What other interests do sailors have?

[RussC]

I've been around here for a year or so now, but I rarely hear mention of interests outside of sailing.
I've been involved in a wide variety of activities over the years, but the most ingrained has always revolved around cars. early Corvettes in particular, but I like most makes/models that were made in the 60s and 70s. I'd buy a car that I was interested in that needed some love, restore it with some modern upgrades of my own liking and sell it when compleated. hopefully at a small profit. it usually took me about a year per car. About a year ago I discovered that my body didn't enjoy the process as much as I did, so my last project was my last project. 1959 Chev BelAir, LS1 power with 6 speed. air ride suspension, 18s and 20s, full custom interior, AC, digital gauges, tilt wheel, power disks, custom CD/stereo, etc. I'll sell it mid summer.

But my true love has always been C-1 and C-2 Corvettes, and the 62 in particular. A love that began when I was 12 years old and watching Rt 66 in black and white on tv. I was finally able to afford to build one for myself a couple years ago, and it will stay with me for the duration. It's even towed my 14.2 Capri to the lake a time or two. It was built to be driven, so drive and enjoy it we do.
L-98 Tuned Port Injection engine and 6 speed from a 90 Vette. some upgraded gauges and a CD player, but otherwise a pretty stock restoration.


So what other hobbies/interests do other sailors here have?

 

[Justin_NSA]

It's the Lounge, "The place for non-sailing related posts that aren't political or religious.". Other hobbies are fine, you just might not get a lot of participation from passionate sailors.
Personally, I love old cars. Can't decide if my next one should be a newer, practical, thrifty daily driver or something that stands out. I'm kinda tired of turning wrenches every weekend.

 

[HMT2]

The other things I do when I'm not sailing (or dang it! Working) are hunting, (mainly dove, ducks and quail), training my hunting dog (who is also my first mate), fly fishing (fresh and salt) and cooking.

 

[LakeMurraySailor]

When I'm not sailing, I'm either working on my boat, working at making money so I can buy upgrades for my boat or I'm dreaming of sailing, racing or preparing to go sailing(there's a theme here)!

 

[fred1diver]

diving and camping for me

 

[Kermit]

I am a former raptor rehabilitor so I love all things birds of prey. I almost never go birding but I've seen a lot of cool birds while sailing, driving and just being outside. I sometimes see cool birds from inside, too.

I'm a big fan of Apollo-era NASA and still read about the Apollo, Mercury and Gemini programs. Six years ago my wife and I had an Apollo astronaut and his wife spend a night in our home. He spoke at our church and then spent a couple of hours the next morning at our breakfast table telling us more about his time walking on the moon. I still get just as excited thinking about that now as I did when it happened.

I also enjoy daylilies. I have registered a few and named one after my wife.

I love spending time with my grandchildren and am itching to make sailors out of them.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's a great idea!

 

[RussC]

Personally, I love old cars. Can't decide if my next one should be a newer, practical, thrifty daily driver or something that stands out. I'm kinda tired of turning wrenches every weekend.

No reason you can't have both these days. I'd never build an older car again without two things: an FI engine and an OD trans. I haven't turned a wrench on the Vette in two years and it gets 25-27 MPG all day long. what older cars have you owned before?

 

[S/V UsCa]

I like to Fly Fish and Create new Nymphs Trout love them as much as People do LOL When I am not sailing I prefer to be in the Mountains on a High Lake paddling my Float Tube around and having fresh fish at the Campfire other than Sailing that is my Greatest love I'm Retired and Don't ever have to worry about going to work after 35 years as a Physicist sitting at a Desk with a pencil figuring out what stresses were going to be on a Bridge so it wouldn't Fall down I am so Happy not to ever have to do it again if it weren't for the student Loan I had to pay back I would have done something else as well I always wanted to be a Marine Game Warden so I would be on the water at all time but I have a Nice Sailing Vessel I love as Much as my wife she Thinks it is my Girlfriend I spend more time on her than I do her LOL I live right on the Georgia Strait on Sandy Point and get to Sail the Beautiful San Gulf Islands every time I go Sailing I have seen some Fantastic Sights along my Journeys I hope to see some of you out there sometime I'll be in a Beautiful 30 Foot San Juan Hope to see you out there.

