Ahoy ye salty dogs and get thee to the Berkeley Marina! Love the cut of CSC's jib. Affordable sailing for swash-buckling scalawags of all skill levels. read more

There are two ways to be a sailor: 1. Own a boat. Usually buying it is the cheapest part of the affair. After that, you'll pay for hauling it, fixing it, painting it, storing it, and depending on what kind of boat you have, a slip in the marina, plus feeding and watering your crew. 2. Sail someone else's boat, and skip all the expenditures. If you prefer the cheapskate way of sailing, Cal Sailing Club is the way to get you started. Granted, you'll still have to fix the boat when you break it, but all you pay at this great club is the low membership fee. You can sail their selection of dinghies - slow and fast ones - anytime you want, as much as you want, and they also have sailboards and a few sea kayaks. You can also step up from here to sailing their keelboats, and it's easy to get hooked up to keelboat racers from the Berkeley Marina if you'd like to go into sailboat racing. Beware though, this gig is a lot about doing it yourself. They don't have any paid staff, and everything is member-based. The people are super nice and helpful, but do expect to drive your own program - from getting lessons and tests to getting boats ready if you want one that's currently missing a part or so. Great if you want to hang out, meet people, and really learn sailing and the sailing community. Not so great if you just want to take out a boat for an hour and not having to care about anything else (try Cal Adventures next door in that case - they have a more formal teaching and boat rental program). read more

We just joined! It's a super affordable sailing club - 3 months for $99, which gives you access to everything. They have classes and as a member, you have to volunteer. This helps keep everything so affordable. We went windsurfing, but in the winter, I think we'll take sailing classes. Also, the members are super friendly, helpful, and always willing to help. Nice little community they got going on there. If you're looking for an affordable way to sail/windsurf - this is it and if you're looking for an extracurricular activity cal sailing club is both well priced and has a close knit yet open vibe. read more

Pretty cool sailing club. I like that they give back to the community through their first-of-the-month free rides in a small sailboat. Rides last about 20 minutes and take you out into the bay and back. If I lived closer, I might consider a membership - it's really quite an affordable way to learn to sail. Being so close to water, it almost behooves you to try it! They offer lessons, equipment, and more. read more

If you want to sail or windsurf, even if you don't have much money, this is the place. Even if you don't sale or windsurf this is the place since they have great people, great Bar-B-Q's and a great setting at the Berkeley Marina. read more

Attempt at a guide to Cal-Sailing for people who want to learn to sail ("everything I wish I knew but was too dumb to know to ask"): Cost is a small fraction of other places. Viable for students and normal people -- yes, you can take up recreational sailing on the bay. The community vibe (non-profit/volunteer/just hang out after sailing) is the real attraction. Good way to meet people and make friends if you're new to the Bay Area. Often chaotic. Family friendly with family memberships. Sign up on the website. Your membership number is your key. After you sign up and pay (currently $99 for 3 months, with the family plan not much more), log in to the member area, find your number, and write it and your expiration date down. Sailing area for almost everyone (who is taking a lesson or checking out a boat) is the "south sailing basin" between the Berkeley Ceser Chavez Park/Berkeley Marina (University Ave) and the Emerville Marina (Ashby Ave). Those two peninsulas form a sort of bay within the bay. A dayleader keeps an eye over sailors and windsurfers and performs rescues if needed. There's no charge for members to take out a boat/windsurf board and sail in that area if they have a Junior Sailor/Junior Windsurfer rating from the club (read on). Fowl weather gear ("fowlies"), wetsuits, and life vests (PFDs) are available for members use (PFDs required). The club has keelboats and keelboat lessons once your make your Junior Sailor rating (or "Junior" for short). When you come in for lessons (3 times a week, all year, with longer hours for summer), find the sailing or windsurfing lesson signup sheet in the club house on the counter. Put your name on the list with your membership number and exp date. If the list is long, people waiting for a lesson kind of have to self organize and figure out who is next. Names often don't get crossed off the list and students blend in with people working on boats so talking to coming and going boat captains helps, or else being around the clubhouse helps. A coordinator tries to manage things on the weekend. You don't have to be there when lessons start but showing up well before they end helps. Read the sailing dinghy manual or windsurfing manual on the website if not before coming out for a lesson then some time before you've done maybe 5 or 10 lessons. If your ambitions are to cruise or daysail on a keelboat, you absolutely should work towards your Junior Sailor rating on the dinghies. It's reasonable to work towards being able to check out a dinghy and sail in the South Sailing Basin by yourself or with friends (Junior), but the counterpart for the club's keel boats is a much longer journey, so in a sense, the club lets you check out dingies but not keelboats. Once you have the Junior Sailor rating, you're eligible to take keelboat lessons at the club. Experience on the dingies is extremely valuable for sailing a keelboat. You don't want to try to learn to read the wind, waves, and current on a large boat that responds slowly and gives less feedback. The Dinghy Manual/Windsurfing Manuals tell you basically what you need to know and be able to do to get those respective Junior ratings. You're tested by a Senior Sailor/Windsurfer. Everyone is different and having sailed with that person before and knowing how they want things done helps a lot. Sailors get completely type-A about how horn cleats are tied, how the boat is tied at dock, when you cross during a tack, which protocol is used for man-overboards, etc. A lot of club members will advise you to just ask Seniors for a test, but I recommend against. This often just creates frustration. Email the Yahoo Group sailing discussion list on the site instead and do ask for a practise test first instead. Most Seniors don't like doing a test unless they either know you or know that you're ready, but a practise test can give them some confidence that you'll be ready in a month with some practise, or that you are ready, and you get to figure out how they want stuff done (extroverts may find it fun and rewarding to learn how 30 different people like horn cleats tied). Or do the Fast-Tracks. read more

