Start Sailing 1 — Smooth Sailing School

Start Sailing 1 is the first step in Australian Sailing's dinghy pathway for adults with no sailing experience. Smooth Sailing School is a mobile learn-to-sail school: it brings its own trailer fleet, instructors and safety gear to partner yacht clubs around coastal Victoria, including Williamstown Sailing Club.

What you'll learn

The course gives you the language, the basic boat handling and the safety skills to get on and off the water with confidence.

• Parts of the boat and sailing terminology – bow and stern, port and starboard, windward and leeward, so you can follow instructions quickly on the water.
• Launching and retrieving – getting the boat off the beach or ramp and back again without damage or injury.
• Steering and stopping – using the tiller and letting the sail out to slow down and stop under control.
• Tacking – turning the bow through the wind, the manoeuvre you will use most often.
• Sailing a reaching course – sailing across the wind, the easiest point of sail to learn on.
• Knots – the figure-of-eight and the reef knot.
• Capsize recovery – every participant practises righting a capsized dinghy, so a capsize becomes routine rather than frightening.

How Smooth Sailing runs it

You sail in a dinghy with an instructor and a partner in the boat. The course is three sessions, about 12 hours in total. Boats, sails and lifejackets are provided, and everyone wears an Australian Sailing-approved lifejacket at all times on the water. Bring water, a hat, a snack, a towel, clothes that can get wet, a spare set of dry clothes and shoes; a spray jacket, wetsuit and water shoes are useful if you have them. Instructors hold current Australian Sailing qualifications, First Aid and Working With Children checks.

Who it suits

Adults who are water confident and have never sailed, or who sailed long ago and want a structured restart. Dinghies are light and responsive, which makes them a good boat to learn the fundamentals on.

Where it leads

Continue with Start Sailing 2, which moves you from being shown how to rigging and sailing the boat yourself. Smooth Sailing also runs Start Sailing 1 and 2 together as one combined program.

Full course guide

For the full Australian Sailing syllabus, see the Start Sailing 1 course guide.