Adult Classes for 2026

Introduction to Sailing - Low-impact, preparatory coaching session, for any sailor who is about to enter ESS Level 1 class. The class sets up a conversation which continues through the entire course of both Level 1 and Level 2 sailing. It's a great way to meet the boats and to get your Edgewood bearings and to become completely tuned in before you start your "Beginning Sailing" (Level 1) a few days later.

"Intro" class meets for one (2-hr) session, scheduled several days ahead of the first meeting of the Level 1 class it's introducing. Class is conducted both on land and in the sailboats. Sailing Notes are provided. No experience needed to take the "Sailing Basics" class.

This two-hour introductory welcoming session "Orientation" is recommended for all Level 1 classes, especially for first-timer sailors. To discuss this introductory session in terms of your own sailing experience, please use [contact us].

Goal: Introduction to sailing. Skills: the basics, including boat handling on all points of sail, knot-tying, attaching sails, steering a course, stopping safely, retrieving a person overboard, tying up to a mooring, safety rules and moving around in the boat. By the end of the course, the student should feel confident and comfortable sailing a small boat in a sheltered area.

This course, which will emphasize personal instruction, is appropriate for adult sailors who are working at either one-sail, or two-sail boat-handling skills. Students move at their own pace through the skills. Instructors work with groups of similar-skill students to maximize individual progress. Additional individual coaching is also available.

PREPARATION: The two-hour introductory welcoming session "Orientation" is recommended for all Level 1 classes, especially for first-timer sailors. To discuss that introductory session in terms of your own sailing experience, please use [contact us].

Goal: Introduce sailing to women as a life-long sport. Women lead the class. Women students are encouraged to explore and expand their sailing skills. The course covers the same material as other Level 1 classes, but with an emphasis on introducing students to additional topics that they might not otherwise experience, including singlehanding and an introduction to sailboat racing. 

Skills: Basic sailing fundamentals are taught on shore and practiced on a Rhodes 19, a nineteen-foot keelboat sloop.

PREPARATION: The two-hour introductory welcoming session "Orientation" is recommended for all Level 1 classes, especially for first-timer sailors. To discuss the session in terms of your own sailing experience, please use [contact us].

This course is designed to help sailors with some prior experience to refresh and review their Level 1 skills without attending the full introductory course again. Under the guidance and supervision of a coach, sailors will have one review session and one independent sailing practice session per week for the three weeks of the class. Sailors hone and perfect their introductory skills to make a confident and graceful transition into Level 2 - Harbor Sailing where they will learn additional sailing and communication skills for safe and more enjoyable double-handed sailing.

An "Evaluation sail" is recommended and appropriate if you have substantial experience at another program, time on the water on other sail boats in your past, or have taken Level 1 - "Basic Sailing" and want guidance or instructor approval to move on to "Harbor Sailing - L2." An evaluation offers you the opportunity to gain the local knowledge to enter the Edgewood Sailing School. The instructor will provide a path to improve your skills within our program.

An instructor will ask you to demonstrate the skills we expect our L2 sailors to know. A likely evaluation may include a variety of tasks. An example would be that the instructor asks you to leave a mooring by sailing backwards to sail out of the mooring field. As you sail on a beam reach in open water, the instructor will drop two marks. You will do a figure 8 tacking practice drill around the course. You will also be asked to do a Figure 8 crew overboard drill with a tossed out cushion or a mark. Add in either a tight circle with one tack and one gybe, similar to a racing penalty turn, or three gentle gybes. You'll pick up the marks and make a clean "J - Landing" where you come in on a beam reach, and turn into the wind with the mooring on the inside of the turn. Other skills may include tying knots, cleating, or going around a triangle course.

When you are ready to demonstrate those Basic Sailing skills from L1, we can offer this evaluation to you during any Friday or Saturday night rec "Sailing for Practice and Fun" at 5:30, or other times indicated on the calendar. An instructor will be assigned to guide you, and show you how we rig our Rhodes 19s if you have experience with other boats.