I used to work in CSC as a Dayleader. You will not find a better club around the Bay. The members are nice and everyone has a bit of eccentric and fun quality that contributes to the overall feel of the club. It is a great community of people that will support you in learning how to sail and windsurf. Just be proactive in the club and you will have tons of fun. Another thing people forget to mention is that once you get your junior sailing or windsurfing, you can start teaching. When you teach for 10 hours in a quarter, the next quarter will be free. The club runs on altruism of the volunteer teachers and a whole lotta lovin'. read more

Super friendly, super chill (but still very safe and learning-oriented), and very affordable sailing club. Everyone I've met has been very helpful, kind, patient, and accommodating. Even though I live in south bay, it's worth the weekly drive to come out and blast around the bay on dinghies. It's also awesome that they have not only the boats and boards, but all the equipment you need to get started if you don't want to invest in anything yet, or if you don't even know what you'd want/need. Living in a fairly small apartment, this is a big plus, especially for wind surf gear. They even have wetsuits! If you want to learn how to sail or windsurf, this is the place to go. Personally, I wanted to learn after a friend took me out on a dinghy at the UCLA sailing club down in MdR. Before that, I just figured it'd be good to learn as preparation for kite surfing, but I guess I just had this idea in my head that sailboats were for retired rich dudes, which couldn't be further from the truth! We had a blast in the 15kts of wind, which feels like 50 when you're on a plane in a tiny boat, inches from the water. Sailing is pretty easy to get into, but very hard to master, though very rewarding throughout the entire learning process. The SF Bay has some of the best sailing in the world. If you're at all interested in sailing or windsurfing, you owe it to yourself to come check this place out. They do open-houses ~monthly in the warmer months where you can come down and see what it's all about. I feel very lucky to be so close to such a fun club. read more

Went there for their open house, it was great. The people were very helpful, and the organization was very smooth. The clubhouse is very nice, and there is a very friendly atmosphere. read more

CSC is a very good place. I am very excited by the idea of club, that run by enthusiasts as volunteers. I took the lesson elsewhere but decide to get a membership this place this year. In this club, in order for people like me to windsurfing, I will have to taken a test including a open book written part to get a "rating" so I can borrow equipment fit that rating. The problem is the test which I think has some design flaw. Although the question cover some important topics, the questions are confusing and hard to find in the book. The information in the booklet is also disorganized, with overlapped incomplete entries for one topic. For example, one of the questions asking what is the restriction of junior rating windsurfer, in the book a bulletpoint specially explain this states with underline that it should only be the sailing area and said nothing about allowed wind speed etc. And none of the choice fit what i read. so I guess I need to find the answer elsewhere. If you have a bulletpoint for junior rating restrictions cant you list everything here? Readers smart as you probably guessed I failed the exam. You may ask why those big fuss about a open book test? Because only after I know I can't retake the exam at same day. And because I spent time taking the exam I missed the lesson so I can't windsurf with them today. I argued some of the questions I answered wrong is not safety related and I have windsurfed elsewhere. They respond by asking me the question about the landmarks for sailing region and I can't answer it. The funning thing is I actually got that question right in the test, I can draw the region on the map but I just didn't know the landmark. They explained the landmarks are what's important because those line are imaginary and means nothing when you are on the sea. I do think this is a very good point. But this combine with the fact I answered the question right just a side proof this test is badly designed because it does not serve me to know important information. Also I think it's pointless to enforce you take a test another day. The purpose of test is let you know things and this does not serve that. I like the approach of my rock climbing gym better. If you fail the exam you are taught what you did wrong and issued with a temporary license. You can climb that day but you will retake exam the next time you come in. I can't image windsurfing will be more dangerous than rock climbing. As a result after I drove for one hours and spent another hour do the test, I have nothing to do. Hence the time for this lengthy review. read more

Today, we took our grandson (15 y.o) for the Open House. It went very well, thanks to a well organized team of volunteers (Don was in charge). They start at 1 pm as announced, the crowd lined up to sign the forms. We came 20 min early, and had 10 people ahead of us. All-in-all, i think there were over 50 people. Some kids were 5 y. o. , and they put 4- 6 people on the boat with one instructor. Everybody had a life jacket according to the body size. The weather was so warm, heavy jackets were not needed. They made a circle around the bay (20-30 min), and everybody had a chance to steer the boat and try the ropes (not sure how they call the process of sail turning) . Great experience for kids and grownups! read more

