How did you get interested in sailing?

[Mikem]

I helped my grandfather build a 21' cabin cruiser (help is too strong a word, I did as directed), and later an 8' pram and five kayaks. My kayak was rigged for sail with two daggerboards and a sail built by Peter Sutter sails of Sausalito, CA. A friend of my grandfather's had a Lido 14 and that was fun to sail on the Napa River across from Mare Island SY.

From the Lido 14 on I had the sailing bug and my dream boat was a 1964 Columbia Challenger 24. My mom and grandmother arranged a tour for me on my 12th birthday of the Columbia Plant in Costa Mesa. I later owned a Columbia 8.7 and a 10.7 (Alan Payne design, wide body cruisers with the wineglass stern).

I sailed my kayak on Buck's Lake each summer with our church youth group. It would surf downwind in the afternoon heavy breezes...yahoo but close hauled sailing was a bit dicey.

I sailed some at the Naval Academy and certainly saw my share of water with 13 years of sea duty aboard carriers in the navy but did no sailing for years. One day in Jacksonville, Fl a fellow helo pilot invited my wife and I for an afternoon sail on the St John's River. He and his wife had a C-22 and as we ghosted along with the 3kt wind on a warm summer evening I was hooked. Pierside we all sat at the dinette sipping cold sodas and it was truly an aha moment.

For the next two years my wife and I walked the docks, saw the first Hunters delivered to Whitney's sail center in Orange Park, Fl and dreamed of owning our own boat. Transferred to Newport RI we found our first boat in 1983, a 1977 Columbia 8.7. It hadn't been used in two years as the owner had a girth that did not permit him much mobility on the boat. We sailed it from Warwick, RI to the Navy Marina on a late September evening (what was I thinking doing this at night with two boys uner 30 months). In the dark I snagged a crab pot so not only was our speed reduced but I now had no motor propulsion. Soooo on the first night of owning our first boat I had to sail into the dock. The dock did a wonderful job of stopping a boat doing at least 2 kts.

Anyway four sailboats or five if you count my daughter's C-25, four children, three grandchildren, and 34 years of a wonderful marriage later, I still love the water and all things boat.

So what is your story?

 

[Navicula]

no real story here.............just a dream from a young age and in the last year I am making it come true........I am very excited about it

 

[Griffinroydonald]

Re: when or why did your interest in sailing start

This is an easy question. My family always had boats and we spent a great deal of time on the water. I was introduced to sailing while in the Boy Scouts and worked to buy my first small sailboat while in high school. I cant seem to spend enough time on the water and will never get my fill. I even want a Viking Funeral.

 

[Captian George]

I helped my grandfather build a 21' cabin cruiser (help is too strong a word, I did as directed), and later an 8' pram and five kayaks. My kayak was rigged for sail with two daggerboards and a sail built by Peter Sutter sails of Sausalito, CA. A friend of my grandfather's had a Lido 14 and that was fun to sail on the Napa River across from Mare Island SY.

From the Lido 14 on I had the sailing bug and my dream boat was a 1964 Columbia Challenger 24. My mom and grandmother arranged a tour for me on my 12th birthday of the Columbia Plant in Costa Mesa. I later owned a Columbia 8.7 and a 10.7 (Alan Payne design, wide body cruisers with the wineglass stern).

I sailed my kayak on Buck's Lake each summer with our church youth group. It would surf downwind in the afternoon heavy breezes...yahoo but close hauled sailing was a bit dicey.

I sailed some at the Naval Academy and certainly saw my share of water with 13 years of sea duty aboard carriers in the navy but did no sailing for years. One day in Jacksonville, Fl a fellow helo pilot invited my wife and I for an afternoon sail on the St John's River. He and his wife had a C-22 and as we ghosted along with the 3kt wind on a warm summer evening I was hooked. Pierside we all sat at the dinette sipping cold sodas and it was truly an aha moment.

For the next two years my wife and I walked the docks, saw the first Hunters delivered to Whitney's sail center in Orange Park, Fl and dreamed of owning our own boat. Transferred to Newport RI we found our first boat in 1983, a 1977 Columbia 8.7. It hadn't been used in two years as the owner had a girth that did not permit him much mobility on the boat. We sailed it from Warwick, RI to the Navy Marina on a late September evening (what was I thinking doing this at night with two boys uner 30 months). In the dark I snagged a crab pot so not only was our speed reduced but I now had no motor propulsion. Soooo on the first night of owning our first boat I had to sail into the dock. The dock did a wonderful job of stopping a boat doing at least 2 kts.

