Basic Crewing/Sailing Course

Tacoma Branch's annual introduction to sailing course.

Learn the skills to be a welcome member of the crew on a friend’s sailboat!  This course will cover the knowledge needed to feel comfortable stepping aboard a sailboat and contributing to the fun of sailing the boat on the Salish Sea.  We will cover: basic crewing skills, names for all the stuff onboard, basic sail trim, points of sail, staying safe while on a sailboat, what to wear and even learn some useful knots.  

We’ll also touch on the art of navigation to help you understand the nautical chart, tides, currents, weather and planning a fun day on the water.

This course consists of three classroom sessions and four on the water sessions, one at the dock and 3 out sailing in the Tacoma Area.  The classroom sessions will be Monday, April 3rd, Monday, April 10th and Monday, April 17th.  They will be held at the Tacoma Mountaineer’s Program Center, 2302 N 30th St, Tacoma, WA 98403 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. 

The dockside session be held on Saturday April 8th at 10am at the Foss Waterway Public Dock.

The on the water sails will start to be posted a week or two before the class starts. You will pick the sails that are most convenient for you from those listed on our website.  The first on the water sail must be scheduled during the week between the second classroom session and the third classroom session (April 10th to April 17th). There will be both weekday evening and weekend sails posted before the class starts. The addition sails can be scheduled any time up to the end of May.

After successfully attending the classes and completing the sails, you will earn the Basic Sailing Course badge, which will qualify you to go on sail outings with the Mountaineers and take advanced courses.

Our textbook is Sailing Made Easy, by the American Sailing Association.  Please purchase it from ASA or on Amazon before the first class (A simple search will bring it up.).  We’ll post the first reading assignment on our website so you won’t fall behind before the class even starts.

Contact co-leaders Eric Johnson erdjohnson@comcast.net or Terri Benz: terribenz5@yahoo.com  for more information or with questions.  (you may have to copy and paste the email addresses because the links may not be  working at this time).