Your First Ten Minutes at the Helm
The moment sailing suddenly becomes real
Your first lesson in steering a sailing boat is discovering that the tiller appears to disagree with everything your brain tells you.
You are sitting in the boat. Someone has finally handed you the tiller extension and maybe the mainsheet.
You are now, officially, steering.
You look ahead.
The boat begins drifting slightly to the left.
Naturally, you move your hand to the left.
The boat turns even more to the left.
So you move your hand sharply in the other direction.
The boat responds enthusiastically and heads off to the right instead.
You correct again.
And a few seconds later you are sailing a course that would look rather impressive if your intention had been to avoid a series of invisible obstacles.
We've all been there.
Fortunately, steering a sailing dinghy begins to make sense remarkably quickly.
And your first ten minutes at the helm can teach you far more than simply how to point the boat in the right direction.
They begin teaching you something much more important:
how to feel what the boat is doing.
Before You Start — Get Comfortable
One of the first mistakes beginners make is concentrating so hard on the tiller that they forget about everything else.
Before worrying about steering, get yourself into a comfortable position.
In a typical training dinghy, you will normally sit on the side deck rather than down in the bottom of the boat.
Try to sit where you can:
reach the mainsheet comfortably;
hold the tiller extension without stretching;
move your weight if necessary;
see ahead of the boat;
turn around and look behind you;
duck underneath the boom when required.
You should feel reasonably relaxed.
That does not mean lounging backwards admiring the scenery.
But neither should you be sitting rigidly as though somebody has just connected you to the mains electricity.
A surprisingly large part of learning to sail is learning to relax.
If your shoulders are tense, your grip on the tiller becomes tense.
When your grip becomes tense, your steering movements become larger.
And large tiller movements usually produce large changes of direction.
Meet the Tiller Extension
The rudder at the back of the boat turns the boat.
Attached to the rudder is the tiller.
And attached to the tiller on most dinghies is another lightweight stick called the tiller extension.
The tiller extension allows you to steer while sitting comfortably on the side of the boat.
It may initially feel rather awkward.
You are not holding it like the steering wheel of a car.
You are often holding it lightly across your body while simultaneously controlling the mainsheet with your other hand.
That means your hands are doing two different jobs.
One hand is controlling direction.
The other is helping control the sail and therefore the power of the boat.
For somebody completely new to sailing, that can feel like rather a lot.
It becomes automatic surprisingly quickly.
Hold It Lightly
One of the best pieces of advice I can give a beginner is:
do not strangle the tiller extension.
You do not need a death grip on it.
Hold it lightly enough that you can make small movements with your fingers and wrist.
The rudder is surprisingly powerful.
A small movement may be all that is required.
Imagine balancing a broomstick on your hand.
You would not make enormous movements every time it started leaning.
You would make small corrections.
Steering a sailing boat is similar.
The aim is not:
turn — correct — turn — correct — turn — correct.
The aim is eventually to reach the point where the corrections are so small that an observer hardly notices you making them.
The Great Tiller Paradox
Now we reach the part that confuses almost everybody initially.
If you want the bow to move to the left, you move the tiller to the right.
If you want the bow to move to the right, you move the tiller to the left.
In other words:
Tiller right = bow left
Tiller left = bow right
This seems completely wrong when you first try it.
Cars do not behave like this.
Bicycles do not behave like this.
Computer games generally do not behave like this.
So your brain initially protests.
Suppose the boat begins pointing too far to the left.
You think:
"I need to go right."
Your instinct may tell you to move your hand right.
Unfortunately, moving the tiller right pushes the rudder one way and turns the bow left.
Exactly the opposite of what you intended.
You realise your mistake and immediately move the tiller dramatically left.
The boat now heads rapidly right.
You panic slightly.
Tiller right again.
And the zig-zag begins.
It is practically a sailing rite of passage.
Don't Try to Think About the Tiller
There is an interesting transition that happens as you learn.
At first you think:
"I want the boat to go left, therefore I must move the tiller right."
That works.
But it is slow.
Eventually you stop thinking about the tiller altogether.
You simply think:
"I want the boat over there."
Your hand automatically moves in the correct direction.
That is the goal.
It is rather like learning to ride a bicycle.
Nobody who has been cycling for twenty years consciously calculates how far they should turn the handlebars to maintain balance.
Your brain has learnt the relationship between movement and result.
Sailing becomes the same.
Your Most Important Instrument Is Not in the Boat
Beginners often stare at their hands.
