Salutations and felicitations!

[ac0kg]

Salutations and felicitations!

New member here, figured I'd be polite and introduce myself. I've got about 25 years experience piloting a desk, and I've decided it's time to get serious about turning the sailing dream into reality. I have a 5 year plan that transitions me from a suburban house in fly-over country to splitting my time between living in an RV with a base in South Texas and living on a sailboat. The schedule is based on the time required to eliminate all debt and get the kids out of high school.

Not yet sure what kind of boat I want. Currently I like the idea of indefinite cruising around the Caribbean and the South Pacific. I'm attracted to catamarans around 36-38', but I have only been aboard one, and haven't been on a similarly sized monohull. I figure over the next few years I'll arrange to spend some time on a few different boats to learn more about what I want.

In the meantime I've obtained a little Hobie 16 so I can learn some sailing basics on local lakes (I haven't had it out yet, as I've found a few things to fix first. No worries, I enjoy and look forward to fixing and customizing things), and I'll be doing a lot of reading to discover what I need to know.

Anyway, howdy.

[tkeithlu]

Howdy thouself,acOkg. Welcome. How about starting with a pronounceable post nickname? Great dream, but it's a long road from where you are to where you want to be. That's not to deter you; everyone starts somewhere, and Cruisers Net is a big source of help along the way. It certainly has helped me.

Your Hobie will help you learn sailing basics. I enjoy knocking about the bay on my 13' Laser, but don't think of it as an activity very closely related to cruising, and I guess more so in my case because I got sucked over to the dark side of an engined trawler after a youth of 40' sloops. You need to go learn navigation, weather, engine care, communications, anchoring, other electronics, and a bunch of other topics. Can you find lessons, a coach, or a larger boat that you can crew on? Might you consider a small cruiser (maybe trailerable) to practice big boat skills upon? They don't put radios, nav tables, baulky engines or my nemeisis, marine heads, on Hobies.

Yes, read. Chapman - the older editions have fewer mistakes, and if you want a real overview of what lies ahead, download off the internet a free copy of Bowditch's The American Practical Navigator. It's still printed but not in copyright, so I have both a two volume set on my bookshelf and a copy on this laptop.

[ac0kg]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Great dream, but it's a long road from where you are to where you want to be.

Yes indeed, that's why I'm starting many years in advance of when I intend to be ready.

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Can you find lessons, a coach, or a larger boat that you can crew on?

Yes, as I mentioned I'm looking into crewing as a beginner on different sizes and styles of sailboats.

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Might you consider a small cruiser (maybe trailerable) to practice big boat skills upon?

Yes! However, the Hobie is small enough that I can store it at my home and easily trailer it by myself to several nearby lakes while I learn the basics. I am interested in larger boats, and looked a Catalina 22, but I find that at this early stage it isn't a practical option. I don't have anywhere to put it (I prefer not to pay for equipment storage at this time, it is more productive to put those funds into debt elimination). Also I want to keep the barrier to getting out on the water low. A beach cat is easy to take out and rig for a few hours on a weekend or evening, which means it is easy to keep the learning momentum up.

Once I have moved out of this suburban area to a place nearer the coast I will have more options for larger boats. I have already arranged for use of a moderate acreage not far from Corpus Christi. I have space there for RV and boat storage, but it's too far from home to be useful right now.

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Yes, read. Chapman - the older editions have fewer mistakes, and if you want a real overview of what lies ahead, download off the internet a free copy of Bowditch's The American Practical Navigator.

Excellent, thank you for the recommendations, I will add them to my reading list.

[tkeithlu]

Whwn you get down to Corpus Christi, say hello to, and stay out of the way of, my brother-in-law. He's an Aransas Pass Corpus Christi harbor pilot. He taught me some boat handling and got me on to AIS.