New Guy - FL Left Coast

[Sunyata197]

Hi. My name is Ron and I recently took an early retirement. I have always been interested in sailing, but did not have the means to do it. About 15 years ago a friend and I built a "portable" catamaran and sailed it around the keys and up the left coast. We didn't even know the names of the standing rigging when asked by people. So...that was it. My engineer friend designed and built it..I was just the inspiration. I took basic keelboat this Spring and have been sailing on 26'ers almost 5 days a week now. My plan is to buy some kind of a liveaboard on the Florida left coast. Thanks for listening, and I am learning a lot from these forums. Ronnie P.S. OF COURSE I bough a "Capt Ron" tshirt. I regret it. Haven't worn it. Don't judge me on that.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard CF Captain Ron.

[Lost in a heavy storm]
Captain Ron: We should be okay. 'Cause I know we're near land.
Martin Harvey: Great, Cap. Great. Ya hear that? We're almost there. Explain to the kids how you know that, Captain Ron. Someone translate for General Armando.
Captain Ron: Alright, now stay with me: When we left, we had just enough fuel to make it to San Juan. And we are out of fuel.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Cap'n Ron,
Welcome aboard! Good to have you on the forum. I was stationed near Pensacola in the '60s so that's as close as I got to where you're going to sail.
Kind regards,

[svcattales]

Welcome to the Left Coast. We are in the Tampa Bay area and really like the sailing in this area (except during summer). Where will home port be located?

[Therapy]

Welcome.
My boat is in Hudson.
For a single person to live on it would be a "cats meow".

[Sunyata197]

After reading these forums for some time, I noticed certain personality traits thread through most of the people on here. I think it may be a thirst for adventure (Huck Finn blood), patience and above all, acceptance. The replies to my first post prove some of this.

OK. I am a landlocked Minneapolitan (Minneapolis)...although two lakes are within walking distance of my house...

...My "work" brought me to SW Florida quite a bit, so that is what I "know". I was looking at houses in the Ft. Myers/Naples area, the Keys...that area. My criteria was that the house had to have sailboat access. Not as easy as it looks! As I do love my family and friends in Minnesota (Boundary Waters Canoe Area!!) I decided I want to be here some part of the year (Summer). So, now, I sail on one of the larger lakes in a boat club...almost everyday and peruse the ads for a liveaboard of a sailboat I wouldn't mind squeezing a 6'4" frame into for a couple weeks at a time. Thank you all for the welcome, I think I found the right community here. Cap. P.S. GORDMAY: Capt. Ron's logic about fuel running out as
evidence of him being right makes PERFECT sense to me.

[Ocean Girl]

Welcome to the forum Captain,
Lots of great live aboard boats out there, the hunt is a lot of fun - enjoy

Here is a great web site (well at least its great to me) about stats on production boats like motion comfort and capsize ratio. Sail Calculator Pro v3.53 - 2000+ boats

Cheers,
Erika

[Stillraining]

Welcome Aboard Captain Ron..You will fine great people here.

[Reality Check]

Welcome and hope your sailing adventures will grow with you. I'm up the coast from you but will soon be getting on that big silver bird that takes me to my boat in the West Indies where I hope to "live-aboard" for a few years. I'll actually be cruising around a good bit and will look forward to your post as questions and interesting things start to occur... AND they Will!

Warning, Sailing has been known to be habit forming...