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Ean,
If you join the Sailing club that's in Toronto Island Marina, It'll cost
you around $500 a season, but the ysail albacore dinghy's instead of keel
boats. $1400 is $500 more than I paid for slippage on my 22 foot Edel in
Whitby. Just a thought. The winter fees are just under $700 for storage.
So it works out to be similar cost (once you've bought a boat!!)
Pierre.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ean Kingston" <>
To: "live aboard list" <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 6:44 PM
Subject: lv-ab: My Sailing Lessons
> Ahoy all. I mentioned that I was going to take sailing lessons this past
> weekend and some (2 I think) expressed interest in hearing how things
> went. So, here we go.
>
> First, no pictures because I didn't want my digital camera to get wet
> and possibly ruined. Since I joined the sailing club that offered the
> lessons I will undoubtedly have pictures in the future.
>
> I took the lessons from Queens Quay Yachting
> (www.queensquayyachting.com) I chose it because they are close to work
> (a 10 minute walk) so I can go sailing after work without having to take
> a long trip.
>
> The course lasted about 30 hours and I received the 'CYA Basic Cruising
> Standard' or will as soon as I write the written part of the test. The
> tell me this lest me take boats up to 10 metres (30 feet) in length out
> during the day in calm conditions. And I got a log book to log my
> sailing experience in.
>
> Now, on to the fun parts.
>
> They advertise it as 80% in-boat and 20% in class. I think it was more
> like 10% in class. Most of the theory was taught in the boat (followed
> shortly by doing it). The boats are Harbour 20 keel boats. The one I was
> in (Delta) had 3 students and 1 teacher (other boats had up to 4
> students).
>
> The first class was Friday evening (6:00pm to 9:00pm). We went out in
> light to no wind with calm water in the inner harbour of Toronto. We
> went over the parts of the boat and how to raise the sails. Then we
> raised them and turned off the motor. We were shown how to trim the
> sails (and did so). We were shown how to tack (and each got a chance to
> try. That wrapped things up on Friday.
>
> Saturday morning we had no wind at all. We got a long lecture (long
> relative to the rest of the course) and then went out and practiced
> raising the sails. Reefed the main, and started on anchoring.
>
> Saturday afternoon the wind picked up (much to the relief of the regatta
> that had been floating around waiting for wind since early morning). We
> raised the sails, practiced tacking, heaving-to, gibing, and various
> points of sail. Everyone on our boat got to try each position on the
> boat multiple times through all these things. It was a nice day to sail.
>
> Sunday the weather report predicted thunderstorms. Fortunately they
> stayed away till after the class ended. In the morning we went out in
> small craft warning conditions. We practiced everything except gibing.
> We also added crew-overboard drills (which weren't easy in strong
> winds). The boat healed a lot more than it had the day before. Being
> brand new to sailing this was a bit scary at the time. Looking back it
> was a lot of fun too.
>
> Sunday afternoon we got a lecture on reading charts. Then, we had more
> sailing. It was very exiting and I was completely wiped out by the end.
>
> Monday, our last day of lessons, we spent the morning practicing and
> reviewing for the test in the afternoon. The weather was beautiful.
> Light winds and calm water. COB drills were a lot easier than the day
> before. The harbour was a lot more crowded too.
>
> Monday afternoon was the test of our skills. Our crew went out without
> the instructor for the first time. We had great fun. We sailed around a
> little course that had been setup for us to show our skills tacking and
> gibing. Then we did crew overboard drills. Finally we had to heave-to
> and reef the main. That was a lot easier in the light winds of Monday
> than when we had to do it Sunday during the strong winds.
>
> I'm going to be studying my course material for the next week or so and
> then do the written test. After that you can call me 'Skipper' when the
> weather is nice. :)
>
> The club has activities every night of the week. I'm going to Tuesday
> evening's 'beginner sail' every week and probably show up on Wednesday's
> 'race' pretty often.
>
> I don't know what a sailing club should cost but this one is about $1400
> a year. For that we get use of the facility and boats. The facility is
> pretty minimal. There is a partial kitchen, a big deck with barbque,
> washrooms and showers. The have 18 boats and as a member I can take out
> any boat I'm certified on for 3 hours (I only have to pay for gas).
>
> Over the winter I'm going to take the navigation course (extra money)
> and then next summer I'll take the 'Intermediate Cruising Standard';
> which lets me sail boats up to 12 meters and is the recommended minimum
> for overnight rentals.
>
> --
> Sailing is 80% boredom, 18% excitement, and 2% fear for your life.
> -- Captain Dave
>
>
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