Seattle, Washington Husband/Wife Sailing Duo - Just Getting Started

[zschwarzmiller]

Greetings! My wife and I have been thinking about sailing for a year or so now. Many members of our family who are quickly becoming older (like we all are!) sailed for many years and want to share their knowledge and experience. We have decided we need to get into it now.

Recently we moved out of our house and into an off-grid travel trailer. It's been a fantastic experience! We are young (almost 30) have zero sailing experience (have been on many boats, but no sail boats), and LOVE to travel. We've both done a lot of extensive traveling (we moved to Thailand together and used it for a hub for international travel). My wife is working her way out of corporate world and I am self-employed. Our intent is to learn to sail (hopefully with a local sailor who needs/wants some help for hobby sailing around our area) and then we would buy our own boat. I am not sure where we want to go, but I think that's the fun part of the adventure.

We are going to look into a class of some sort to get a little pre-knowledge before someone might want to take us sailing with them but are looking forward to it all. I really love forums, I've used them for technology, video games, off-grid living, travel trailer, building and remodeling our homes, cabins, etc - what a cool way to meet people, learn and contribute back.

Thank You!

Zach/Molly

[maxingout]

Sailing around the world is the ultimate form of living off the grid. You will have a great adventure.

[Geostone]

Hi Zach and Molly,

My name is George and I live on a 27' Catalina. I did not start out to live on a boat..... I retired from the military in December 2014. After struggling through an ongoing horrible divorce, i become homeless on Christmas Day 2016. I moved to Alabama and stayed with family for a few months until my VA disabilty kicked in. It finally did and the good Lord saw fit to put me in a sailboat. So all the planning I had done for my retirement farm went out the window...... lol

Anyway, I bought my boat in La Conner (first time ever setting foot on a sailboat) and motored all the way to Tacoma- a three day adventure.... anyways, feel free to contact me and maybe we can figure out sailing together....

George
UnintentionalSailor

[BigNickMontana]

Howdy Zach and Molly, welcome aboard!

I am in the process of buying a boat in Tacoma right now, probably see you all out there.

[redhead]

Welcome aboard Zach and Molly!

We're up north of you just south of Canadian border. This is a wonderful place to learn - so much to see and experience. But not too forgiving. Take classes in sailing, walk the docks and strike up conversations with sailors, offer to crew at the local racing clubs. Read every book you can get your hands on (when I started I read The Annapolis Book of Sailing and learned a lot, it assumes you know nothing).

The fact you're living off the grid will prepare you for all the energy issues we talk about all the time. Funnily enough whenever 2 or 3 sailors get together they're usually talking about power production and consumption.

Be eager, be humble, ask questions, practice and sail, sail, sail. We love it, hope you do too.

[exMaggieDrum]

I think you will need to have a WA boater card sooner rather than later. Recent change to state law requiring it for most boaters. My wife and I took the course many years ago when it was voluntary. It is an easy basics course on boating - safety, basic navigation, rules of the road, etc. Classes are usually at night or on weekends and they are offered all over this side of the Cascades. You can ask questions and meet like-minded people. Not geared for offshore cruising or liveaboards. No sailing training except for some terminology.

boat.wa.gov - Boating Safety and Education

Have fun. Great place to learn but don't underestimate Mother Nature, especially around here - tides, currents, storms, and just plain wind.

[zschwarzmiller]

Originally Posted by Geostone

Hi Zach and Molly,

My name is George and I live on a 27' Catalina. I did not start out to live on a boat..... I retired from the military in December 2014. After struggling through an ongoing horrible divorce, i become homeless on Christmas Day 2016. I moved to Alabama and stayed with family for a few months until my VA disabilty kicked in. It finally did and the good Lord saw fit to put me in a sailboat. So all the planning I had done for my retirement farm went out the window...... lol

Anyway, I bought my boat in La Conner (first time ever setting foot on a sailboat) and motored all the way to Tacoma- a three day adventure.... anyways, feel free to contact me and maybe we can figure out sailing together....

George
UnintentionalSailor

Hello George - I love your story. You just went and walked on a boat, bought it and sailed to Tacoma? I love La Conner. We actually went up there the other day to have lunch and look at boats (not to buy, but rather just for fun). It would be very fun for us to meet up with you sometime! Molly usually works Monday - Wednesday and I am self-employed so range from open to busy pretty randomly. I will send you a private message with my contact details and we can hopefully figure out a time to meet soon! Thanks so much for responding to my post!

[zschwarzmiller]

Originally Posted by BigNickMontana

Howdy Zach and Molly, welcome aboard!

I am in the process of buying a boat in Tacoma right now, probably see you all out there.

Awesome! Good luck with your purchase, how exciting!

[zschwarzmiller]

Originally Posted by redhead

Welcome aboard Zach and Molly!

We're up north of you just south of Canadian border. This is a wonderful place to learn - so much to see and experience. But not too forgiving. Take classes in sailing, walk the docks and strike up conversations with sailors, offer to crew at the local racing clubs. Read every book you can get your hands on (when I started I read The Annapolis Book of Sailing and learned a lot, it assumes you know nothing).

The fact you're living off the grid will prepare you for all the energy issues we talk about all the time. Funnily enough whenever 2 or 3 sailors get together they're usually talking about power production and consumption.

Be eager, be humble, ask questions, practice and sail, sail, sail. We love it, hope you do too.

Thank You! I will have to check out that book you read. Very cool! I've wanted to sail up and check out the Canadian side of the San Juans!

[zschwarzmiller]

Originally Posted by exMaggieDrum

I think you will need to have a WA boater card sooner rather than later. Recent change to state law requiring it for most boaters. My wife and I took the course many years ago when it was voluntary. It is an easy basics course on boating - safety, basic navigation, rules of the road, etc. Classes are usually at night or on weekends and they are offered all over this side of the Cascades. You can ask questions and meet like-minded people. Not geared for offshore cruising or liveaboards. No sailing training except for some terminology.

boat.wa.gov - Boating Safety and Education

Have fun. Great place to learn but don't underestimate Mother Nature, especially around here - tides, currents, storms, and just plain wind.

Awesome, Thank You! I will check out that website and register for a class. Seems like a great idea to have completed.

[Geostone]

Originally Posted by zschwarzmiller

Hello George - I love your story. You just went and walked on a boat, bought it and sailed to Tacoma? I love La Conner. We actually went up there the other day to have lunch and look at boats (not to buy, but rather just for fun). It would be very fun for us to meet up with you sometime! Molly usually works Monday - Wednesday and I am self-employed so range from open to busy pretty randomly. I will send you a private message with my contact details and we can hopefully figure out a time to meet soon! Thanks so much for responding to my post!

Glad you liked the story, its better in person...lol

Yes, I did indeed very much purchase my boat blind and motor to Tacoma. Three days of advebture and learning / remembering things I shoulda and coulda....

Anyway, again feel free to contact me. My girlfriend and I are taking the boat over to Gig Harbor this weekend (by motor lol) and I intend to raise the sail. We will see how my nerves hold out.

[Trailtoy1993]

Hey there Zach and Molly.

My wife and I are on a similar path, we live south of Seattle, and are planning our first sailboat purchase. I know just enough about sailing to get us all killed! Would be good to meet up sometime. Best of luck!

[Mark Axel]

I see this is an old thread so I will be brief. I have a 45' Hunter sailboat with a double crew cabin for the crew. I am in Seattle now, 10-5-23. I plan to go to Mexico by months end If can manage everything. IN the meantime, sailing the local waters here and about the Puget Sound. Mark

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

I would suggest updating your profile with your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.