Do you remember what hooked you on sailing

[rdstanley]

Just curious as to what hooked you into sailing. Is there a particular moment that you can remember? For me it was about 4 years ago. I had always been around the water, boating and fishing with my father. We never had an interest in sailing. Kind of a shame as I think dad would have made a great sailor. Anyway back to what hooked me on sailing. I started looking at sailboats, I had a 17ft runabout in the yard that probably hadn't been used in 2 years, so my wife thought I'd really lost my mind. I met a guy on the dock who agreed to let me crew on some local races. We got together for a race, the wind was light but it was amazing the feeling that came over me when the sails were hoisted and the motor was cut off. The gurgling of the water coming off the stern is probably the thing that sticks out the most in my mind. It was completely relaxing. i quess it really is the simple things that make the biggest difference in life. I still race with this guy, he has actually become one of my best friends. I suppose I should really thank him for getting me started in sailing. Of course had he not taken me sailing I would not have spent all this money on sailing stuff.

That's my experience I'm sure you each have that moment of your own, so let's hear them...

[tdw]

It was a dinghy. Never been on or in a sailing boat before. Skipper gave me a bit of 'rope' and told me to hang onto it, then as we moved away from the shore he told me to pull on it. Boat heeled over and went faster. Never have forgotten the unbridled pleasure of that.

[sailortjk1]

Moving a vessel without any machinery using just the wind like man has done for thousands of years, I get a kick out of it and it is in my blood.
I remember when it first got a hold of me, that was many years ago.

[pdqaltair]

About 1984, I think.

Sure I had read about the Dove and Slokum, but it was all of those boats on the beach that made it accessible, to me.

I got a Prindle 16, 9 years.
I got a Stiletto 27, 15 years.
I got a PDQ 32, still counting.

[mgmhead]

Similar to you rdstanley...that magical moment when the sails fill, the engine is cut and all you hear is swooshing and splashing. The unseen energy of the wind moving your vessel over the water. It is a sensational experience and I've loved it since the first time.

Fair Winds...MGM

[WanderingStar]

I sailed as a child on my father's boat, but you just go with Dad. Growing up I read and dreamed, Slocum, Heyerdahl, Chapelle. I went to sea with the USCG and LOVED it. In '89 I built an 11' sailing dinghy. Launched it in november, on a blustery day. Like you, when the sail filled and the boat moved off across the wind, I felt the magic. My heart swells now remembering it. I still feel that magic. I need it.

[saildork]

As kids, my brothers and I would hoist a bedsheet on an oar with a couple long sticks as yards and sail downwind in our dad's 18-foot, flat-bottomed wooden skiff. It had no motor, and we would row upwind on the windiest days to get a chance to 'sail.' We had a ball.

Then, my dad bought us a 10' O'day Sprite. Now, we could actually sail upwind. I remember the thrill of being able to go anywhere on the lake without regard to where the wind blew. My biggest thrill was always feeling the spray on my face as we crashed through waves on the windiest days.

Today, I still feel my pulse quicken when the sails go up, the boat begins to heel, and we accelerate against the wind. And I love it when she's sailing with a bone in her teeth, the spray coming over the bow and I'm getting soaked back in the cockpit. Arrrggghh!

[trantor12020]

I started with power boats >30years ago. 9 years ago, I kinda gets tire of drivng from point A to point B much like a taxi or driving a car. Nothing much interestimg about it. So with my friend (he also had same feelings about driving powerboat) we decide to switch to sailing. never regreted it. it so much more fulfilling. me working with nature to move the sailboat.

[somers12]

When I was 10, I saw an old man sailing a 8 foot pram back and forth across the wind at campsite near my home. At the time I owned a rowboat, so in the next couple of days, I fashioned a sail from some old canvas set up a pole and I was sailing. Of course, I didn't know the old man had a daggerboard in his pram, and I found I had to row out and could only sail downwind. Still, I was captain of my ship. That's my start.

Steve

[sailingdog]

Leaving a bunch of canoes in my wake on a Sunfish at scout camp a bit over 30 years ago.