Anyway four sailboats or five if you count my daughter's C-25, four children, three grandchildren, and 34 years of a wonderful marriage later, I still love the water and all things boat.

So what is your story?

Wow, great bio and I'll tell you now mine is not as interesting. My brother in law and I had an inflatable raft when we were teen which we put in as many bodies of water as possible. Places Included the Pacific Ocean, Sea of Cortez, Saltin Sea, Santa Ana River and every lake could find in Southern California.

After getting married we moved to the Midwest where my two sons and I borrowed a neighbor's Snark sailboat. Needless to say we had no idea how to sail though despite falling overboard and capsizing a couple times we managed the small vessel back on its trailer and then back home to its owner.

We are fishermen and we had a very nice boat. My friend and I were talking about sailing on day after taking his Sunfish out for a spin and that's when we decided to trade our fishing boat for a sailboat.

Our first sailboat was a 1979 American Mariner 26'. It hasn't been sailed for a long time but we figured we could handle it, and we did. We worked on and sailed that boat for a few years until another boater at the marina bought it, how is, where is and paid us more than we paid for it!

Last year (winter 2012) we purchased a 1999 Hunter 280. While we haven't got it in the water yet we are looking forward to wonderful years sailing on our 11,000 acre lake (which is currently frozen over).

 

[Ron-Anne]

Re: when or why did your interest in sailing start

My sailling started at the age of 13 when I was given a old Sailfish that needed a lot of tlc, sailed her for a bout 3 seasons (North East Vermont) then I built a 10 ft Sea Flea and sold her after a summmer, next came a Sunfish, wow, a cockpit, three kids later we got our first cruiser, an O'Day 22 trailering to Lake Champlain for a couple of weeks sailling and the rest of the summer on a small lake, from there it was my first Hunter, a 27 ft Cherubini for 7years, lost her in a Marina fire, now we're enjoying our 1990 30 ft Hunter, "That's my story and I'm sticking to it"

 

[Simplicity1145]

I bought my first boat at 17 - a used 12' Snark which I sailed for 2 summers on a very small lake in Central Jersey. My focus then turned to fishing and scuba diving, so I bought my first power boat at 30, and dove, fished, and cruised for 20+ years, never even considering another sailboat.


Last March, my wife and I vacationed in Bermuda. While there, we chartered a sunset sail cruise and walked away talking about how fun a time it was - no motors howling, no pounding the waves, just a calm relaxing ride. We returned home and immediately signed up for sailing lessons - the 2 day ASA class. After the first class, we listed our power boat and started shopping for a sailboat. Once we completed the course, we rented 21' - 23' sailboats while narrowing down our options of what sailboat would be best for us.


Late July, we sold our power boat and bought a Catalina Capri 22, which we love to sail on Barnegat Bay. We're counting the days until spring to get started again!

 

[Tom L]

Re: when or why did your interest in sailing start

My dad bought a small homebuilt wooden sailboat about half the size of a sunfish when we were kids. We had fun for a few summers but the motorboat was faster and we liked the speed better at the time. Then I just forgot about boating for decades.
About 12 years ago my wife and I were looking for things to do with our kids while at the shore. We found an old flyer advertising a few hour cruise on a sailboat and decided to look into it. While out driving around I just happened to see the street where the sailboat was and decided to go check it out. The house was at the end of the street on a point of land in the Assawoman Bay and a tall gentleman was working in the driveway. I got out and introduced myself and asked about a cruise. He said they had stopped that business about a year ago but then offered to take us out anyway. The three hour sunset cruise was wonderful and I was hooked. The wind was light but enough to keep the 38 ft. sailboat moving and the bay was calm so no one got seasick. The couple who took us out turned out to be Sara and Monty Lewis, authors and publishers of the Explorer Chart Books of the Bahamas. It got me dreaming of cruising there someday.
I looked at sailboats all the time for years thinking I would never be able to afford anything. I convinced our Boy Scout troop to go to Camp Rodney on the Chesapeake for summer camp so that the scouts and I could learn to sail (of course I had to pay by being the leader for summer camp). My son liked it enough that he became a boating instructor at the camp each summer through college. Then a friend sold me his sunfish and I spent days sailing the bay at Ocean City, MD.
Eventually, my wife could see that I was genuinely interested in sailing and bought me Gary Jobsen’s book on sailing. When I saw good deals on an O’day 222 and a Hunter 23, she suggested I go look at them. Well, they didn’t work out but I kept looking. One day I say an ad for a Hunter 23.5. I never thought I could afford one of those but it was a lower price than any I had ever seen. It turned out to be in good shape except for a really bad paint job, so I bought it and spend three years stripping the paint off instead of sailing.
After finally sailing the 23.5 for one season, I saw another great deal on a Hunter 29.5. My wife had come to accept my passion for sailing and my son showed an interest so we bought it. It has some cosmetic problems but seems to be a sound boat. Unfortunately, no matter the size of the boat, my wife gets seasick in when the waves are anything more than a half foot.
I have only gotten to day sail in the Chesapeake for the three years we have sailed the Hunters but the dream of real cruising to the Dry Tortugas or the Bahamas is closer to reality.