 

[RussC]

I am a former raptor rehabilitor so I love all things birds of prey. I almost never go birding but I've seen a lot of cool birds while sailing, driving and just being outside. I sometimes see cool birds from inside, too.

I'm a big fan of Apollo-era NASA and still read about the Apollo, Mercury and Gemini programs. Six years ago my wife and I had an Apollo astronaut and his wife spend a night in our home. He spoke at our church and then spent a couple of hours the next morning at our breakfast table telling us more about his time walking on the moon. I still get just as excited thinking about that now as I did when it happened.

I also enjoy daylilies. I have registered a few and named one after my wife.

I love spending time with my grandchildren and am itching to make sailors out of them.

Thanks for starting this thread. It's a great idea!

I also have a very soft spot in my heart for Raptors (and wildlife in general). Having flown with red tailed hawks and many crows over 18 years and 2000+ hours of flying hang gliders was an experience I'll never forget. let me share just one experience that stands out as an example:
Several of us were flying a local site on the edge of town known as a great ridge lift and evening glass off site. Basically what that means is that we were always flying within a few hundred to a thousand feet, at most, above and in front of the mountain…. So this one evening there was a forest fire 50 miles or so away which had made the sunset a particularly beautiful sight from the air. the landing zone was within a short glide, so I decided to hang out and enjoy the view as long as I could. As I "parked" in the smooth lifty air, I got that feeling that something was watching me. I looked around and saw a red tailed hawk about 100 feet off my wing-tip, just hovering along side seemingly watching the sunset also, and glancing over at me once in a wile as well. after a few minutes of this, I decided to play with him a bit and dove down 50 feet or so and came back up to his level. I swear he looked over and gave me an approving nod and then he did a similar dive, but a bit further down, came back up and looked over at me as if to say "match that". I dove down a few hundred feet the next time. when I came back next to him this time he looked over at me, tucked his wings, and dove straight down towards the trees 600-800 feet below. I never saw him again, and I didn't attempt to match that last dive . Shortly after that I flew out and landed with the others, with a sense of awe and wonder about what had just happened.
It was a routine occurrence to thermal up with red tails, crows and buzzards during mid day thermal activity.
we always watched them to help us locate lift, and I know they watched us for the same reason. people say we're crazy to have ever flown hang gliders, but it was an experience that few will ever really appreciate, and I feel so honored to have been able to experience it myself.
We have Wildlife Images about 10 miles from our house, and a big raptor show and sanctuary near Bend, about 150 miles to our East. both are amazing places to see these awesome birds up close and personal.
Did you ever meet Dave Siddon from Wildlife images? he built a tremendous asset for all wildlife rehab, where people bring injured animals from all over the country.

 

[S/V UsCa]

That Sound like a Lot of Fun to do I would love to Try it Someday

 

[Kermit]

I just googled Dave Siddon. Looks like he does amazing things. If I didn't have grandchildren I'd probably try to convince my First Mate we should move out and work with him.

 

[Daveinet]

Motorcycles, snowmobiles, 4-wheeling, self balancing scooters (and no it will not catch on fire), old motorhomes, woodworking, audio engineering and anything that turns fuel into horsepower.

On another sailing forum, I found it a little surprising as to how many sailors owned motorcycles. Something to do with enjoying the outdoors. That and those with a collection of old boats laying around commonly have a collection of old motorcycles laying around as well.
Sailing has partially replaced my obsession of old motorhomes, but will never give it up. I drive an older Revcon, which is a custom chassis front wheel drive motorhome. It is a bit of an esoteric design, in that it is super light weight, and has a low center of gravity. It is by far the best handling motorhome ever built. As a result, there seems to be a common desire among the owners to re-motor with significant HP increases. I swapped in a fuel injected 502, which doubled the HP. That puts it somewhere in the top 5 fastest motorhomes. I've never tested top speed, but I have seen 98 twice on the GPS, towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It had plenty left.

