My summer sailing adventure is winding down

I wrote about my sailing club earlier in the year, and as the season winds down and the fall air rushes into Minnesota, I thought I’d share a couple things I learned during my time on the water.

Firstly, the teacher makes all the difference.

The way my club was set up allowed me to have various teachers helping me learn the ropes. One was especially skilled in judging the wind, another was great at knots and another had great rigging tips and tricks. Some were very good at answering questions, others spoke from the book, but weren’t good at making a memorable lesson out of their knowledge. Asking the same question of a few teachers really helped me get a good answer.

It simply wouldn’t have been possible to learn all that I did from a single person.

That’s one big thing to keep in mind when running a boat club of any sort. Everyone has different specialties and interests so don’t struggling to find one all-around teacher when having a pair of teachers shifting roles is easier and more natural for the teacher and the students.

Secondly, I learned that as fun as the club was, I learned I don’t really want a sailboat.

All the ropes, the knots, the schizophrenic wind and the nagging anxiety of tipping the boat over is more than I want out of a summer leisure activity. I’ll probably stay in the club since sailing with a random crowd of folks is really fun, but as as far as ownership, I’m heading back to the simplicity and affordability of a canoe.

But you know what, that’s OK? I learned a whole lot about sailing and met some great people — that’s what the club is all about for me.

Marinas or dealers running or pondering their own boat club will have plenty of people just like me and should welcome us. We’re going to take up a seat and we probably won’t be buying a boat from you. Word of mouth advertising, however, is priceless and showing people the fun of boating will always be good for the industry.