How I got started
I’ll be honest - the learning curve for sailing felt steep and the barrier to entry felt high. I say “felt” because all I knew that I wanted to sail but didn’t know how I’d get there. Many sailors who I knew had grown up sailing or had someone in their family/ network who sailed. I was a 23 year old woman from India and on top of that, I was in grad school, so getting into an expensive hobby like sailing also seemed daunting. The technical complexity of sailing also seemed high - the parts of a boat, navigating with the winds, high stakes if something went wrong … and so on. Still, I was motivated and excited to pick up this lifelong skill. Thankfully, I had a strong affinity for water and recognized early on that this was not something I’d learn in a weekend or a month; it would take years and I just had to put in the time and effort. With this understanding and some encouragement from my sister, I took my first step.
I was a grad student at University of Washington in Seattle at that time (2011-2013) and joined UW’s Washington Yacht Club where I learned the basics. For two years, I continued learning and building up my confidence. After I graduated and started my job, I didn’t sail as much as I would have liked. Wanted to venture out, I joined SandPoint Sailing where I continued taking a few lessons and sailing on smaller boats (FJs, Lasers, and Hobie Cats) for a few years. As I felt my confidence build, I tried to join as crew on larger boats. However, I felt overwhelmed and bored at the same time. The smaller boats relied on my own expertise and were very responsive; the larger boats had so much rigging and so many people that it was hard to know what was happening. I also felt that there 90% of the time, I was waiting to be told what to do, and in the 10% of the time when I was told what to do, there were others jumping to do it. While the people I met were great, I didn’t really connect with anyone and they weren’t in my age group which left me feeling a bit bored and out of place. I got a bit discouraged, doubted my own abilities, and went back to sailing on the smaller boats for a little longer.
I had looked at some of the other sailing clubs in Seattle that offered lessons and ASA certifications in addition to the option of chartering boats but didn’t go for it because frankly, it is expensive. Finally, I figured that if I wanted to sail on larger boats, skipper boats, and really improve my skills, I had to invest time AND money. I researched my options and finally joined Seattle Sailing Club in 2019. In hindsight, I regret not joining sooner but at the same time, the additional time i took, helped me develop my instincts as a sailor. It also made me realize that i would not be happy being crew alone, I had to skipper my own boats, learn hands-on, make my own decisions, own my mistakes. Soon after joining the club, I took lessons and completed my ASA 101 - 105 within a few months. I enjoyed learning with a more structured curriculum, met like minded people in the club, and benefited from the wonderful instructors and sailors I met in this time. Soon, I started planning day trips in the Puget Sound and then multi-day overnight trips in the San Juan Islands. The flexibility of “checking out” a boat for a day sail or an overnight trip without having to own a boat outweighed the the cost of the club membership for me, though now I am tempted to buy my own boat - not right now, but maybe down the line. I was also lucky to be a standby crew for my friend Phil from grad school who raced his J24 at Lake Washington. This helped me become more alert on the boat, learn the rules of the road, and improve my sailing skills in a competitive (yet safe) setting.
Every skipper will tell you that a willing and dependable crew is critical. My journey has been accelerated by the support of my crew - my husband and sisters. They trusted me and were patient with me as I built up my own skills as a skipper and a sailor. They spent their weekends and sometimes weekdays getting out on the water with me to help me practice docking or reefing or just sailing. They prioritized my passion, pushed me harder, and called me out when I made an error in judgement, and I could never have fulfilled my dreams of sailing without their support, commitment, and feedback. Over the last few years, we’ve learned how to work together, communicate better, and become closer as a family, though we still have more work to do :)
Finally, I realized that I’ll learn more by getting out there and challenging myself. So while I am not an expert by any means, I try to learn and see how I can do better. Even though you may be warned by fellow sailors, instructors, or cruising guides, some things only sink in once you’ve experienced them - the tide rips of Point Wilson, the exposed anchorage in Bowman Bay, and the tricky marina entrance at Blakely Island.
Hope my journey has resonated with you. I’d love to hear about your thoughts and experience of how you got started and what has helped you learn/ grow.
