Before commencing your sailing courses, you can benefit a good deal from a few key pieces of information. Schools employ the same basic principle. Reading generally helps before any lectures or lessons taught in a class room setting. Your mind begins to absorb the information and process it so that by the time you get out on a ship, it is easier to recall and put into action. This information will give you a review of sailing in its most basic form, with the terms and skills so that when you get there, you'll feel like it is sort of familiar ground.

The position of the sail needs to be correct in relation to how it uses the wind to propel the boat forward. This sail position can be effectively done by means as easy as learning what to listen to and watch for as it interacts in different ways using the wind. Through training and careful attention, these techniques can be natural and easy processes for you, but that comes after time. Watching and listening for the flapping sails will signify that the sail is not effectively aligned with the wind. When the wind catches the sail fully, the force against it is consistent enough to prevent any flapping. The sail will need altering should the flapping of the sail continue.

Just like getting a right balance in life, sailing programs teach one that balancing a sail boat that is heeling to one side is important for keeping the boat on the right course. The sails can certainly change direction should the vessel be off balanced in anyway. When sailing, one should be aware of everything on the boat that could be tricky when balancing a vessel whether it is lurching to the port or starboard side. That balance is not only important from side to side, but also from the aft to the stern of the vessel, or end to end. Distribution of weight on the boat is important and needs to be modified in order to correct such problems like the boat drags in the rear or dredging up too much water in the front. There shouldn't be any unexpected surprises when the boat is balanced.

Steering the boat is often what people think of as the centerboard or the fin. It will be helpful to fully understand the position of the sail in order to change or correct courses as the wind is by no means the perfect method to steer your craft. To adjust and manipulate your course, the centerboard is a movable fin on the underside of the vessel which can be adjusted according to the position of the sail. If you want to reach the desired destination, or even if you are out for a joyride without anything too precise in mind, it is with the combination of sail and centerboard that you steer. An interesting technique is utilized in order to steer the craft. In your sailing programs you will very likely employ tacking, or moving in an alternating zigzag. In order to get a real sense of the wind and the boat itself, there is always much to learn and better able to be taught in an hands on atmosphere where you're able to learn by example.