Spinnaker Sailing School

Spinnaker Sailing in Redwood City is a great club top to bottom.
I say club rather than school as you feel like you are a member rather than a student.
That said their level of instruction is spot on from sail theory to practical on the water sailing.
What truly makes this club great is their love of sailing and what it does for one’s peace of mind.
This begins the moment you walk in the door and speak with the front office people such as Mike or Dana to the classroom where you are taught points of sail by award winning instructor Bob Diamond to when you are on the water practicing COB (an failing sometimes at it) with patient and friendly instructors such as Mark.
Finally they are very accommodating to your schedule and if you do fail the first time will let you make it up. Lastly they are graciously patient in answering questions about sailing and will even get into sail theory.
I truly enjoy Spinnaker sailing club and aspire to one day sail under the Golden Gate on a close haul with spray in my face and know that Spinnaker sailing got me there!
Greg Goodman

Mixed bag.
The boats are pretty good, the options are very good, the prices are good.
But they have a couple of gold-​plated jerks as instructors. They clearly think their mission is to be rude, abrasive and insulting. Total power trip. Maybe they are wanna-​be Marine Corps DI’s?
Tip: get over yourselves. Some of us may have actually spent a lot more time on the water than you have, but we needed the certification to be able to use your boats.
There are some instructors that seem quite nice, but we weren’t allowed to choose who we went with. And of course we had to put up with these jerks because we wanted to get the certificate.

New to the bay area last year, decided to try out sailing with a friend. We have taken a few classes at Spinnaker and joined their club. Now we are sailing all the time and love it. This is a good area to learn in the off season, the low winds and lack of hectic traffic allowed us to grow our skills without any problems.
San Francisco is a good ways off, we can’t really make it there and back in a day. You can make it out into the bay, and on a windy day that is thrilling. They have a lot of different boats and we’ve enjoyed learning how different sails work and so forth.
All the instructors we’ve met have been excellent, knowledgeable and friendly. Bob Diamond was our first instructor and he ended up winning instructor of the year for the ASA.

I have always wanted to sail so a few years back I started taking sailing classes at Spinnaker in Redwood City. I took basic keelboat including on the water instruction from Dave G. I learned a lot and enjoyed the instructor so much that I requested Dave G (as did others) for my next class, coastal cruising.
He knows his stuff AND can teach it in a way you’ll remember while having fun. That is a difficult combination as some are great at their skill but not at teaching or vice versa.
Dave G and Spinnaker sailing really made learning to sail fun, sparking my own interest in the world of sailing.

I took both Basic Keel Boat and Basic Coastal Cruising from Spinnaker. I have to say it was one of the best experiences of my life. I’ve still have friends from the class the I meet with and sail with 10 years later. Everyone I take out on my boat that asks about classes always gets a referral to Spinnaker. Our instructor Dave was the best and still sails with us once in a while. We recently took some friends out on my Catalina 34 that had gone to ‘another’ school and taken classes. I quote «We learned more in a few hours with you guys than whole class we just took!». Dave and Spinnaker really know how to present the curriculum to beginning sailors, deliver the knowledge and pack entire weekends with fun at the same time.

I love Spinnaker Sailing School. I have been sailing with them for many years. Regarding their instructors, I really like Dave G. I had not been sailing for a while and I wanted to get started again. I live in the south bay and Redwood City is close, so I took some private lessons at Spinnaker. The teacher was Dave G, very patient instructor and great sailor. He even showed me how to sail backwards, which drew some puzzled reactions from passing boats. Occasionally I sail the Wednesday night races on a boat skippered by an instructor. It is a lot of fun. I like the teachers, Redwood Creek is a nice place, and the location is very convenient.

We recently booked a team building session at Spinnaker and were very impressed.
First, we were divided onto two boats and spent the first hour or so learning the basics of sailing, including terminology, the different parts of the boat, and maneuvers. After, we raced each other through an obstacle course, which put our newly-​learned skills to the test. It was a great time!
Rick made setting up the entire process very easy for us. Also, unknown to us, Rick documented everything with photos. He even gave us a CD with over 60 photos of our excursion.
I will be taking person sailing lessons at Spinnaker and highly recommend them for personal lessons and/​or corporate team building events!

I just completed the 4-​day Basic Keelboat coarse (BKS1 and BKS2). Four of us (friends) took the class together. Mike set us up to all be in the same boat for all four days. That made it a really great time and was helpful as we plan on sailing together in the future. The classroom instructors were very good as was our in-​the-​boat instructor, Dave.
Dave was a fantastic teacher and provided helpful feedback without being condescending.
We really didn’t get much wind on any of the 4 days. But this is really more a function of the time of year and bad luck. Earlier this year my friend took me out sailing from the same place (Redwood Creek, from Spinnaker school), and it was very windy and exciting.
We definitely took BKS1 and BKS2 with the goal of getting «Basic Keelboat» certification. The instructors to a great job of preparing you for the exam, and really took all the mystery out of it. With all the practice you do in the boat, and with some study and knot-​tying practice we all passed easily.
A very positive experience overall. We plan on taking the next level coarse «Basic Coastal Cruising» (BCC) with Spinnaker next January. I would recommend Spinnaker school to anyone. 5 stars!

