Total Newbie

[5hortBu5]

Hi folks!

I can count the times I've been sailing on two fingers, but I'm entirely smitten with sailpower.

The first was a tourist-style 'sailing lesson' on a Hobie Cat 16 in Barnegat Bay off of Long Beach Island in NJ. It was fun and really uneventful.

The second was this past weekend on my buddy's Oday 22, running down the Navesink River to Sandy Hook Bay and Back. We had uncooperative wind, torrential rain, 20 foot visibility, and once the rain cleared, we ran aground. It was awesome

So, I'm totally struck, and looking to get into sailing my own vessel as soon as I can. If budget for that fails, I'd like to get to crewing some day sails on weekends, just to build up experience. I'll be pestering you all for tips for getting onto more boats very shortly.

[smackdaddy]

Originally Posted by 5hortBu5

The second was this past weekend on my buddy's Oday 22, running down the Navesink River to Sandy Hook Bay and Back. We had uncooperative wind, torrential rain, 20 foot visibility, and once the rain cleared, we ran aground. It was awesome

Oh yeah...you're hooked. Welcome to SN dude.

[mpickering]

Find a local sailing club, one that does casual weekend night racing on the local body of water. Contact them and see about crewing opportunities. The clubs I have been involved with have been very accommodating and happy to have folks available to crew.

Last night I showed up at my somewhat local club and the fellow handed his boat to me and another fellow. I had never sailed a dinghy and the other fellow had been out once. We capsized it at the first race mark. After getting her upright, we spent the next hour or so sailing just off the course getting used to the boat. I'm still grinning. The owner caught up with us later and he had dunked the boat he was on a short time later.

It's a great way to learn. In an active club, there will usually always been boats needing crew. Even if you're just rail meat you can still learn and observe.

Matt

[5hortBu5]

I'd love to get to know some folks at a club and start crewing. I'm just not sure how to go about it. The closest club to me, The Riverton Yacht Club, has a pretty steep membership fee. Do I really need to drop close to a grand for the privilege of bugging people for boat rides, or am I doing it wrong?

[mpickering]

Originally Posted by 5hortBu5

I'd love to get to know some folks at a club and start crewing. I'm just not sure how to go about it. The closest club to me, The Riverton Yacht Club, has a pretty steep membership fee. Do I really need to drop close to a grand for the privilege of bugging people for boat rides, or am I doing it wrong?

I'm finding the club I am looking to get involved with is pretty casual with "walk-on" crew. They hold casual Tuesday night races and people who aren't member of the club show up and offer themselves as crew. Sometimes they get a ride, sometimes they don't. Obviously, a club prefers someone to commit to membership but if you're polite and understand that invitations are at the discretion of the members/owners, you'll probably get to go out fairly regularly.

Contact your local club and ask them if they are ok with you coming out, meeting some folks and helping out. Given that most clubs require you to be sponsored in by existing members anyway, you'll need to go through this process whether or not you ultimately join. I think it is deliberate, a form of filter to weed out casual folks from those who want to be members. Each club culture is different.

Barring that, wander the docks of the local marinas and stop and talk to folks sitting on their boats. Ask what kind of boat it is, how they got started, where the like to sail and so on. Sometimes you'll be invited out.

Join internet groups for specific boats or areas. There are several for the Chesapeake Bay, for example, with owners and non-owners alike. Owners on the group are usually quite willing to bring out non-owners. I did that for years before I owned a boat. The best boat is always someone else's.

There are lots of ways to go about it. A grand is actually pretty cheap for a club membership assuming it doesn't include an initiation fee.

Matt

[F4d3d]

Originally Posted by 5hortBu5

I can count the times I've been sailing on two fingers, but I'm entirely smitten with sailpower.

This made me laugh out loud. Welcome to the club.

[5hortBu5]

Thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I stopped by the local club on the Sunday before last, and chatted some folks up during the 420 round robin they were holding. I got the scoop on the Wednesday races they hold, and folks told me that was the best time to find an empty spot on a boat.

On Wednesdays, they race Lasers, Mariners, J22s and there's an open class for all other private boats. Long story short: I got invited by an exceptionally friendly skipper to crew on his Oday 322, and had a blast manning the jib sheets. I'm definitely going back whenever I can, and soaking up some good stuff.

Oh, and I only whacked my skull on the boom twice

[smackdaddy]

Great job 5hort!

I just copied this to the Salt's thread as a great example of how getting started works.