Another 'Bluewater Boat' Poll to Really Tee You Off!!

[Mauruuru]

Sailed smaller, older boats for many years. First Catalina 22 on lakes.....too much work for too little sailing then moved up to Lake Erie and permanent Berth.....too little boat for what turned out to be an inland sea not a lake. Next on an old but well found Oday 30 on Lake Erie where the drama of pop up thunderstorms and big short period waves quickly became manageable. Next to Coastal sailing in New Jersey on a 32 ft Seaward with shoal draft in preparation for retirement and a move to warmer climes. Sailed that boat to Caribbean and back. Worst passages of my life in the Windward Passage but the boat did its job and got me there and back to Fl with only a few inconveniences on nightime passages in high longer period waves.
Any boat that is sound can be navigated safely but it takes planning, preparation, and grit sometimes. But what great stories........

[Aeronaught]

I got drafted into the Army in the 60's, got out after the two years and didn't want to be around if they wanted me again. Learned to sail on San Francisco Bay, did that by buying a 25' cabin sloop from a draft dodger who moved to Canada and a copy of Royce's Sailing Illustrated. Got the boat out of the slip ok, no engine though....so learned about that 'Tacking' thing right off....gotta do that a good bit, now and then. Learned my boat should not actually be taken out of the Bay, bought a 28' boat and being as how it had a head with a door, (Necessary if one wants a girlfriend, apparently) an icebox and all, I moved aboard. I was working for the fire department so only had a few days off every week, it worked fine....and I continued to 'learn how to sail'. No engine on that boat either....or to be more accurate, it never worked, just like the last one. Boat was a good upgrade but not ocean ready....BUT, the boatyard I drove past every day had a Herreshoff Marco Polo under construction and I got to know the builder. He introduced me to a fella who was just starting a build and offered to let me copy his lofting and make a set of 'stations' for building the 55' schooner. I bought a large pile of 3/4" plywood and copied his lines, the stack of wood being a couch at a crash pad in Redwood City, south SF bay for the next 6 months. A distant relative passed and willed me a thousand bucks....so I got started building in a friend's backyard. 5 years later, my wife and I left on our first passage to Hawaii....after that, Alaska, Hawaii, the Marquesas', Tahiti and back to Alaska. We lived aboard for 12 years, traveled maybe 50K miles....and moved ashore. I'm 76 now, retired from running a hot air balloon scenic flight business in Oregon....Building and sailing Valkyrie was the high point of my life and the place I learned the things that brought much good to me over the years. Would that I'd been able to figure out a way to 'not be broke' all the time, I'd be aboard still. -Veteran '66-68

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Aeronaught

I got drafted into the Army in the 60's, got out after the two years and didn't want to be around if they wanted me again. Learned to sail on San Francisco Bay, did that by buying a 25' cabin sloop from a draft dodger who moved to Canada and a copy of Royce's Sailing Illustrated. Got the boat out of the slip ok, no engine though....so learned about that 'Tacking' thing right off....gotta do that a good bit, now and then. Learned my boat should not actually be taken out of the Bay, bought a 28' boat and being as how it had a head with a door, (Necessary if one wants a girlfriend, apparently) an icebox and all, I moved aboard. I was working for the fire department so only had a few days off every week, it worked fine....and I continued to 'learn how to sail'. No engine on that boat either....or to be more accurate, it never worked, just like the last one. Boat was a good upgrade but not ocean ready....BUT, the boatyard I drove past every day had a Herreshoff Marco Polo under construction and I got to know the builder. He introduced me to a fella who was just starting a build and offered to let me copy his lofting and make a set of 'stations' for building the 55' schooner. I bought a large pile of 3/4" plywood and copied his lines, the stack of wood being a couch at a crash pad in Redwood City, south SF bay for the next 6 months. A distant relative passed and willed me a thousand bucks....so I got started building in a friend's backyard. 5 years later, my wife and I left on our first passage to Hawaii....after that, Alaska, Hawaii, the Marquesas', Tahiti and back to Alaska. We lived aboard for 12 years, traveled maybe 50K miles....and moved ashore. I'm 76 now, retired from running a hot air balloon scenic flight business in Oregon....Building and sailing Valkyrie was the high point of my life and the place I learned the things that brought much good to me over the years. Would that I'd been able to figure out a way to 'not be broke' all the time, I'd be aboard still. -Veteran '66-68

Anyone wondering why I post my silly polls, it's to read stories like this one.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

Anyone wondering why I post my silly polls, it's to read stories like this one.

