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What was your first sailboat and how old were you?
I was 13. My parents had a ski boat on a nearby lake in Michigan. I got tired of waiting for my next turn at skiing so I "designed" and built a sailboat from a 4 x 6 piece of plywood with two styrofoam surfboards tied to the bottom. Mast and boom was 2 x 2 with piece of plastic drop cloth for a sail. Had centerboard and rudder from scrap lumber. Sailed all over the lake and could even go to windward (amazing now that I think back). Got lots of looks and some encouraging remarks.
Ron
My father bought my brothers and I a Fred Scott designed FORCE 5 in the late seventies. Still have it today and will teach my kids on it. What a fun boat, glad WEEKS boat yard kept it going.
I was 12 or 13. We had an old clunker of a boat somebody had built. This was definitely not a production boat. 14 foot. My Dad, brother and I put a mast and rudder, leeboards, and an aluminum mast on it. We made some sails out of some old heavy cotton. It was a pig, but fun and almost impossible to capsize.
A couple of years later we built an OK dinghy. The clunker went back to being and outboard.
I got an poorly maintained embassy ( A Malta university project development class based on the mirror dinghy) upon joining the Vikings Sailing Club back in 93.
Spent a whole winter doing it up and a summer pottering around- it got me addicted to sailing ever since.
Still have it Don't sail her much, haven't sailed it at all in the last year actually. I think mirror sailors will always be mirror sailors. I love those boats
At age 10, my first boat was 8' wooden pram, would row a mile to the local yatch club on windy days to bum rides on lightning class boats. Since someone was always looking for a little extra ballast. Some day I said I would get a sailboat, and at age 23 I did, an O'Day 22. Now 35 yrs later I just purchased "Someday II", a Laguna 24.
I bought a derelict 29 foot King's Cruiser for a dollar with the promise of launching and leaving the yard in 1 month.The boat had been hauled for 10 years. That was 25 years ago and I still haven't learned.{ask my wife}
12' Beetle Cat to race when I was 12. Great boat, there was a big fleet and we had a great time. That was 42 years ago, time flies when you're having fun.
Been through a few more since. Still have a Harpoon 5.2 for lake sailing, a 9' Roberts slalom board that rips on big wind days, and a Hinckley SW-42 for cruising with the family.
Learned to sail when I was 16 and a counselor at a boy's camp in Canada, had a blast on that cold lake.
Bought my first sailboat at 25 (1974), a Lido 14 for just $400. She was old and had a fouled bottom with some plant growing from the centerboard trunk. I got a trailer for her and fixed her up and sold her that fall for $1200. Bought a used Clipper 21 for $1500 ($300 more) and sailed that for a few years and then bought a Seafarer 22' in 1978. Sailed her for 29 years and bought an '81 Catalina 27 winter of 07. I sail her all the time. I will be 60 in February and I am sure my family is giving me a "big boat" for my birthday (but I am not holding my breath!)
Bought my first boat in '97 in my early 30s. 29' Mariner sloop, fin keel. Nice boat. Sailed it for 7 or 8 years, then upgraded to a 46' full keel ketch. Now I'm stuck on double-masted, full keel vessels -- wont be going back.
1985 Hunter 23. My husband and I were about 25 when we bought it. The interior was in rough shape and with the help of my father-in-law we were able to give Little Wing a face lift. We are now selling the Hunter and are trying to upgrade to an Endeavour 40.
My first boat was this little guy, a Mac Dinghy (but not by Mac Boats--this one has tags indicating a J.L. McReynolds Company in Pittsburgh, PA), which I purchased used for $400 this summer. I learned to sail on it in St. Martin Bay (Michigan) on Lake Huron while on vacation. I carried it on top of our car. Now it's looking for a new home so that we can get an O'Day 25.
[edit: forgot to add my age at the time of purchase: 30.]
Just purchased the first boat 4 months ago (age 35) - a Tartan 28. Learning to own/maintain versus learning to sail are 2 very different subjects! Regardless, it has been an incredible experience with my new weekly motto of "Work to Sail"....
My first, and only boat so far is my little Clipper Marine swing keel 21' "SOLO"
I payed a whooping $0.00 for her. It took 4 years of relentless pestering, but I talked my room mate in to signing her over to me.
( ME."your never gonna use that boat, Just sign it over to me and I'll fix her up"
HIM. "Some day I'll fix her up"
ME. "When?" "Why dont we just put her in the water and see if she floats?"
HIM. "You dont even have a tuck to pull it with."
ME. "So?" "If I had a boat I'll bet I could find some one to pull it for me"
After a few years of that, One morning he walks out with a pile of paper work and says... "Here's your stupid boat"
We were on the water two weeks later......
That was last summer at the ripe old age of 29
She had not seen water in ten years, and was sitting all said and unused with no cover, full of leaves and spiders.
Here is a shot of her just getting to her new home. In dire need of a bath and lots of TLC.
Last year, I bought a well used Cal20 at the age of 40. The boat was one year younger than me. She's got tired sails, but points well and will keep with bigger boats. I wouldn't call her fast, but she's fun!
My first sailboat was a 14 foot Hobie. I was 18 and the first time out on her was my first time out on a sailboat. Left the dock in a calm returned with the lids blowing off the garbage cans. WHAT A RUSH!
14 yrs old. 12 foot sunfish at boy scout auction for $161 lol
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