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How did you get your start in sailing!

  • No formal instruction, just bought a boat and went for it

    Votes: 126 31.6%
  • No formal instruction, grew up sailing with family/friends

    Votes: 101 25.3%
  • No formal instruction, sailed with friends/family as an adult

    Votes: 54 13.5%
  • Formal instruction, US Sailing

    Votes: 22 5.5%
  • Formal instruction, ASA

    Votes: 52 13.0%
  • Military service lead to sailing

    Votes: 19 4.8%
  • Just crewed around randomly

    Votes: 8 2.0%
  • The boom hit my head on an accidental gybe, I can't remember

    Votes: 9 2.3%
  • Got in through racing for the most part

    Votes: 12 3.0%

How did you get your start in sailing?

31K views 146 replies 122 participants last post by  aprilsails 
#1 ·
How'd you get your start in sailing :) I'll add a poll with hopefully enough choices to get everyone!
 
#36 ·
Started out at the age 11 or 12 on a small Indiana lake with a sun fish. In high school I built a Y-flyer as a shop project.

One story I like to tell is as a teen, I was luckily enough to race with an old salt who just like Quint from Jaws. We raced his lighting. He would order me to do this and that, trim sheets, ease sheets, get you weight forward, get your weight aft. Everything he said was in a gruff tone. He had me intimidated. We were racing one afternoon and it was blowing 20 to 30 kts. I was asking if we were going to race as I was concerned about the wind. We got out on the race course and made the start gun and wind was picking up. I asked if we should head back to dock. In that deep, gruff, booming voice and with a glee and twinkle in his eye, he let out out a chuckle and said " We're sailing till We're bailing." We finished the race and won our class for the year. After it was over, I told myself thats the type of sailor I want to be.
 
#37 · (Edited)
Im still learning... My lasts three outings Iv tended to get too wet still..I havent experienced any of the docking issues you all keep talking complaining about ...but hope to one of theas days..:p
 

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#38 ·
I was a surf bum in Hawaii around the late 60s, and had to think about leaving when builders were going to tear down our bungalows to build a high rise. I couldn't find another place to live on surf bum money, so I checked around the Ala Moana marina for boats going anywhere that needed a crew member. I found a boat (28' trimaran) going to California, and I got on as a crew member...all I needed for money for my share of food. It was cheaper to buy the food than buying a plane ticket, otherwise I would have flown back to California. My introduction to sailing was Trial by Fire (not a recommended way to learn, but I knew how to sail pretty good by the time we made it back...and I sure learned how big the world was...and how insignificant I was. :eek:
 
#39 ·
Step dad took me out in Lk Washington about age 10? scared teh bejeesus out of me when the rail went in the water the first time. Oh well, later figured out it was not an issue.

He then built a Glen-L 21CB model, we needed a dingy to get to it on a bouy on the lake, so I built an 8'dinghy, sailed that for 5 yrs or so on the lake, then built a Glen L 12 sloop, sailed it a bit, sold it for an engine in a convertible bug. married a gal that would not get on a boat if her life depending upon it, divorced her, currentspouse like being ont e water, altho only had been on power boats. Bought current boat 3 yrs ago, she is learning, I am trying to remember what I learned by rote and some lesson at a local club inthe 70's. Also rented lasers at the same club and raced them on wed nights. Hull #'s 600-800 or there abouts!

Like others, also did sailing at scout camp, not sure if I learned anyting at camp parsons on hood canal, but was fun any way one looks at it, altho the water was COLD!

Enjoying being on the water sailing again! Now taking my 3 older one out regularly, youngest seem to have mom's/ex's attitude towards the water in general, altho will get into my canoe with out any issues, sailing is another story to a degree, altho it might be mid teen female, not wanting to embarass herself too!

marty
 
#40 ·
I bought a Hobie 16 without a clue. Paid too much for a boat in poor condition. Two days later I drug the wife and the Hobie to the lake. The wind was howling and the only thing I knew was that the sails were supposed to make it go. I managed to survive while narrowly avoiding divorce. The best part was tacking. We sailed until we hit the rock cliffs at the sides of the little lake, then I would jump off and push the bow around. I had to jump back on before the boat sailed away without me. The mrs kept yelling at me to get her back to the boat ramp. If I only knew how.......
 
