Start Sailing Right!: The National Standard for Quality Sailing Instruction

I am involved with a very active Girl Scout sailing program. For quite some time, the program has used this book as the textbook for the basic sailing class taught on Sunfish. Many, many girls use this text each year in our program. In our program girls may enter the sailing program as early as 11 years old. The text may challenge some 11 year olds a bit, but girls only a year or two older seem to have no trouble with it at all. I used the book myself when I took the same class offered for adults. I found the book worked for me too as an adult who had no prior sailing experience at all. The book is entirely suitable for programs aimed at either kids or adults. In our program, the emphasis is on Sunfish sailing. Although the illustrations are for slightly larger boats, the illustrations are plentiful, well done and add to the usefulness of the book as a teaching text. I am diving back into the book now, as I will soon be part of a team teaching a new group of Girl Scouts to sail. Great book, highly recommended. The companion videos are also very useful, and we use them sprinkled throughout our classes.

I learned a lot from this book! There are helpful charts and pictures as well.

I have been a sailor for 12 years, and I'm only 18 right now! This book is the standard for beginning sailors, endorsed and associated with the US Sailing Association. I started out with it when I was 6 yeasr old, and I still reference it today. One doesn't learn to sail per se, he becomes a sailor. The only way to do that is to have a sequential education and gain years of experience. Buy this book, find a competent instructor (who will probably insist you have this book) and give it a few years, and you WILL be a sailor.

If sailing is a new sport for you then this is a "must-have" book. I have reviewed several how-to-sail books/pamplets and this book is by far the best. The illustrations are excellent (the best I've seen) and plentiful. The book is also very comprehensive. If you are an experienced sailor and are looking for a book to improve your racing skills, then this is not the a book for you. The book also has videos that go along with the text.

The US Red Cross and The US Sailing Association use this book as the newly revised mainstay of their program which is probably the most advanced in the world. I want to link this book to my "Learn to Sail" website, because it's the main book we use too. So where's the picture?Peter Capotosto Commodore Taal Lake Yacht Club