HOW TO GET STARTED
IN SAILING?

The following are information on how one can get started in the sport of sailing in the Philippines. 

INTRODUCTION:
There is a misconception that sailing is an expensive sport, and is only for the Rich. There might be truth to this specially if your concept of sailing is on the helm of a 45 footer yacht or maybe driving an America's cup boat.  But if you are just interested in learning how to sail and can accept day dreaming or hoping to someday be an owner of a yacht, then it isn't expensive as people think it is.  Thanks to the efforts of the yacht clubs in the Philippines such as Manila Yacht club and Taal Lake Yacht club more and more people are getting into the sport and hobby and life that is sailing.  Now with the help of new clubs like Subic Bay Yacht club and more recently Puerto Galera yacht club, sail training courses are becoming more common and readily available.

REQUIREMENTS:
Sailing is a sport that almost anyone can take up, young or old, Male or Female, there are in fact a lot of handicap sailing programs around the world, and sailing races for them, there are even races for Blind sailors (with one sighted person as coach but the coach cannot help out aside from verbal information on what the other boats are doing).  Wouldn't that be the ultimate example of how sailing is for almost anyone?  Why Almost?  Well there are a few requirements.  The first requirement to apply for sail training is that one has to at least know how to swim or keep afloat without any buoyancy aid.  The sport is of course done on the water and there is the possibility of hitting the drink, so this is for safety reason.  One can or are required to sometimes wear life vests depending on the weather, the type of boat or physical ability of the sailor, but knowing how to swim just improves the safety level.  Some clubs set a minimum age limit, but there are actually sailors that learn as early as 3 years old, heck there are some babies that life their lives on boats with their parents, but this is more of a lifestyle.  The most important requirement is the need and the want to learn.  It is often stated that Sailing sometimes only takes a fraction of an hour or so to learn, but takes a lifetime to master.  Even sailing legends will never be heard saying that they have learned all they can. 

GEAR COST:
This is the first thing that will prove that sailing is not expensive.  Basic gear for a sail trainee are: Personal Floatation Device (PFD), Sailing Gloves, Sailing Shoes, Sailing wear such as shorts and shirt (rash guards are popular among dinghy sailors), Sunglasses and Sunblock.  If you want to go over the basic, you will then touch on hats or caps, the boat itself and thousands and thousands of different sailing gadgets from GPS receivers, to watches, compasses, wind instruments, etc.  So one might easily conclude that sailing is expensive. P5,000 for a PFD, P2,000 for sailing gloves, P3000 for shoes, P1000 for apparel, P2000 upwards for Sunglasses. That can easily get to P13,000!  Not cheap!  But this is the "fashion" side of sailing.  As a matter of fact you can get away with just borrowing the PFD from the club or getting affordable ones for less than P1,000. Sailing gloves can be gloves for motorbikes or motorcross gloves, Shoes can be any affordable canvas type shoes and apparel which you normally use when you go to the beach. Sunglasses doesn't have to be the branded ones and you probably have own one already anyway.  Some gear that one might want to spend some money on, maybe are a good pair of Sailing gloves coz they will last a bit longer, and polarized sunglasses, next maybe would be a good PFD if you want to own your own.  So how much will a basic gear for sail training cost?  Approximately just P2000 for the gloves, assuming you will borrow the PFD already own canvas shoes, shorts, shirt, cap, sunglasses. Cheap!

SAIL TRAINING:
Sail training cost are of course an inevitable cost. They vary depending on the club and the package, but they usually include the rental (charter) of the boat for the duration of the training, class room training, on water sailing time with a trainer.  The cost will range from P3000 to P8,000 and these are just estimates, clubs might offer them lower or higher depending on the package or length of training and number of trainees. Some might even offer free lessons to young Children.

For more information please contact the following clubs:

CHEAPER STILL:
Still think that learning how to sail is expensive?  Well there is another alternative. If you get along well with people, willing to commit to sailing at a regular basis with someone, in basically good shape, then you might be able to get into sailing by just visiting a Yacht club looking for the race office or for the person who is in charge in sail training and inquire if there are any boats that are interested in a crew.  You can then talk to the owner/skipper of the boat explain to him/her that you are interested to try out crewing.  If the skipper agrees you will then be allowed to start sailing with them or the skipper might even give you a bit of training first, then a safety briefing then you go out sailing.  Crewing is helping out with controlling the other parts of the boat like sails or distributing weight by positioning your body in the side where weight is needed, etc. Crewing can be a good "introduction to sailing" you might opt to crew for a boat first to see if you want to go ahead and do the sail training course.  Most people who decide to continue will go through sail training while continuing to crew for a boat, others might just decide that they don't want to go through sail training but continue on crewing.  After a while when your skipper notices that you have learned a lot already, he might just decide to teach you the basics of sailing the boat often after the race is finished and everyone is sailing back to the club. 

The Gear requirements for crewing for a boat is almost just the same as for sail training, in big boats you may not need to wear a PFD all the time and the boats usually carry enough for the crew already.

Hope that this has inspired you to try out sailing. A sport which you can get into with only P2,000 or P1M pesos! A sport for the very young or even the very old, Gender doesn't matter (a lady sailor from Britain is going around the world alone and breaking records), it can be exciting when you go racing against other boats or you go out with strong winds, or it can be a leisurely sail in nice breeze and calm seas. Who knows maybe next time it would be you who will be sailing against our fellow South East Asian neighbors during the SEA Games!

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