There are those who maintain that sailing cannot be taught in a book or on a video, that only time on the water can develop a feel for the boat. Unfortunately, while informative and potentially useful, Steve Colgate's Learn to Sail is not going to convert any of the skeptics. Colgate is, with his Offshore Sailing School, one of the most recognized names in sailing instruction, and it is not his instruction that is the downfall of this tape. Indeed, Colgate almost knows too much, as his instruction of forgotten 1980s television stars Audrey Landers and Sam Jones (his "students" for this video) occasionally strays into topics better left off a beginners video.
Rather than material, though, it is production that handicaps this video. It's filmed aboard a small Soling day sailor, and there is little room for close-up camera work to show the techniques of boat handling. The tape opens with a dockside tour of the boat, covering fundamental sailing terminology (with the aid of some computer graphics). With an introductory vocabulary established, Colgate and his students set out on the water. This segment, filmed from a chase boat, offers little more than some attractive photography of a sailboat maneuvering, together with Colgate's occasionally exasperated instructions to his students. A hidden joy, for anyone who has taught sailing, is watching Colgate coax his two students through the basics of boat handling, correcting them with increasing frustration as the same mistakes are repeated.
All told, though, it's a reasonable introduction to small-boat sailing. As part of an on-the-water course, or for someone who has spent time on a boat but has never really known what was going on, it would work. But while there may not be many better videos out there, as a stand-alone introduction for a complete novice this tape scatters short of the mark. --Nick Strauss
