BVI Bound

Sailing in the British Virgin Islands

Learning to Sail: Big boat or small boat?

If you get a chance to learn to sail, take it, don’t worry about if it’s the right way. Any time on the water on a boat will help you.

That said if you are looking to learn to sail, how should you start? Start on a small boat.

  • Small boats will teach you how to sail quickly as they respond quickly to anything you do – right or wrong. A large boat takes a while to respond and you might have already done three different things by the time it moves.
  • Small boats aren’t as scary. If you flip one, you just flip it back over. So you are more likely to try things out and learn more.
  • Small boats have less things to worry about. They don’t have motors, anchors, galleys, etc, so you can focus on the sailing.

Thing about it. Would you learn to drive in a car or in a semi? The transition from small boat to large sailboat is much easier than from a car to a semi! The hardest things for me to learn in the transition to large boats were sailing under power and navigating into a tight dock.