01-09-2011
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Maine
Posts: 193
Rep Power: 2
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Frustrated from Maine
Hi all,
New to this forum but not entirely new to sailing. I am a twice seasoned sailor, as in I've sailed for two seasons. Some would say "GOSH! That's hardly enough to get yer rudder wet!" Yeah, there is that. Here's my story:
A couple of years ago, my youngest approaching 16 1/2, I asked him what he'd like to do as a father-son thing because we really didn't do that much stuff together. He said that he enjoyed sailing on Bageerah (a charter schooner out of Portland, Maine) with his grandfather so I said "Let's by a boat!" For a month we looked online, then I finally grew a spine and broke the news to my lovely bride. I'm not sure which reality I'm trapped in but she said (and I DO quote) "That sounds like fun!" (Pinch me) So we looked for another month and found two boats of interest: a Precision 23 (I think) and a Lancer 25. We skipped church one Sunday and checked them both out. The Lancer was, by size, twice the boat for 2 additional feet. So we sat in the cockpit and I laid out the issues with the bigger boat. We would have to by a bigger, more specialized trailer, a truck to pull it (both in less than a month) and hey, no body knew how to sail. Again, my son the instigator said "Go big or go home!". We went big. A month later, I had purchased a trailer, modified it to fit the boat, borrowed a truck, been south of Boston 8 times for boat issues and spent hours on the phone. On December 12, 2008, we went to retrieve our baby. That trip went without a hitch. No, no, I had a hitch! It went fine! (Gees!)
Since then we've taken Sailing and Seamanship classes and sailed about 30 times for a total of around 750 miles. It has been a blast. We've been in dead calm with nothing but the outboard to 8 foot seas that we literally surfed on. We've awaken to the gentle sway of the waves and had coffee in the cockpit, with the rolling surf in one ear and reeling gulls in the other. Nuthin' like it! We've also had many mishaps, which I may post later.
Fair Winds
Don
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