Even though I was born and raised a stone's throw away from the Bay's water, I was never a boat person. I never sailed, never went on ocean fishing trips and certainly wasn't a dinner cruise kind of guy. If I was in the water, it was either a pool or a bathtub. But lately I've been trying to change that, and so when I saw a Craigslist posting from the Miramar Yacht Club (link doesn't work in Firefox) advertising a one-day "Learn to Sail" class, I saw it as an awesome and affordable opportunity.

The class fee is $25 per person and covers class materials, refreshments and a free sail on the water. It takes place Friday, June 6th, at 8:00 p.m. at the clubhouse at 3050 Emmons Avenue, between Lake Avenue and Haring Street.

The class will cover:

Sailing nomenclature, parts of a sail, apparent wind, Bernoulli Principle, points of sail, luffing, sail trim, slowing and stopping a sailboat, sailing after stopping, tacking, jibing, general rules of the road, red-right-return, anchoring, docking and a few knots.

Just a note: the free sail does not take place the night of the class. Mine is scheduled for June 21st, but I'm not sure if that's just me or everyone from the class.

For more info, call (718) 769-3548 or email sail@miramaryc.com.