What got you into sailing

[CSY Man]

I flew airplanes around The Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico area some 32 years ago and thought it looked neat with all the anchored sailboats in almost every harbor and lagoon.
Then I found out people actually lived aboard many of these boats.
Started talking to a few and it seemed like a good idea.
A few weeks later we bought a 44' Bermuda Yawl, 12 sails, 7 bunks and a huge centerboard, a true Bermuda Racer.
Never sailed before, never owned a boat before.
Had a blast learning, but worked our arses off repairing and maintaining the boat as well as learning to sail it, quite a complicated machine.
Started with putting a small sail up, see what happens, then another sail, etc.
The boat sailed like a dream, but not the right "Beginner Boat" for sure.
High cost of maintenace, high workload and old, but at 29 years old, everything goes and everything is fun.

[Adelie]

Was renting a canoe at the Univerity of Washington the summer after senior year of high school. Also at the dock I saw the sailboats which struck me as easier than paddling and cheaper than motoring. When I asked about renting one was told they weren't for rent, they were part of a student/alumni/staff club. I was already coming to the decision that I wanted to go to school there next. Since I had a student number the perpetually cash strapped club was happy to take my money even though I was not actually a student yet.


A house is but a boat so poorly built and so firmly run aground you would never try to refloat it.

[Our Tyme]

1979 Chief Engineer just bought a Pearson 323. Ship got transferred to Charleston SC from Norfolk. I was QM2 (no GPS or SAT back then), A BM2 was tasked and off the 3 of us went. ICW to Morehead City for Ben and I to learn sailing, and open ocean the rest of the way. Great time. Miller pony bottles was the refreshment of choice as I recall.
Messed around with little sailboats here and there. Then while working the BP oil spill I had the opportunity to go out with a co-worker from the area and got the bug for sure. That was Pensacola bay. Now have 27' Tanzer, looking to get funding right for 37' or so to retire in around the Caribbean with the Admiral. Thanks, Lt.

Ken

[Our Tyme]

And flying has gotten too expensive

Ken

[sailm8]

Best friend got a Sunfish for Xmas. The next day we were pushing ice flows out of the way on the Missouri river learning to sail. 17 and invincible. Hooked for life.

[T_Cat]

In my late teens and early 20's my roommate had a windsurfer and his mother had a 25' sailboat. We used to hang out at the local lake and flirt with the girls between sailing his windsurfer. Later his dad retired early and sailed the gulf of Mexico. I remember listening to his stories when he returned before every hurricane season.
It took me 20 years of motor boating to realize I really wanted a sailboat. So I bought one at 45 years old and I'm having a great time....

[letoile]

Making sail boats as a kid out of Hard Stem Bullrushes and then wood with plastic bag sails and a flat rock keels. We had a cottage but my parents weren't water people, so my first actual sailboat was a canoe I converted with an empty electric wire spool for a mast step with a White Ash sapling for a cat rigged mast , no boom and a sheet of plastic for a sail... not much upwind potential but hours of good fun. 4 real sailboats later and still loving the combination of peace and white knuckle exhilaration and having to work with nature to accomplish a goal. It is the only place that I really am the the Captain I answer to the Admiral in most other situations

[Jhhastie]

When I was 15, 57 years ago, my next door neighbor was repairing a wooden Star class boat. Asked me if I wanted to help. After we finished, he took me sailing on Lake Michigan. Loved it, especially how fast you could get out of the city. I was an avid boater after meeting my neighbor across the street who owned Henry Grebe yachts. He sailed a catboat.

[Lake-Effect]

I always loved boats and the water as a child, and had the opportunity to learn to sail on Albacores in highschool. As a young single adult I took up windsurfing, and about 9 years ago my wife and I bought a small sailboat.

It's just the best way to enjoy the warm months around here, I believe.

[redhead]

1981. Puerto Rico. One of those corporate "feel good" weekends. They chartered a sailboat "SV Spread Eagle" (hmmm) to take us to a small offshore island. The moment the engine went off and I heard the silence and felt the acceleration of a good boat in the hands of a good captain I was hooked. I can still see and smell and feel that day today.

[notiesbob]

Blame it on my parents. When I was 11 my father had to pick me up at local police station (he took his time). "That's it, you're going to camp". Little did they know that day one was waterfront activities - swimming, life saving, row boats, canoes, dinghies. My father taught us all to how to swim at an early age - "walk in deeper, put your face in the water, work on that swimming action", although he couldn't swim. My parents biggest exposure to the ocean was the tramp freighter from Cape Town to Three Rivers, Quebec. It's not genetic, it's environmental.

[Hudson Force]

Summer camp sailing in 1956 at the west end of the old Las Olas Bridge in Ft. Lauderdale.

[topmast]

while my dad bought a cow (1951) the farmers wife sat me down with a box of old National Geographics .Was introduced to the voyages of the Yankee around the world. Started dreaming and reading. Never stopped. Met Irving Johnson in the Med while on walkabout. Crewed a lot. Found a Spray hull under a fruit tree. Finished the build, and lived aboard for 40 years. Made a good living messing with boats.

[cpt_757]

Summer camp, when I was 10, hooked!!

[iyamwhatiyam]

My dad had to buy a new car every six months, I guess to impress people. When I was seven he bought an outboard runabout and naturally I was thrilled. Mom, however, would see the sailboats flying their spinnakers and curse "the car for the water". After she got up the nerve to divorce him, she bought a Lido 14 and INSISTED I put my surfboard down for a moment and learn to sail it. And made damn sure I got it out on a regular basis, bless her.