Study path · complete beginners
Nobody is born knowing what a halyard is. Work through these five steps before or alongside your first lessons and the instructor's words will land the first time. Every guide is short, sourced and free; the trainer and quizzes need no sign-up.
Lessons, courses and schemes — what the first weeks look like and how ASA, US Sailing and RYA fit together.
Getting started
Where to begin if you have never sailed: what you can learn ashore, what needs a boat, dinghy versus keelboat, schools, clubs and crewing, and a realistic path from first lesson to skippering.
10 min read
Getting started
The vocabulary, directions, points of sail, two turns, basic safety and three knots that make a first sailing lesson easy — and the list of things you can safely leave for later.
8 min read
Getting started
How the American Sailing (ASA), US Sailing and RYA training schemes are structured, how they assess you, where each is used, what the ICC and IPC are, and why “do I need a licence to charter?” has no single answer.
12 min read
Bow and stern, port and starboard, sheets and halyards — the vocabulary every lesson assumes.
Sailing terminology
New to sailing? Learn the essential terms for your first lesson: bow, stern, port, starboard, halyard, sheet, tack, jibe and more, with diagrams and a free quiz.
16 min read
Points of sail and apparent wind, what the telltales say, what each trim control does, when to reef.
Sailing skills
The points of sail from close-hauled to a run, the no-sail zone, and the difference between true and apparent wind — with an interactive explorer and the vector picture that explains why your tacking angle is wider than you expect.
9 min read
Sailing skills
Telltales are airflow gauges, not magic. What attached and separated flow look like, what each telltale pattern means, when to trim and when to steer, and how leech telltales reveal twist — with an interactive trainer.
10 min read
Sailing skills
Sheet, traveller, vang, outhaul, halyard and Cunningham, jib cars and backstay — what you move, what changes in the sail, what the boat feels like, and when you would use each. Fundamentals first, racing detail later.
11 min read
Sailing skills
There is no universal reef-at-X-knots rule, and no training body publishes one. What overpowered actually looks and feels like, why sailors reef early, the usual order of sail reductions, and how rig and crew change the answer.
9 min read
The six knots that cover almost everything, and docking without drama.
Knots
Figure-eight, reef knot, clove hitch, round turn and two half hitches, cleat hitch and bowline — the six knots in the ASA 101 basic keelboat standard, what each is for, why it holds, how it fails, plus the sheet bend as a bonus.
9 min read
Seamanship
The physics that decide every docking: momentum and steerage, windage, the pivot point, prop wash and prop walk — then planned approaches for wind on, wind off and crosswind, leaving with a spring, and when to bail out and go around.
12 min read
The handful of rules that decide every encounter, with a method for working out any question.
COLREGs
Eight questions, asked in the same order every time — in sight? overtaking? what are they? which rule? who keeps clear? what must the stand-on vessel do? is there risk? what action is enough? — applied to five worked scenarios.
11 min read
COLREGs
Sail vs sail, power vs power, overtaking, head-on and crossing: what COLREG Rules 12–18 actually require of the give-way and stand-on vessel, with diagrams and a reasoning sequence you can use in the exam and at sea.
12 min read
In the app
The essential language of sailing for complete beginners
5 modules · 240+ questions
US-oriented sailing fundamentals for your first keelboat course
12 modules · 580+ questions
Free to start, no account, fully offline. Preparing for a US course? Try the ASA 101 practice questions.
SailQuiz is an independent study aid. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, accredited by, or otherwise connected to the ASA, US Sailing, the RYA, the USCG, or any other certifying body, and it is not a substitute for their official training or examinations.
