Nice to meet you all!

[AdamNSheana]

Hi there,
I am Adam 27 years old, and about to purchase my first sailboat (Cal 25). I am looking for friendly faces in the San Francisco Bay Area in the sailing community. I have very little sailing experience, but have done some reading. I hoping to find a few people that would be able to give me some lessons (Id pay of course).

Hope to meet some amazing people on here! :-)

[klmmicro]

Well, I am pretty far south of you so I doubt I would be much in IRL help. Welcome though!

[AdamNSheana]

Just a little ways away. lol. How did you get into sailing?

[klmmicro]

When I left the Navy, I planned to buy a boat. Considered power which I was used to. Deep down though, sails always drew my attention. My dad raced sailboats back in the 60's and 70's and he had friends with that would take us out and about when I was very young. Sort of got into my blood I guess. Friends and I used to rent small sailboats in the bay and mess around when we were in port. Finally decided to trip the trigger and buy my own. That was in 1995...it just took a bunch of years to actually make it happen.

I am still learning sail trim. Not hard to get it moving, but getting things tuned well takes a lot of practice. The piloting aspect is easy enough. Have experience on the water. What is different for me is the keel. Thirty Six Seas will turn inside of its own length. Freaked me out a little the first time I threw the helm hard over. Never had any of the motor launches react that way.

Okay, life story there...sorry How about you? Do you have experience, or are you starting fresh?

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Adam.

[boatman61]

Welcome to CF Adam..

[gamayun]

Hi Adam. Welcome. Where are you located? I sail the bay out of Treasure Island. If you are interested, I can send you the name of a friend who is a certified instructor. She lives near Alameda and runs the adult sailing program at Half Moon Bay Yacht Club (so you could Google her, too). The winds have been howling lately so first thing is to find out what kind of sail inventory you have and how good your reefing system is. Until you get comfortable with your boat, I'd check the weather forecast carefully for lighter wind days (but they're not always accurate), and make sure your rigging is fit. It's not unusual to get 30 knots and 3-ft chop in the bay right now. I can also put you in touch with a great group of Cal20 racers. I'm not aware of any Cal25 group, but the Cal20 folks would know. If you join a yacht club, there's usually always someone around who's willing to jump on your boat with you and give you some pointers for free. Good luck!

[AdamNSheana]

Gamayun! Thanks for the reply. My wife and I are always going to Treasure Island. We love the hot dog stand there! We are located in Concord (30 minutes away). If you could, please pm me the name of the instructor you know. And thanks for the Cal 20 club info. I have not found/decided on a boat yet. Been doing research since Jan. But I have not found the right boat. What are you sailing? We always check out the boat docked at T.I. Thanks AGAIN! :-)

[gamayun]

My research and searching spanned about 4 years, so it's good to take your time. My boat is a Freedom 38. It's the first blue hull you'll see that's parallel to shore down from the first gate of the TI marina. Just look for the unstayed rigging. A friend who races his Cal20 keeps it at the TI Sailing Center. That might be a good place to consider if you find one that's on a trailer.

I've yet to try the hot dog stand, but will do that soon When I have crew onboard, I often load up with deli sandwiches at that little store in the middle of the road. They are so good!

I will look forward to meeting you and your wife soon. Good luck with the boat shopping.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!

Wow! Treasure Island. That really brings back some memories. For Navy folks like myself it was the stopping off point between recruit training in San Diego and a permanent station. It was called a Receiving Station. So that was the second place I went while new in the Navy. I also had a Destroyer out of Treasure Island and went through at least 2 Navy Firefighting schools there. It has a lot of history.