and how to control the boat safely. Mastering sailing can take years, but beginners can learn the basics quickly with good instruction and practice. This guide covers what to learn first, the vocabulary, the points of sail, sail trim, tacking and gybing, knots, safety and the rules of the road. It ends with what a typical first sail is like.

What to learn first

Discover Boating's list of core beginner skills:

You don't need to master any of these before your first lesson. Knowing the words, though, makes it much easier to follow an instructor.

The vocabulary

Sailing has its own language. You'll hear port (left), starboard (right), bow (front), stern (back), windward (the side the wind comes from), leeward (the side away from the wind), halyard, tiller, tack, gybe and luff. An instructor might say "ease the jib sheet," which means let out the line that controls the jib. "Luff the sail" means let the sail move toward the wind so it becomes less full and starts to flap.

Parts of a sailboat

Later you'll pick up words like vang, downhaul, mizzen, boltrope, luff and leech as you practice.

Points of sail

The points of sail describe the boat's direction relative to the wind, and they decide how the sails should be set:

Point of sail Wind direction
In irons Bow pointed straight into the wind. The sails can't make power, so the boat stops.
Close hauled As close to the wind as the boat can sail and still move forward.
Close reach Wind from ahead of the side of the boat.
Beam reach Wind straight across the side.
Broad reach Wind from behind the side.
Running Wind from directly behind.

The general rule is that the farther you turn away from the wind, the more you ease the sails out.

Sail trim

Trim means adjusting the sails to use the wind well, and experienced sailors keep refining it for years. Upwind, sails are generally trimmed in tighter and flatter. Farther off the wind, as on a broad reach, they're eased out and fuller. Telltales, small pieces of yarn on the sail, show whether air is flowing smoothly across it. Watch them, and pay attention to how the boat feels.

Tacking and gybing

The instructor will tell you when to turn, how to call out the maneuver to the crew, and how to handle the sails.

Knots

Discover Boating recommends starting with three: the bowline, the cleat hitch and the figure-eight. Learn how to tie a line to a cleat and how to hang a fender properly. You can practice knots at home, so you'll know them before you need them on the water.

Wind and weather

Check the forecast for wind speed and direction before you go out. Beginners should practice in manageable conditions, not strong or gusty wind. With time you'll learn to read the water's surface, the sails and the boat's motion to spot changes in the wind.

Rules of the road

The Navigation Rules set out who must keep clear in each situation, using the terms stand-on vessel and give-way vessel. Discover Boating stresses that having the right of way doesn't mean holding your course into a collision. Every boater shares the responsibility to avoid one. Learn the rules for your area. Many states also require a boater education card to operate certain boats. See our boater education guide and the State Rules tool.

Take a course

Discover Boating calls professional instruction one of the best ways to build good habits. Look for a local sailing school or a course taught by certified instructors or experienced sailors. A beginner course usually covers terms, rigging, steering, sail handling, tacking, gybing and basic safety. Starting on a small boat helps, because the equipment is simpler and the boat responds right away when you adjust the sails or the course. In early lessons you'll learn to rig the boat, steer with a tiller or wheel, trim the main and jib, tack and gybe, maneuver around a dock, handle changing wind, and follow basic safety practices.

Wear a properly fitted, Coast Guard-approved life jacket. Our required safety equipment guide lists what the boat must carry.

What your first sail is like

Discover Boating describes a typical first outing:

  1. On the mooring. The boat probably starts on a mooring, a heavy permanent anchor. Boats on moorings point into the wind, which is ideal for raising sails.
  2. Mainsail up first. It goes up easily until the last foot or two, which take some pulling. The boom swings side to side while the sail luffs, so keep your head out of the way. It can be noisy if it's windy.
  3. Then the jib. It's easier to raise, and it has no hard spar attached, so the crew member at the bow casting off the mooring line won't get hit.
  4. Casting off. When the mooring is released, the boat drifts backward. Pulling the jib out to one side swings the bow the other way. Once the bow is about 45 degrees off the wind, trim the main until it stops flapping and fills, while someone else trims the jib.
  5. Moving. The boat starts moving silently, which can feel like magic. In a brisk wind it heels (leans), and it feels faster than it is.
  6. Open water. The skipper sets a course, the helmsman steers a straight line (it takes practice), and the crew keeps trimming. Trimming never stops. You'll take turns steering and trimming, and you may practice a man-overboard recovery using a buoy as the "victim."

Within about an hour, Discover Boating says, things start to feel familiar, and you'll stop feeling baffled and start having fun.

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