Hello all, first post, long time lurker.
Quick background: I grew up
racing Catalina 25's and a
Capri 15 in the
PNW in the 80's and 90's. Mostly in the
Columbia river with excursions to surrounding lakes and the
San Juan Islands. Now a couple decades later I'm ready to get back into it and eventually get a
boat of my own. However... I remember enough to at least know that
boats come in all different kinds and are suited for different things with various pros and cons. So before I buy something, I want to crew on a bunch of different
boats for a couple of years to get my skills up and hopefully be able to make a good first
purchase. I'm going to be looking to move in a few months and need to figure out a good location, which is what I come to you for
advice on. Here's what I want to do:
- Participate in club
racing, preferably at least on a weekly basis
- Be able to experience a few different locations within a day or two drive
- Have access to sailing communities who are open to taking on crew members and where there will a variety of boats
- Setup roots in an area with an active sailing community with lots of cruising options, from
East Coast to
Bahamas and
Carribean
I'm not interested in doing the
PNW again, been there done that. Here's some locations I was looking at:
1.
Chesapeake Bay area
2. Tampa Bay FL
3.
Fort Myers FL
4.
Jacksonville FL
Any thoughts on those places? Any obvious choices I missed? I didn't include
Miami because I think it would just be too big for me. Any
advice would be appreciated. thanks