Learn To Sail at Smithville Lake 2024 Updates

LearnToSail week 3 Tack
LearnToSail Week 3 Lazy D on Port Tack
LTS – student at tiller
LTS – student at the wheel

Pictures of our most recent #learntosail class! Getting the Boats Ready to Go. What a great way to get a new experience on the water!

Learn to Sail Enrollment Information

The course consists of three Thursday nights in classroom format 6:30-8:30PM and three on-the-water instruction sessions at Smithville Lake on Saturdays .

Instruction is tailored for adult students. All instructors are members of Paradise Point Yacht Club and have years of combined sailing experience.

Students register for either the Saturday morning (9am to 1pm) session or the Saturday afternoon (1pm to 5pm) session.  Both groups attend the combined Thursday evening (6:30pm to 8:30pm) classroom sessions iWerx in Gladstone.

Successful completion includes passing a final written exam, and a skills assessment by a PPYC Skipper while sailing a boat over a predetermined course.  Upon sucessful completion, students will receive a “Certificate of Completion,” as well as membership in PPYC for 2024.

 
 
  

Our popular “Learn To Sail” classes will take place this June.  Enrollment will be through Parkhill H.S. adult education, and enrollment is expected to open the first week in May. 

Who should take this course?  It is designed for adults (18 years & older) with no sailing experience as well as returning “rusty” sailors. You will learn about safety, basic sailing terminology, principles of sailing, right-of-way rules, weather issues and boat handling.

Class consists of six (6) hours of classroom instruction and 12 hours on-the-water

instruction. On the water sessions requires moderate physical agility and the ability to move about safely on a moving boat while under sail.

 

Students will learn how to sail and how to operate safely.  With this comes knowledge of sailing terminology, keelboat sailboat handling, the physical principles of sailing, right of way rules, impact of weather, and a smile that possible can never be removed. A textbook is required.  Instruction will utilize cruisers – 22′ to 30′ – and is intended to ensure students will have the confidence to continue the sport of sailing as a lifelong hobby and be comfortable buying their first sailboat.

 

You will learn the language of sailing, anatomy of a sailboat, cockpit and boat controls, principles of sailing, preparing the boat for sailing, points of sail, maneuvering a boat under sail, safety best practices, boating right-of-way rules, and weather awareness.

Each student is required to provide their own PFD (lifejacket). Appropriate attire for the weekend sessions will be discussed at the first classroom meeting.  Expect to get wet!