Florida girl looking for adventure

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

The Risk..?

What risk?, virginity in danger?
Grounding on a reef?
Sinking due to single male at the helm?

Don't listen to the above religous right-wing perverts, come and sail with me instead, safe and sound you will be sweet young thing, lets sail at night into the sunrise...

Send a picture first: bigdagus@yahoo.com

My point.........

[O2addict]

If you want to learn to sail join a local sailing club and start to race smaller boats. Taking a trip with a cruiser is the worst way to learn, as you will pick up all their bad habits, and not really understand the details of how to get the most out of the boat. The best cruising sailors are those that started off racing at a club level. I totally disagree with what Kanani says about not wanting club racers onboard, it is a great way to start, and will teach you the best practises as far as the theory of sailing. Once you have the theory tied down, learning knots, navigation etc. is the easy part. A sailor that started off racing will squeeze every 1/4 knot of speed out of a cruising boat, making passages shorter, without cranking up the iron genny!

Good luck, and hope the Gators win on Thursday!

[CSY Man]

Taking a trip with a cruiser is the worst way to learn, as you will pick up all their bad habits,

Not sure what planet these guys come from, but I don't want to sail there.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by O2addict

If you want to learn to sail join a local sailing club and start to race smaller boats. Taking a trip with a cruiser is the worst way to learn, as you will pick up all their bad habits, and not really understand the details of how to get the most out of the boat. The best cruising sailors are those that started off racing at a club level. I totally disagree with what Kanani says about not wanting club racers onboard, it is a great way to start, and will teach you the best practises as far as the theory of sailing. Once you have the theory tied down, learning knots, navigation etc. is the easy part. A sailor that started off racing will squeeze every 1/4 knot of speed out of a cruising boat, making passages shorter, without cranking up the iron genny!

Good luck, and hope the Gators win on Thursday!

HMMMMMMMM!!! I'm guessing......you've never taken crew on an open ocean passage......

I'm also guessing........you've never made an open ocean passage.......

[James S]

Originally Posted by Kanani

HMMMMMMMM!!! I'm guessing......you've never taken crew on an open ocean passage......

I'm also guessing........you've never made an open ocean passage.......

Actually our observation is the same as O2addict.
And we've done plenty of open ocean passages all though some time ago...it was the racers who crewed with us for various legs that really showed us the tricks to squeezing the extra go out of the rig.
And we showed them how to take a short shower.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by James S

to squeezing the extra go out of the rig.
.

Dats funny cos I grew up racing and I don't try for the extra 1/4 knot cruising!

When the leg is 3,000 miles taking the boat to its extreme for the sake of 1/4 knot isn't as important. Breaking a bit of kit 20 days from shore is.

But I do agree racing is a great way to know sailing.


Mark
PS Some of my "Cruisers bad habits" are more to do with evil smells.......

[James S]

It not a question of taking the boat to its extreme at all....its put-sing along at 4 kts for weeks on end....you've got plenty of time and energy to mess around to see if you can get another 1/4 kt.

If I’m doing 7-8kts in a big blow and moving like a freight train I’m already happy.

[ladydub]

Well I've definitely gotten some good ideas, just from browsing this forum. Thanks to all of you who are looking out for me to not put myself in danger. I have definitely thought about the possible risks involved with being stuck on a boat with a stranger, and therefore I will naturally be very cautious. I am going to start by reading a book on sailing, and I guess I will go from there.

[marty9876]

Getting on the water is the first step, after that it's all good.

Careful with the books, sometimes they can be a little overboard on the doom and gloom paranoid side of things. A quote I heard once went something like "if you want to scare yourself out of long distance sailing, read a few books" was the gist of it.

The cruising/racing thing is all semantics as far as I can tell, just get on the water!

ps CC me on the pic too.... now all I need is a boat and a really good explanation for the girlfriend! j/k

[bastonjock]

i dont know if it is available in the USA,but in the UK you can do sailing theory by way of a correspondance course.If you are not fussed about owning the certificate,you could perhaps borrow a copy of the US equivallent.

I only started sailing 20 months ago,i did a couple of dinghy courses,then the RYA day skipper thoery and then the practical,i now have an international certificate that allows me to hire a boat anywhere.

one thing that i think is important,when you go out with someone,aske them to explain things,for a start you have this nautical lexicon to deal with.i took a couple out last August and i expected them to be experienced crew,they were not,they had about 2000 miles of sailing under their belts but it was as passengers.Its important that you get taught when you go out,when your cruising along and the time is just drifting by,get a piece of rope and practice your knots etc,learn your knots to the point where you dont have to think on how to tie them.

