wrote:
I live in NYC, and am looking to do some sailing this coming season. I
am looking at two options: a local sailing club, and a company that
leases yachts. I am confused as to how much training is required,
however.


None, of course. Or a lifetime's worth, depending.

That's one of the fun things about sailing.

The sailing club (http://www.sailmanhattan.com/) requires a total of
22 hours of training, and they have J/24 sailboats. Even then, one is
not allowed to sail their boats without a more experienced person being
the skipper.

The leasing company (http://www.pinnacleyachts.com/) requires 15 hours
of instruction, and they have Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37 yachts, and once
you have learned, you are allowed to take them out on your own.

What confuses me is, I would think the 37 footer would be harder than
the J/24, yet less training is required, and less supervision
afterwards is required.


Check the difference in cost. It may be that the leasing
company is charging more to cover more of the amortizing of
the boat plus insurance. In either event, the sailing club
is all but guaranteed to be a better environment for
learning to sail well.

Is the sailing club being too strict, the leasing company being too
lax, or am I missing something?


Dave wrote:
Before you spend a lot of money on either, I'd check into the virtually free
program run by parks and rec in Flushing Meadow Park. They sail dinghies,
but that's probably a better way to learn than starting with a keel boat
anyway. Then if you wish move up to the keel boats.

Agreed. It may be counter-intuitive to some, but sailing
small boats is harder because it's more pure and it's
unbuffered. If you mess up, the boat dumps you in the drink
and laughs at you. OTOH the bigger boats have more complex
systems to master, and they have engines. And they are much
more suited to maintaining (or even enhancing) your personal
dignity.

The next step from there is to get on a racing crew and keep
your ears open. Approached properly, 'learning to sail' is
an infinite process because it encompasses a HUGE range of
endeavor... once you have learned to handle a small boat,
you can learn reefing & roll tacking... then move on to
spinnakers & navigating... meteorology & astronomy,
composites engineering... the scope is literally infinite!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King