If you have completed Level 1 at Edgewood Sailing School, or know you need to refresh some skills before doing the "Evaluation Sail," we recommend that you sign up for our L1R - "Basic Sailing - Refresher" Class that will provide structured practice to progress on your Basic Sailing skills.

The modest tuition for this evaluation session covers the coach's time.

If you have questions about the evaluation sail, please contact us.

Goal: Build from skills acquired in Level 1.
Skills: Acquire the communication, coordination and consistency necessary for sailing amicably with crew. Use both main and jib sails to power the boat. Reading tell-tales. Tiller extension. Heave-to. Wing on Wing sailing. Feathering Up. Boat Balance. Successful mooring landings. Figure Eight and Quickstop maneuvers for retrieving a person overboard. By the end of the course, the student should feel confident and comfortable sailing on supervised courses and short trips around well-serviced areas similar to Narragansett Bay.
(Required Prep: Level 1 and/or Refresher. Instructor approval required.)

Goal: Independent safe sailing in challenging situations with full rig.
Skills: The class focuses on separating out the major parts of the boat (main, jib, rudder, keel) so that skippers understand how each of them works independently of the others, and can get them to work together to solve various problems. Meetings cover slow sailing, sailing backwards, sailing without a main, sailing without a rudder, docking and leaving a dock, heave-to and man overboard. The class increases skipper's confidence at handling the boat in tricky situations. The class also introduces downwind sailing with 2 and 3 crew using spinnakers, so that you can incorporate spinnakers into your racing and longer sails.

Required Prep: To participate, Student must have completed Level 2 or get Instructor approval.

Goal: Sailing and navigation basics for safe sailing in darkness.

Skills: Boat-handling (Level 3), using, visual, chart and gps navigation elements. Crew Overboard recovery in darkness. Styles for displaying and recognizing light signals required under International COLREGS Rules and the U.S. Inland Rules.

This is a 4-meeting class at Level 3 sailing skills. The classes in this session cover the fundamental navigation skills set, basic chart-reading and navigation; introduction to basics of celestial navigation and various specialized boat-handling at night, progressing from basic on-water at night, to general keel-boat, to sailing a Rhodes 19 at night in familiar waters.

PREREQUISITE:  To participate, Student must have completed Level 2 or get Instructor approval. 
This class complements topics in Navigation.

Goal: Introduction to recreational harbor sailing
Skills: Recreational sailing and practice time, supported and supervised by an on-duty ESS Instructor and VHF radio net. Open to qualified Edgewood Yacht Club Members, and to Sailing School Students.
(Required Prep: Level 1). Tuition fee $40 for the "Fun & Practice" sailing. EYC adult student membership fee $6 per day.

Goal: Recreational day-sailing
Skills: Day-sailing is introduced, including trip planning and provisioning, then class moves as a fleet on a trip all-day down Narragansett Bay. Bring your own Lunch with extra to share on board. Return by early evening. Accompanied by Sailing School instructor safety boat and by a supporting cruising class sailboat to provide amenities.
(Required Prep: Level 1)

Goal: Gaining experience in tactical sailing in racing situations. Boats sail close together and try to sail fast around courses, using spinnakers when possible. Everyone carries an individual score, earning points toward season-long trophy for the "Small boat Champions" (last awarded in 2022).
Open to "Skippers" with experience; and to "Crew" with Level 1 skills.

Students who participate in this course can qualify to sail with the Edgewood Yacht Club "PHRF" feet on Tuesday evenings in fall in the “ESS fall racing series” with instructor approval. On Tuesdays, there is one long race using mostly government markers, with a separate start racing only with Rhodes. Afterwards, dinner is available on the flag dock (for a separate fee payable to the club.)

Racing is cordial and exciting. You can pick up the rules as you learn by doing. It is okay to join in as your schedule permits. Teams are made up on the dock depending on who shows up. You can give it a try as soon as you've finished Level 1. Participate for a few days, or aim for the whole season. Racing trophy series in September. Participation is encouraged. More boats on the water keeps it interesting for everyone. It is not a requirement that you already know how to sail with spinnakers before joining in with the racing; but you may want to plan to take the Level 3 - Intermediate Boat Handling class too, to learn how to use Spinnakers, and to get better downwind speed from your boat!