 

[Kermit]

That's an amazing story about flying with the red-tailed hawk. I know they can be trained for falconry and flight demonstrations but I've never thought of them as being sociable or even curious. I had a non-releasable red-tail that was able to stay perched while 20,000 people walked by. But still, hangliding with one. Amazing!

 

[RussC]

That's an amazing story about flying with the red-tailed hawk. I know they can be trained for falconry and flight demonstrations but I've never thought of them as being sociable or even curious. I had a non-releasable red-tail that was able to stay perched while 20,000 people walked by. But still, hangliding with one. Amazing!

Most of the Hawks we came in contact with weren't so social, but they did all seem to accept us as other flying creatures, and somehow knew we weren't a threat to them. buzzards had no interest in us at all, accept as thermal locators. Crows are by far the most fun to fly with, as they truly do know how to enjoy life and have fun. the'll do barrel rolls and loops on a windy ridge all day long and just laugh and laugh about how much fun it is.
This is the flight where the red tail showed me up. unfortunately I didn't have my own camera on the glider that day.


The place near Bend, Oregon that I mentioned has the best outdoor raptor show I've ever seen. I think it's just called the "High Desert Museum" as the raptor show is but a small part of a much larger indoor and outdoor museum that displays a very diverse history of the peoples and lifestyle of the area. The raptor show they do is like no other I've seen. they take a group of 30-40 people a couple hundred yards out in the woods where they position 3-4 handlers on opposite points away from the crowd. by calling the birds they get them to fly a few feet over the group for up close and personal views of owls, hawks, vultures, etc. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get a photo of the flyovers but you have to be very careful about having a hand over your head as the birds may think your camera is a food offering .

 

[RussC]

Motorcycles, snowmobiles, self balancing scooters (and no it will not catch on fire), old motorhomes, woodworking, audio engineering and anything that turns fuel into horsepower.

On another sailing forum, I found it a little surprising as to how many sailors owned motorcycles. Something to do with enjoying the outdoors. That and those with a collection of old boats laying around commonly have a collection of old motorcycles laying around as well.
Sailing has partially replaced my obsession of old motorhomes, but will never give it up. I drive an older Revcon, which is a custom chassis front wheel drive motorhome. It is a bit of an esoteric design, in that it is super light weight, and has a low center of gravity. It is by far the best handling motorhome ever built. As a result, there seems to be a common desire among the owners to re-motor with significant HP increases. I swapped in a fuel injected 502, which doubled the HP. That puts it somewhere in the top 5 fastest motorhomes. I've never tested top speed, but I have seen 98 twice on the GPS, towing a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It had plenty left.

Yup, the 502 BBC should move a coach pretty well . wasn't the Revcon based on the Olds Toronado drive train?
I have no idea why I never got hooked on motorcycles. gas has run in my veins since about age 5, but bikes just never got ahold of me. I owned a few smaller ones, but just as base transportation mostly. also strange as I pretty much lived on my bicycle as a youngster (won 1st place in a wheelie contest at the local fairgrounds once )

"anything that turns fuel into horsepower". Now you're talking my language.

 

[Brian D]

My other interests that I pursue with much vigor is music and photography.

I write and record my own music. I am a finger style player. Been playing since I first hear The Beatles. I have been recorded professionally, appeared on TV, and have had CD produced and sold with other artist.

My other passion is Photography. I have been a professional studio photographer (and still do it) and a freelance photojournalist for an on-line publication.

 

[RussC]

Don't be shy Brian D. got a link to your CD? on itunes perhaps?

 

[GorillaToast]

Who has time for other interests?
I get up and go work on the boat until I have to go to the other job that pays for the boat stuff. After work I go home and go to bed, then get up and start all over again.

This will be the last project boat for me!

 

[Brian D]

Don't be shy Brian D. got a link to your CD? on itunes perhaps?

The CD is out of print. However, here are a few links to some music pages

West 78 is the band I played in and did the CD.
Reverb Nation where I plug my acoustic stuff.
My Youtube page.
My photography stuff.

 

[RussC]

Not bad Brian:

I have an old Washburn 12 string up in the attic. Although mine's pretty much been a lifelong frustration to me. As much as I love music…… neither practice nor lessons will give talent and I have no talent . I do like to listen however