A beginner's guide to dinghy sailing

Simply put dinghy sailing involves a small open boat with a sail which is used to harness the power of the wind, to move you through the water.  Some dinghies are designed for speed and exhilaration, while others are better for learning and more relaxed sailing. You can sail on inland waters such as lakes and reservoirs or take to the open seas at home or abroad on warm blue seas.

Most dinghies are small and lightweight and are generally rigged ashore (on the beach) and launched each time you go sailing. They tend to be relatively small (typically between 3-5m long) and are designed for different numbers of people, single-handers, double-handers or bigger ones with 5-6 people on board.  Larger dinghies can often be confused with ‘keelboats’, which are sort of small yachts without a cabin.  The clue is in the name - ‘keel’, so whilst they might look the same on the water, underneath they have a heavy keel that helps keep the boat upright. Even bigger at 10m+ are yachts, which have sails, a small engine and living space downstairs.  These are suitable for living aboard and are perfect for sailing holidays where you sail from harbour to harbour.  The sailing skills needed for yachts and dinghies are the same and many of the world’s top yachtsmen and women started in dinghies.

Dinghy sailing differs to other wind and watersports such as windsurfing in that one has a rigid hull that you sit in/on and the other you stand on a board, both use sails to harness the power of the wind and both require a good understanding of wind direction and points of sail. Many find dinghy sailing easier to learn than windsurfing as you are sitting down and able to concentrate on the sailing rather than standing on a wobbly board.

Joining a sailing course is one of the easiest and most fun ways to learn how to sail. On a beachclub holiday, the boat, safety equipment and expert advice are all on tap. All Neilson Beachclubs are Royal Yachting Association (RYA) recognised teaching centres, inspected annually to ensure the RYAs strict standards are followed, so you can rest assured you will be learning in a safe and happy environment on the appropriate dinghy.

With some good quality instruction, you can learn the basics in just an afternoon. A typical ‘start sailing’ course is run over four sessions or so, each lasting for around two hours. Sessions start with a briefing on the beach where your instructor will do some blackboard work or maybe some land demos in a ‘simulator’.  By the end of the course you will know the basics of rigging, launching, landing and the fun part - sailing.  This is a practical sport and much of the time will be spent afloat learning to master the basic manoeuvres of tacking (turning the front of the boat through the wind) or gybing (turning the back of the boat through the wind).

Sails provide the boats power. Setting the sails at the right angle to the wind to maximise power is a fine art, but the basics are easy to pick up. You will soon be ‘beating’ (making progress) to windward (into the wind), tacking your way on angle (close to the wind) allowing you to make progress towards the wind. You can sail pretty much anywhere – except an area about 45 degrees either side of the wind direction – that sailors call the ‘No Go Zone’. Difficult to understand from a book but easy when an instructor shows you how.

Novices need gentle winds, flat water and an easy beach to launch from The best beachclubs for beginners learning to sail are Baia dei Mori in Sardinia, Alana in Croatia, Vounaki, Messini, Buca and Portomyrina Palace in Greece.

If you’re sailing on a Neilson holiday everything you need is taken care of. There’s a wide range of dinghies for all abilities, including complete beginners. Buoyancy aids (compulsory) and helmets (optional) are also provided. The water is warm so you just need to pack some shorts (quick dry are best as you will get wet) and maybe a rash vest or t-shirt that you don’t mind getting wet to stop your buoyancy aid rubbing.  

Some people wear sailing gloves to protect their hands from salty ropes and beach shoes to save stubbed toes, but at beginner level it isn’t necessary. If you feel the cold, it might be a good idea to throw in a ‘spray’ top to help keep the wind chill at bay for early and late season. Some find a wetsuit helps keep them warm too, but it’s rarely that cold and the water is always warm!

Learning a new skill, whilst experiencing the rush of the wind in your hair and the sun on your face is hard to beat. It’s something that anyone can try regardless of age or experience, and works on so many levels – pottering around the bay, sailing to a distant beach, testing your skills in a race or stepping up to a yacht. Done properly this is a sport that demands skill, strength and flexibility, the constant shifting to find your balance on the boat naturally engages most of the muscles in your body and helps to develop your core strength. Constant adjustment of the sails gives your arms a good work out; even your legs are working hard when hiking out and let’s not forget the abs!

The constant mix of stimulation and ever changing wind and water conditions will also work your coordination and motor skills. If there’s a decent bit of wind, your brain will be constantly engaged on everything you need to do to sail the boat, you will completely switch off from the mundane day-to-day worries and stresses and be 100% focused on the wind and the water.

Although unfamiliar to you now, you will soon pick up the sailing lingo. Why not get ahead of the game with a few keys terms that will help your understanding once you start learning to sail.

Aft: the back of the boat (also known as the stern).
Bow: the front of the boat.
Port: the left-hand side of the boat when you are facing the front (bow).
Starboard: the right-hand side of the boat when you are facing the front (bow).
Leeward: the downwind side of the boat.
Windward: clues in the name – but the side of the boat the wind blows onto.
Boom: the boom is the horizontal pole that extends from the bottom of the mast. Adjusting the angle of the boom to the wind is how the dinghy harnesses the wind power.
Rudder: connected to the tiller (steering stick) sits at the back of the boat and is a flat piece of wood, fibreglass or metal used to steer the dinghy.
Tacking: turning the bow of the boat through the wind, so that the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other side. The boom will always shift from one side to the other when performing a tack – so you duck underneath it and sit the other side.
Gybing: the opposite of tacking and is turning the stern of the boat through the wind so that the wind changes from one side of the boat to the other side and is simply a downwind turn.
Capsize: when the wind gets the better of you and you don’t hike hard enough the boat falls over.  It can’t sink and the water is clear and warm and quite inviting. You will learn how to right it and carry on sailing.  If you don’t capsize at least once, you’re not trying hard enough!
Main Sail: the sail on the boom – usually the biggest therefore the main.
Jib: the smaller triangular sail attached to the bow (front).
Sheets: ropes that pull sails in and lets them out
Halyards: ropes that pull sails up masts
Lee ho: the command given by the helm (driver) before he tacks – warning the crew to be ready to switch sides!