Guest R19 boats and crews from outside the Sailing School sometimes also participate (registration required).

Tuition/fee per day.
Related course: "Level 3 - Intermediate Boat Handling — includes Spinnakers!"

Participate in Edgewood Yacht Club's Tuesday night racing in a sailing school Rhodes 19. For the September series, students will form teams with Tutors and Instructors onboard. The yacht club race committee will run a separate start sequence for the Rhodes Fleet, often including EYC member boats. Racing takes place over four weeks.

Approval is required for this course. Students are expected to have participated in One-design Racing Practice classes earlier in the season.

The Adult race/regatta fee is a single fee for the whole series.

Volunteer teams to maintain the Fleet, including to launch Rhodes 19s and powerboats, to rig and equip them, perform periodic maintenance on them, and to haul them out at the end of the season.
Open to all, no previous experience or skills required.

Goal: Saturday and week-day Fleet Volunteers: working as a teams to maintain, repair, launch and/or haul out Rhodes 19 hulls and powerboats and care for rigs and sails, step spars.
Location: as announced.
Skills we undertake: handling lines, directing trailer locations, boat clean-up, equipment storage, fiberglass and gelcoat, painting, and generally sharing the work as part of a team.
On-water and/or ashore. All tools and materials furnished. No heavy-lifting required.

See detail schedule for each activity.
Schedule may be dependent on weather, and varies by the season.
TO CONTACT – OR TO JOIN – THE SATURDAY VOLUNTEERS - email staff@edgewoodsailing.org

By invitation. Tutors prepare for the upcoming season with powerboat, safety, sailing and teaching skills. Mentoring by ESS Instructors to cover Level 1 and Level 2 lesson plans.

Unlike a private lesson, which occurs on the student's schedule and features a custom-designed curriculum, a coached recreational sail is more casual. It takes place during a scheduled recreational sail. We add a $50 fee to cover the instructor's time. This “coached rec sail” has no custom lesson plan. The coach addresses things as they come up, or you work on one skill for a while, and then go sailing. The coach is also allowed time at the helm to practice. That is $100 for 3 hours on the water, but it's more informal because we don’t create a custom lesson plan, and the coach gets some recreational sailing practice time.

If you are signing up for a coached recreational sail as an approved make-up class, the fee for the coach is only $50.

Two-hour Private lessons, coaching one to four people, are available on Sailing School's Rhodes-19, Optimist, c420, or Laser class boats. Students may be adults or youths. Each student registers individually and receives an individual coaching plan. Practice  time may also be created.

Coaching and instruction are offered according to the skills of the student. Optis, c420s, Lasers available June-July; R-19s available June-September. Group lessons (for 5 or more students) can also be arranged.

How to register for individual/small-group lessons:

1. At the bottom of this page, select "pz00".
2. Click on  "Register for this session".  
3. Fill in registration form - - please include your first and last name, your preferred email address, and your preferred telephone number, so the Edgewood staff can contact  you.
4. On the registration form, in the  "COMMENT"  box, please tell us what schedule you'd like to request  – weekday evenings, afternoons, weekend mornings, or on particular dates, etc. Please be as specific as possible about your availability and preference to assist us in scheduling.  If you are not already an Edgewood Sailing School student, please let us hear about your sailing experience (recent or long-time ago) and your thoughts about what you'd like to make as your goals.
5. Payment: Do not pay at this time.
6. After registering, please wait for the School staff who will telephone, email, or text you to follow up and set a schedule.

Private coaching is subject to Instructor Approval.  Edgewood staff will contact you to guide and discuss the coaching plan, create a schedule, talk about what you should do to prepare and create an individualized meeting plan according to your availability. The number of coaching hours and practice time will determine costs, which generally begin at $75/hour with a 2 hour minumum per day.   When your schedule is set up, you will receive a registration confirmation statement of your account, showing the amount due for each meeting and giving you a link for accessing sailing resources at the School website. Payment is due at or before the first meeting.