 

[cephius (Dave)]

Re: when or why did your interest in sailing start

I grew up in Long Beach, CA. It was a short bus ride to beach or bay. My family was active in back packing and camping. That was weekends. I was always looking to fill the long hot summer week days.

Our city had youth sailing programs. I enrolled as soon as I was old enough. I was also involved in Boy Scouts, more camping and hiking.

When I got into Jr High, I joined the Sea Scouts. In the 1960's you needed an impressive set of traditional skills to be rated Able. We put these skills to practical use sailing the channel islands. We also used them in competition with other Scout ships.

I joined the US Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army and sent to Viet Nam, rather than for any love of the sea. I was an aircraft mechanic and went aboard carriers. However, every naval station has a sailing club. There I was introduced to real 'salts' with a wide range of sailing experiences. I was also allowed to sail a wide range of boats.

I have since learned that the training, drills, and lore I was exposed to at a very young age were not the norm for recreational sailors. I also find few occasions to splice a line or caulk a plank on modern production boats.

So, I started out sailing simply as something to do. The love came later.

 

[Rick]

Re: when or why did your interest in sailing start

Started sailing with my cousin at a very wee age. He had one of those boats you got by smoking Kool Cigs.. Dont know who smoked enough to get the boat but.. it was made of styrofoam. We broke it in HALF on a beam reach! Went on to Hobies. Broke the rudder off that one sailing in the shallows.

Now we just cruise. The wife and me. Go nowhere in a hurry.

 

[D.L.Bland]

Weel, when I was 11 or almost 12 I found a sunken sail boat of the tiniest size, I worked all day to pull it out of the water and let it dry out on the shore for about a week, then I jury rigged a sort of sail from stolen bedsheets , my auntie would never see again, and my very attractive and rather voluminous cousin and I were off sailing , she garnered plenty of attention and soon we had a buddy who knew all about boats and for her attentions , he helped us fix our boat a bit. it still sank every night if we forgot to pull it onto the beach, tho? Then when I was 15 I joined Sea Scouts and really learned to sail Rebels & x-boats. Sea Scouts was the greatest time I had had so far! I still enjoy the memories of that time, yet today.
Dony Bland, master "s/v Pretty Girl" a Bristol yacht

 

[S. Shaner]

Ahhh...my wife doesn't swin?

 

[Bosman]

My parents always had a sailboat since I remember. We used to spend summer weekends or holidays sailing....then when I got little older I ended up at sailing camp for kids, then for teens..... now I sail myself and cannot get enough To this day I thank my parents for this gift.

 

[Dan Hill]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEpUlg5T1GI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Old Sailor 2]

I was lucky that at 12 (50 years ago) I was able to go to Camp Sea Gull in North Carolina and started sailing there. 7 years later I had won lots of counselor series regattas in Lightnings and had been on the sailing staff for 3 years. How fortunate I was to be able to do that. My Dad then bought a MobJack, local sloop rigged boat that is sailed primarily in Hampton Roads and at Fishing Bay Yacht Club. We sailed the York River at Yorktown, Whillouby Spit andWhillouby Bay, we had fun. When I finished with the Air Force I bought a Flying Scott and pulled my young kids through the water on the bow line and we had a ball. Many really good memories. but I never had the opportunity to sail the "big stuff" until 2 years ago when I bought my 42' Passage. What a blast. My wife loves the boat, she loves to sail, she loves the adventure. What else can a guy ask for? Pretty wife, pretty boat, kids are on their own and paying their own bills, and sailing out of San Diego. The dream is to sail to Hawaii and also to sail to the Panama Canal and travel across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Intercoastal Waterway back to the roots of my early sailing starting in 1962! Sandy

 

[richk]

I was on an oceanographic ship in North Pacific and wife was in Maryland. She gave me sailing lessons, which I took in Pearl. The rest is a most pleasant history.