Quite a story!

[Hasbeen]

Ex fleet air arm pilot, so I understood the aerodynamics of sails, but the smallest "boat" I'd been to sea on was an aircraft carrier.


Got divorced, & came out of it with my Brabham F2 racing car my clothes & business. After a month sleeping in my lunch room, I decided to buy a boat to live on, & learn to sail.


Found a beautiful 36Ft clipper bow yacht, with a long bow spit, & a big counter stern. Bought a couple of books, & started to learn to sail. Set my first spinnaker with the tiller in one hand, the book in another, & sheets in my toes.



We weren't the slowest combination on Sydney harbor, I know as I once passed another boat. However she was a brute, with lots of weather helm, & bad broaching tendencies in a following sea.


Sold her & bought a top harbor racer. What a joy to sail, but with just a grog locker & a couple of bunks, not a great home. The motor was not fitted, but that didn't stop me, 3 days later I sailed a hundred miles up the coast for a holiday, then back, with a new lady.


Spent 2 years fitting her out, & racing on Saturdays, then sold up everything & headed off for the Great Barrier Reef, 1500 miles north. After a few months the lady & I decided we had no reason to go back to the work a day world, organised some visas & headed out into the Pacific.


Six years & 45,000 miles later I came back alone. A cyclone that caught us in the Solomon Sea knocked any interest in boats & sailing out of her unfortunately. I'd had enough too. After 900 beautiful little anchorages at beautiful islands, number 901 doesn't do much for me any more.



It took another 10 years for me to be prepared to part with her, she remained my home, while I ran tourist boats in the Barrier Reef waters, but now I'm a land lubber, & at 81 am unlikely to go to sea again.


My advice, just do it, it's not that hard, & I would never forgive my self if I had not gone when I did.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Hasbeen

Ex fleet air arm pilot, so I understood the aerodynamics of sails, but the smallest "boat" I'd been to sea on was an aircraft carrier.


Got divorced, & came out of it with my Brabham F2 racing car my clothes & business. After a month sleeping in my lunch room, I decided to buy a boat to live on, & learn to sail.


Found a beautiful 36Ft clipper bow yacht, with a long bow spit, & a big counter stern. Bought a couple of books, & started to learn to sail. Set my first spinnaker with the tiller in one hand, the book in another, & sheets in my toes.



We weren't the slowest combination on Sydney harbor, I know as I once passed another boat. However she was a brute, with lots of weather helm, & bad broaching tendencies in a following sea.


Sold her & bought a top harbor racer. What a joy to sail, but with just a grog locker & a couple of bunks, not a great home. The motor was not fitted, but that didn't stop me, 3 days later I sailed a hundred miles up the coast for a holiday, then back, with a new lady.


Spent 2 years fitting her out, & racing on Saturdays, then sold up everything & headed off for the Great Barrier Reef, 1500 miles north. After a few months the lady & I decided we had no reason to go back to the work a day world, organised some visas & headed out into the Pacific.


Six years & 45,000 miles later I came back alone. A cyclone that caught us in the Solomon Sea knocked any interest in boats & sailing out of her unfortunately. I'd had enough too. After 900 beautiful little anchorages at beautiful islands, number 901 doesn't do much for me any more.



It took another 10 years for me to be prepared to part with her, she remained my home, while I ran tourist boats in the Barrier Reef waters, but now I'm a land lubber, & at 81 am unlikely to go to sea again.


My advice, just do it, it's not that hard, & I would never forgive my self if I had not gone when I did.

Great story. Glad you got out there and did it!