How many young people (say 35 or under)out there

[NCountry]

Dang, I'm feeling pretty good about the group at our marine and most of the Lake Eufaula Sailors in general. I'm a VERY young 50 but the wife is 36. The 34 foot hunter next to us is owned by a couple that are in their early 30's. Then there's a Cal 29 with a couple in their late 20's. Two Irwins in the under 30 foot range. One owned by a couple in their late 20's another owned by a guy that is single and 42. Then there's the BEM's (my kids) with their McGregor 23. They're 18, 17 and 10. I'm surrounded by the "Kids" and it's a blast! We have more fun than a barrel full of kittens......

[wright1d]

I hope as gas prices continue to go up more folks will start turning to sailing. Running a power boat costs big bucks & I am seeing a lot of big & small ones sitting this season out in the various yards we pass by.

From what I saw last summer when gas prices were really high few of them left the dock?

We traveled almost 1000 miles over the last two weeks and used less then 70gal of fuel. One power boat we ran into spent 1000 bucks on fuel and had only come half our distance.

[doctormase]

I am 28 and so is my wife. My family has jet-ski and powerboat, but we are more intriqued by out 16ft hobie cat that is a great sail and easy to push into the water. My wife is now interested in sailing and we both want to try sailing a bigger boat to see if we want to buy one. We live on the long island sound in CT and in the next few years we are planning on learning how to sail larger boats. I am also a big golfer, so between golf and sailing people make me feel like I'm 50, not 28. There is no other experience like being on a sailboat, and my friends who like to chill and drink all day don't realize they can do that while I am sailing them around. It's a shame, but good to see so many younger sailors. I feel like I am getting into the game later, but apparently not!!

[saltydawg]

How about age 5?

[NCountry]

Forgot to mention that our 20 month old has been sailing since she was a month old. The Admiral was still on deck handling sails two weeks before the arrival of "the queen"....
Now "the queen" loves it when the boat heels. We just toss all the pillows on board onto the sole in the cabin and she rolls and walks around leaning into the heel. She (with life jacket on) loves to stroll around on the dock and more than one have noticed how well she handles the swaying of the docks. I'm gonna make sure she gets to continue this life style as long as she lives!

[wright1d]

Today is going to be the first day we take our 1yr old with us. What do you do with her when docking?

I'm a bit concerned what to do with him at times my wife and I need to be on deck. I might be able to close him in our aft stateroom but don't really like that idea and I'm sure he can climb out if we try to leave him below?

[madusa]

single guy just turned 33. have a kenner privateer26. tampa bay area of florida. planning on cruising to the bahamas and furthere maybe late this year

[saltydawg]

Originally Posted by wright1d

Today is going to be the first day we take our 1yr old with us. What do you do with her when docking?

I'm a bit concerned what to do with him at times my wife and I need to be on deck. I might be able to close him in our aft stateroom but don't really like that idea and I'm sure he can climb out if we try to leave him below?

Here were our tactics, take them or leave them:

(1) Baby on mama's back in the Ergo carrier while line handling
(2) baby momentarily strapped in to car seat while mom and dad do the docking shuffle
(3) Bring a friend along to either hold baby or help dock
(4) Learn how to dock solo and/ or have marina dock hands/ friends ready to help when you pull in
(5) Use a tether in the cockpit to keep baby out of the way while docking (embarrassed to say we used this for the kid and the dog at times)

The method we used most often was bring a friend and solo dock with on shore help standing by.

Hope that helps!

[Watermelon]

I just turned 29 myself. I would have posted sooner, but I was out sailing on the Texas coast. I'm from the Austin area with a West Wight Potter 19 (it is the best trailerable boat that fit my desires, I have a Zuma for when I want to "go fast, get wet").

In my marina, I'm not the youngest! Whoohoo! There's a college (UT) guy who has a Venture 21 a couple boats down from me.

In the Texas 200 sailing event last week, there were a fair mix of ages, some young, some middle aged, some old...er... more life-experienced. I was towards the younger end of the boat captains. But, if you include crew, there were quite a few younger than me.

One thing I keep trying to tell people is that it's all about the journey and not the destination. Some people get it. Others are "We've got to get to Topwater Grill/Carlos n' Charlies at noon!" even though there's food and drinks in the boat.

I'd like to get into a bigger boat someday... perhaps liveaboard, or probably more ideally - have a small land anchor by water and a nice boat to sail around and cruise. I'd have to move towards the coast though

[NCountry]

Originally Posted by wright1d

Today is going to be the first day we take our 1yr old with us. What do you do with her when docking?

I'm a bit concerned what to do with him at times my wife and I need to be on deck. I might be able to close him in our aft stateroom but don't really like that idea and I'm sure he can climb out if we try to leave him below?

When Mom was needed on deck when the queen was younger we put a life jacket on the queen and set her in a "pack n play" in the cabin. The pack and play is AWESOME and folds up fairly small when not in use.

Now we just put a life jacket on her and leave her in the cabin with a bunch of pillows on the sole. It works great and this has even improved her walking since she practices when the boat heels.