#41 ·
Hobie Cats on the beach in Ocean City , NJ where I lived for 18 years before moving to the Chesapeake. Was a simpler life, just hitching the wheels to the Hobie in front of the house, dragging her down to the waters edge, setting her up in 15 minutes and then flying along at 15 knots.

I then got an Islander 28 for 8 years and then mov

Moved to the Chesapeake and have a 35 C&C, more time and more money...
:){)

Dave
 
#42 ·
Got asked by a buddy to join him on a sail on Lake Erie. He had a 24' Quick Step. Would sail with him and our families several times a summer. He moved up to a 28' Caliber and then we would sail to Canada for a weekend of perch and Molson. He recently sold the boat (Thought that was damn rude of him) so now all I have is the desire. You folks provide much vicarious pleasure.
 
#46 ·
I refurbished a wooden sailboat my uncle gave me for work i did for him. The mice ate holes in the Dacron sails I had stored in bags in the garage. Sold the boat and bought a wooden 14' Flying Junior with trailer. I had a ball learning to sail it buying a spinnaker and making a trapeze for it. I put a two horse outboard on it and varnished sand on the floor for traction. it was a slippery little sucker. Got me ready for moving on up. Now own a 24 C@C and use all the tricks I learned on that first boat.
 
#47 ·
I was exploited teen labor at a summer daycamp in Illinois for little monsters. However they had what I'm pretty sure from looking at the other thread were Sailfish.

I just remember a big sail and sitting on it, not in it.

Had no clue what I was doing, kept messing with it. Staff was allowed open access to the grounds and no one locked the boat house. One night, I had a perfect broad reach across the whole length of the little lake. I still remember the reflection of the moon on the water, and the sound of the water running against her hull...I was hooked. Made up for the $164 grand total I got paid for 3 months of my summer.

Mike
 
#48 ·
Dad bought a 8 foot, single sail, swing keel row boat. He filled the mast with foam so it would float. It was a mix and pour concotion. He poured in too much and it over shot the top of the mast. Raw product fell on my sister and cured in her hair. I just took the boat out. Had a lot of fun fishing under sail too. Years later it was sailboards.

Now I singlehand a daysailer. Sailboats are one out of hundreds in this neck of the woods. My next boat will be blue water capable.

Short answer: Just did it. No instruction. Just work it until it works.

p.s. Thanks for all the good information here at sailnet, and to all the informative posts.
 
#49 ·
I was given a windsurfer and told to shove off, by an experienced instructor...
No formal education. No clue. Sail or paddle back...Wind was offshore, so I was immediately faced with a dilemma of how to get back. Instructor sat on the shore and watched. I was 15. There and then I got the basic premise of staying up wind at all costs... That time I did have to paddle back. I could not figure out how to sail upwind. I was cold and tired. I sat on the beach and watched others... Then tried again...and was able to sail back. It was the tacking that did it...
Oh well, looking back, that was a right way to teach me. Sailing requires attention and resourcefulness, preparation and effort and is inherently dangerous in a sense that one deals with unpredictable elements. One has to experience them first hand to appreciate the ultimate power that nature has over us....
 
#50 ·
I first took out a small sailboat on the Charles River in Boston a couple of times, then 10 years later took up scuba, discovered my love of the sea, particularly after taking a 7 day dive trip to the Bahamas on a beamy 40' sailboat, and decided that I'd like to live aboard a boat someday. Then 15 years later, I had the opportunity to do so, and took the money from my half of the house and bought my Corsair 36 trimaran. :D I did do a lot of reading, talking to sailors and research prior to taking the leap, but I do not regret it and wish I did it sooner. That said, I have a lot to learn (this site is a great resource) and I am still discovering the full implications of the saying, "Boating is hours of enjoyment mixed with moments of sheer terror," :eek: particularly in regard to docking.
 
