new sailor and boat owner

[newsailor27]

Hi all,
Just purchased an O'Day 27, would love to get feeback, considering I don't know the first thing about sailing. Have wanted to learn for years and have enrolled in sailing classes. Guess I put the cart before the horse in buying a boat before I can operate it. Think we got a great deal though. Soooo excited to get her ready for spring and our first outings!!!

Robin

 

[25yearslater]

Welcome and congratulations. Don't worry about a thing. ODay built a very forgiving boat. You have the most essential prerequisite, that being the desire to learn. Enjoy the journey.

 

[Johan S.]

In your spare time - study the wind..
Its imperative that you learn to understand, and feel the winds direction.
Go outside on a windy day with a flat board ( anything flat and big ) and watch how the wind interacts with that flat board while you mock it though the points of sail

 

[jibes138]

Try spending some time in a sailing dinghy or a sunfish. You really learn to "feel" the wind and how your weight shifting effects heel angle , hot tight you can point into the wind before she stalls, how much rudder befor ethe drag slows you way down, balance, weather helm, etc. From a sufish to a 27 is a good next step. Suddenly you don't have to hike way out to counter the heel of the boat, but can still really feel the puffs of wind as the boat is light enough to have a fast response time.

 

[Indysailor]

I agree about learning on a dinghy, which is what I did before buying my boat. I learned on a Sunfish, a Laser and a Hunter 140, the last one being I think a perfect prep for sailing a larger boat with two sails. One drawback to learning on a dinghy is that you may develop an oversensitivity to heeling. I'm still making the adjustment to a keelboat, after a couple years.

 

[bellnier]

Life is short! Go for it. Share your adventure here.