I wish that one of my daughters were as enthusiastic as yourself,i can get one to come out with me on the odd occasion the rest of the time they are competing at equestrian events

good luck

[Kanani]

I'd like to share a email that I got today....sorta fits in this thread. It was from a young man that I taught to sail in NZ (while cruising) in 1995).

I don't think that he will mind that I left his name in there. I tweaked his & my email addresses a bit.

This is what cruising is ALL about my friends......

---------------------------------------
Carl from New Zealand...‏
From:<IMG id=P___1854993701 style="DISPLAY: none" webimdisplayStyle="inline"> Carl Clifford (oxtxaxnerd@gmail.com) You may not know this sender.Mark as safe|Mark as unsafeSent:Wed 1/07/09 11:59 AMTo: axexyxaxnx@hotmail.com
Hi Wayne,
My memory of my time on Kanani is still clear and I wanted to e-mail you to thank you yet again, yes, all these years later, for the opportunity and lessons you gave me. I was rummaging through some old papers and came across the written reference you gave me, signed and stamped, and it brought back a flood of good memories and valuable lessons that in many respects, set me up for life. I don't know how else to put it.
I have to say that I'd hate to think that anyone who has helped me might not realise how much I appreciate the effort they made. Even more so now than before. You gave me direction and upheld good principles from the lessons I learned in the time I knew you. It has not been forgotten and I feel privileged to be benefitting from this.

I googled your name and that of the yacht Kanani which I see you have sold ( http://pub9.bravenet.com/forum/732294549/fetch/625200 ) and I see you have remarried also. Congratulations! I have also married nearly two years ago. Carmel is originally from South Africa and we're both living and working here in Auckland, N.Z. I can send you a wedding DVD if you like.

I trust you're both in good health. I recently went to Tonga for the Feast and Fiji is next on my pacific island list of places to visit so let me know if you do buy another yacht and head south - I'd love to catch up with you in person!

Cheers and thanks again for your friendship and generosity...



Carl Clifford.

[Brent Swain]

If the boat is totally immaculate and not a speck of dust anywhere, the skipper is an obsessive and far more likely to be a captain bligh. If it is derelict and falling apart it is dangerouse. If the anchoring gear is oversized, the self steering rugged and if the skipper does a lot of his own work , putting function ahead of cosmetics, it is probably a safer bet and the skipper will more likely be practical and easy to get along with.
I know many girls who have jumped on boats with single males , had great cruises and ended up marrying the skippers, and are still happy years later. Don't tar any one group group with the same brush. It is very insulting to single skippers. I don't believe insulting such a huge group of people on this site is considered OK.
Brent

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by CSY Man

The Risk..?

Don't listen to the above religous right-wing perverts, come and sail with me instead, safe and sound you will be sweet young thing, lets sail at night into the sunrise...

Send a picture first: bigdagus@yahoo.com

CSY Man you sweet talker, you. You got me all excited now. Can I sail into the sunrise with you? I guarantee you won't like the photo however...

Originally Posted by James S

it was the racers who crewed with us for various legs that really showed us the tricks to squeezing the extra go out of the rig.
And we showed them how to take a short shower.

BS alert! You actually found racing sailors that showered?

[Robertcateran]

Get sailing in dinghies. You learn to sail and when you make a mistake you get wet. Bigger boats are just bigger but the mistakes are much more expensive and can hurt a lot more. I learnt most about balancing a rig and getting the most out of a sail from trying to sail a sailboard on a large pool on a river. I learnt to continually look out for the direction that the next bit of wind was coming from.
A friend of mine cruised Sydney Harbour for years in a converted 18'skiff. It cost him less than $400. You don't need big bucks to cruise if you cruise locally. Remember, your home port is an exotic location to the rest of the world.

[procrew4u]

ex-calif from what I remember you race a J-24 in Singapore, DO YOU SHOWER? If by chance you have had a bad run-in with a stinky sailor, then look at a mirror before the key board. I race and live in a very well known sailing town and I have yet to smell a unshowered racer, Let's get a grip on what we write about others, we are here to encourage people, not scare them, So sail on and have fun. And remember; stinky or not, they might be the one that saves your life.