YRA Rolls Out “Intro to Racing” Series

One of the great things about sailing, compared to most other sports, is that it is a sport you can pick up at any point in your life and, with the right amount of work, be competitive. This isn’t the case with pretty much any team sport, beyond a recreational-league level. That doesn’t mean it isn’t daunting to go out there and start, however. With that in mind, the San Francisco Yacht Racing Association (YRA) has launched a new program for beginner racers.

As much fun as most sailors are, we can also be mean on the water. It can be daunting for any newer sailor who wants to race to get onto a start line with 10, 20, 30 or more boats when most of the skippers and crews are made up of seasoned veterans.

YRA Executive Director Laura Muñoz was a guest on the Good Jibes podcast recently, and one of the many topics covered was the YRA’s new Intro to Racing Series.

The series aims to initiate sailors who don’t have much of a background in racing but want to learn and start doing so on their boats. The series will take place in four parts, with the first three being purely educational in the classroom before getting out onto the water to ensure that everyone is comfortable with the basics conceptually.

Part one of the series will be on February 17, and will cover what you need to get started racing, such as how to get your PHRF certificate.

Part two will be on March 4, also online, and go over the basic rules of racing, what you need to know about them, and how to use them.

The final online portion of the series will be an open Q&A session online.

The payoff of the series will come on March 14, in a race with all participants!

You can find more information on the series at the YRA’s website, yra.org.