Sailing Fundamentals: The Official Learn-To-Sail Manual of the American Sailing Association and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Published under the pennants of the American Sailing Association and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, Sailing Fundamentals is an excellent guide for novice sailors ready to get their feet wet. This comprehensive manual helps beginners learn basic sailing and coastal cruising with step-by-step instructions for everything from hoisting the sail to docking. Written with clear prose by Gary Jobson--tactician aboard the 1977 America's Cup-winning Courageous--Sailing Fundamentals is specially designed to help sailors qualify for ASA certification--essential if you wish to charter a boat.

Necessary reading for novice sailors--and an excellent reference for intermediate to advanced sailors. --M. Stein

Product Description

Written by America's foremost instructional authority, the new edition of Sailing Fundamentals combines the training programs of the American Sailing Association and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. The official learn-to-sail manual of the American Sailing Association, it is also used in the programs of many yacht clubs, colleges, and sailing groups. Unlike most introductory sailing books, which reflect the biases and idiosyncrasies of their authors, Sailing Fundamentals has been extensively pretested by ASA professional instructors to ensure that it offers the fastest, easiest, most systematic way to learn basic sailing and basic coastal cruising. This book covers every aspect of beginning sailing -- from hoisting sail to docking and anchoring -- and specifically prepares the learner to qualify for sailing certification according to international standards. Widely acclaimed author Gary Jobson has won several major races, including the 1977 America's Cup victory as tactician aboard Courageous. He was head sailing coach at the U.S. Naval Academy, and has conducted sailing clinics across the country. Illustrated step-by-step in two colors with over 150 line drawings and photographs.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Simon and Schuster; Revised & updated edition (September 17, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684849941
• ISBN-13: 978-0684849942
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #179,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This book was a great review and certification training, December 11, 2000

By	Jean Junker (Midland, Tx USA) - See all my reviews

I had been sailing for only three years when I got this book as part of a sailing certification course I took at the North Texas Sailing School on Lake Ray Hubbard in Dallas. This is a great "how to sail" book and is the course material for the American Sailing Association (A.S.A.) course that I took. It did a good job of teaching all the requisite sailing skills and terminology. I would recommend it for general use in learning to sail at a basic skill level.

The Book includes numerous black and white photographs and lots of illustrations and diagrams to teach the skills required for the course. The book is divided into several sections that are used to teach three separate ASA certified courses. The sections are: Introduction to Sailing, Basic Sailing, Safety and Seamanship, Basic Seamanship Skills, Basic Coastal Cruising I, Basic Coastal Cruising II and Special Sailing Information. The book contains a good glossary and sailing terminology guide (very helpful for novices) and a good index. Review questions for each chapter or chapter series are included as well as answers to all the questions.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tried and Tested Material, August 4, 2000

By	Conrad B. Senior (Easton, CT United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is American Sailing Association textbook for beginning sailors and closely tied to the ASA certification program.

Why should you consider certification? Many people don't want to own a boat and prefer to charter. This is more economical than boat ownership.

To have the freedom to charter anywhere in the world you need to be able to prove to the charter companies that you know what you are doing. That is where certification comes in.

An ASA certification is a big plus when you are in Hawaii on vacation and want to rent a keelboat for a couple of hours. Or if you want to charter a big boat in the British Virgin Islands for a week. Try to do that without a certification! The major plus of this book is that it teaches you how to sail with all the information you need to learn in the proper order you should learn it. There is an advantage in learning the material in a time tested manner. This book gets the benefit of tried and true, tested, proven methods of sailing instruction that work. The material is presented in the order in which you should learn it

Reading the book and then taking the course will give you a jump start on your sailing skills.

Most sailors have knowledge like Swiss cheeze--with lots of holes. The books will give you knowledge like American cheeze--no holes.

Buy the book--you won't regret it. Read it and take the course for maximum effectiveness.

This is the path to skill, safety, and confidence on the water.

66 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars don't buy if you are not taking the ASA certification, October 13, 1999

By A Customer

I bought the book for general sailing information. I found that a lot of the content is specifically geared to the certification requirements for ASA. If you are not going to certify or sail in the US then you will find yourself skipping US-specific pages and maybe losing on content in the process. Everything is spelled out to an excruciating detail. A book for those who haven't been in a boat ever before in their life.