#51 ·
A friend took me out on his brothers Pearson 26 about 9 years ago for a quick sail on Lake Michigan, I loved it. Last year I decided it was time to sail on my own and bought an old Butterfly from a co-worker, read a book and then sailed. It was great, I joined a community sailing center and took a class towards the end of the summer. This year I bought a 14' O'day javelin to add to my little fleet and will introduce my family to the joys of sailing.

as an aside, I intend to give my two year old son the opportunity I didn't have and get him sailing as soon as it is practical.
 
#52 ·
I never set foot on a boat before then. A friend bought a racing sailboat (Mirage 35, I beleive) and I went out sailing one day. And that was it for me. It was over 10 years ago. I bought my first sailboat - Beneteau 235, shortly thereafter, but steadily moved to cruising boats since (turns out I like working on them).

I did take ASA courses and probably still have my book with little stamps somewhere out there.
 
#53 ·
I started as a job with perks:) Worked on a 70ft Schooner with three others for 2 years as the owner wanted to "own his dream" She was traditionally rigged..Sailed the Gulf of Mexico,the Atlantic from the Islands to Newfoundland. Have always lived near the sea became a certified diver at age 14...
 
#54 ·
Had a kitchen design-remodel company in Colorado, wife's colleague had Catalina 24 & asked if I could relaminate the galley countertop. It was such a small job I was almost embarassed to charge for it. Having grown up in Kansas, I knew nothing about sailboats, so asked the colleague if instead of $$ he could take us out sailing for an afternoon ... HOOKED instantly!
 
#55 ·
at age 50, I had never sailed before after moving from Central Europe to Portugal, in fact I had never seen the sea before..and knew nothing about sailing..

So I came to sailnet, posted a really stupid question like what boat to buy with $45 US dolars, that was blue water and capable of liveaboard and go to Somalia...

I then got lot of good answers on what boat to buy...a Valiant built in 1325, with roller furler, mast winches, closed cockpit (no sugar scoops), and 10 anchors, all on chain...ahh the hull is 45 inches thick...a good thing....and off course, the all practical sailing quality improving wood decoration both inside and outside...bow sprit in wood optional...

I jumped in, and set sail, as I was recommneded by someone here...
 
#56 ·
I was involved with power boats and canoes at a young age but no sails.
While in the military I got a 4 day pass with my crew and they dragged me onto a 22 ft catalina. I didn't think much of it but since they brought the beer and 2 of them didn't drink, (even had designated drivers back then) I went along. Once we killed the outboard, I was impressed. One of the crew was a licenced captain and he saw my interest and just started teaching me how to do it... Over the rest of my tour we tried to get in some sailing when ever we got a couple of days off. That lead to my buying a 30 ft S2 after selling my house in a divorce and have been living on it since. So I'm not sure if that is formal training or just going for it with friends...
 
#58 ·
My (now) hubby and I had been dating about a month when the following conversation took place (I knew he sailed/raced and had previously owned a power boat):

me: Are you ever going to buy a boat again?
him: No. Too much money/hassle/work/time.

The next day...

him: Guess what?
me: Uh oh. Um...what?
him: Moon and I are buying a boat.
me: I thought you said you were never buying another boat again.
him: Well, yeah, but we had a few drinks last night, and...
me: Say no more.

A week later the boat is in the water. Mind you, I am AFRAID OF THE WATER. Well, maybe 'afraid' isn't the right word. I just have NO desire to be anywhere in or near it. Especially if there's no chlorine involved and I can't touch the bottom, let alone see it.

him: Hop on.
me: Ha. Right. No hopping.

So he builds a little ladder thingy to facilitate said hopping (this was before the piers were lowered).

