joined a sailing club - what kit do I need?

[brums evil twin]

Taking up dinghy sailing and have joined a club - boat will be on the shopping list but that will come later. Going to use the club boats as a start.

Anyway - what kit do myself and my son need?

We have wetsuits and bouncy aids etc

What else is needed and recommended?

Its in land lake - hoping to get on the water this Saturday for the first time

Thanks

[DeltonaS]

Life Jackets.

[akirk]

DeltonaS said:

Life Jackets.

not on an inland lake, and not where they will be capsizing regularly...
OP has already got 'bouncy' aids, so should be fine there!

clothing which doesn't restrict / keeps you warm is top priority
decent footwear is also important
make sure your watch is waterfproof, or buy a cheap one
have somewhere to store car keys / phone / wallet etc. if the club doesn't have lockers - you don't want them on the boat.

otherwise, don't overspend - if you see things that others have, and they are tried and tested, then adopt what they do, but most older sailors learned by being thrown in boats in their normal clothes - in our case, shorts, jumper and wellies (def. not ideal for sailing!) - there is limited need for a lot of the kit that you can buy - esp. if learning on a lake, rather than at sea.

And when you move off the lake - a standing order to support the RNLI

[hyperblue]

DeltonaS said:

Life Jackets.

Buoyancy aids.

Don’t need much else to get started other than a wetsuit and some boots, but gloves and splash top would be next on my list.

[OutInTheShed]

My Summer dinghy sailing kit is wetsuit, buoyancy aid, spraytop, wetsuit boots. 'rash vest' and trunks.
Spring and autumn I may add a thin wetsuit vest layer and or switch the spray top for a fleece lined version. Both these from Rooster Sailing.
I wear gloves either for cold conditions helming, blue watertite from Toolstation, or when crewing anything with thin ropes or a spinnaker, proper leather sailing gloves.
A warm hat can be useful.
Cheap Casio watch. Reactolite glasses.
For winter or long periods of not very great activity, I wear a drysuit, especially good on the club RIBs. No need to rush into buying one.

If you find you are getting cold, then an old thin fleece under the spraytop or wetsuit may help a lot.

Sun cream!

[brums evil twin]

Thanks for the answers

Both myself and son have wetsuits and bouncy aids and sea shoes - a spray top is on the list, any recommendations? we do have some cheap decathlon sailing gloves which seem ok.

Next will be the boat - not straight away but hopefully soon.

The club have a real mixed fleet and run racing with a handicap system. I am thinking of a laser 2000 - Anyone got a good one for sale? or something similar.

[LunarOne]

What's a bouncy aid? One that comes back when you throw it at the wall?

Oh I seee! But is yours a Batman one?

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

A musto offshore jacket and Duke & Dexter Hardy boat shoe for the clubhouse bar.

The shoes are perfect because they explicitly exclude boating use

[paintman]

Whilst we will be delighted to help you spend your money on all sorts of shiny stuff go to the club see what everybody else uses & pick their brains.

ETA That applies to the boats too - esp as you say the club has a varied fleet.

Edited by paintman on Wednesday 18th May 19:06

[OutInTheShed]

brums evil twin said:

Thanks for the answers

Both myself and son have wetsuits and bouncy aids and sea shoes - a spray top is on the list, any recommendations? we do have some cheap decathlon sailing gloves which seem ok.

Next will be the boat - not straight away but hopefully soon.

The club have a real mixed fleet and run racing with a handicap system. I am thinking of a laser 2000 - Anyone got a good one for sale? or something similar.

The 'sea shoes' may be less than ideal when hiking out with toe straps. I use typhoon wetsuit boots with some protection on the top of my foot. But you'll be Ok to get going. I paid quite a bit for a breathable spray top. Worth it IMHO. Rooster, Crewsaver, Gill, Musto probably the obvious makes.

A Laser 2000 is a fine machine, especially good at racing other Laser 2000s. If you can get a boat of the same class as some other comparable people are sailing, you can learn more from them. Your weight matters, don't get anything you are wildly the wrong size compared to your opposition.
The asy spinnaker is a good way to go, lots of fun and less grief than the symmetric spinnaker, but again, I'd suggest going with the flow, having different to everyone else can be less than ideal. 'apolloDuck' is the best place to look for dinghies these days, although Facebook is pretty active with specialist groups.

[Jaguar steve]

Screwfix wrap round saftey sunglasses. Put them on and forget you're wearing them.

