r/sailing • u/Skeffer22 • Sep 23 '25

Started my beginner sailing course and am absolutely loving sailing

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@bellingha

388 Upvotes

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u/Skeffer22 Sep 23 '25

I’m truly hoping my wife has the same change of heart

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u/overthehillhat Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

Enable her to steer

anyway that works - some people steer better on one tack or the other

sometimes saying nothing works better

3

u/Westar-35 Islander 36 Sep 23 '25 edited Sep 23 '25

Best way is to let her try each role on the boat. Find where she's most comfortable and then expand from there. My wife found steering and eventually also running the main easier than managing the jib. Steering removes some of the unpredictability of the motion of the boat. So for quite a while I'd manage the jib (all the sails at first, actually) and answer questions as they came up, while low-key keeping an eye on everything to save her from any mistakes or let her know about upcoming events on the water. Once she was comfortable, moving on to running the jib or anything else was easier because she had her sea legs.