Hello From The Texas Gulf Coast!

[neriticzone]

Hi All,
I just posted in the crew positions forum without capitalizing my titles...oops Anyway, my name is Nick, and I am a 20 yo Earth Science major. I've been interested in cruising for a very long time, but being from a metropolitan area and of relatively little means, I have not been able to do any real sailing. I took the ASA 101 course awhile back, and sporadically have sailed small dinghies. I used to subscribe to SAIL magazine in high school, and always loved reading books about cruising to help fuel my imagination.

I'm premed in college right now, but I would love to get some cruising experience under my belt to see where I want this lifestyle to fit into my future life goals. I would appreciate any and all advice. I would like to gain experience by crewing on relatively short cruises departing from the Gulf Coast/Florida.

Again, I would appreciate any and all advice.
Thanks and Happy Holidays,
Nick

[Sailmonkey]

Welcome..

It's a big section of coastline......where are you?

[neriticzone]

Houston area

[rgscpat]

Welcome, Nick!
Years ago I spent some time around Kemah and Seabrook and still have some friends and relatives in the region.

Does your school have a sailing team or club?

Of the yacht groups in the area, I'd consider the Seabrook Sailing Club and Galveston Bay Cruising Association to be a couple of good starting points.

Being racing crew is one way to learn some things; there's an art to walking the docks and getting your name on crew list sites that most clubs have on their web pages. Some clubs also have boat owners who'd go out more day sailing or cruising if they had someone young to sail with them.

Another idea is to find some sort of sailing co-op or club that makes low-cost sailing possible.

[PhantomBoatwork]

And greetings from just north of Galveston and welcome to the forum. My wife and I are building a 44 constant Camber trimaran in our back yard and have our sights set on some Gulf Coast cruising as well. We just added two new crew members (Benjamin and Christopher) twin boys, so our launch date has been postponed slightly while we add the new crew. Good group of sailors on this list, so keep tuned!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.
kind regards,