What got you into sailing

[Time Theory]

As a new older guy who is trying to learn to sail, I was wondering how you became involved in sailing and why you enjoy it?

[markpierce]

My father needed a crew to race his sailboat.

[tkeithlu]

I no longer sail; for various reasons I'm confined to what I knew as a child as "stinkpots." I got into sailing simply because my parents noticed that I liked boats and gave me an Optomist Pram. That was Freedom - on my own way out in Clearwater Bay (when Clearwater had a bay) as an 8 year-old. How adventurous to sail to a wild and pristine barrier island that today is covered in condominiums. But, what I miss most about sailing as opposed to motoring is the feeling of moving in harmony with the sea, swish, swish, swish, particularly at night. When my career took me to the top of a mountain in Tennessee, I bought a 4' by 5' painting of night ocean sailing in the English Channel. I'm looking at it right now, and can't wait for the new paint job to be complete so I can head out of port again. Try it. You'll like it.

[TurninTurtle]

A friend in HS talked me into going sailing on a 19 ft (I think it was a Rhodes)... under the Golden Gate Bridge.

[jackdale]

When I was in grad school at the University of Houston Clear Lake a classmate who knew that I co-drive rally cars asked me if I was interested in joining the crew of a racing yacht. I told her I knew nothing about it but said "sure". She said that they would teach me.

[StuM]

Started 50 odd years ago sailing dinghies in high school. Tkeithlu sums it up: "the feeling of moving in harmony with the sea, swish, swish, swish, particularly at night"

[Dr. Strangelove]

I moved to FL as an adult, I had grown up around powerboats as a kid and always laughed at sailboats on the lake and such. I met some new people, they invited me to go sailboat racing as "rail meat" for some beer can club races, and I was hooked.

[robert sailor]

Truth is, I was visiting a friend at his lake cottage and was sitting on his deck watching this sailboat coming up the bay. He was tacking back and forth coming upwind. I said to my friend, hey that boat is sailing into the wind and he said, no the wind pushes them. I got the binoculars and pointed out the flags flying on land right next to them and repeated that they were in fact sailing upwind. Again he disagreed (what do Engineers know) that prompted me to drive to the local yacht club and get more information. A week later I was the proud owner of a C&C 24.

[salticrak]

The imminent risk of deportation a few years back.Built a cat as well.

[ThomasWeiss]

I learned to sail on vacation in Jamaica about 15 years ago. I was always a history geek and I can still remember silently sailing across Bloody Bay (the bay that Calico Jack Rackham, Mary Reed, and Anne Bonny were captured in) and thinking how awesome it was that a few hundred years ago people were maneuvering over the water the same way as I was. That, the silence of it all, the speed, and the fact that I was harnessing the wind instantly got me hooked. About 5 years later I decided I wanted to eventually live on my own sailboat and a few months ago I finally took the plunge and am currently doing just that. I always advise people that have never sailed to give it a try; I feel that sailing is one of those things EVERYONE should experience at least once in their lives.

[SV Siren]

I learned to sail because of my mom. She talked my dad into buying a Catalina 22 when I was around 8, we trailer sailed that thing on lake Michigan for several years. My dad kinda liked it, so we moved up in sizes for the next 10 years, living on board on the weekends, and on vacations. I raced Pearson Ensign 22's in a one design fleet for a few of those and then raced aboard a customized Cal 39 and did one Chi-Mac race. I got out of sailing for 25 years, as life got in the way, and now just recently purchased my own boat which I am in the process of restoring right now. There is nothing like sailing...hard to describe unless you've been there....I started 43 years ago...seems like forever.

[Tetra]

Reading R.L. Stevenson and Jack London in my tree house when I was eight.

[zeehag]

had uncle who was ships captain, nerchant marine and navy, rtw tallships and steamships. he found a boat, an historic 1903 36 ft gaff rigged raceabout, got it for very good price, if any, and we sailed with him on hudson river from 1955-1968, each holiday and school vacation when we went upstate for visits of the relatives, which was every chance we could get. it was fun because we were given responsibilities and work to do.
and grandmother hated it... hee hee heee

[OldFrog75]

I went sailing with a friend of a friend and when I complemented him on his very nice, relatively new Dufour 375 he told me, "it's not mine, I chartered it for the day..." Prior to hearing that I'd always assumed you had to own a sailboat to sail so I never pursued it. Once I found out I could learn to sail and sail whenever I wanted without the headaches of boat ownership I jumped in with both feet. Been sailing ever since.

[bobnlesley]

Having ridden a motorcycle half-way around the world, we wanted transport to cover the other half which provided "low fuel costs, no shipping costs and a comfortable bed every night." How naive were we?