Off we go for my first sail. I didn't fall in. I didn't throw up. Thought about it. Didn't.

I spent that first summer being mildly sick to my stomach, but, being the trooper that I am, stuck with it. Then I figured since the boat would outlast me if I didn't figure out how to get along with her, I decided it was high time for me to learn how to make it go. And stop. From a practical standpoint, if anything should happen to The Man while we were out sailing, I was going to have to get myself home, so the lessons commenced.

Fast forward 8 years. We've sold our half of that boat, bought a bigger boat, and now we might be thinking about a different boat. Maybe. I don't want to jinx it.

But that's how it started. And, thanks to his encouragement and that of others, I am now a reasonably competent sailor who can dock her own boat. I have accepted that I will never understand it the way other people (notably the engineers that The Man races with) do, but I do just fine.
 
#61 ·
How I got the sailing bug

I was eight years old when my father took a military surplus life raft, sandwiched it between two sheets of plywood that were pointy at one end, and attached a shallow keel and a mast. My mother sewed up a sail, using an old bed sheet and I had a sail boat. It was a ***** to tack and I still remember how elated I felt whenever I managed to do so without resorting to the paddle. Because it was so difficult to sail well, it taught me a lot. Later when I was 14 my father and I rebuilt a Dyer Dinghy, one of the old cedar over oak ribs ones. That was a blast to sail. In a stiff breeze she would get up and plane on a broad reach. She was also an excellent rowing boat and many's the time I rowed from Woods Hole to Tarpaulin Cove, which, incidentally, is how the mail used to be delivered to the post office there in the early 1900's in a sailing dory.

My parents were fantastic, encouraging me to strike out on my own at an early age. Thinking about it later on when I was a parent myself, and looking at the parents around me that were so protective of their children, never letting them off the apron strings, I realized how lucky I was to have had parents who helped instill confidence and allowed me to have adventures. Some of which were truly life threatening, and although I never told my parents I'm sure they guessed.

That feeling of being able to go anywhere in a boat that someone else here talked about struck a chord. I spent my summers sailing around on Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay. Between the strong tidal currents and the many rock formations it was a good place to learn and there was an endless supply of places to explore, from Pleasant Bay to Block Island.

Later on in life after a divorce I bought a Tartan 27 and sailed it for a few years in those same waters. I sold it in order to go RVing fulltime and now I'm back to boats with a Nimble Kodiak that I bought with full knowledge aforehand of its less than gracefull looks and poor windward abilities. I bought it to explore the inland waterways, both US and Canadian. A ******** would have made more sense but I couldn't bring myself to actually owning one. This way I'm hoping to utilise the sails as much as possible. Of course I'll certainly get to use the sails on the lakes, Champlain, the Great lakes, etc. Once I whittle the to do list down and put the Susan D back in the water I'll post some feedback on just how well she sails, or not. :D

Nick, 1993 26' Nimble Kodiak s/v Susan D
 
#62 ·
Went sailing with my brother who had a Pearson 34. He obtained a Rhodes 19 for free and basically gave it to me to fix up. When my retirement date approached, I bought a boat and sailed it from San Diego to SF Bay. After I complete the work I want to do on the J/36, it's by to all the landlubbers and the traffic and hello waterworld.
 
#63 ·
i was born into it.my father has owned several sailboats since i was a kid.he raced for over 20 years on sizes from 27 feet to 45 feet before turning to cruising.i learned to sail on cl 14's,16's,sunfish,lasers, heck whatever i could get from the yacht clubs sailing school to keep myself busy while my parents kept me hostage down there.lol.as a teenager i instructed sailing school mostly for kids between 10 years old to 14.to finally get my own boat i did general maintenance work such as bottom jobs,waxing,cleaning and such around the yacht club and surounding marinas.started racing on a freinds j 24 prior to puchasing a mirage 24 and racing it.sold that boat last year and now have a 33 footer.now with a hectic work schedule i have to stick to weekend cruising which is fine with me.
 
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