Hi all,
I am a casual sailor from the Washington/Oregon border. My wife and I started back in 1997 or so taking lessons from an outfit in Portland. We sailed the mighty Columbia for a few years on 22-27 foot boats (had alot of fun on a Zap 26) before moving about an hour away from Portland. We got our ASA bareboat certificate on a sail/learn trip to the BVIs in 2000 (and conceived our first child during that trip as well I might add). Been to the BVIs another four times since then and we are in the procurement stages for a February 2011 trip down there.
Unfortunately, our trips to the BVIs are about the only sailing we do these days since we don't have easy access to a boat. I have been mulling the idea of finding a fun 25 footer for around here. We live in the Columbia Gorge which is very windy with alot of large swells rolling through the river which makes for fun day sailing. We have three kids, the oldest being eight, so a boat is starting to make more sense. Plus, we gotta keep those skills sharpened for our trips to the islands. I aspire to own a cruising boat someday but not sure how feasible that would be unless we moved somewhere with better access to cruising grounds. At the very least I want to spend half a year or so sailing around the entire Caribbean chain.
Not sure how active I'll be here on the forum but I'll poke around, ask a few questions and try to help a few posters out with their questions.
Matt
I am a casual sailor from the Washington/Oregon border. My wife and I started back in 1997 or so taking lessons from an outfit in Portland. We sailed the mighty Columbia for a few years on 22-27 foot boats (had alot of fun on a Zap 26) before moving about an hour away from Portland. We got our ASA bareboat certificate on a sail/learn trip to the BVIs in 2000 (and conceived our first child during that trip as well I might add). Been to the BVIs another four times since then and we are in the procurement stages for a February 2011 trip down there.
Unfortunately, our trips to the BVIs are about the only sailing we do these days since we don't have easy access to a boat. I have been mulling the idea of finding a fun 25 footer for around here. We live in the Columbia Gorge which is very windy with alot of large swells rolling through the river which makes for fun day sailing. We have three kids, the oldest being eight, so a boat is starting to make more sense. Plus, we gotta keep those skills sharpened for our trips to the islands. I aspire to own a cruising boat someday but not sure how feasible that would be unless we moved somewhere with better access to cruising grounds. At the very least I want to spend half a year or so sailing around the entire Caribbean chain.
Not sure how active I'll be here on the forum but I'll poke around, ask a few questions and try to help a few posters out with their questions.
Matt