Lessons All of our members have access to free, unlimited lessons taught by our very own members! Once you know how to sail, we'd love to have you become an Assistant Instructor or Instructor to help our new members. Lessons are optional, and we sometimes have more advanced classes. There is an online sign-up option on our website, but your best bet is ourBoat On The HUB Lawn event usually during the 1st or 2nd Wednesday of the quarter (stay tuned via our email lists or the website),which is your first chance to sign up for lessons. Lessons are put on the website after the event. Boat Access All members can access our boats at anytime during daylight hours! Outside of Supervised Sailing hours, we rely on a "Ratings"system to ensure that our members are qualified to sail and not damageclub equipment/ themselves - see below for more info on Ratings. Beginning We encourage all of our members to begin learning to sail on Dinghies, which are small 1-2 person boats by taking our "Novice" classes. Weteach our "SingleHanded" (1 person/boat) classes in Lasers or Bravos.We teach our "DoubleHanded" (2 person/boat) classes in Flying Juniors.You can check out pictures of these boats:       Teaching Dinghy Fleet Performance Sailing Once you are proficient in Flying Juniors, we encourage you to startsailing our "performance" boats. These boats will take practice tolearn, but they're also a lot fun. There aren't often classes for theseboats. Instead, we encourage you to come to WorkParties, Meetings, and Supervised Sailing Hoursto get to know experienced members in the club who can teach to set upand sail these. We have many performance boats for your to choose from-- You can view pictures and descriptions:       Performance Dinghy Fleet       Catamaran Fleet Cruising: Daysailors and Keelboat Sailing at WYC Daysailors are larger boats that can accomodate 4-6 people. They areaccessible with Intermediate Dinghy ratings. These are a great way totake out some friends--as long as you (a WYC member) is on the boat, your friends doNOT also have to be members. Keelboatsare even larger and have a cabin where you can go inside to sleep orcook. Keelboats have their own "Keelboat" ratings. Members who areinterested in keelboats will need at least a novice rating in our smalldinghies before you can take a keelboat class. Our "Ratings System" Outside of Supervised Sailing hours, we rely on a "Ratings" system to ensure that our members are qualified to sail and not damage club equipment/ themselves. A Rating involves a Practical (on-the-water test) and a Written test. When you take a lesson, you will test for a rating at the end. Almost everyone gets at least a Novice rating, so you can immediately go sailing outside of Supervised Sailing Hours!
How do I get a Rating? You can test for a rating (both the Written and the Practical) during Supervised Sailing Hours, by appointment (contact ratings@washingtonyachtclub.org), with any Chief, or with an Officer. The written portion can also be completed during our Office Hours. If you take a lesson, you will usually take the Written Test in the beginning (check each lesson description for details) and take the Practical sailing test at the end. The Practical test involves:
Our goal isfor our members to become independent sailors. However, we alsounderstand that sometimes one lesson is not enough, or you want theassurance of an instructor to be able to ask questions etc. Thus, weoffer "Supervised Sailing Hours." During these hours you can:
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