Cal Sailing Club — Attraction in Berkeley

Cal Sailing Club is what you make of it. It's a volunteer organization where students become teachers. An unfortunate result is that there are some people who are decent teachers and others who are great. It's a very flexible organization and you can set up times to sail with those who can already go out on their own, so what you gain in terms of experience and education is directly correlated to how much effort you want to put in yourself. No one is going to push you to learn anything.

What you pay each quarter is a fraction of the cost of a professional place, and it would probably only last half as long.

Most people at the club are very nice, friendly and open to questions, so once again, you get what you put in. The only thing I would caution people about is that because "non-professionals" teach you, you might pick up wrong information, so take what they tell you with a grain of salt.

For anyone who is interested, go to the Berkeley Marina go to the shack across from the crab place and Benni Hannas sign up put on a life jacket wait for your name to be called to go on...

it is probably the cheapest sailing club I have ever seen, BUT you have to have a lot of time and patience ... because it is a non profit organization and it is so small, you have to wait for long time to take a 20 - 30 minute lesson ...

if you have nothing but time in your hands, I'd say go for it! if you dont like sitting and waiting for hours, it is not for you. I quit after the first lesson, I just did not want to waste my entire saturday for 20 minutes long lesson :\

a few more things:

wet suits and other gear do not seem to be very clean. if you are very into sailing / surfing bring your own wet suit (I am not sure how much that gear would cost)

they usually throw the experienced people with new comers. When it is your first time in such an unstable dinghy, you dont want to be around people who want to show off their skills and capsize the boat in a cold day

so ... you get what you pay for :) if you have nothing but time in your hands go for it! it is fun ... I just cant afford to wait hours (2-3 hours) to take a very...

This is a magical place, and a treasure of the East Bay. An inclusive, diverse community of sailors and windsurfers, operating in a loosely-organized, slightly-chaotic way to share the joy of sailing with as many people as possible.

Absolute best deal in the Bay area for anyone interested in learning to sail or getting out on the water as more than a one-off afternoon. The membership fee is a modest ~$150/3 months (less for students) and there's no charge for lessons or rentals. Volunteer hours can pay for your membership, too: As a mission-driven organization, they want your skill and your time more...