New member in Vancouver BC area

[Ernie S]

Hi everyone. I've been learning a lot just reading posts on this forum. About 2 years ago my wife advised me I should get a sailboat before I'm too old to enjoy it. I don't think she understood the can of worms that would open. I'm in the process of buying my first sailboat and while she says she's onboard, she's digging her heels into the sand.

[zurk]

do you actually like sailing ? do you like owning a pile of work every weekend ?
i would suggest joining a local sailboat club and just renting their boats every weekend.
https://macsailing.com/boat-rentals-vancouver/

[Ernie S]

I love sailing and been dreaming of this for 30 years. I admit I've had second thoughts lately as I get more involved, but that's only personal doubts. I crewed on a sailboat regularly for 2 years mainly weekend club racing, but that was 30
years ago. I caught the bug then and still have it, but it's like starting over at the beginning.

[zurk]

i would suggest you go small and cheap. a small sailboat with the bare minimum should not break the bank. dump it in the cheapest local marina closest to you and you should be fine.

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van...538280586.html
catalina or something would work. be sure to get a marine surveyor to do the survey and make sure they moisture test the hull with a digital meter.

[TrentePieds]

Hello Ernie, and welcome :-)

Lemme tell you a story :-)

A young woman and I were sitting around on a New Year's day. Seen from my end of life EVERY woman is a "young woman". I'm not too sure I'm up for a new relationship, so when she sez "What would you like to do?", I dodge. I sez: "Go sailing" expecting that to put the cap on the matter.

"Oh GOOD!" she sez, "let's go look a some boats!". "Nah", sez I, having spent my youth sailing out of Vancouver (including teaching for the JibSet when Les Alfreds was in his glory) and knowing the score, "You don't want a boat".

"Oh c'mon!" sez she. After a lot of "oh, c'mon"s I cave and sez "oh, what the heck, you can buy a Mirage27 these days for the price of two cases of good wine". So we tootle out to West Van and look up Dan who had the Mirage agency half a century ago. No Mirage 27s. But there are three C&C27 sitting on the hard. My friend clambers up the ladder and looks into one of them. " Not in a million years!" sez she. I say "Yea, I told you - you don't want a boat!"

So coming down the ladder she looks out across the basin and sez "the one over there, can we look at it?" "Sure", sez I, "but you don't want a boat!"

She goes to the broker's office and gets the key. The moment she's in the boat she sez "I LO-O-O-VE THIS!!!". I get cranky and say: "One more time: YOU DON'T WANT A BOAT!!!".

Four months later when one thing has led to another, I'm idling the morning away on the 'puter and thoughtlessly I say: "Well, lookit that! TrentePieds is still on the listings!" My friend looks me straight in the eye and sez "WRITE THE MAN A CHEQUE!"

So what would I do but come to attention and say "Aye, aye, M'am!"?

And here we are a decade later :-)

She has no interest in becoming sailor in any real sense. So I single-hand the boat. and she just loves being in it. Nothing hard about singlehanding a 30-footer in the Straits of Georgia. And in the SofG you can afford to take a very laid-back approach so you don't frighten the neophytes;-0)!

Cheers!

TrentePieds

[Ernie S]

Ha ha, excellent story.

[JPA Cate]

In his case, the reverse psychology bit worked just fine!

Anyhow, welcome aboard CF, Ernie S. Maybe start with a trailer sailer? Or do you have something a little larger in mind?

Ann

[chris mac]

Welcome to the forum, Vancouver is a great area to sail in. We did a couple charters there to get our feet salty. We sailed in alberta lakes.
If you walk the docks with a 6pack and talk with anyone aboard,you will almost always get an invite to sail or at least tour their boat. They will also be the guys that know of anything coming up for sale soon
Good luck, and have fun

[Ernie S]

Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I already have a boat in mind, just waiting to do the survey.

[desodave]

Welcome aboard Ernie from another BC sailor. Enjoy the new boat when you get her. There's lots of great places to cruise in the Salish Sea.

[Marathon1150]

The big challenge in Vancouver can be finding a spot to park the boat. Its not impossible. But, smaller is usually easier than bigger. Alternatively, and if you don't mind riding ferries, there are some terrific places on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands where marina space is slightly easier to find.

And if the boat you are looking at comes with a slip. Take it.

Good luck and the good news is that there is still lot's of good sailing time left in the season.

[TrentePieds]

For me to travel from the eastern end of "the valley" to the ferry at Tsawwassen, cross on the ferry to Duke Point and drive from there to Ladysmith and be aboard TP takes LESS time than to drive to West Van and cross in TP to Porlier Pass from there!

Food for thought :-)

The differential of the mooring fees twixt West Van and Ladysmith is enough to pay for ten return trips - car with 1 passenger - each year. And we have reciprocity with all the good marinas in the southern Gulf Islands.

More food for thought :-)!

Cheers

TP

[Adelie]

Welcome.

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.

[Ernie S]

Thank you for the reminder to complete my profile. I've updated. I thought I had a boat. Put a deposit and was waiting for opportunity to survey. Things changed on sellers end and deposit was returned. Been looking at other boats but fate interferes. Blew a head gasket on my work truck, so there goes large portion of boat money. Will rebuild funds over winter and start over in spring.

[TrentePieds]

Ernie:

I went back through the thread, but I see nothing about what sort of boat you are looking for. Let us know, and I will keep my eyes and ears open as I go about my boating :-)

TP