Why did you start sailing?

[GordMay]

To get to the other side ...

[Sandero]

Why? or How?

In 1984 my college roomie contacted me to inquire if I wanted to help him with spring prep on his 31' sloop. I had never been on a sail boat and the only recreation boat I had been on was as a teen on the big power boat of a friend's parents for a weekend irrc.

Since I had a wood shop I had lots of tools and a car to drive him out to the boat yard. It was all new to me and it was Spring and and something to do with an old friend on the weekend.

So we scraped and polished and varnished and so forth for a few weekends and then he invited me to come with him to sail the boat about 100 miles to its summer mooring.

The day of the launch I showed up and off we went. It was all very mysterious and thrilling and I didn't understand the jargon he used nor how he got the thing to sail except down wind. It was early Spring and we had beautiful weather and the whole experience was magical... and I had no idea of how he knew where we were. (don't recall if he had Loran, but I think he did).

We spent a nite or two aboard and that was also delightful and I loved how compact, robust and well designed everything was on his Dutch built sloop. I was quite curious now to learn about the whole sailing "thing" which was a blank spot in my own consciousness.

Upon returning to the real world, I headed off to buy books about sailing and cruising and so forth and devoured them each night. I loved all the jargon, and the techniques for "doing things" aboard and decided I had to begin to learn this stuff.

He had me out later in the summer. We had some very brisk SW winds and I was a bit frightened to be going on deck to do a sail change and getting to the boat in the small dinghy and big waves was a challenge! But I loved it all.

In late Fall he called and asked me if I wanted to go into a partnership on a big boat with him. It was 48' and made by the same company as his. More than he could afford and so he wanted a partner. We drove up to see the boat on the hard. WOW what a magnificent yacht! and huge inside and on deck. This was a real offshore world cruisier. He said he would teach me everything and I could convert (with my woodwork skills) the two fore peak cabins into a second owner's cabin. I agreed with some trepidation as to his homemaking skills as I had known him as a lazy roommate in college.

I then launched into a full court press with my reading and in the Spring I took the Colgate Learn to Sail course as the negotiations were proceeding. Then when I was all psyched up with my certificate his GF nixed the idea of sharing a boat.

I was crushed and depressed, buit determined to have a boat now. So I went shopping with a broker for used boats in the low to mid 30s... something I thought I might handle alone.

I didn't know enough about boats then (does one ever?) and I decided to go back to the original broker and see if he had a smaller boat of the same make (Contest). I loved their interiors. He did! I saw the 36 which I decided to purchase (after a survey) despite it being new.

In Aug 1985 I took possession of the boat I still own today having been on 2 weekend cruises and one 3 day learn to sail course. Needless to say I was petrified of getting into deep trouble when I took her from the dock. So I got the old roommate to assist me (I asisted him) in moving the boat out to a summer mooring... where he had his. The rest of the summer I would learn how to sail my boat and he came with me several times.

Now 22 years on I have sailed 10s of thousands of miles on that boat... single handed her to and from the Caribbean, lived on her in the Caribe and LIS, and fitted her and refitted her gear. Hardly anything now is OEM except the mast, the engine and the anchor (though I have added several) having been replaced and upgraded and so forth.

Why? Sailing is the best teacher of life, the best way to escape the hum drum, the best way to be independent and free and self sufficient. What's not to like?

[Joli]

I was too young to drink?

[chad.lawie]

Girlfriend and I needed a place to... hang out.
here we are... a few years later and a thousand of miles from home!

[Pelagic]

I think it was my aversion to traffic signals and stop lights that made me first take up sailing. Somehow, I knew there was a better way to travel through life.

[pogo]

Originally Posted by defjef

Why? or How?

In 1984 my college roomie contacted me to inquire if I wanted to help him with spring prep on his 31' sloop. I had never been on a sail boat and the only recreation boat I had been on was as a teen on the big power boat of a friend's parents for a weekend irrc.

Since I had a wood shop I had lots of tools and a car to drive him out to the boat yard. It was all new to me and it was Spring and and something to do with an old friend on the weekend.

So we scraped and polished and varnished and so forth for a few weekends and then he invited me to come with him to sail the boat about 100 miles to its summer mooring.