They watch the tiller.
They watch the mainsheet.
They watch the cleat.
They look at their feet.
Almost everything receives attention except the place where the boat is going.
But your most important steering instrument is actually your eyes.
Look ahead.
Choose something in the distance.
It might be:
a tree;
a building;
a buoy;
a point on the riverbank;
another suitable fixed landmark.
Then try to keep the bow pointing towards it.
This immediately gives your brain a reference.
Without a reference, you may not notice that you are slowly wandering off course.
With one, even a small change becomes obvious.
Look Farther Ahead Than You Think
This is another lesson we already know from driving, cycling and skiing.
If you stare immediately in front of yourself, everything seems to happen very quickly.
Look farther ahead and you have more time.
That matters enormously in sailing.
You should gradually develop the habit of scanning:
Where am I going?
Where are the other boats?
Where is the riverbank?
Is there something ahead of me?
What is the wind doing?
Where might I need to turn next?
At first, just concentrating on steering in a straight line is enough.
But good helms eventually spend surprisingly little time staring at the boat itself.
They are constantly looking around.
Your First Steering Exercise
A very useful first exercise is wonderfully simple.
Find a reasonably clear piece of water with an instructor or experienced sailor beside you.
Choose a landmark ahead.
Then try to sail towards it.
Do almost nothing.
That last instruction matters.
Beginners frequently believe they must continually steer the boat.
They don't.
If the boat is balanced and travelling steadily, leave it alone.
Let it sail.
Only make a correction when you actually need one.
If the bow starts moving slightly to the left, make a small tiller movement.
Then bring the tiller back towards the centre.
Watch what happens.
Give the boat time to respond.
This last point is enormously important.
The Boat Has Not Ignored You
Sailing boats do not always respond instantly.
Make a steering movement and there may be a short delay while the boat changes direction.
A beginner sometimes interprets that delay as:
"Nothing is happening."
So they move the tiller farther.
Still not enough.
Farther again.
Suddenly the boat responds to all those accumulated instructions.
Now it is turning far too quickly.
The beginner then applies an equally dramatic correction in the opposite direction.
And we are zig-zagging again.
The lesson is simple:
make a small movement and give the boat a moment to respond.
Sailing rewards patience.
Try Not to Stir the Water With the Rudder
There is another reason for using small tiller movements.
The rudder does not only steer the boat.
It also creates drag.
Every time you make a large rudder movement, you are effectively placing a brake in the water.
In racing, experienced sailors try to steer smoothly partly because unnecessary rudder movement costs speed.
You do not need to worry about racing technique during your first lesson.
But developing smooth steering from the beginning is a very good habit.
Think of the rudder as something you use carefully rather than constantly.
Now Add the Mainsheet
Once you can roughly steer in a straight line, you have another control to think about.
The mainsheet controls the position of the mainsail.
Pulling the mainsheet in generally brings the sail closer towards the centre of the boat.
Easing it allows the sail farther out.
During your first few minutes, the experienced sailor beside you may help with the sail while you concentrate on steering.
Eventually you will hold:
tiller extension in one hand
and
mainsheet in the other.
Now the boat begins to feel like something you are actually controlling.
Don't Cleat Everything and Forget About It
On many training boats the mainsheet can be held in a cleat.
But particularly while learning, it is useful to remain aware of the sheet and what the sail is doing.
The mainsheet is not simply something you adjust once and forget.
Wind strength changes.
Your direction changes.
The relationship between the boat and the wind changes.
The sail may need adjusting.
And, importantly, easing the mainsheet can reduce power if the boat begins feeling uncomfortable.
Your instructor will introduce this gradually.
You do not need to master sail trim in your first ten minutes.
For now, the aim is simply to begin connecting three things:
where the wind is coming from;
where the boat is pointing;
and
where the sail wants to sit.
Let the Boat Settle
This is one of those lessons that sounds almost too simple.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is nothing.
A boat often needs a moment to settle after a steering movement, a gust or a change in sail position.
Beginners tend to react to everything.
Boat heels slightly.
Move tiller.
Sail flaps.
Pull mainsheet.
Boat turns.
Move tiller again.
Boat heels the other way.
Move body.
Within seconds six different corrections have been made and nobody is quite sure which one caused what.
Instead, make one sensible adjustment.
Then observe the result.
That is how you begin learning what each control actually does.
Use the Boat as Feedback
A dinghy constantly communicates with you.
It just does not use words.
The tiller may become heavier.
The sails may begin flapping.
