Getting Started - Part 2

Rob Andrews explains the importance of learning to sail at RYA-recognised organisations

Why the RYA way?
When we ran our sailing holiday company in Spain many guests asked why we went to the trouble of being RYA recognised. It did mean that we had to be inspected every year by the RYA, who checked our equipment, rescue boats, teaching facilities, safety systems and that all our staff were fully qualified RYA instructors up to the level that we were offering.

We could only employ staff with full qualifications, first aid awards, powerboat qualifications and all the extra endorsements for teaching racing, catamarans and advanced skills. The centre also needed a senior instructor to oversee these staff. Without this we would not comply with the RYA standards and as such could not use or present awards based on the RYA teaching scheme.

Our guests kept asking what made these awards so important that we would go to all this trouble. Simply the fact that the RYA dinghy teaching scheme has evolved into the system that most new countries developing their own scheme look at or even copy.

So what do we teach on the first level of the system that is going to turn you into a dinghy sailor?

The first choice for you at the school is: do you go down a single-handed route or the larger more stable route with a dinghy instructor with you in the boat and one or two other guests? If you like excitement and like taking risks, then go for the single-handed route, probably in a Laser Pico dinghy. You still have an instructor looking after you, probably in a rescue boat or he/she may even be in another Pico so that they can demonstrate moves on the water. Still, fear not, another instructor will be in charge of rescue and be patrolling nearby in a rescue boat.

Once the type of boat is chosen the instructor will teach you how to rig the boat, keeping any nautical terms to an absolute minimum. Land drills and simulators are used to teach you how to turn the craft around and before you know it you will be on the water and sailing across the wind and turning the boat around using a 'TACK'.

Soon you will be concentrating on the 'FIVE ESSENTIALS', steering, sail setting, centreboard, balance and trim. Armed with a focus on these areas and the instructor will have you safely thinking before too long that you are ready to master the art of 'GYBING', where you turn the boat away from the wind rather than into it.

To conclude the course and present you with your level one RYA certificate, we will get you to sail around a triangular course which incorporates all the points of sailing and allows you to concentrate on the five essentials. Whether you had chosen the single-hander or the larger boat with instructor, you are now on your own, sailing your own boat without an instructor while they look on and encourage you.

From here on it's all plain sailing as you develop these basic skills and start to think about what boat to buy or which sailing club to join. More about these topics in the next article.