The day of the launch I showed up and off we went. It was all very mysterious and thrilling and I didn't understand the jargon he used nor how he got the thing to sail except down wind. It was early Spring and we had beautiful weather and the whole experience was magical... and I had no idea of how he knew where we were. (don't recall if he had Loran, but I think he did).

We spent a nite or two aboard and that was also delightful and I loved how compact, robust and well designed everything was on his Dutch built sloop. I was quite curious now to learn about the whole sailing "thing" which was a blank spot in my own consciousness.

Upon returning to the real world, I headed off to buy books about sailing and cruising and so forth and devoured them each night. I loved all the jargon, and the techniques for "doing things" aboard and decided I had to begin to learn this stuff.

He had me out later in the summer. We had some very brisk SW winds and I was a bit frightened to be going on deck to do a sail change and getting to the boat in the small dinghy and big waves was a challenge! But I loved it all.

In late Fall he called and asked me if I wanted to go into a partnership on a big boat with him. It was 48' and made by the same company as his. More than he could afford and so he wanted a partner. We drove up to see the boat on the hard. WOW what a magnificent yacht! and huge inside and on deck. This was a real offshore world cruisier. He said he would teach me everything and I could convert (with my woodwork skills) the two fore peak cabins into a second owner's cabin. I agreed with some trepidation as to his homemaking skills as I had known him as a lazy roommate in college.

I then launched into a full court press with my reading and in the Spring I took the Colgate Learn to Sail course as the negotiations were proceeding. Then when I was all psyched up with my certificate his GF nixed the idea of sharing a boat.

I was crushed and depressed, buit determined to have a boat now. So I went shopping with a broker for used boats in the low to mid 30s... something I thought I might handle alone.

I didn't know enough about boats then (does one ever?) and I decided to go back to the original broker and see if he had a smaller boat of the same make (Contest). I loved their interiors. He did! I saw the 36 which I decided to purchase (after a survey) despite it being new.

In Aug 1985 I took possession of the boat I still own today having been on 2 weekend cruises and one 3 day learn to sail course. Needless to say I was petrified of getting into deep trouble when I took her from the dock. So I got the old roommate to assist me (I asisted him) in moving the boat out to a summer mooring... where he had his. The rest of the summer I would learn how to sail my boat and he came with me several times.

Now 22 years on I have sailed 10s of thousands of miles on that boat... single handed her to and from the Caribbean, lived on her in the Caribe and LIS, and fitted her and refitted her gear. Hardly anything now is OEM except the mast, the engine and the anchor (though I have added several) having been replaced and upgraded and so forth.

Why? Sailing is the best teacher of life, the best way to escape the hum drum, the best way to be independent and free and self sufficient. What's not to like?

Your posting is almost a replicate of a friend of mine, who just bought his first boat! yeah...good post

pogo

[CharlieCobra]

I wet to a boat show in 1983 with my Ex ad fell in love with a boat. Five kids, a divorce and 23 yrs later, a coworker told me he had a sailboat for a Grand. I bought it, figured out how to rig it and went sailing. This is the story of my first sail:

Finally, the day had arrived. The day to put the boat in the water and make sail. After co-opting my eldest daughter and her husband as the unwitting crew, we set out to rig and launch the beast, a case of the blind leading the blind. After getting her in the water and managing not to hit that big rock by the boat ramp, we motor out about 100 yards and make sail. First the Jib, then the main as we catch wind and begin to move. We start off downwind running wing and wing SAILING! Hmm, there's an inch or so of water there in the cabin sole, ok, no worries. We run down the lake a bit feeling splendid when we notice that one of the cabin footwells is now full. Ok, now to beat back to windward. We come about on a starboard tack and find that every time we try to run close hauled she falls off the wind, not much help from the tiller. Ok, the motor being down must be canceling the rudder so we lift it. Bang! The motor drops back in and refuses to stay up so we're now steering with both the motor and the rudder. Back and forth we go trying to work our way to windward but everytime we get headway and attempt to close haul, the wind drops and she falls off. We're heeling somewhat and remember the keel, only to find it's rusted in place. After tacking back and forth and going in circles for an hour or so, I'm noticing that water is bubbling up through the keel cable hole and both footwells are now full. Ok, time to motor back but the motor isn't cooperating now. Three minutes of furious cranking later, I decide to prime it. Vroom! We're off and running. A fast skiboat goes tearing by and I crack the throttle open only to have the water in the boat rush back and bury the motor. Hmm, a couple of yanks and we're off once more with a bit less throttle and the crew perch on the forepeak for balance. We get back to the ramp and the Son in law, misjudging the depth, hops off with a bowline and disappears. He pops up momentarily and we enjoy a laugh at his expense. When we get the bowline hooked and winch her onto the trailer I notice the bowhook comes in under the winch, how strange. In a hurry to get the boat out, I pull forward. The wildly waving arms of my daughter stop me. I get out only to find that the tires are almost flat from the weight and that the tiller, which I forgot to pull in the rush, has dragged and twisted forward into the transom. Matter of fact, the back trailer frame is dragging, Good Lord! So we pull the newly discovered drain plug and notice another stream of water UNDER the boat. Upon checking this out we find a nice 2" hole in the hull that had been hiding behind the rub rails of the trailer. Eventually, enough water drained out that we could re float her and get her all the way on the trailer as well as pull off the now shattered tiller/rudder. Lessons learned? Use a check list. Take rain gear and warm clothes, we were all in tees and shorts when that cold rain just popped up. Sailing's a BLAST, even when it's not. So now we work on the boat so we can get back out there as soon as possible.

Since then, I've sailed that little boat i all kinds of weather and in the Sound. Now I have the big boat and am sailing my butt off.

[dcstrng]

<what prompted all of you sailors to start sailing…>

Growing up in landlocked North Dakota, the school library in the early 60s first provided the stimulus for my interest in boating generally, and sailing in particular… To this day I can tell you right where the copy of Slocum’s book was kept in the low-circulation shelves behind the librarian – I ready it several times, and thumbed the pages even more…

Three boyhood interests of mine still persist; sailing, motorcycles and auto-racing… except for an abortive summer in jalopy racing and occasional crewing, I’m never been more than an passionate spectator with auto racing, but motorcycles and boats have stuck with me and repeatedly drained away my financial reserves – much to the consternation of a spouse or two along the way.

Once I had access to real salt water as a side benefit of being stationed at Ft Bragg, NC for many years beginning in 1971, I was head over heels into boating… Although I started with power boats I continued to pour over the adventures of the sailing legends – all the while I was trying to keep my little Pacemaker sport-fisher running, I was deep into Moitessier, Blyth, Chichester and the other long-distance adventurers… For some reason the Hiscok and Roth cruising voyages didn’t connect with me and the Dashews seem far above my pay-grade, but the Pardy’s did connect and I was captivated by the adventures of Peter Tangvald, who seemed something of a kindred spirit – albeit a far more plucky and intrepid one than I am…

During the powerboat years I hitched as many rides on squadron sailboats as I could, and that only fanned the flames as I got physically familiar with all those sheets, hanks and stay thingies I’d only read about before… I remember those years well, and while I usually drew foredeck duty on bummed rides and hung around marinas absorbing as much as folks would share with me, my office walls were posted with the world charts from Ocean Passages, where I schemed and plotted what I was going to do and where I was going to go when I retired from the Army and escaped…

Some years before retirement I moved aboard a pleasant but corpulent ketch and continued to fantasize the coming date of casting all behind – ultimately I choked… The upkeep of too large a vessel, the nag of too many shore-bound priorities and the bogus allure of Yuppie living clouded my vision and ultimately I never got out of the Chesapeake Bay…

On a more modest scale I remain in sailing, now again enjoying it more than I ever did – vessel is more reality-sized, budget drain modest and the little rascal is tied up a short bicycle ride from the house… I’m probably just a bookish armchair sailor, and that may be all I ever amount to, but for now the Bay and the lower Potomac once again nurture my fantasies with modest adventures and who knows… the fact I’m dashing towards social-security-land doesn’t seem all that inhibiting in real time… old boats can be kept wonderfully shipshape for years, why not sailors…

[spencer53]