The wife and I decided to learn how to sail here since this is the closest location to our house. It certainly beats driving to SF or Berkeley. Nearly 2.5k and two sets of classes (BKS and BCC) later, we were assured that we had enough skill to charter any boat in the Bay Area or the world for a day.
Skip three months ahead with our busy schedules and off we go to OSCS to join their club and charter some boats. Turns out that they have a practical test over there and we promptly flunk it. Turns out that sailing in the wind up in central bay is NOTHING like the calm south bay we have had exposure to. Not to mention that the wishy washy instruction we had from the instructors at Spinnaker pale in comparison to the rigid expectations we found at other schools. This part is apparent from the broken down Merrit 25 boats that they use as you can see in other reviews.
Overall, I would recommend this place for going sailing on a day trip with a skipper. I would even recommend them for a BKS class. Also, if you are into sailing dingy boats with no one around you and calm weather where you motor half the time (not their fault) this is fine.
However, if you want to go higher, get a real school. Lots around near central bay with similar prices.

my girlfriend and I took a two hour sail with the Spinnaker Sailing school. This sailing school is located next to the Redwood City Marina. we went out with a skipper and two other people for a two hour sailing experience. I did not know what to expect but I really enjoyed the experience. I am considering taking some sailing classes. I always thought sailing was an expensive sport but not at Spinnaker Sailing. They have an affordable program. Sailing is really cool!

Excellent experience! I just did a two-​day basic keelboat sailing course and loved it. I had Dave as my in-​classroom instructor and Rudy as my on the sea instructor. Both guys were awesome. I was super nervous about navigating the boat (never been on a sailboat before) and both guys were fantastic. So helpful, so instructive without being condescending, just a great experience. I was on a santana and a merit (between 20 – 25 each), and I liked both. On the water I felt comfortable on both by the end of the course.
It’s definitely a great place to learn and i would recommend it to any new sailor.

I just competed the 4-​day Basic Keelboat Sailing class and had a great time! The class size of 3 per boat was ideal. The instructor, Rudi was very good in teaching us how to sail. I gained a lot of confidence on taking the helm and being part of a crew. We alternated between a Santana 22 and a Merit 25 which I really liked because it gave me a chance to work on different riggings. The location of the school was great because it was close to SV. Sailing along the RC Channel gave us the opportunities to apply what we learned in the classroom. Understanding Right of Way, Wind shifts, Navigation signs, Tacking and Jibing etc. I would recommend this school if you want to learn to sail and the safe way to sail in the bay area. One thing I would like to mention is the scenery is not very nice because it is surrounded by industrial sites which is quite an eyesore. But heck you’re too busy watching the wind and sharpening your sailing skills you’ll quickly forget about that. Thanks Rich and Rudi!

This is a great place to start sailing. You can go out for a couple of hours in the evening for about $ 40. You are on a 22 ft boat, with only four crew and the professional skipper, and you get to pull on the lines, steer, etc if you want to. You can also just sit back and relax. If you get into it, they have lessons and a membership which lets you go sailing anytime without additional charge, and costs way less that the berth for your own boat, never mind buying and maintaining the boat.

I think this place all depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking to rent a really nice boat for a day just to get a one-​time sail on SF bay, you’re probably in the wrong place, especially with the smaller boats. First off, it’s the wrong part of the bay for really *great* sails and second, spinnaker’s boats aren’t the «impressive» type.
If, on the other hand, what you’re looking for is a place where you can sail *often*, to get your sailing fix, or start sailing lessons, it’s an excellent place.
They have good instructors, decent boats, their location is quite convenient for those in Silicon Valley (15 minute drive for me rather than the hour trip to Sausalito, which I do occasionally) and the prices are more than reasonable if you want to join the club and be a regular — one of the options allows you to pay a monthly fee and use the boats up to 29′ as much as you like.
Also, the calmness of the Redwood City channel and the south bay is a good place to get started in sailing and to build up your initial confidence.
As someone who *does* want to get a sailing fix fairly frequently and not want to travel an hour to get there for just a couple hour sail, this place works out quite well for me.
Also they have, in the warm months, Wed evening races which are a great way to get started in the sailing community and meet other people you can sail with (crew for them, or they crew for you)…

A friend had chartered here before and invited us for sailing. Unfortunately, the facility was little obscure by the Redwood City Port area and the boats that were chartered out here were also a lil under used/​not maintained so well? They were all out of boats and we settled for a Santana 22 for $ 160 for a full day weekend rate. When rigging the boat, we noticed cobwebs on the halyard lines and a cracked window in the cabin. The tiller was also functioning odd. As we were still at the dock, we noticed that another family who chartered the Catalina 27 had problems with their engine. They went to get help from the staff and we overheard the staff telling them that there were no service personnel on Sundays and they had the option to opt for a smaller boat. They were a family of 6 and it would be an uncomfortable fit on a Santana 22. Hence we heard them saying that they will go biking instead. How disappointing.
Nonetheless, we were out and about on our way… overall, we made the best out of our sailing day but we still prefer chartering from Club Nautique or OCSC who definitely have better facility and boats.