Sailing: A Beginner's Guide: The simplest way to learn to sail

Sailing is a wonderful sport, it takes place in the open air, on the water and is powered by something that’s free and eco-friendly – the wind! It is a sport for life: captivating children and giving them a sense of responsibility as they skipper their own boat and continuing to give pleasure well beyond retirement, whether it be competing against others or taking it more gently.
Using this book you can get afloat, learn to sail and start having fun using the step-by-step advice, photo sequences and diagrams. This jargon-free guide allows complete novices to get out on the water with the minimum of fuss. One- and two-person dinghies are covered, along with rigging, knots, safety, handling and much more.
Originally published as ‘Learn to Sail’, it now forms part of Fernhurst Books’ series of Beginner’s Guides covering surfing, SUP and inflatable kayaking.
It can be used on its own or as a compliment to traditional sailing courses run by sailing schools everywhere and is aligned very closely to standard teaching qualifications. It is also linked to many YouTube videos so you get a real flavour and feel for the sport of sailing.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Know your boat

Knots

Your sailing environment & safety

Rules of the road

Reefing

Points of sailing

Key factors

Beach launching & recovery

Pontoon launching & recovery

Your first sail

How to tack

Capsize & recovery

How to gybe

Spinnakers

Glossary