Hi
Always wanted to sail and finally have the time to do it. Recently retired, 70 and fit, this may be my last opportunity to give it a go. Planning to buy a boat (ideally 25') to sail on Sydney Harbour, Hawkesbury River and may be up and down the east coast.
Have done some sailing courses many years ago but no experience. I'm looking for some advice on getting some informal tuition on a boat the size I plan to buy.
I'm not looking for papers or accreditations but a friendly boat owner with whom I can spend half a day per week sailing and learning the do's and dont's of boat ownership. I'll gladly pay for the tuition and time spent.
I looked for boat hire and found only one such boat on the getmyboat, Nautal and Click&Boat websites. As these websites have poor ratings, I tried to check if the boat existed without success and when I asked questions I was barred from accessing one of the websites altogether so decide against getting scammed.
Would appreciate some advice. Where should I look, does my plan make sense?
Thank you all in advance for taking the time to read this.

Find a Yacht club that has Spinnaker free racing/social sailing,as then you should not get sworn at/discouraged !

I'm currently down in Tasmania and my boat is 40 feet, so I fail on two counts, If/when I get back up to Sydney (maybe late Feb or sometime in March), I'd be happy to go for a sail. While my boat is longer than you're looking for, I think basic sailing skills are pretty transferable from one size boat to another. I think the cruising yacht club has a board you can put your name down on at their place in Rushcutters Bay to go sailing. Haven't done it myself, but others may have, or may know more about it. I suspect the same would be true of Sydney Amateurs (SASC), and likely a number of other clubs round the harbour. While my home mooring is in Sydney, I'm not a resident or a local, so others will know more about it.

Great plan. Agree with all the above suggestions - I put a poptop with sliding hatch on a 30ft VdS Black Soo cabin early 80s to change it from a cave and recently a sliding hatch in PR25 cabin top to allow a lot easier access. Note halyard and sheet loads on a 40fter will be very significantly higher than a 25fter - and certainly well beyond me now - similar age to you assume you will be fitter.

Don't know what you have done so far but in order would suggest the below - I have nothing to do with any of the below companies or clubs but am well aware of their operations

1 Doing 1/2 day sail with ausseasailingschool.com.au/product/try-sail/ - so in Kogarah Bay and sail out into Botany Bay in their J24. Buy their book.
2 Assessing www.balmainsailingclub.com/ - they have good twilights and crew lists etc - most clubs run the Sailpass system allowing three sails for free before joining www.balmainsailingclub.com/racing/crewing-at-bsc Their FB site has numerous good videos of twilight races.
3 See BPYC for probably the most laid back club www.bpyc.com.au/crew-register

I recall a post was put on here within the last few years of a bloke in the west harbour inviting small yachts for regular meet ups and sail in company - if I can find it will add to this.

I am about to do the first sail in PR25 out of west harbour after upgrading the diesel and a lot of other improvements. Let me know if you are interested in coming for a sail and we can maybe sort something. regards Rob

Hey there, you're thinking 25 foot which is good from a perspective of it not being super-critical to get everything right first go but expect this criteria to change as you get some experience.

Suggest getting onto as many boats as you can on whatever basis you can but you shouldn't have to pay someone like-minded to take you for a sail and give you some advice. Go and look at some boats, and go for some sails on them. If there's one piece of advice I would give it's don't feel bad about kicking tires. Boats are really really slow to move and if you find a decent human being who's selling a boat in genuinely good condition, he/she might be very happy to show you the ropes a few times as part of the sale.

This crowd are offering the day skipper practical for less than 2.5K Australian in February: pacificsailingschool.com.au/rya-day-skipper I did a similar course years ago (actually what was called RYA Keelboats 2) which taught me a bunch of essentials. I just googled that one - there will be heaps in Sydney but you should be going in with the mindset that the course will save you many times the 2-3 grand it costs to do. Saying this, your original idea is solid - especially if you back up the practical with some theory.

When I got my boat last year I went to the local sailing club and introduced myself to the tower (race organisers). Someone there said "are you looking for crew" and I have ended up with one of my main crew members being a retired former boat-owner with over 40 years experienced and thousands of offshore miles. I learn heaps from him every time we go out. Being retired he has even been known to pop down to the boat whilst I'm at work and fix stuff :)

My point being that there are lots of very experienced sailors who don't own a boat any more for whatever reason who will probably love to go for a sail on your boat with you, and be very very happy for you to be picking up the tab for insurance, maintenance etc.

If you're ever in Melbourne PM me for a sail.

