he basic research aim was to determine the effectiveness of different models of teaching the basic elements of the sailing technique for beginners. The research was conducted from 2015 to 2018 during regular sailing teaching which is part of the subject Water Sports. The location where the research was carried on was the island of Korčula archipelago (the Badija island). The final chosen sample consisted of 200 students (104 male and 96 female students) of the Faculty of Kinesiology of the University of Zagreb. The essential precondition for the participation in the research was that the participants had to be beginners who no previous sailing experience. Students sailed on four identical sailing boats of the type “Scholtz 22” (6.70 metres), and they were divided into four crews. Each crew had three or four (male or female) students and a teaching demonstrator. The use of the factor model 2x2x2 led to the definition of eight teaching models with regard to three aspects, which also enabled the diminution of disturbances caused by different weather conditions (wind and maritime conditions). Within the teaching programme the teaching models differed with regard to the presence of changes in the methodological, material and staff aspect, by which three factors were defined (teaching demontrator factor, methodology factor and buoy factor). The change in the staff aspect regarded the change of teaching demonstrators among crews, the change in the methodological aspect regarded the order of learning, as well as setting and trimming the sails, whereas the change in the material aspect regarded the use of buoys as teaching aids. Students – beginners were instructed in a period of seven days per 90 minutes, and the instructions were conducted in the morning. Students had attended the subject course Sailing Theory at the Faculty in Zagreb followed by 30 minutes of practice held every afternoon. The video footage was recorded by the “Gopro” camera during the practical exam in sailing after the completion of the seven-day programme. The practical exam was the same for all the participants, regardless of the programme conducted. The main criterion in the research was represented by the grades the participants gained. The level to which the basic sailing technique elements have been learned was assessed by three reviewers based on the video footage. They graded students with grades 1 to 5 on a Likert scale. Four basic elements of the sailing technique (close-hauling, tacking, bearing away and jibing) at three crew sailing positions on the boat (helmsman, mainsail trimmer and jib trimmer) were graded. Each participant was evaluated with a total of 12 grades. The general description of the sample of participants included the measurement of two anthropometric characteristics, namely height and weight. Those were measured in Zagreb before departure to practical teaching. The Pearson correlation coefficient, Cronbach alpha and factor analysis indicated an extremely high level of objectivity, reliability and homogeneity of the reviewers. The central and dispersive parameters were calculated for all the criterion variables (elements of the sailing technique/sailing positions). Based on the mean values of the grades gained in elements of the technique and sailing positions, and comparing the teaching models, it was determined that the conventional teaching model and the experimental teaching model which only applied the staff aspect obtained lower grades compared to experimental teaching models which applied the programme or material aspects, or a combination of the programme, material and staff aspect. The analysis of the main components reduced the number of criterion variables, leading to the conclusion that three sailing positions represented a heavy burden, i.e. described and defined a certain main component or element of the sailing technique (close-hauling, tacking, bearing away and jibing). The effect of the applied teaching models on the overall level to which the basic elements of the sailing technique have been acquired by beginners was tested by the MANOVA test; the analysis showed that the factors staff, methodology, buoys and the interaction of the factors methodology and buoys were statistically significant and that they affected the quantity of the sailing technique knowledge. The analysis of success per factors for each independent element of the sailing technique was tested using the factor ANOVA test. The analysis established that for each independent element of the sailing technique (close-hauling, tacking, bearing away and jibing), only the employment of the sequential learning of how to set and adjust the sails, and only the employment of buoys had a positive effect on the quantity of acquired knowledge on all sailing positions, whereas the change of teaching demonstrators among crews had a negative effect, i.e. diminished success at all sailing positions. The success analysis also determined that there was an interaction between sequential learning of how to set and trim the sails and the employment of buoys only for the techniques tacking and jibing, and that as such it had a positive effect on success.