Although there's no substitute for on-the-water training, there's much information to be gleaned from online courses. U.S. Sailing offers a host of courses that present information about sailboats, powerboats and boat handling in U.S. waters. These courses are not certification courses, though such courses are also offered through the U.S. Sailing School, as are on-the-water courses. Rather, they are a way to continue learning about sailboating or powerboating at your own pace, from the comfort of your home or boat–and end in itself or, perhaps, as a means of preparation prior to taking a certification course.

U.S. Sailing has been around since 1897. The non-profit organization is the national governing body of the sport of sailing. Among its responsibilities are the selection of the Olympic Team, the Paralympic Games Team, the Pan American Games and University Games Teams, as well as the annually designated U.S. Sailing Team, the U.S. Disabled Team and the U.S. Youth Team. In short, this is an organization well-qualified to offer quality, up-to-date boating education.

Offerings include "The Sailing Primer: An Introduction to Sailing," and courses on keelboating, cruising, small boating, windsurfing and powerboating. Among the course highlights are videos on various aspects of seamanship. In fact, you'll find more than 70 different videos on the website that you can view in conjunction with a course or by themselves. Want to watch how to tack a small boat? There's a video. Want to see how to place a line on a winch, how to approach a mooring buoy or what to do in case of crew overboard? Yep, there are videos for these, too.

Whether you're interested in an online course or a two minute video on a specific aspect of boat handling, the U.S. Sailing website is a great place to start.

– Linda Hoff