Cheers,

Jon

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r13 said..

1 Doing 1/2 day sail with ausseasailingschool.com.au/product/try-sail/ - so in Kogarah Bay and sail out into Botany Bay in their J24. Buy their book.

Great advice - anything like this with some structure, practical experience and access to instructors.

Thank you all for your advice!
Planter, should I keep away from any racing but Spinnaker?
Quixotic, I will visit SASC and Rushcutters Bay next week and then other clubs to get to know the community. Years ago I did the YA Inshore Skipper course on a 60fter with a great instructor, Peter Edington, and certainly skills are transferable but in hindsight would have preferred to have done it on a smaller boat as I will be sailing single handed most of the time. I don't know if what I say makes sense, we'll see. I will certainly keep in touch and looking forward to get to know you personally in the near future.
Rob, I will be visiting BPYC (I just learned it's based at a pub!) and the Balmain Sailing Club in the next few weeks and I'm very interested to see your PR25 which is the type of boat I'm after. Please contact me at your convenience.
Jon, I will start visiting clubs to get acquainted with different boats and you are obviously right about criteria changing as we gain some experience, reason why I need to get it right first time. As years pile up, time is of the essence so buying something to trade shortly after is not an option. I am considering doing a similar course to the one you mention or even the same one I did but on a smaller boat.
I will make it a point to document my journey so it may help others and you don't need to answer the same question again and again.
Thank you all for your help.
Richard

Richard spinnaker racing is fine and all racing is good for your purposes but spinnakers have the tendency to bring out the worst in a crew if the s@&t starts to hit the fan.

Exactly my point!

Was on a Sports boat - massive broach under Spinnaker,and pinned down for minutes - crew of skiff sailors went berserk -abuse almost got physical,and was the end of my racing career !

Have a 25ft Contessa,on the Lake ,as a day boat,and just go out for a sail,when it suits, Is only10 minutes away,and can access by kayak,plus have a tinny under a tree,if crew is coming. Also,good jetty/tap/toilet in the bay = necessities of life !
Is fit for purpose,and especially with AutoHelm,and would be good to have a furler,but the whole process of installation is more than boat is worth . Maybe ?

Mason

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New4 said..
Thank you all for your advice!
Planter, should I keep away from any racing but Spinnaker?
Quixotic, I will visit SASC and Rushcutters Bay next week and then other clubs to get to know the community. Years ago I did the YA Inshore Skipper course on a 60fter with a great instructor, Peter Edington, and certainly skills are transferable but in hindsight would have preferred to have done it on a smaller boat as I will be sailing single handed most of the time. I don't know if what I say makes sense, we'll see. I will certainly keep in touch and looking forward to get to know you personally in the near future.
Rob, I will be visiting BPYC (I just learned it's based at a pub!) and the Balmain Sailing Club in the next few weeks and I'm very interested to see your PR25 which is the type of boat I'm after. Please contact me at your convenience.
Jon, I will start visiting clubs to get acquainted with different boats and you are obviously right about criteria changing as we gain some experience, reason why I need to get it right first time. As years pile up, time is of the essence so buying something to trade shortly after is not an option. I am considering doing a similar course to the one you mention or even the same one I did but on a smaller boat.
I will make it a point to document my journey so it may help others and you don't need to answer the same question again and again.
Thank you all for your help.
Richard

Well done all for the prior responses which surely will make a blueprint.
Great response Richard - all you have said makes perfect sense.
Yes spinnaker sailing seems to flummox most crews at various times. The asymmetric kite (with fixed bow prodder) is far easier to handle than the symmetric kite (needing kite pole to be changed sides during the gybe) but both need perfect co-ordination through the gybe to avoid a broach (as per Planter and JonE - we have all done that - but best to not let it get to a near punchup....- rather recover it and learn from it) or kite wrap around the forestay and associated chaos, or Chinese gybe..........I 1/2 own a 9.3m racer / cruiser which we sail hard Saturday afternoons - with masthead and fractional symmetric and asymmetric kites - retractable prodder we made from oregon tapered former and carbon fibre wrap.........over 9 seasons we have done every blue downwind with kites............and we are not spring chickens....
Yes BPYC is based at the pub - the perfect base eh?. BSC is terrific with their virtually whole year schedule including twilights and running the west harbour interclub series as well as the classic Balmain Regatta the latter two which we have successfully sailed in. I will PM you tomorrow night when I get back to Sydney with better web access.
Perfect idea to document your journey here as it will certainly assist many others going forward.
regards Rob