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I've had a friend since highschool that is an avid sailor. I've been out with him enough times to have the bug off and on over the years. He invited me to fill in as crew on his J/24 in Annapolis and we won the first race we entered... it was actually pretty impressive... Each of the crew were issued nice glass trophys from the SSA summer sailing series. I wanted to feel more competent on his boat, so I purchased a J/24 for myself and have been learning to sail it. It's quite the adventure. Harken has a cdrom with some racing basics, but I've found just making successful pleasure trips on the lake builds my skills, then I come here and read as I have questions. Oh, and I bother my friend Vince frequently by phone to answer questions also. In retrospect, I spent too much time the first season learning how to rig and launch the boat... I now have it in a slip where although the cost is much higher, I'm able to get more sailing time in. I know sailing can be very expensive, but I've been able to do it on a budget. The boat cost $6000 and the slip is $1450/annually. My sails are from 2000 which means they wouldn't work in an annapolis race, but they're more than suitable for learning how to sail on the lake. I've had all kinds of incidents - like losing a halyard up the mast - but it's all been an adventure... and after all... isn't that what we're after?
Mike
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