New York Sailing School

BEWARE!!! Very unprofessional and unorganized business. I registered to take ASA-​104 sailing course and paid in full back in May. Owner, Marc H seemed very polite and accomodating. He told me they could schedule the course whichever weekend I wanted in August and the sailboat was a nice Beneteau blah blah blah.
Then came August and I first requested the weekend of Aug 8^th. No communication or no course material received prior to the course like most professional sailing clubs do. I dropped an email and he said they had to reschedule and it wasn’t happening that weekend. I asked him if he was going to send any course materials he said «let me talk to my partner and it will be taken care of». Then came the next weekend, August 15^th. I reminded him again and nope had to re-​schedule again. I gave him one last chance and waited till August 22^nd. Well it gets re-​scheduled again. I changed my entire weekend plans during August just to take this course and it never happened.
I asked him to immediately refund my money. Guess what he says «let me talk to my partner and it will be taken care of». Whenever he opens his mouth and says «let me talk to my partner and it will be taken care of». You know it is not going to happen! I called my bank and reported this business and my next step is the BBB! Stay away from this business. Never to be trusted again!

I did the basic sailing course with my girlfriend at NYSS and it was absolutely fantastic. Marc Hohenstein, who heads up the school, is as good a teacher as he is a sailor.
The hours of class time flew by, and the time out on the water was amazing. There’s something pretty unbeatable about tacking and jibing on the water w/​unpredictable wind conditions. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in learning to sail.

I have always had a little inkling to give sailing a try, and my wife got me an introductory lesson for us for my birthday.
We had a fantastic time! It was a little tricky getting there (metro north and a little walking for those Manhattanites), but once we were there, it was fantastic.
They go over basically how to get the sailboat setup, do some basic maneuvers, basic equipment usage, and even how to pick up a man overboard!
4 people + 1 instructor in a boat, about 4 hours total from setting up the boat, to coming in. It is a nice mix of being active and having a little time just to enjoy the views /​experience.
Highly recommended!

Terrible Experience. My instructor, Vlad, was an old disgruntled snippy asshole named Vlad. I’ve never had an instructor course of any kind with such a uncouth, unfriendly, awkward, tactless person until this experience. Here’s my experience in detail:
A friend and I decided to try the 4-​hr course that we found on groupon.
We show up early, fill out the paper work and wait outside. We meet a guy named Dave who happens to be one of the other instructors. We chatted for about 20 minutes until we were ready to onboard.
Unforunately, he was teaching another group, no big deal. When we get into our boat and our instructor aboards and says ‘I’m Vlad’ and goes straight into telling uswhat to do — No introduction to any equipment, no explanation of why we are doing what we are doing, nothing.
He tells my friend to «HOLD THIS STRAIGHT», who is doing this for the first time in her life and has no idea what shes holding or why. 5 seconds later, the boat starts to move left, he looks at her and says «WHAT ARE YOU DOING!, WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT!» He would tell you to do something and if you weren’t doing it right, he’ll yank it from you and say NO WATCH ME!
He’ll mumble things and snap at you ‘Hey you WAKE UP, PAY ATTENTION’ when you have no idea you need to be paying attention to… why? because your learning something new! which VLAD seems to have a hard time understanding.
He is completely unfit to teach, he has a short temper and really tries to make you feel dumb.
I loved the idea of sailing, but Vlad almost ruined it for me and my friend. No body should ever EVER talk to anyone like that. I felt very insulted afterwards and this honest review is the consequence.
Anyways, take my experience for what its worth, please avoid.

I received a sailing course for my birthday and was very impressed with my experience. I came to NYSS with 0 experience and left with new insight into what it really takes to sail.
In the beginning, I had a hard time grasping the terminology but Dave was very patient with the group and taught us very well. He was an excellent instructor and I would love to come back again. Everyone on the boat had equal amount of time to work on all different techniques and it was an overall great time. We will definitely be back.

Learned to sail at this place years ago. I still rent their sailboats.
It’s convenient to get to for my friends from Mnahattan (just 25 minutes on Metro North)