Living in California’s beautiful coastal city of Long Beach — and not taking advantage of the proximity to the Pacific Ocean — is like buying a house at Pebble Beach with no intention of ever playing golf. Long Beach has so much access at marinas and public launch ramps, that you’d be crazy not to take advantage.
If you’re a newcomer to boating, especially sailing, don’t sweat it. There are myriad ways to learn the basics of the sport at American Saling Association-backed and privately run schools, yacht clubs, and at the Leeway Sailing and Aquatics Center, which is run by the City of Long Beach. There are summer camps for kids including youth racing programs and classes for adults. Let’s look at some offerings.
The Leeway Sailing and Aquatics Center has been run by the City of Long Beach since 1929. In the past, it had offered kayak and canoeing instructions, but has more recently focused on sailing. “It’s definitely a community sailing center,” said Max Jolly, recreation assistant for the city who runs the sailing program. “We have beginner and intermediate classes for kids and adults.”
The focus of the classes is on the basics. “We teach you how to rig the boat and safety is pushed 100 percent,” said Jolly. “We concentrate on teaching the right way.”
Make-up of the classes is 60 percent kids and 40 percent adults. Lessons are offered year-round on weekends from 9 a.m. to noon. During the summer, mid-week camps are held for kids with classes for beginners, intermediate, and a Leeway racing team. The cost for the weekend program is $120 for four weeks of lessons.
Boats used in the adult programs are 14-foot Catalina Capris, while kids learn in Optimist and Sabot dinghies. The racing team has 20 members and they compete against the yacht clubs from Dana Point, Huntington beach and more.
Other schools in Long Beach include Marina Sailing, an American Sailing Association accredited facility. The school also has locations in Channel Islands, Marina del Rey, Redondo Beach, Newport Beach and San Diego. The Complete Sailing Course is designed for new sailors and includes basic and intermediate instruction on boats ranging from 25 to 30 feet. The training includes 10 lessons with nine on the water, ASA 101: Basic Keelboat Sailing, ASA 103, Basic Coastal Cruising and required textbooks. Marina Sailing members pay $1,445 while non-members pay $1,845.
The Ultimate Sailing Course is a step up to 30- to 40-foot boats for five days. In addition to the ASA 101 and 103, the training adds ASA 104: Bareboat Chartering and learning about course plotting and navigation, instruments, electronics, engines, plumbing, trip planning, and more. The fee for members is $2,595 while non-members pay $3,195.
Many Long Beach-based yacht clubs offer their own training. Shoreline Yacht Club is based in Shoreline Marina, which is owned by the City of Long Beach. From June to September, through the SYC Sailing Foundation, the yacht club offers sailing classes for adults and children on one of eight Cal 20 sailboats. There are beginner and advanced classes held on weekday evenings or weekend afternoons. SYC members pay $150 for the beginner class while the cost goes up $50 for non-members. Advanced training runs members $85 while non-members pay $105. Students are encouraged to participate in the Summer Taco Tuesday racing series on the Cal 20s which is open to all levels of sailors.
Sailors who want to further expand their skills will seek out advanced training at a facility like Santana Sailing, which Captain Marc Hughston founded in 2014.
“Throughout my life, I have been a sailor,” he said. “My first lesson was when I was 14. I’ve always found opportunities to go sailing and things got focused when I moved to Dana Point in 1994 and joined a sailing association.”
While he was making his way through the corporate world, he continued to sail, teaching on the weekends. “I like to learn and I like to teach,” said Hughston. “I found that learning things in a way that I could explain to others was a satisfying experience.”
In 2012, he found himself working for Port Supply, a marine accessories provider that became West Marine Pro. “I couldn’t get excited about a way to sell $20,000 in zincs to a professional customer,” he said. “I decided I was going to put everything into making sailing instruction my profession.”
In 2003, he launched Santana sailing and collaborated with a couple of other training programs including NauticEd and the Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship.
Where Santana separates itself is that it is a more immersive experience for students. The school offers introductory and basic courses and takes things up a level with large keelboat and bareboat instruction. A student can even get an international sailing license or train to become an instructor. Hughston’s team also consists of Captain Marco Dos Santos, Captain Roger Hudson, and Captain Maureen Vild.
“With these other schools, you get a training experience. You’ll get the certification for attending the class if you’re any good or not,” said Hughston. “With our school, our focus is on competency and confidence. When you work with us, we want to get you to the point of demonstrating competency to charter a bare boat anywhere in the world.”
Santana Sailing runs multi-day courses out of Long Beach, and each day is 6 hours. A three-day course is $899. To get a captain to an accepted level of competence, the minimum is eight days of training. The school has two 30-foot sailboats and Hughston’s Catalina 34. In addition to courses, the school offers clinics on anchoring, docking, crew overboard and sail handling.
“At the end of those 8 days, if you’re not ready to charter a boat on your own either by the way you feel about it or the way we feel about it, we’re going to invite you back free of charge,” said Hughston.
In the bareboat and keelboat training, Santana runs three, four and seven-day trips. “What we’re going to do is show you how to do it right and work with you until you do it right and then we’re going to surprise you,” he said. When a student is at the helm during one of these multi-day trips, weather permitting, Hughston will suddenly yell out, “Grandma fell over, how are we going to get her?”
He expects the helmsman to direct him and other crew members to spot the buoy that has been thrown overboard to simulate the “victim” and then execute the proper procedures and maneuvers to retrieve the person.
“An example of what competency really means when it comes to crew overboard rescue is that you’ve practiced it enough that when you are surprised, you can execute it,” said Hughston. “What we’re looking for isn’t perfection. It’s being able to execute the maneuver. The boat is under control and the boat is stopped and the person is on the leeward side and we get the life sling to them.”
He recalled one instance where the student threw the life sling about 10 feet away from the buoy. “I said, ‘Would you have thrown it like that if it was your wife in the water?” said Hughston. “How are you going to get her back on the boat, are you putting the ladder down?”
No matter how much training takes place in a “controlled” environment, the only way to learn to handle some situations is to experience them. “My first experience in a gale under sail was as an instructor,” said Hughston. “The wind was gusting to 45, so I did what we expect our students to be able to. By having the foundation, one thing leads to another when you understand how the boat works.” If you’re in Long Beach, you can find a class that will help you start to build that foundation.
