I talked to a small boat owner today (Mac22). He told me that he and most small boat owners (under25’) feel like the step children of sail boating because he felt the sail trim forum was tailored to big boat owners who have a complete set of sail trim controls for the main and jib.
At first I didn’t know what to say until I thought back on my sailing experience. Many years ago I got out of sailing and into power boats but over time my wife and I got sick of our children bringing the boats back in pieces plus they never could seem to clean up the boats after their use and put them away in a messy condition. I’d find moldy towels and half eating sandwiches – it started getting on our nerves.
We decided to stop and smell the roses. I sold the power boat to my son. Big mistake as I should have sold it to a stranger so I would not see it again. Anyway, we bought a pristine Mac22, which our sons hated (which was OK with us) because it was too slow.
There was one problem with the boat – we forgot how to sail it. Eventually I figured it out and was hooked on sailing. I could not get enough of sailing. Some times I didn’t have time to put the boat in the water and my neighbors at Lake Havasu, AZ thought I was nuts. I rigged up a trailer tongue dolly so I could position the boat to capture the wind and then I’d raise the main and roll out the jib and work on twist, angle of attack, draft position and draft depth. I really got very good at it. One day a big gust of wind came up and I almost sail the boat off the trailer!! Scared the devil out of me.
The bottom line is if you can sail a small boat you can sail anything. Things happen twice as fast on a small boat as they do on a 30’. On a small boat your forced to learn how to sail it correctly and as a result when you move up in size (and everyone does) you’ll get more enjoyment out of the bigger boat. All a mate has to wait for is for his wife to utter those magic words – “maybe we ought to look at a larger boat”. The day after I heard those words I was out looking!!
At first I didn’t know what to say until I thought back on my sailing experience. Many years ago I got out of sailing and into power boats but over time my wife and I got sick of our children bringing the boats back in pieces plus they never could seem to clean up the boats after their use and put them away in a messy condition. I’d find moldy towels and half eating sandwiches – it started getting on our nerves.
We decided to stop and smell the roses. I sold the power boat to my son. Big mistake as I should have sold it to a stranger so I would not see it again. Anyway, we bought a pristine Mac22, which our sons hated (which was OK with us) because it was too slow.
There was one problem with the boat – we forgot how to sail it. Eventually I figured it out and was hooked on sailing. I could not get enough of sailing. Some times I didn’t have time to put the boat in the water and my neighbors at Lake Havasu, AZ thought I was nuts. I rigged up a trailer tongue dolly so I could position the boat to capture the wind and then I’d raise the main and roll out the jib and work on twist, angle of attack, draft position and draft depth. I really got very good at it. One day a big gust of wind came up and I almost sail the boat off the trailer!! Scared the devil out of me.
The bottom line is if you can sail a small boat you can sail anything. Things happen twice as fast on a small boat as they do on a 30’. On a small boat your forced to learn how to sail it correctly and as a result when you move up in size (and everyone does) you’ll get more enjoyment out of the bigger boat. All a mate has to wait for is for his wife to utter those magic words – “maybe we ought to look at a larger boat”. The day after I heard those words I was out looking!!
