Skipper Course

Written by Shawn Buckles in Fast-Track Owning a Boat - Resource Center

After doing the free courses by NauticEd, I recommend taking the Skipper Rank course.

This course is a lot more advanced and will talk you through sailing a mid-sized sailboat (23 - 50ft). I think it's a great, comprehensive course.

It will go over all the core sailing theory: Weather and Sea Conditions, Anchoring and Mooring, Slip Departure and Return, Communications & Navigation, Coping with Emergencies, Sailing (of course), and many more.

It has over more than 20+ hours worth of material and will give you all the basic knowledge you need to start sailing in real life.

Check out the Skipper Rank course here

After the online courses, you can plan actual real-life sailing lessons that will build on your theoretical knowledge. The lessons are available around the world. I recommend getting at least two sailing lessons to get a feel for the boat and the basics of sailing. More on this later.