When did you decide to start sailing?

[cruisertwo]

Those were all great replies! New perspective for me!!

[LLCoolDave]

I have always wanted financial freedom and even freedom from the status quo. I never thought about sailing until I saw Maiden Trip on Netflix. Soon after that my local yacht club posted an event at meetup.com for an intro class. That was all it took. I was the only one in the class that had never sailed before. It showed. lol. I figure I need to sail on any boat I can for a year then I can buy my own small boat and set sail.

[jreiter190]

As soon as I could. When I got back from Vietnam in '65. Got a job as dock master in Marina del Rey. Although I had about 60,000 sea miles on an LST, I didn't know how to sail, so I studied Royce's Illustrated Manuel of Sailing and walked the docks on my lunch breaks.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Single handing a grandpa-dad extremely overbuilt Sabot at 5 ....

[bailsout]

Read Ernest K Gann's, Song of the Siren.

[sailstax]

I grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and started sailing prams (optimist class) when I was 5. Moved up to Flying Scott's at 10 and started crewing on keel boats. It has been my dream and passion ever since.

[Bobbyewe]

Originally Posted by cruisertwo

I'm curious about when people decided to start sailing with devotion. My buddy Dan Howitt said it doesn't really become a part of your life until your in your late 20's or older.

I started sailing at ten, on a 'Sunfish.' After the first gust of wind moved me through the water, I knew I would sail the rest of my life. That was fifty-five years ago!

[Dave22q]

In my 30's I bought a lightning (18' sloop) to take my boys fishing and fell in love with sailing her. the kids, not so much.

[keepondancin]

Started at age 5, had my own boat at 6 or 7, an 8' pram, stopped for a couple years when motorcycles and girls were discovered, sailing ever since. My late wife would cry everytime we left the boat some where to return to work for a bit of money. Still sailing at 67, so, unfortunately, means over 60 years. Where did the time go?

[Bulawayo]

Had my first hull, deck and bulkheads at 18 years old, fitted out and on the water at 20 years of age.

Originally Posted by cruisertwo

I'm curious about when people decided to start sailing with devotion. My buddy Dan Howitt said it doesn't really become a part of your life until your in your late 20's or older.

[neophytecruiser]

My Dad built his boat when I was still in grade school. Since he was still working, after some research, he opted for building a power boat over a sailboat. Passed my first USCGA class on small boat handling and seamanship in 1958. Spent my years growing up on that boat, fishing, family vacations, cruising. Several dock neighbors had kids, some with sailboats, so I had my first experience sailing solo as a pre-teen. It wasn't until I left home for college that I got involved exclusively in sailing. First in a city rec program, then with coworkers either chartering or crewing on their boats. Spent the next 25 years racing in one designs, MORC boats, IOR boats and, subsequently, IMS boats. Had the very good fortune to sail with others who were far more accomplished and experienced than me (including some world class and olympic champions). Finally purchased my own boat in 2006. Spent almost two years outfitting it and getting to know it before my wife and I spent the next seven years cruising the west coast of Mexico and the Sea of Cortez. Still learning new skills and trying to hone the old ones, too.

[Striker37]

I started at age 7.My dad won a Styrofoam Kool sailboat in a cigarette contest.I sailed it for years in lakes and the ocean till one day i broke it in half surfing waves in hawaii.At age 17 i started windsurfing when they first came out so i am one of the pioneers of the 1970's.When i moved back to the mainland my dad bought a 27 foot tartan that came with storm sails.Had a blast with it in the Chesapeake bay before big storms with high winds and hurricanes coming.I still windsurf but also own a 37 foot striker sportfish.

[damir s]

By profession I am a computer engineer in 1972, marine electronics engineer, was a professional sailor, a technical manager in Nigeria, now self-employed in renovation projects.

I was 28 when I got married and had enough money to buy a yacht but is not delivered so we gave up. We are always falling out another priority so that we think about it. Now 60 I decided to go to early retirement and to us is our daughter ignores us, we decided to invest in our dream and start to sail. It's never too late to enjoy.

[Hudson Force]

I grew up in Fort Lauderdale sailing prams at Pine Crest camp by the Las Olas Bridge and sailing offshore in High School. I made a plan to live aboard a sailboat and my wife and I have been cruising since 1971.

[Stardreamer]

Originally Posted by TacomaSailor

I'd never been on a sailboat until my 2nd year of graduate school when I was 24. My thesis advisors college aged son, whom I had never met, showed up at my apartment door one Sunday morning to ask me to crew for him in a sailboat race that afternoon. I loved an adventure and said 'sure' but had never even seen a sailboat from closer than 100-yards.

Three hours later I was in the water beside a capsized Melges C-scow, which in 1972 was about the fastest sailboat in the world. We had tried flying a spinnaker in a squall - probably not a good idea in a planning hull boat with only a skipper and one crewman who had never been on a sailboat in his life.

I was totally captivated by sailing from that moment forward and dedicated myself to becoming a skilled sailor and navigator. Within three years I was teaching dinghy racing, crewing on several big race boats, delivering boats all over the Pacific NW, and living on a Ranger 29 sailboat.

Before I left grad school I made a commitment to work hard, save every penny I could, and retire as early as possible to go sailing around the world on my own boat. I was fortunate to meet a young women who understood my dream and helped fulfill that dream. Our 2nd date was sailing an International 16 which I pitchpoled while on a screaming plane in a thunderstorm in the middle of a very large lake. She was trapped under the turtled boat with the mainsheet wrapped around her neck and chest.

She thought it hilarious and away we went on 41-years of marital bliss!

I retired at age 52 and the next year we left on a long term cruise in our relatively new cruiser. Sixteen years later we still live on the boat.

For any wanna-be sailors, Neil Barry's 'Chicken of the Sea' at Amazon is a must read!!
Enjoy!!