Greetings from a retired sailor

[RetiredSailor]

As my username says, I've been retired for a few years -- from work, not from sailing, and am enjoying having more time for sailing and other hobbies, so I'm happy to have found this forum.

I'm not a hard core cruiser like many here, so hope that's not a problem. Been sailing for about 15 years, mainly small boat racing. I still own a couple of small Capri boats, an 18 and a 25, that I occasionally race on the Chesapeake.

All of my cruising has been coastal, no long passages. I owned a Watkins 27 that I cruised in the Spanish Virgin Islands, where my wife and I still have a winter condo. In the summer we're in Virginia. Sold the Watkins several years ago and now use boats from a local sailing club -- the largest being a Beneteau 323, and have bareboated several times out of Tortola and St Martin and down to St Barts on charter Beneteaus and Oceanis. Also went around the Delmarva on a friends' Island Packet a few years ago.

I find sailing to be a lifetime learning activity, so I'm currently taking the ASA 105 coastal sailing course, brushing up on running fixes, chart reading, and such.

Looking forward to learning more about cruising from those here, and just reading the many interesting posts.

[Exocet]

Welcome aboard, I am sure you will enjoy yourself here. I know I have, from laughing to cursing at the computer screen, it's all fun. Have fun and you know what they say, it's the journey not the destination.

[swagman]

G'day and welcome,
Sounds like you've enjoyed the sailing so far so guess having more time to go further is going to be a natural extension.
Good to have you with us.
JOHN

[David M]

Welcome Aboard Retired!

I hope you enjoy the website.

[Hud3]

Welcome to the Forum!

You don't need to be a "hardcore cruiser" to hang out here. Just jump in and enjoy yourself.

BTW, when I lived on the Bay in Virginia, I did the 'Round Delmarva myself, in my own Island Packet. Just curious--what was the boat you were on? I might know the skipper.

[RetiredSailor]

Originally Posted by Hud3

Welcome to the Forum!

You don't need to be a "hardcore cruiser" to hang out here. Just jump in and enjoy yourself.

BTW, when I lived on the Bay in Virginia, I did the 'Round Delmarva myself, in my own Island Packet. Just curious--what was the boat you were on? I might know the skipper.

Thanks for the welcomes.

I was on Agape at the time, an IP 38, skipper's name is Fred. But he's changed the name of his boat (along with all the rituals) to Fairwinds. I don't recall another IP on our Delmarva, but maybe I just missed it. This was around 2003.

That year we had following winds that clocked around most of our trip, so that made it pretty easy. Only problem we had were the strong northerlies, 40+, that got us into Hampton Roads around 2AM instead of the expected 7AM. We'd not been in there before, so were faced with a sea of lights, freighters, etc, as we held off trying to figure out the entrance to Salt Ponds.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha,
Welcome aboard! From one retiree to another its great to have you here. Just the standard old comment about being retired. I've never been so busy!
I used to be a cruiser/liveaboard here in the islands and in the Seattle area but that was many years ago. Folks on the forum still seem to appreciate some of my comments (not all) even though I'm not currently cruising.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[Hud3]

RS,

Don't think I've come across Fred and Agape/Fairwinds. We did the 'Round Delmarva in July, '04 as a shakedown for my crew in preparation for the Caribbean later 1500 that year. It was just us; not a group. That's a fun sail. I'm surprised that more Ches Bay sailors don't do it.

[RetiredSailor]

Originally Posted by Hud3

RS,

Don't think I've come across Fred and Agape/Fairwinds. We did the 'Round Delmarva in July, '04 as a shakedown for my crew in preparation for the Caribbean later 1500 that year. It was just us; not a group. That's a fun sail. I'm surprised that more Ches Bay sailors don't do it.

We did it as a rally of about 20 boats, and many of them did it as preparation for the 1500 rally to the Caribbean later that year. We had that in mind as well but never did it.

The rally was run by a commercial outfit, don't recall who it was, though NavTech had a lot of involvment. It was pretty expensive, and the four of us on board split the cost. But it was more than a rally, it was also a very good short course in cruising for those of us who hadn't done more than weekend cruises and bareboat chartering. They taught the proper safety equipment for offshore, navigation, weather, establishing a good watch routine, etc.

I certainly enjoyed the cruise, being able to sail the entire Chesapeake, and appreciating what a great body of water it is, and how it varies along its length. I also learned that I don't want to be in the Delaware Bay in contrary wind/current, and that flies can travel 20+ miles offshore and still find your boat :-)

For some reason, maybe because the IP is such a pretty boat, we had a lot of photos taken and we appeared in Spinsheet that summer for about three straight editions. I still have some of those photos, if I can figure out how to upload photos on this site I may do that.