(c)Detroit Free Press Inc. All rts. reserv. 08023818 FORGET THE BOOKS, VIDEOS; LEARN TO SAIL WITH A PC Detroit Free Press (FP) - FRIDAY June 30, 1995 By: WYLIE GERDES Edition: METRO FINAL Section: SPT Page: 9D Word Count: 800

MEMO: Boating

Learning to sail is a tricky business. Most adults want an intellectual base to build on before they try it, and much about sailing is not easy to grasp intuitively. We want to know what we are getting into before we get our feet wet, yet books cannot do sailing justice and videos might not start where we want to start and get us where we want to go. Enter the PC, the genie that (usually) obeys every wish. And a CD-ROM that is graphic enough to show instead of tell, and interactive enough to let the would-be skipper navigate on his own. Learn to Sail! with Multimedia! the CD-ROM, has the basics, the definitions of boat parts and rigs that seem to be included in every sailing text -- like beginners' need to know the difference between a schooner and a barkentine, or a jib and genoa. But it does a great job with other important topics, enhancing the information with graphics. The knots and weather sections are terrific, for example. Most of all, the computer format allows the learner to absorb at his or her own pace. Any topic is available at a click of the mouse; you can watch a bowline being tied over and over until you get it right. A Massachusetts sailor, Linda Cullum, put together the Learn to Sail! with Multimedia! CD-ROM. A musician, she composed the original music on the disc and also sings it.

"Without learning about weather, you can't sail the boat. You can't sail without knowing knots. You can't sail without knowing navigation, what the buoys and markers mean. The disc gives you an overview of each of these areas, and then goes into depth..."

Two of the finest sailing instruction books have been written by Detroit area sailors; neither book has the impact of Learn to Sail! with Multimedia!

Up to the Minute CD-ROM Rating: No Pain, Some Gain?

If you want to take up a new sport this summer but you can’t stand the heat, how about a Cyberspace workout? New CD-ROMs will show you how to play or sport if you are a beginner or how to play better if you are a little more advanced. In this week’s segment of “UTTM CD-ROM RATING,” Fred Fishkin, a reporter at WCBS Radio in New York and the host of the CBS RADIO NETWORK'S daily computer and technology report “BOOT CAMP,” joined CBS News Correspondent Rick Jackson to show us that “no pain” does not necessarily mean “no gain.”

There are quite a few sports CD-ROMs to choose from. Fred pointed out that the CD-ROMs have some advantages over instructional videotapes because they let you skip around to different topics easily and almost instantly. That’s right, no rewinding required in the digital age.

The first CD-ROM we looked at was Learn to Sail! with Multimedia! Some of the subjects on the CD-ROM deal with different kinds of common sailboats, knot tying, piloting, navigation, and weather. This CD-ROM will show you how to tie a knot, tack, or jibe with real audio/video demonstrations. It also has a glossary of sailing terms. . We gave Learn to Sail! with Multimedia! a -7- for sound and graphics, an -8- for ease of use, and an -8- on the worth the time scale. Its total cumulative score was a -7.6-.

The CBS News Broadcast Up to the Minute airs Monday through Friday mornings between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The "UTTM CD-ROM Rating" can be seen every Tuesday morning. Check your local listings for actual broadcast times in your market.

Sail back to Learn to Sail!