The boat may heel.
The bow may start turning.
You may feel the boat accelerate.
Water noise may increase.
The pressure in the mainsheet may change.
Initially these sensations mean very little.
After several hours sailing, you begin recognising patterns.
Eventually you can often tell something is wrong before you have consciously identified what it is.
The boat simply feels wrong.
That is one of the most satisfying stages of learning to sail.
What Happens When You Start Zig-Zagging?
Imagine your intended course is towards a large tree on the riverbank.
The boat starts drifting left.
You notice late.
You make a large correction.
The boat turns right.
You keep the tiller over for too long.
Now the bow passes your tree.
You make another large correction.
The bow heads back left.
The result looks something like:
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Meanwhile your instructor is probably saying:
"Smaller movements."
They are right.
The cure is normally:
Look farther ahead.
Notice changes earlier.
Use less tiller.
Return the tiller towards the centre.
Give the boat time to respond.
Within a few minutes the zig-zags become smaller.
Then smaller again.
Eventually you realise something rather satisfying.
You are actually sailing in a straight line.
Don't Forget Where the Boom Is
There is one other object deserving your attention.
The boom.
You learnt about it when we looked at the parts of a dinghy earlier in this series.
Now it has become rather more personal.
As the boat turns through the wind, the boom can move across the boat.
Sometimes quite quickly.
Your instructor should tell you when to duck.
But begin developing your own awareness.
Do not become so fascinated by the tiller that you forget there is a large aluminium pole approximately head height behind you.
Sailing teaches situational awareness rather effectively.
Occasionally with immediate feedback.
Your First Ten-Minute Challenge
If you are learning at a sailing club, ask whether you can try this simple progression with an experienced sailor aboard.
Minutes 1-2: Get Comfortable
Sit correctly.
Hold the tiller extension.
Work out where the mainsheet is.
Look around the boat.
Minutes 3-4: Steering Only
Choose a landmark.
Try to keep the boat pointing towards it.
Concentrate on tiny tiller movements.
Minutes 5-6: Stop Overcorrecting
Notice how long the boat takes to respond.
Make a correction.
Wait.
Observe.
Minutes 7-8: Add the Mainsheet
Begin holding the mainsheet as well as the tiller extension.
Notice how the sail feels.
Minutes 9-10: Look Around
Try maintaining your course while occasionally checking around you.
Look ahead.
Look to the sides.
Notice other boats.
Notice the wind.
Notice what the boat is telling you.
You are beginning to helm rather than simply steer.
One of the Great Pleasures of Teaching Sailing
There is often a wonderful moment when somebody first takes the tiller.
Initially there is intense concentration.
The tiller goes the wrong way.
The boat zig-zags.
The mainsheet gets forgotten.
Someone ducks unnecessarily because they think the boom is about to move.
Then, almost without warning, everything becomes calmer.
The movements become smaller.
The boat settles.
And the new helm looks up rather than down at their hands.
That is the moment sailing begins to click.
Not perfectly.
Not completely.
But enough.
The person who ten minutes earlier had never steered a sailing boat is now actually controlling one.
You Don't Need to Master Everything Today
This entire PMR Sailing series is based around one important idea:
you do not have to know everything before you start sailing.
You do not need your own yacht.
You do not need years of experience.
You do not need to understand every sailing term.
And you certainly do not need perfect steering on your first attempt.
Join a club.
Get into a suitable training boat with someone experienced.
Take the tiller.
Make the inevitable mistakes.
Laugh at the zig-zags.
And keep going.
Because somewhere between:
"Why does the tiller work backwards?"
and
"Look — I'm actually steering this!"
you have crossed one of the most important milestones in learning to sail.
You are no longer merely sitting in a sailing boat.
You are sailing it.
My name is Philip. I started sailing when I was 65.
I joined a club and because my son had already been part of a club for many years - borrowing all types of boat. He knew what we needed and the type of boat I would require.
So we did by an RS Toura - a virtually unsinkable dinghy which has given me the confidence to experiment and learn and take my RYA exams and become a competent sailor and then to move up to the boat of my dreams - the A-Rater.
Coming Next in the PMR Sailing Beginner Series
Lesson 10 Making the Boat Go Faster — Your First Lesson in Sail Trim
Pulling the mainsheet harder doesn't necessarily make a sailing boat faster.
Sometimes the fastest thing you can do is ease it.
Beginner's rule:
"Ease the sail until it starts to complain, then pull it in just enough to make it happy."
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