Islanders we may be, but it's ever-so-easy, as we wander these canyons of steel, to forget the waterways that surround us, and get stuck in our landlubbing ways. Happily, come summertime, Manhattan's plentiful riverside parks beckon, and lured to the riverbanks, we remember just why NYC is as grand a place as she is—that swift-moving Hudson River and dreamlike harbor!

While I've oftentimes spied a sailboat or two out on the horizon, it never dawned on me that this type of experience wasn't exclusively reserved for the Wall Street elite with their expensive taste in toys.

On the contrary, there are several sailing schools in NYC where beginners can sign up to learn the ropes on sailing—quite literally—for about the same price as a ticket to a Broadway show. Accordingly, I hooked up with the Offshore Sailing School, based out of Pier 25 in Tribeca (or a new 2015-debuted location at North Cove Marina in Battery Park City), which has been a well-reputed mainstay on the NYC sailing circuit, teaching New Yorkers how to sail for 50 years now.

For beginners looking to get their feet wet (without actually having to get their feet—or any other part of their bodies, for that matter—wet, thanks to the school's top-rate, well-balanced sailboats), Offshore offers two-hour-long introductory sailing lessons for $150/person. The hands-on classes are limited to four students per sailboat (and require a minimum of two participants), and are held entirely on the boat, foregoing any humdrum classroom time.

My husband and I, with pretty much zero sailing experience between us, were spitting out sailboat terminology and sailing the boat solo within the first half-hour of setting out for our first spin around New York Harbor.

Following the instruction of our knowledgeable and easygoing instructor, we took turns handling the ropes and steering, and picked up some basics on harnessing the wind and navigating New York Harbor traffic (busy, yes, but I'd take it over the FDR any day). We soon were part of the billowing white landscape of a small, scenic, and scattered flotilla of sailboats out in the harbor, heading out to show off our newfound skills to Lady Liberty.

For those with a keener interest and craving more immersion, the sailing school's three-day-long "Learn to Sail" course offers more comprehensive tuition, which will leave participants at the ready for truly taking over the ropes independently, with a sailing certification awarded by the cram-course's end. Run over one or two weekends, the three-day-long program is largely spent out on the water, with 18 hours of sailing instruction combined with 6 hours of classroom instruction (rates from $795/person, or $695/person for two or more signing up together for the same dates; family packages are also available).

For newbie sailors lacking sailboats, the school also operates the Offshore Sailing Club, which is available to those who have completed their three-day "Learn to Sail" course (or another of their more advanced sailing programs). Annual membership fees of $1,895 per person (rates can be prorated) get members unlimited use of sailboats for day sailing in season (for departures from Jersey City's Liberty Landing Marina).

The school comes helmed by descendants of the Colgate clan (whom you can likely at least partially thank for your pearly whites), and was founded by Steve and Doris Colgate in 1964. Steve's a seasoned sailor who's embarked on transatlantic voyages more than a dozen times, and has even sailed competitively in the Olympics and America's Cup. New for 2015, the school opened a new outpost at the North Cove Marina, at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City, and it also has a branch in Jersey City, NJ, as well as locations further afield in Florida and the British Virgin Islands—in case the wind should ever blow you that way.

Offshore Sailing School operates from April through October, from Pier 25 on the Hudson (at N. Moore St.) in TriBeCa, or at the North Cove Marina at Brookfield Place in Battery Park City; offshoresailing.com