Planning & Preparing

This class is taught using US Sailing standards. At the end of the class, your instructor will assess your sailing skills and determine if you are safely able to rent our sailboats. Please note that you can only be checkout on the vessel you learned on, either a dinghy or keelboat. If at the end of the class you still need more practice, a private lesson is a great way to get one-on-one experience with an instructor.

Class location:  Class will meet at the Community Boating Center: 555 Harris Avenue, Bellingham, WA 98225. The Boating Center is located immediately next to the public boat launch in Fairhaven. Parking can be found next to the railroad tracks in front of the Boating Center or along Harris Avenue if no other spaces are available. Please do not park in the Port of Bellingham’s trailer parking lot as this requires a paid launch permit.

Time:  Please arrive 15 minutes before your class’ start time. Sailing is entirely dependent on the wind. Too much or too little can prevent us from doing much on the water, but there are always drills and concepts that can be practiced on land or tied up to a dock.

Preparation: Any studying you are able to do before and during the class sessions will help make the most of your money and class time. For keelboat sailing, we teach using the US Sailing Basic Keelboat book. For dinghy sailing, we teach using US Sailing Start Sailing Right! book. Both of which can be purchased directly from Amazon, a bookstore, or checked out at the library.

• Water & snacks.
• Non-cotton insulating layers (polypro, capilene, wool, etc)
• Rain gear
• Closed toe shoes you can get wet and non-cotton socks (deck shoes or any pair of old tennis shoes are fine. Keens and other water sandals are ok)
• Hat for sun protection (a warm hat is strongly suggested on cooler days)
• Other miscellaneous items to bring:
  • Sunglasses with safety strap
  • Sunscreen
  • Chapstick with SPF
  • Any medications you might need

For more information, visit our What to Expect page.