How is sailing on large bodies of water?

[sunflower100]

When I was younger my dad had a sunfish and it was fun taking it in the small lake in Texas. We then got a Catalina 22 and it felt like it was to big for that body of water. It felt like it got boring really quick as we would sail the whole body in less than a day. We would also spent most of our time tacking. Sometimes we would take us 30 minutes to get out and 2 hours to get back. The wind would normally be behind us as we went through the narrow strait that led to lake.

I am wondering is sailing a whole different experience when you can go to many different locations and be out for days? I have a 19ft Cuddy that I have been enjoying for over a year. I am wondering one day upgrading to a 35+ footer and going exploring on the weekends. I guess my main worry is getting bored with the larger boat. I might try crewing a race boat as that might help me decide.

[Sabreman]

I think that the satisfaction one receives from any activity in life largely depends on the expectations associated with that activity. Certainly, racing is very close to what you describe - a long downwind run followed by tacking back to windward. But the excitement of competition and the learning can be outstanding.

Growing up, my dad had a Catalina 22, 27 and finally 30 that we daysailed out of Ocean City, NJ. We'd head into the ocean on weekend mornings and sail a few miles offshore or along the coast. After years of daysailing, I grew incredibly bored even though the sailing was excellent. So I augmented the daysailing with racing on other boats and cajoled my dada into some long cruises outside NJ. Today, I mix cruising with light racing and that keeps it fresh for me. The short of it is that anything can be boring depending on one's outlook.

It sounds as if a) you've outgrown your environment, b) grown bored with the whole sailing thing, or c) need to look at your current situation for new ways to freshen it.

[MarioG]

We started out on a small lake late in the season on a Chrysler 22 and the only destionation away from our marina was a restaurant on the other end. We did 13 weekends on the lake, not really getting bored because it was sailing. We had planned on trailering it to a different lake the following season but I bought a Chrysler 26 that was on the coast. With this boat we had destionations that would take us a day to get to and back which made the 13 excursions with it more enjoyable but what we found was long weekends or even the week long vacation was no longer enough time on the boat which lead to selling everything off and sailing full time.

[Sublime]

Something not mentioned is that sometimes the bigger boat you get, the more you have to work to pay for it which means less time on the boat.

What body of water have you picked out? 35' seems quite a specific request. Are you wanting a bigger boat with exploration being the excuse? Or is that an ideal size for the body of water you've picked out?

Smaller, trailerable boats can give you a cabin with the bare necessities and be a little more nimble and beachable. Just food for thought. It may or may not fit what you're looking for.
Also getting a group of boats and going sailing is more fun.
I'm working on sail trim. It's an ongoing place of improvement. When I'm more comfortable in my skills, I may start looking into crewing in races (I don't want to race my own boat, lol!). It's a difficult thing for me to set the sails and not obsess over if they're working at maximum efficiency.


I'm not sure where you are location wise, but if you're still in Texas, lake Texoma has a bunch of "destinations", also lake Travis.

I do hear you on having destinations. I think there's a lot of fun in using your boat as a source of transportation. You may not be completely satisfied until you're on the coast.

[DRFerron]

sunflower, from the tone of your post, it doesn't sound like you have a passion for sailing.

[FoolishMuse]

My son has a motorboat. He takes the boat, at great fuel expense, to where he wants to be.
I have a sailboat. The moment I'm on my boat, I'm where I want to be.

[tdw]

I'm not at all sure that Sunflower has a passion for sailing either but as far as where he/she sails it appears that lake is in the middle of Jakarta.

Now I'm making no accusations here but why does someone in Jakarta claim to be in Nashville ?

Sunflower, you might like to explain that apparent contradiction.

[DRFerron]

Where is the reference to the lake in Jakarta? I saw the Nashville reference in his other post.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by DRFerron

Where is the reference to the lake in Jakarta? I saw the Nashville reference in his other post.

'tis where he/she is posting from!!

[DRFerron]

Oh. Something only a mod can see. Got it. I'll stop looking now. Thought I'd had too much wine before I'd even poured a glass.