SAILING FOR DUMMIES has a lot of good info and lingo in an easy-to-digest format for land-lubbers like me.

Good basic understanding of terms, techniques and ways to enjoy sailing.

I read the first few chapters and they were very good. Since sailing lessons are on-hold for the foreseeable future, I set this aside to revisit later...someday!

Great for dummies!

The knowledge

This book is full of the facts you need to start your competent sailing life. Have a fantastic time, be safe , be knowledgeable, and be prepared.

Practical guide and good overview. Easy to read and covers most items. Not as good as voyaging but still giving high rating.

I can’t wait for a book to unseat Glenan’s Sailing Manual by Philippe Harle as my favorite book on sailing. That book is exceptional and it will be a gift when I find a more valuable way in invest my home study hours on the subject of sailing. Having just finished Sailing for Dummies, that moment will have to wait a bit longer.

Sailing for Dummies isn’t a bad book. Of the three entry level books on sailing I’ve read, it is my second favorite. Unfortunately, the distance between last place and second is smaller than between first and second. The lesser two of the three books suffer different flavors of the same problem. Both underestimate their reader and are too expansive in their scope.

In the case of Sailing for Dummies, the book falls into the trap of comedy defensive driving classes: it invests too much energy in trying to be entertaining. Strip away some of the banter and humor and the underlying content is perfectly fine. With the added informality, the book is a less efficient information delivery vehicle.

Where this book exceeds last place on my list, Sailing Fundamentals by Gary Jobson, is in focus. Sailing is a complicated undertaking. To begin with, sailing does not mean one thing. It can mean day sailing with the family in small freshwater lakes, coastal cruising, transoceanic adventuring, yacht racing, and on and on. For an entry level book, it is a handicap trying to be everything to everyone. This liability is exacerbated by how complex a sailboat is regardless of its use. Sailboats are vehicles that are often equipped with two modes of locomotion, sail power and an auxiliary powerplant of some sort. Since these vehicles ply the water, an inhospitable environment for humans, they are also life support. For this reason, sailboats must comply with regulations in addition to meet their operators’ needs for exercising common sense. Sailing for Dummies does an admirable job focusing on sailing fundamentals where Sailing Fundamentals seemed more prone to distraction.

For fun, I have been taking some lower division undergraduate coursework at the local community college. While I am learning and it is fun, I am reminded that it does not take long before you move far enough into a curriculum that the entry level survey courses start feeling pretty unsatisfactory. If I had to suggest a book to read for someone entirely new to sailing, I am not sure they could do better than Sailing for Dummies. The problem is the subject is both so broad and so deep that it takes very little time before a student is already thirsty for answers a book like this is unlikely slake.

Nice book for beginners

A little too focused on racing. I'm into sailing more for the crossings and island hopping. Great explanation of knots and anchoring. As sound as any textbook can be for the theoretical part of navigation.

If you can read this I didn’t drown and the book worked.

Fun read, good information about sailing and the Caribbean

Honestly I skimmed it but I’d still be lost.