Sailing a Hobie Cat

The wonderful thing about sailing is that the coast - or even inland lakes and rivers are so close to us. No matter where we live we have within easy reach a world of adventure and exploration.

People of all ages take up sailing, enjoy sailing or return to sailing. There is no age limit. Children as young as 5 or 6 can help crew a yacht or even solo sail in an optimist dinghy. Equally, you’ll find many people well past retirement still enjoying life on the water. Look at our brief recommendations of safer craft for young and older sailors.

Most sailing requires only moderate physical strength. In many cases female sailors are as good as male sailors It is common to find a number of dinghy craft design for a female helm and a male crew!. A willingness to give it a go is more important.

Many people with minor disabilities such as short sightedness sail without restriction. People who are less able, wheelchair bound or blind can still participate on a wide range of craft but need to be more careful in their selection. Check out our less able recommendations.

Lastly, whilst some people want to spend lots of money on this sport, it isn’t necessary to bankrupt yourself to enjoy this sport. Always remember, the wind and the water come free!

Beyond that, most of the reasons for not being able to sail are just myths. For instance don’t worry about not knowing all the knots and nautical terms most sailors don’t know these either and within a few days you’ll master all the basic sailing terms.

So what do I need to be able to do? Well, you need:

1. A bit of courage
2. The ability to swim 50m
3. That’s it