Edgewood Sailing School

I’m a huge fan of Edgewood Sailing School. The school is located at the Edgewood Yacht Club in the Brown University facilities right on the water. They offer great classes for adults (and probably for kids, but I’m not familiar them).
Their level 1 curriculum includes
— Sailing under just the main
— Tacking and jibing
— Mooring (J-​turns)
— Points of sail
— Rigging and de-​rigging
— Etc.
The level 2 curriculum is about the same
— Sailing under main and jib
— Methods of stopping under sail (like heave-​to)
— Harbor radio basics
— Emergency situations
There isn’t much difference between I and II class except a jib. That being said, the goal — from what I can deduce — is to just get you comfortable with the boat.
Instructors for the school are really top notch! Miles, Catherine, Stewart, and Jonathan all know their stuff, have years of experience, and genuinely enjoy teaching. Their method is to give a brief intro to a technique in the classroom and then get out on the water and do them. Level I students typically have a tutor in the boat while Level II just have another student. Instructors are in power boats on the water giving (or shouting guidance) while under sail.
There are about 10 students in a class but only two sailing in a boat at a time, sometimes with a tutor. This does give you a good amount of time as crew or at the tiller. You almost always sail with a different student so that you get experience knowing how different people react.
They also offer open sailing on the weekends, racing on Wednesday nights, and weekend day sails to a picnic for REALLY cheap. It’s a great way to get more experience and test out your skills. This is probably one of the best things about the school is the after-​hours access they provide at a very reasonable price ($ 25 for 3 hours recreational, $ 25 to race for a couple hours, $ 50 for all day picnic sail).
I’ve also experienced their private lessons. Which I can only praise. I learned more in 8 hours of private lessons than I did in the classes. There is no classroom setting, it’s all one-​on-​one and in the water. Well worth the money. I’m considering taking more lessons to learn more because I missed a Level III class about adverse conditions.
I have only one complaint that could not be rationalized away. During the chalk talk students are allowed to ask questions… and I put those questions in two categories 1) Questions that could be answered by just DOING what we were being taught and 2) Questions that are completely irrelevant to our sailing level.
I complain about these because these questions took time away from being on the water. I believe its inconsiderate to the other students — most of our funds are limited and we can’t keep taking classes. It’s frustrating too because most of those questions were from Level I students (Level I and II are grouped together in classroom). If instructors could recommend questions be held until we’re on boats or tell students not to worry about advanced questions that would really give more time on water and not boil the blood of the Level II students (all in my class felt the same).
Overall though I give it four stars. If I gave them five it would be saying they’re perfect — and they’re not. But they are pretty darn close… and I like that! I will continue to throw money at the Edgewood Sailing School. I’m not staff, just a very enthusiastic student!