Dry Feet In North Georgia

[edselby]

Hi folks - I have virtually zero sailing experience, other than few minutes on a Hobie Cat on a lake and half day charter during a Virgin Islands vacation.

I have set a personal goal - lose 100 pounds (I'm a bit on the overweight side) and head back to the Caribbean for a week long live aboard to learn how to sail. After that (according to the dream chart), I hope to be able to buy a boat for my wife and me to enjoy in our older years. Maybe even retire to that boat and spend the rest of our lives sailing or not as we see fit (really hoping to get this boat thing going on so we can be in the first wave of sailors in Cuba).

I have a long list of questions and concerns and curiosity. Please feel free to point me appropriate threads for newbies, and I'll keep reading!

And if you are lake bound in North Georgia, and don't mind taking a stranger out for a spin around the lake, please let me know.

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum...may all your dreams be realized. The oak tree is at first an acorn.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, edselby.

[jwing]

If you were in North Alabama, I'd recommend that you contact one of the three sailing clubs in the area. The one that I belong to holds sailing classes. If you take the class, you get a free membership for a year and you get to use the club's Sunfish for free as long as you are a member. And if you are not terribly shy, you will probably be invited to go out on some of the boats that are based in the marina.

I imagine that there are sailing clubs in Georgia and the Chattanooga area that are similar. This is a good time of year for sailing in these parts. I recommend you get busy; don't wait until the wished-for Caribbean trip.

[In Training]

Hello Edselby


We just did the week on a sailboat (monohull) and got certified 101, 103 and 104. I had no experience sailing either. Hope to get on a catamaran before the summer is out to see what to expect there. Only complaint, heads are awful small! Husband started leaning toward the condo -- until he found most of them do not allow pets - so hope the catamaran is more to his liking. I have lost 30 lbs. and have 40 to go, so know the feeling. Nobody wants to retire and have health issues. Joined crossfit gym and getting stronger also. We like to dive and fish so figure the boat will allow us to do that more frequently than if we were stuck in one place with a condo. Keep the options open and research everything. One thing you can't get a feel for when you just take a class -- is, what is it like socially to be sailing from place to place. If you stop in one place for two or three weeks, do you get to know other boaters. You don't experience that on the school boat.

[Meshell]

Hi Edselby
My husband and I are in N.Georgia as well. Here is a link to a Sailing Club at Lake Lanier. Dan, the owner is very good guy. He has a lot of members that are learning to sail www.sunrisesailingclub.com
Follow your dreams!

[edselby]

I've amended the Dream Chart a bit based on watching YouTube videos of others who have started their sailing dreams (current watching an adorable German girl's trials and tribulations)

The current version of the dream is to buy a dinghy or day sailor and use nearby Lake Lanier to learn the basics of sailing and sailboat upkeep. The weight loss and week-long live aboard learning are still on the Dream Chart, but there's no reason to put off getting my feet wet.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy and Welcome Aboard the Forum!

Self improvement (e.g. weight loss) is a good goal, and sailing can be an aid or reward to that goal too.

For one thing, sailing burns calories. If you become an active sailor, you will find you are using muscles (and burning calories) every time you go sailing. The smaller boats such as "dinghy class" boats will have you using muscles you may have forgotten you have, and can be like doing crunches (ab exercises) as you will need to move from side to side of a boat, duck the boom, and lean out to balance the boat. Small boats also don't usually have any winches, so the sailor will use more muscles to pull the sheets (the ropes) to trim (adjust) the sails. Sailing small boats (dinghys are generally about 15 feet or less in length) can be a lot of fun, even on a lake. As the boats get bigger, the activity tends to change.

On larger boats, the crew will usually need to use winches when the sailing requires tacking (changing the angle of the boat to the wind). On some boats that do a lot of tacking, the crew person who is on the winch will get a good upper body workout as they "grind" or winch in the sheets (the lines or ropes that manipulate the sails). It can be very active and good exercise.

Good luck on your sailing adventures and have fun!

Steady