Thankful much?

Nov 21, 2007
631
Beneteau Oceanis 34 Kingston, WA
A long and slow evolution. I’ve almost always lived near the water, but never spent much time on it as a kid. I also always knew, that I would eventually find some way to spend a LOT of time on the water... eventually.

Special thanks goes to my wife, Barbara, for booking us on a Blue Voyage, Turkish Gulet vacation (her second). That’s what got me hooked; drop anchor in a little cove for lunch - cruise on to another cove to spend the night…. repeat, repeat, repeat, for more than a week (oh, and don’t forget the sun, and the snorkeling, and the experiences, and the history, and the camaraderie!).

And, thanks, to the members and contributors of SBO, for letting me lurk along the sidelines for so many years, and thanks for sharing your knowledge, your advice, your insights, and your inspirations.
 
Aug 10, 2020
511
Catalina C25 3559 Rocky Mount
My girlfriend Megan. I was always interested, but her living in st Croix for a a few months and me visiting was the kick in the butt i needed.
 
Dec 25, 2000
5,703
Hunter Passage 42 Shelter Bay, WA
My third installment of boating experience was when Ernie and I decided to build a paddle wheel boat in order to transit the Willapa River where we lived. I was in the sixth or seventh grade, Ernie was a year younger, when I asked my uncle Bob if I could borrow his drag saw engine to build a paddle wheel boat. He said okay, but wanted it back when we were done with it. This is what it looked like; two cycle engine, used to saw through logs.

Drag Saw Engine.jpg


We took the old telephone pole raft from the pond down to Ernie's place where he had a dock for us to work on it. We mounted an empty wooden cable spool, that we found on the side of the road, on the back of the raft, nailed 2x4s as paddles to the inside of the spool, secured the engine onto the raft, nailed the sprocket to the spool and, well we had ourselves a paddle wheel boat.

An oar was the rudder, the engine started by spinning the flywheel, but it actually pushed that little raft along quite nicely. Darn engine was more like a hit and miss firing order and sometimes would fire on every other stroke like a normal two cycle. But she did run for awhile. After a short period we lost interest and moved on to the next adventure, whatever that was. No idea what happened to the engine; maybe it sunk. Such was my life as a free range kid.
 
Nov 6, 2020
96
Mariner 36 California
Laura Dekker. After watching her documentary i realized it was something attainable by anyone. If you were poor it just meant working a little harder and doing more of the DIY.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
The broker who sold me my first boat. Because I had no sailing experience, he would not let me take possession of the boat until I had completed 3 lessons with him or his staff and the last one needed to be on a day with 20 knots of wind with a change in head sail and reefing. I learned to sail in all conditions right from the start and never developed the fear of the wind being too strong. My first sail on my new to me boat after he let me take the boat, I got hit with an unforecast 40-knot gale with nowhere to hide. I did all of the things he had taught me, and me and the boat came out unscathed with far greater confidence in myself and the boat.
 
Jun 12, 2021
285
Hunter 240 Aqualand Marina, Lake Lanier
I was eight years old and went to summer camp. YMCA Camp Lakewood in Petosi Missouri. They had an X Boat and two fiberglass sailing dinghies. The camp required that you be at least a green tag swimmer and have completed a two week canoeing course before being allow sailing lessons. They also required a two week rowing class before I could take canoeing! I was eleven years old before I took my first sailing lesson. I loved it. I hated power boats because of the noise but these boats were silent except for the hum of the rudder. I was hooked.
 
Jan 25, 2011
2,391
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
When did you own it?

You have no idea how much I have done to this thing!
I never owned it as it was my grandfathers..he bought it new in 1967-68. He passed sometime late 80s or early 90s. Would have to research that. Where are you keeping it?