Newbie to boats... but I really want to learn to sail and want a boat!

[ms lit]

Include her...

Keith -

If you want your fiancee to join you in this dream, include her from the beginning. Have her take the classes with you. Make her an equal on the boat. If she's just a passenger, she's not going to enjoy it nearly as much, and you will soon find yourself spending less and less time on the boat... or less and less time with her. You decide. I won't offer any suggestions on a first boat, but she might have some input as well.

 

[Smitty]

Re: Include her...

I sent you a private message.

 

[nodachi]

Hey Keith,

I totally hear what you're saying. As far as getting into sailing, there will be as many answers as there are sailors. Some advice will be good and some...

I don't know exactly when, how, or why I heard "the call of the sea" as a girlfriend described it but I understand what you're saying. It conjures up romantic images of the sea but I didn't find any offers to sail with complete strangers so if you want to get moving with your dream I suggest you start looking for a school you can afford with the size boat you want to learn on.

In 2007 I looked around for a reasonably priced sailing school. Most of them only last about 3 - 4 days and you'll probably be huddled together in either a small boat taking turns on the helm and manning the sheets or depending on your wallet, a large boat taking turns on the helm and manning the sheets. In hindsight I'm glad I learned on a small Flying Scot because it taught me to be quite sensitive to the wind and I wasn't interested in being dunked by a Sunfish while trying to learn to sail, but to each his own.

It sounds like you'll probably like sailing so get into it deeply and patiently, key word, patiently. A wonderful thing about sailing is that a lot of it takes place on land - if that makes any sense, but it does. Read about boats and think carefully about what you want to do with her and where you want to sail her. I suggest not starting too large but not too small either but a boat you can grow into and be comfortable with for a while. I learned on the 19' Flying Scot and moved up to 22' small keelboats the next year because that was my target boat. I originally thought my first boat would be a Hunter 33 but I matured in my thinking and bought my Hunter 22 last month and she's perfect.

In closing, I've learned this, and I think it helps in finding the right boat: first learn to love sailing and what it's about and then buy the boat not so much because you want a boat but you need a boat to sail.

 

[BobM]

Keith,

Bought my boat down in Milford CT last spring. Word to the wise...Milford can be pretty rough to enter / exit at times, as it dumps out onto the sound pretty abruptly. We must have shot through 3 foot rollers one day. It could be a challenge in a small boat and I certainly would be careful with something small, like a sunfish. I think you would have to be nuts to try to take a sunfish out of there on a regular basis. A hobie would be okay, but it could certainly be a wet ride!

 

[superwormy]

Thanks everyone for the hints and advice!

I'll be watching the bargain news and papers and I'll see what I can find, those Hobie 16s look very tempting. I asked my fiance and she has actually been on one a few years ago (she worked at a boat place in San Diego but only actually sailed a couple of times) and had fun on it.

We'll see what I can find!

Thanks! If anyone has any further advice or tips, I'm all ears!

 

[zeehag]

start with a snark--is a styrofoam sailboat that is excellent for learning--cheep too, so it isnt gonna kill budget----learn then grow--have fun!!!!

 

[Slimpickin]

I got into sailing this year. My uncle had a 1970 sunfish and a 1980 Hobie 16 that he gave me. "FREE BOAT" All I had to do was go get them, in new jersey and they didn't have a trailer. I am in Missouri, so I took my flatbed utility trailer and headed out. I had learned to sail on these very same boats 25 years ago when they were fairly new. They made the trip back to Missouri, with some weird looks seeing a Hobie upside down on a trailer on the highway. I've read and read some more and got the sunfish out and finally the hobie and I'm lovin it. I've been bit by the sailing bug. I think your better off learning on a boat with a jib, there was a big learning curve for me going from the sunfish sail to the hobie sail, just because of the extra sail to deal with.