 

[anchorclanker]

I was drawn to sailing from my earliest years, but for reasons I cannot explain, owning a boat eluded me. But I was always drawn to sailing stories and sailing movies, and if I was in a clinic or somewhere with magazines, I always grabbed the sailing ones first. Ahh, round the horn stories. 100 foot wave stories. Or Pirates, scrounging the Caribbean, burying treasure, riding in the crows nest with the beautiful deep blue waters all around,and the white sand islands. And the Rum.

When I was around 18 I took a tiny little Styrofoam sailboat my BIL owned out for a day on the lake. That was my first sailing experience, just me and that tiny little boat. I sailed it all over that little lake, but because the wind was away from the house, my general direction took me farther and farther away to the other side of the lake. I fought the lil bugger for over an hour trying to get back, but got too close to a shallow weed bed and that was that. So I loosed the sail, jumped in the water, and swam the boat back. Made the decision that day, that a sailboat really needs an aux motor, lol.

I swore that day I was going to get a boat, but never did. The more I looked, the more I wanted a boat with a cabin, and a galley, and ocean capable (you really need that on a little lake in Minnesota, eh?). But it had to be trailerable too. Oh, my dream boat was in my head, and that's right where it remained. Through good times and bad, I just never grabbed onto one. But I always watched the ads, and always longed for one when I saw one on a lake when out fishing.

Then this one jumped into my lap, and at 54 years old im finally out there, sailing in my dream boat, and reading, and dreaming, and its just really cool. I dont know why some things take so long to achieve, but its cool either way.

 

[DianaOfBurlington]

JC 2

I grew up with sailing; so I guess you would say it's in my blood. My parents took me racing in the Thistle when I was 6 months old. I slept in the rolled-up spinnaker in the bow. On the Sailfish (Sunfish with no cockpit) my mom used to hold me by a harness to keep me on deck. I was never scared of anything-- except by the outboard motors on the Sea Scamps. I still hate outboards (though I actually have one again!).

By the time I was 13 or so I got tired of never getting to go sailing on my own. We had a mold for a Sunfish knockoff and built a couple of them, and one day when I was 15 I got fed up with working, went down to Dredge Harbor and pushed the Sunfish out into the lagoon by myself. My brother ran into the shop and ratted on me. 'Dad, he's out there by himself.' So my dad, being my dad, came down to the lagoon-- maybe 45 minutes later-- just to make sure I wasn't drowning and stood there with his cup of coffee watching me tacking back and forth. I don't remember what he said when I came in-- probably nothing, or something like, 'Come in and help me plane this mahogany.' After that he never doubted me.

All through my teens I was always part of every R&D trial sail and actually had a job sailing Warren Luhrs' C44 cutter around just to see what hardware could be broken or relied-upon. I learned from the ground up every facet of the boatbuilding business from inception and design to sales and shakedowns. When we got the Raider we raced it every weekend and filled the rec room with silver plates and first-to-finish pennants.

We sailed the 44 down to Annapolis for the '77 show (before I turned 21) and on the way back stopped at Schaefer's for the night. In the morning we awoke at 7.00 am to golfball-sized hail hitting the deck; but I *missed my girlfriend* (sap) so we *had to* get moving (idiot). As punishment my dad let me skipper the boat all the way home. It gusted through about 55 or 60 and the upper Bay was just about surfable. We had no cold-weather gear and I had holes in my gloves; but I rode the wheelbox while the boat bucked like a bronco-- it was like a rollercoaster ride (which I liked much better than a real rollercoaster). My dad tried to veto us (he *hated* rough weather) but my brother and I insisted on pulling up sail and 'letting her rip'. It was all a port tack/reach and we made good time. The only worry I had was for getting in before dark because I don't think we had running lights on that boat (yet). I did learn that the inner staysail was the best sail on a cutter (or a double-headsail ketch).