Went to a vacation spot in San Diego with my parents and sister when I was quite young. They had 14 ft Capri's that you could rent and sail around the bay. I had already become involved in flying and the principles were all the same. I fell in love with it. This cool bar and grill was onshore overlooking the dock and I watched a couple in what I thought was a HUGE powerboat. It was probably 30 ft long. Anyway, they pulled up to the dock that night in the dark. Nav lights glowing, wearing their foulies, they tied up and shut down under my watchful eye. They went down below and came back out on deck a bit later in nice dress clothes. They walked up and ate dinner a couple tables over. Right then I knew I had to be that guy pulling up at that dock. I think I was maybe 13 or 14 yrs old. Kept that dream in my heart until I was able to buy my first sailboat. A Catalina 30 Tall Rig. Sailed the crap outta that boat for years. Sold it and my house to trade up to the 53 footer I have now. Now, it's my home full time and I have never looked back. Only problem is I can't go back to that dock at the bar and grill. Come to find there is a roadway overpass in the channel that my mast would not come close to clearing. Oh well. Maybe I'll pull up in the dinghy eventually.

[psteele235]

Grandad grew up on the River Clyde in Scotland sailing and eventually sailed in the Olympics in Kiel (8 Metre class) and Helsinki (Titia - 6 Metre class) so my Dad and his brothers grew up sailing and passed it on down.

My brother decided he liked horses better (weird!) and sister only likes OP's boats with someone to hand her a G&T!

[sundown]

Fished for a living for 30 years: I just couldn't imagine a future without a boat of some type. It was my observation that 'blow boaters' seemed to be having the most fun.
The fact that sailboats slip through the water with the least expense is more than a wee bit attractive as is the security of having two independent sources of propulsion.

Now my commercial fishing buddies accuse me of joining 'the dark side'. In my defense I have not taken up sport fishing!

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by GordMay

To get to the other side ...

Yep,

I wanted to get to the other side and there was a pram. My dad said to go ahead. I hopped aboard and taught myself. My dad had walked away.

[mjt]

I grew to love the sea on picnics on the coastline around Ingham in North Queensland when very young.

At the age of four (1964) I had quite a free range and wandered the sugar loading terminal, beach and old jetty at Lucinda Point while we lived there temporarily. In that dreamlike few months at Lucinda mum and dad took me aboard Japanese sugar ships and a visiting naval vessel, where I was shown how to run down a ladder facing outwards and I saw my first radar screen.

Later on a farm near Ingham, when the Herbert River flooded, we were taken cross-river in a tinnie to the school bus.

At eight, we were in Cairns on holiday and dad took me for a ride on a paddle-o. That got my imagination going. Then I saw on TV the "Adventures of the Sea Spray" - a show about a family cruising the south Pacific.

For years after that we lived in inland Queensland and I made do with occasional runs on truck tube rafts and my friend's corrugated iron canoe on the Warrego River. A friend and I won the Cunnamulla-Eulo Festival of Opals Raft Race in about 1971. We got two dollars and a kiss from the Opal Queen.

On a geological field trip at the age of eighteen I had my first taste of sailing - a hire cat on Magnetic Island. Total joy, but by then I was into skydiving which was even more addictive. Then marriages, kids, suburbia, careers...

In late 2006, my partner and I bought a Cal 14 trailer sailer and covered the southern end of Moreton Bay, bits of the Noosa, Logan and Brisbane Rivers and Lake Cootharaba for a year. We loved it.

Now we are refurbishing an old Samson C-Shell 37' ketch which we sail occasionally into the Bay and Brisbane River - a huge learning curve for white-collar workers. We are gradually shedding belongings, past dreams and illusions as we prepare ourselves mentally, physically and financially for the possibility of longer term cruising or even liveaboard - or just sailing around the bay on weekends. Who knows.

[NW Craig]

Grew up in Houston, spent a lot of time on Galveston. My dad's idea of the perfect boat got you there in a hurry.

30+ years ago, went out off South Padre with a college buddy and I'll never forget the day. I still remember motoring out of the marina into the bay, hoisting the sail and then killing the engine. The quiteness and smoothness hooked me immediately.

Regretfully my boat now has no sail (19' Campion), but fortunately have friends! Been all over the San Juans, up the west coast of VanCouver Island, and a few times in the Caribbean.

A few more years to work but have started looking for the live aboard for retirement.

Great thread!

[Elizabeth]

This is a wonderful thread with some great stories - keep 'em coming!