Greetings from the south bay!

[Limi]

Hello everyone~

My fiance and I both have sailing experience. She actually sailed at nationals while on the Cal sailing team! Life has taken us both on paths away from sailing but we find ourselves within 18 months of being empty nest survivors and will be selling our home and buying a live-aboard sail boat, in the 50' range. We joined this forum to learn from all of you, get some advice and input on our ideas, and begin the process of this life change we are embarking on.

We are planning on taking sailing lessons to hone skills not recently practiced, so advice on best ways to do that would be great!

We hope that what we learn here will help us to avoid common mistakes, prevent wasting time and money, and provide us with a resource and outlet for our new adventures.

Thanks for the opportunity,
Michael and Lisa

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum.Since you asked for advise...here goes...You are on the right track regarding sailing lessons. That will take you as far as the basics. Personally, I feel you 2 should buy a cheap, resalable 25'to30' range production sailboat. You sould probably find a no frills one for around $5K and get all of that back, later. This will gain you the hands on experience you will need to for confidence and good judgement. Perhaps a year or two after that will give you a better idea what your needs truly are.
Hope this helps.

[Don C L]

Welcome aboard Michael and Lisa! I cut my teeth in the bay too. Out of Redwood City mostly. Why not a nice little Cal 20 to get back in the swing of things? I have a good old friend who has been with Club Nautique, as instructor and manager, for years, he lives on his Freya 39 up in Alameda. He sure knows his stuff so you might check in with them about lessons.

[Diesel Bill]

Hello Michael and Lisa, Like many, I too learned to sail in the Bay Area. Back in the 70s lived in Hayward and Castro Valley. I think the bay is an excellent teacher to learn from.
Every thing from heavy weather to fog and currents and large ships coming and going.
Makes for exciting sailing. You've come to the right place, as there's more than likely over a thousand years of combined experience floating around here.
By the way, I almost forgot. Welcome to the forum.

[gamayun]

Welcome neighbors! In my experience, you might want to find a yacht club that has a small boat program to hone your skills in which you can take the boat out by yourselves. Both the Island Yacht Club (Alameda) and the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club have such programs that I can provide more info, if you're interested, though you might want a club that's closer to San Jose. Not only would this allow you to sail a lot for relatively little money, but you would get an instant community of knowledgeable and experienced sailors, and learn about boat maintenance. Many yacht club members also race and cruise regularly so there would be plenty of opportunities to get that kind of experience and see first-hand how other boats perform.

Oh, and you might want to tell your wife about IYC's women's sailing weekend coming up in September. She doesn't have to be a member to attend!