In 10th grade my elective science class was 'Principles of Aviation' (basically ground school) and I was one of 3 who qualified for the FAA exam. I never followed through on it; but in the years since I have realized that, from that training and from teaching myself to sail solo, the qualities that make a good private pilot are very similar to those that make a good yacht skipper: sane judgement, sense of responsibility for self, others and property, and what I have come to call 'prudent pessimism'. My dad was a combat pilot and I grew up with the whole mentality of that-- always foresee the potential disaster and plan for escape routes and emergency-landing sites. 'Drive like the other guy is trying to kill you,' he taught me, like there were Focke-Wulf fighters out there. When I was 18 and 19 I was commuting 22 miles each day to college in a car with a bad carburetor and got very good at making 'dead-stick landings' from 60 MPH. It was because I expected it and had a plan to effect for when it happened. To this day I never enter a harbor or a narrow channel with the mainsail cover on or with the anchor pinned. I also read very shallow water very well-- from sailing Barnegat Bay-- and have never gone aground for more than about 5 minutes (at least when I was skipper, anyway).

My one passion has always been to singlehand over distance, something I have never done and look forward to with impatience. I've always said the difference between 'boats' and 'yachts' is that yachts can take you somewhere. After all this time I truly hate daysailing-- going out for a few hours and coming home to the same slip or mooring buoy. My dad called it the 'forced march' --sailing on a schedule that's determined by your need to get back to work tomorrow or to return to the 'real world' by Monday. Where's the fun, excitement or learning experience in that?

I look forward to putting my money where my mouth is this summer when poor Diana finally hits the water. Being able to work on a contract-by-contract basis I need very little income and expect to be on the boat 24/7 by November. We'll see.

 

[sesmith]

About 7 or 8 years ago, I gave my wife a sailing lesson, for us both, on her birthday (mainly to see how the other side lived). At that point in our lives, we had owned power boats for the previous 28 years and had never been on a sailboat. As soon as we put the sails up that day, and heard only the water and the wind on the sails (and could carry on a conversation without yelling over a motor), we were sold. We signed up for a shortened season, at that same sailing club that year, using their boats. We bought our own sailboat the following year, and sold our power boat. We still own a small 15' tri-hull that makes a nice small lake fishing boat and run-a bout, but it doesn't get much use. The sailboat does

 

[Mulf]

Just Luck!

Graduated college and got a job in my wife's hometown. Her best friend's father needed someone to meet the yacht club's requirement to have a crew to race his Javelin in the weekend races. I'd rowed rowboats in the Delaware River at my grandfather's place in Pennsville, but never sailed. I weighed a mere 132 lb's then so I was quickly drafted. Later that season the yacht club dropped the crew requirement so I bought my own Sunfish. I apparently learned a lot while crewing because I won the end of season trophy race. Still have that brass plaque!

Years later I learned that my family tree traces back to two brothers who sailed over from England and settled in East Hampton, Long Island. Anyone in that area check out gravestones in the town cemetery and the Mulford Farm Museum on the east side of the cemetery. One of their son's then followed the whaling trade down to Salem NJ. Apparently sailing was in my genes.

 

[rivettw]

When I was 16 my girlfriend's cousin and I took his 20' cat from Pas Christian, La. to Ship Island. Or I should say started out to the island. Never got there. Got lost in the Gulf trying to go "around" a storm. Nothing but beer on board. What started out being an afternoon sail ended up being a 20 hour ordeal with broken rudder and ripped sail.

Next encounter was when I was on in-country R&R in VietNam in 71'. Coming in from the bush we stopped at a little seaside bar in NaTrang and I fell in love with a little French girl who's dad owned the bar and was working for an engineering company in country. He had an old wooden
french schooner 45' built in the 1930s I think. We spent the next week sailing in the South China Sea hitting several small islands that we dared go to. Fell in love with the idea even though most of my time was spent on the old hand bilge pump.

Fast forward 40 years, a wife , 4 grown kids, and a wonderful life....I decided that if I was to have a sailboat I better do it now while I could still hoist one up..Looking on IBoats one night working the night shift , I put in the boat length of 40' for my start. This old 79, 37' Hunter Cherubini kept coming up. I called the broker that night to leave word on her machine to make an appointment. She answered and talked for half an hour about this boat. I asked where I could see it at and she replied Slidell, La....
Rivet Lane. My name is Wally Rivett.......Karma, huh?

When I got to the boat that next morning I realized it needed a lot of work, patience and skill. I could do that... and offered a rediculously low price. The guy took it. Now after some years of rebuilding and pooring money and love into it, it's my safe haven. My stress relief. Don't even have to go out to the lake. Just me , my dog and my boat.