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Dreamofsailing · 27-02-2011, 14:48

I've joined and attended my first meeting for the Northwest Sailing Association and a Meetup Group, Keel Joys and I plan to attend a meet and greet and join this group in the next month. I plan to also join the Poor Man's yacht Club...these should get me on the water this summer. Next step, sailing lessons! Soon I'll be living the dream!

cabo_sailor · 27-02-2011, 15:00

Congratulations,

Sounds like you have a plan and are making it happen.

Good luck,
Rich

Dreamofsailing · 27-02-2011, 16:09

I'm trying too! Trying to meet people who will take me under their wing and expose me and teach me...

j0n · 27-02-2011, 16:22

Awesome! I'm going to do something similar. There's a sailing club up at the lake where a boat isn't required and there are monthly social cruises and the occasional race. Hopefully I can find someone willing to let my GF and I crew for them. Later this summer we'll take the ASA's BKB-101 course and join a club with a rental fleet. The longer term plan is to move to FL where we can be closer to the ocean, buy a boat, and get a lot of sailing time in. Longer-longer term plan is liveaboard and sailing up and down the east coast with the seasons.

cabo_sailor · 28-02-2011, 17:17

I think that you will both find that sailors are more than happy to give a leg up to anyone interested. While looking for my first boat I spent a year crewing on boats for the weekend yacht club races. They are always short handed. Even with no experience whatsoever, there is always a racer looking for "rail meat".

It may not always be fun. Unfortunately, there are a few owners that like to yell and scream. Either from the excitement of the moment or to cover their own shortcomings. Don't let that discourage you, just find another boat. I was lucky, the boat I was on kept the yelling to a minimum.... oh alright, we the crew sometimes yelled at the owner to keep his mind on steering and leave the sail trimming to us. You know what, after we all got to working together, we never lost a race, including the one where we got t-boned with a resulting hole at the hull / deck joint.

You are starting on a journey that you will either quickly abandon or be unable to quit at all. Have fun and be safe.

Rich