Learning to Sail: The Annapolis Sailing School Guide for Young Sailors of All Ages

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Your Boat

Balancing the Boat

Sails and Masts

Rigging

Rudders, Centerboards, and Daggerboards

Rigging Checklist

Safe and Sound

What to Take

What to Wear

Safety Checklist

Underway

Finding the Wind

Preparing to Leave the Dock

Finding the Correct Tack

Leaving the Dock

Steering and Sail Trim

Steering

Trimming the Sails

How Does Wind Power Your Sails?

Locating the Edge of the No-sail Zone

Points of Sail, or "Where Am I in Relation to the Wind?"

The Three Main Points of Sail

More Points of Sail

Trimming and the Points of Sail

What Does a Telltale Tell?

Turning Around

Coming About

Jibing

Tacking Upwind, Jibing Downwind

How Not to Go Full Circle and Other Hints

Heeling

Emergencies

Capsizing

"Crew Overboard!"

Thunderstorms

Lightning

Fog

Practice for the Unexpected

Coming Home and Other Topics

Sailing to a Mooring

Docking

Beaching Your Boat

Paddling

Putting Your Boat to Bed

Tides and Currents

Nautical Rules of the Road

"What Kind of Boat is That?"

Modern Sailing

What Next?

Appendix: Trailering

Glossary/Index

This book is about learning to sail. It follows the techniques perfected at the world-famous Annapolis Sailing School, where thousands of people just like you have learned to take tiller in hand and harness the wind. You'll learn your way around a boat--what its parts are called, what they do, and how to use them to ride the wind wherever you want to go.

Read this book, spend some time on a boat, and practice your new skills, and pretty soon you'll be a sailor, one of a select group of people who think there's nothing finer than hiking out to windward in a close-hauled dinghy--racing against friends or a neighboring sailing club, or alone and just for the fun of it.