New sailors in a sailor town

[Team Sleeper]

Hey all - Joe Sleeper here. My wife's name is Jenn, we decided on making a shared account for this site - Team Sleeper! Jenn's wanted to sail forever and recently we were unexpectedly given a 73 Widgeon. We cleaned the boat up some last week and now are starting to learn the boat itself. All these terms - stays, turnbuckle, clew, transom, etc are like Greek so it's going to be an adventure just learning all that. We don't know when our maiden voyage on the Lafayette River will be - hopefully the not too distant future. We know how to use the search function so hopefully we won't ask too many dumb questions! Maybe in a couple summers we can answer and contribute.

Cheers.

 

[Kermit]

You'll never be one of us if you don't ask at least a few dumb questions. Seriously, welcome to sailing and welcome aboard!

 

[Indysailor]

Welcome to sailing! Post pics when you get the boat cleaned up, it's always fun to see what's under the grime.

 

[agprice22]

Hey! Welcome to sailing, and welcome to a fun, informative forum!

If sailing terms and ideas are "Greek" to you, buy and read Royce's Sailing Illustrated. It shows the rigging setups, terms, sailing instructions, and how to use all the gear that comes with a sailboat. It is a great book! It taught me a lot, and it gave me confidence to rig my first "rigged" sailboat.

I bet SailboatOwners.com has one for sail! Er, um, I mean SALE!

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[flagbag]

Welcome aboard! And no question considered dumb here, I know, since I asked them all & all were cordially received!

 

[Griffymon]

Your boat looks about as rough as mine, lost of sweat (not sure if I'd call it sweat equity) but fun anyway before I can start sailing. I've talked to several very helpful people but also found there's a ton of opinions as well!

 

[Scootypuff]

Team Sleeper's post prompted me to register here. My wife and I inherited a '70 or '71 Widgeon. It's in pretty good shape and just needs some cleaning and updating. Maybe we can trade some notes back and forth as we learn about this neat little boat. So far the biggest preparation headache has been DMV paperwork. To get the thing legal and registered I have, so far, traveled 250 miles on 2 occasions to get notarized sales forms, stood in 4 DMV lines, spent about $150 on license, boat and trailer titles, boat and trailer registrations, gas and tolls. Oi. Who would have thought there would be so much hassle for sum a simple pleasure.

I already knew that the cheapest part of boating is the hull of the boat. But that's okay. It's worth it. I've done a bunch of sailing and taken a couple weekend courses. I love the feeling of a sailboat getting pushed along by the wind, and the lure of being able to go (almost) anywhere you want.

In a couple weeks the hull will be getting wet for the first time in at least 10 years when we travel from NJ to Cape Cod. Before Labor Day weekend comes I have a laundry list of chores and item to get. I'll try to take some pictures as I go because. One thing I did already is sand the cuddy hatch covers. Can't wait to see what they look like re-finished.

Looking forward to more entries in this thread.

 

[olddawgsrule]

New in town!

Bought my first! An O'day DS17.
Since my experience comes being the Jibman, piloting and running the main is a new experience.
I have loved my time sailing for years and I finally was able to get the wife out on one and she really shined on it!

We're learning this boat together and hope to share our experience and ask a bunch of questions!!

 

[flagbag]

Welcome aboard Olddawgs rule... Welcome aboard Scootypuff