Great, cost effective place to learn sailing and windsurfing for people who are self-motivated. It is a member-run organization, so you won't have anyone catering to your needs, but if you are outgoing and persistent you will have access to great sailing and windsurfing equipment for very little cost. read more

There is no better place on planet earth to learn to sail and windsurf! The only caveat is that this only applies to those that seek out the deep knowledge present among the incredilbe club members both inside and out of the regular lessons. There is no other place on earth where you can have instant access to great equipment and instruction for just $75/ Three (3) Months. There are so many other great qualities to CSC and among the highlights are great members, a chance to learn boat/board repair and fun afternoon cookouts. CSC is the one of the best things about San Francisco Bay recreation. read more

Phone is also cancelled...Please don't tell me they've closed! Any information about the Cal Sailing Club would be greatly appreciated. Thanks read more

I have finally done it: gone sailing. Granted, it was more akin to a pony ride on the water but I still am no longer a sailing virgin. For years I gave consistent, worthwhile advice to friends when they wanted to treat themselves: buy a sailboat. Sure some of their friends had sailboats but I never found a way to turn those 3 degrees of separation into an actual ride on a sailboat. Little did I know that this place has free sailing jaunts once a month. I took sea kayaking lessons her years back and should have paid more attention, I suppose. Anyway, great place and helpful people. read more

So i just went to this club today for one of their open houses and was expecting a leisurely day in the sun looking at my surroundings...little did i know i would have to help with the boat. I actually enjoyed it and learned a lot. I was sort of scared at first because the boats looked so tiny but i found the smaller boat more enjoyable then the larger one. Like our instructor Scott said it is more "organic." Overall a great experience. It made me wish i lived closer so i could be part of the club. I would recommend this experience to anyone. read more

This place is amazing. I almost cannot believe it exists for real. You can show up, pay a very low membership fee ($100 for three months), and get access to sailboats, windsurfs, and friendly people who will be there to teach you how to use all of that. Those people are all volunteers, which makes this place very special. read more

Check out the place during open house, go sailing for free, fall in love with it. Next thing you know you are in the water windsurfing by your own, learning from the pros. The place and the people give you so much, give some volunteering in return. That's how I began and I am grateful for it every day read more

A wonderful and inexpensive place to learn to sail with the best sailors on San Francisco Bay and beyond!

Make sure that there is wind blowing across the bay before you head out to the Berkeley Marina, or you may just end up stuck on a dinghy for two hours with a creepy instructor like this grad student did. There is some sort of UC program nearby (Cal Adventures) that offers sailing lessons, but frankly, it's waaay too expensive. Instead, become a member of the Cal Sailing Club, which is not affiliated with the university. For a few hours of volunteer service per quarter in addition to the quarterly dues of $55 (student rate; $200 for the entire year) you have access to their fleet of about 23 boats, windsurfing boards, and cool Long-John-Silver-type "waterproof" gear, lessons included! Not for the weak of stomach or the faint of heart. Be careful to fasten your belongings securely to your person; the bay swallowed up a pair of my sunglasses as I was rescuing our captain's flip flop. I beseech thee, beautiful bay!! read more

I started windsurfing at Cal Sailing in 2007 and really had a great time. I actually got out there a lot, after class and on weekends when it was windy. The set up is amazing: pay a $60 nominal fee for 3 months and you can use basically all of the equipment (tons of boards, masts, booms and sails). The equipment is replaced regularly, and is always in good working repair, due to excellent volunteer repair men and women. You have to volunteer a couple hours every 3 months to keep your membership as part of your dues. Volunteer work ranges from flipping burgers at club open houses (then you can eat and sail on the big sail boats for free) to teaching lessons to running the club as a day leader. If you teach you can start as soon as you are proficient at the rules of windsurfing, ie you don't have to be a pro to teach. And if you teach a few times every 3 months, your dues are waived... thus you can theoretically pay for just the first 3 months, and sail for free ever after! They go on a ratings system to advance to better boards and sails. Once you have proven yourself on the water and land, you can make your way up to Senior, and then the San Francisco Bay is entirely your playground. When I first heard about it I envisioned that there were clubs like this all up and down the California coast... but sadly, Cal Sailing is unique. So, get down there while you can and try out windsurfing or sailing. It really is as good as it gets. read more

Where else can a postal worker, oracle executive, and berkley undergrads mingle in the sun and drink beers while telling tall sea yarns? Filled with a great group of people, a grill, and the best playground its a great place to spend a sunny day. And then you have the boats. Go on Saturdays for free lessons, and then go on Sundays as rail meat for the dinghy races. You'll learn a bunch even when you arent being "taught." read more

I heard about Cal Sailing Club doing free sail days once a month, but their web page is gone. Does anyone know if Cal Sailing still exists?? I was *really* looking toward to getting to go on a sail boat! :( read more

started windsurfing here. this is an awesome place to learn how to sail and windsurf! everyone's super friendly and is willing to help newbz and people that totally suck. read more

Great cheap place to learn to sail and windsurf. Check out their open houses that offer free tours/lessons and food.

Fantastic instruction and at the most affordable price. Great community and nothing beats being out on the water.