Houston newbie

[cajunrph]

Greetings all.

I’m a green wet behind the ears newbie to the world of sailing. So green that I haven’t even sailed before. Although I have owned many personal fishing boats. I’ve been looking into some type of training. There’s many ASA schools down in the Kemah/Clear Lake/Seabrook area to choose from. The course is over the weekend and a few of them offer you a free day renal and private lesson after successful completion of the class. I could go the private lesson route. I’m not sure the cost on that or if the ASA cert means anything. Any suggestions on the best schools or alternate ways of getting training. My schedule is fairly tight and I don’t have the time to mill around the marina in the hopes of snagging a ride. And I'm an hour away from Kemah so driving up for a chance of being rail meat isn't something I'd want to do. I realize once I get my foot in the door it may he different. Besides I’d still at least like to get the basic 101 course or other basic training done. I plan on bringing my 14 year old son to learn also. Anyone have experiences ripping a teenage off his XBox and expecting him to learn how sail over the weekend.?


My thoughts are to get some type of training and start with some small boat. Around 25 foot. One that I could take the family out on and maybe overnight in the bay. One to learn the basics and hone my skills on and to figure out if I want to do this or not. I’ve found a few boats on Craigslist that seem good. They are S2’s. 23 foot. One comes with use of the slip for 6 months and some sailing lessons. The other is much cheaper but just the boat. Neither come with a trailer. I live in Lake Jackson. It would be a weekend type of activity for me. I did see the small Sailfish type boats and they seem like fun, but I can learn the physics of the boat just as well on a full size boat as I can on a small one. Besides the cost of the small boats is a pretty good chunk of the larger boats. I've searched but I have not found Houston Specific information on training. Thanks in advance.

[ClassicalBGP]

Take anything I say with a grain of salt since I am still wet behind the ears as well.

You, I and I believe a lot of other people come upon the same situation. Take classes or just go for it? There are quite a few threads on this site about the same question. I took ASA 101 with the family and then bought a 25' boat on a trailer. I have come to learn, making the boat move is not that hard, and we learn someting new each time out. But, ASA 101 gave use the foundation and the confidance to "go". I also believe that more classes would not hurt.

I was able to pull my two sons away from the xbox, at the time 14yo and 18 yo) to take ASA 101. They both did very well and I trust them with my boat as much or more than I trust my self. While my 14yo (now 16yo) can handle the boat, sails, docking etc... he still perfers his xbox. I almost have to drag him away, but once there he clicks in and enjoys it.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Since you are in Texas, I highly recommend the following website if you want any of the following:

1. You want to learn how to sail in Houston area
2. You may want to take lessons in the Houston area
3. You may want to purchase a used small (<24') sailboat on which to learn
4. You have already bought a used smaller boat and are not sure how to rig it
5. You want to connect with local sailors with whom you may Crew
6. You want to read about local sailing conditions

Sailing Texas Site
Sailboats for sale from Sailing Texas, buy or sell your sailboat, free sailboat ads.

The sailing Texas site contains a lot of "local knowledge" and does include some ads for boats for sail. Many are smaller boats, trailer sailors, dinghy class boats, etc.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, cajunrph.

[LTDsailing]

Welcome to Cruisers Forum! If you would like to come down to the Caribbean and do some sail training with your family, let me know! Check out our website, I would be happy to help you with any questions you might have.

One good option would be to do your 101 locally to see if you like it and then come down for one of our seven or ten day live aboard courses.

Whenever looking for a sailing school, be sure to look for independent reviews. Here is a link to our TripAdvisor page: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...h_Grenada.html

Beam winds!

Beam winds,

Chris

[jmiller148]

I won't tell you what I think you should do, but I will tell you what I have done. Just over a couple of years ago I became very interested in the idea of sailing away. I did a LOT of reading and watching videos. I bought the ASA books for the courses, but did not take any courses. The wife and I bought a 27' Com-pac and learned to sail. As I told the wife when we were going to buy it... I am pretty sure we can sail it as I was confident with what I learned reading and watching videos. Will it be perfect? Maybe not but we can learn. We sailed out in Clear Lake with one sail at a time and then both sails. After a couple of weekends of this we made our way out to the Bay. After a year we sailed it via the gulf down to Matagorda. We have since made the trip again this year. I learned that I may not be cut out to do it full time in this period. When I retire I will either buy a slightly larger boat or put more money into this one. Who knows I may make it to the carribean, but I can take that trip or leave it. I enjoy sailing and enjoy our yearly trips. I have learned a lot and am still learning. We have logged about 1,500 miles of sailing in 2 years and this past year it was hard to get down to the boat a lot (2 hrs away).

Good luck and enjoy.

[cajunrph]

Thanks for all the replies. I plan on either taking the 101 course or at the very least get the book and study that and YouTube hard. I plan on taking it slow like Jmiller148, which was the way I got into motorcycling. I rode for almost 10 years only when there was no traffic. Now I can ride in Houston traffic without any issues. Now to find a smaller boat to learn on and tinker with. Thanks again for the help.

[SeaRags]

I’m from the Dallas area and took an ASA 101 class locally. But I then went down to the Kemah area and took the ASA 103, 104 combination course and am glad I did. Wish I would have taken all three down there. I used Bay Area Sailing school which I thought was excellent.