Learning to sail in Cleveland

[grayadventures]

I wanted to quickly introduce myself. My name is Nick and my wife and I have decided that we want to buy a sailboat within the next year. I have been on a few sailboats over the years, but have never participated in the sailing of the boat until this past weekend when I took my first ASA101 sailing course.

It was definitely exciting and I've already signed up for the next course later this summer. We are in the Cleveland area, so we're sailing on Lake Erie. Our plan is to buy a 30-ish foot sailboat that we can take out on the weekends but also use it for longer trips to explore the Great lakes, using it as a substitute for an RV for our summer vacations.

We lived in an RV for 18 months, traveling the country full-time with our daughters. We still have that travel bug, but we are looking for something a bit different and experiencing the world (starting with the great lakes, for now) from the water seems like it would add a new level of excitement to our adventures.

If anyone has any suggestions as we get started, please feel free to share them. We're looking for as much input as possible as we are completely new to sailing.

[LittleWing77]

Welcome aboard Nick and Spouse!

You'll find lots of helpful advice on this Forum.

At this juncture, my only advice would be to start small. 30' is quite a handful for two sailors just starting out. And keep on with the ASA...!

Fair winds,
LittleWing77

[Nauticus]

Hi and welcome from Ontario Canada [emoji846]

You have a plan, some sailing lessons and a dream! Don't let anything stop you. Please share your boat buying adventures with us.

Fair winds [emoji569][emoji3]

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Nick.

[Svsumurun]

Welcome Nick. We are also in the Cleveland area, finding a 27-30 foot boat would do you well, but be aware there are a lot of 'iffy' ones out there!
Any ideas on where you are thinking of docking? Especially if you want to travel and not just day sail - that can make a big difference ( for example the east side to the islands is a LONG day)
Happy to help with anything - any questions , just reach out

Rick