Hello from the Midwest!

[Daedalus]

Hello everyone,

I'm Steve from Illinois and have only recently become interested in (or rather obsessed with) sailing. My first time on a boat, an old Grampian 23, was a little over a year ago. Since that day, I've hardly been able to focus on anything other than finding a small, affordable, reliable boat to take me wherever I might want to go. When I find her, I will learn what I can on our local lake, then graduate to the Great Lakes and beyond. I have come here for advice, opinions, and camaraderie.

On a personal note, I'm a recently married Ph.D. candidate studying Computer Science. While my research has thus far been mostly geared towards security, I hope to one day combine my love for sailing with my love for software engineering. Any suggestions regarding applications that may be useful to the sailing community would be greatly appreciated! Also, I am a guitar enthusiast and an avid hiker.

I look forward to speaking with, and learning a great deal from, all of you.

[Portobello]

It's a great obsession! Welcome and enjoy!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Steve.
Glad to learn that the sea is no longer off-limits to you. Give our regards to Icarus.

[S&S]

Welcome- Nice to see another Laker.

[nautical62]

Welcome - I'm from the Midwest as well. My first cruising boat was a 26-foot pocket cruiser that I sailed the Great Lakes in as well as trips to the Bahamas, so it can be done.


All the best, and welcome to the Forum.

[Ocean Girl]

Welcome aboard, it sounds like you have contracted cruiseritis. Even though it is in its early stages, it is too late for a cure. The only treatment, and that is only paliative for cruiseritis intense symptoms, is a good little boat and lots of time off from work
Cheers and happy sailing,
Erika

[Daedalus]

Thanks everyone! Yep Erika, I have it bad! I wonder if I could convince my insurance provider to cover the treatment...

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Daedalus,
Welcome aboard!
My friend's Dr. wrote him a prescription for more sailing. It was something like "Sail 2 or 3 X ea wk." He's out there cruising aboard his Fuji 45 somewhere in Mexico now.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[htraudes]

Welcome to the waves. On the subject of software, anything weather reporting or predicting and anything GPS related working on a Linux platform would be very welcome. Most of us struggle with the junk delivered by Microsoft. Windblows are good for sailing, but bad for computers.

[captain58sailin]

Welcome to the forum.

[Daedalus]

SkiprJohn, that doctor deserves a raise! My doctor just gives me a shot and a bottle of that pink stuff regardless of my symptoms.

htraudes, I couldn't agree with you more. Windows is bad bad juju. Too bad its sizable market share forces many developers to work with it. Personally, I avoid it like the plague and almost exclusively work with Linux. What sort of GPS application do you have in mind? Would you be more interested in just the software (buyer supplies the computer), or a stand-alone device like Garmin and the likes produce?

Thanks for any input!