No matter how much leaping about you're doing they won't fall off your face so you don't need a lanyard and they'll keep spray out of your eyes and protect them from UV. You can't scratch them but drop them OB or leave them on the boat or tread on them when they fall out of your pocket and from £2 a pop nobody cares.

[Tyre Smoke]

Jesus wept times have changed.

A spray suit, old shorts, tee shirt and a jumper and a buoyancy aid. Sailing gloves and wetsuit boots if you are being posh.

I sailed for years March to December off Falmouth and never had a wetsuit.

OP, turn up with what you have and see how you get on. Then add to it as you see a need.

[anonymous-user]

Look on the Lomo website if you want reasonably decent quality but not hugely expensive stuff. Don't get caught out "keeping up with the Joneses".

100% agree with do not (ever) take your car keys etc out on the boat with you if on an inland lake. Sods law, even if you keep them in a mini-barrel, the one time they come out is the time you will capsize. Ask me how I know.

[take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey]

To add a non-flippant response. Decathlon sailing kit is good value for money as starter kit.

[Jaguar steve]

Tyre Smoke said:

Jesus wept times have changed.

A spray suit, old shorts, tee shirt and a jumper and a buoyancy aid. Sailing gloves and wetsuit boots if you are being posh.

I sailed for years March to December off Falmouth and never had a wetsuit.

OP, turn up with what you have and see how you get on. Then add to it as you see a need.

They have and every bit for the good.

As a skinny Yoof racing one Easter weekend I capsized a Laser dingy wearing nothing more than that. The cold made me quickly loose the strength to get it righted and I ended up spending some 20 mins in the Thames estuary swallowing seawater and hanging onto the mainsheet whilst slipping into hypothermia.

If the rescue boat hadn't fished me out then and there hadn't been a off duty GP in the sailing club I might not be typing this now.

[Tyre Smoke]

If the rescue boat took 20 mins to get to you then they should have been hoofed off it. Shockingly bad. It's called a rescue boat for a reason. Not to watch you struggling for 20 minutes to right a Laser. Which isn't the hardest thing to get back upright. Obviously there was a reason you couldn't quickly right it and they should have been right there.

[Mave]

Tyre Smoke said:

Jesus wept times have changed.

A spray suit, old shorts, tee shirt and a jumper and a buoyancy aid. Sailing gloves and wetsuit boots if you are being posh.

I sailed for years March to December off Falmouth and never had a wetsuit.

OP, turn up with what you have and see how you get on. Then add to it as you see a need.

I did something similar in my youth, but just outside Cardiff.

To be honest, I wish I had had some of that modern kit. I distinctly remembering getting pretty cold and miserable capsizing enterprises on cold spring evenings. A bit of decent kit would have made it all much more fun.

[Jaguar steve]

Tyre Smoke said:

If the rescue boat took 20 mins to get to you then they should have been hoofed off it. Shockingly bad. It's called a rescue boat for a reason. Not to watch you struggling for 20 minutes to right a Laser. Which isn't the hardest thing to get back upright. Obviously there was a reason you couldn't quickly right it and they should have been right there.

I see what you say but in their defence I was one of several boats in difficulty and an inquiry afterwards concluded the weather conditions had deteriorated to the point the race should have been abandoned anyway.

This was way back in the '70s when one rescue boat for a fleet of maybe 20 or more handicap dinghies racing at sea - meaning by the second or third lap they'd all be well spread out - was not considered unreasonable and no training to operate it or have or VHF coms. between the boat and OOD in the racing box were required.

Fortunately that scenario wouldn't even be thinkable now.

[Tyre Smoke]

Does sound familiar to be fair!

I used to do the rescue boat on occasion. Can be quite hectic out there if a squall blows in. Zooming from one capsize to another often yelling "you ok?" as you fly by to the 10yo in their Mirror or Optimist.

Enterprises. Spent a lot of time perfecting the 'dry' capsize where you neatly step over onto the centre board.

[Jaguar steve]

Tyre Smoke said:

Does sound familiar to be fair!

I Spent a lot of time perfecting the 'dry' capsize where you neatly step over onto the centre board.

Better not to let it go over in the first place of course but sure, hopping over onto the board is easy enough to do with a Laser especially when you're a Cocky 12 year old who knows absolutely everything about sailing 'n stuff.

But on this occasion IIRC I slipped and went in...