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Gainesville, Georgia - Fantasy Sailing

850 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  WanderingStar 
#1 ·
Hello Everyone - Glad that I found this site (much to the dismay of the Boss Lady).

I live in Gainesville, Georgia now surrounded by Lake Lanier and at the present I am without a boat. For about the last three months, I have been reading all that I can about sailing and have even been fantasizing about how when I retire, I plan on having a boat somewhere on the coast that the wife and I can sail the coast of Florida and maybe even to the keys. You see the wife is extremely fond of the beach and being that I detest spending large sums of hard earned money to live in someone elses house or in some hotel for a week or two so that we can walk out onto white sandy beaches, I think having a sailboat that we could anchor near these areas is a great compromise, just not sure how exactly she will adjust to addressing me as Admiral (haha).

I have been around water most of my life, Southern Florida as a teenager with a John boat and 8hp which I navigated the ICW with from the bow using my weight to steer. I know, not the safest boating practice, but hey, I was a teenager - and what can you tell a teenager about life that they don't already know. Anyways I survived. Although, once I had a pretty hostile encounter with the Marine Patrol, who thought my John was overloaded (he was right), and he took the opportunity to educate me about how he could make my life miserable for awhile. Of course, I listened to him, he had a gun and the threat of contacting my Mother, (could have been worse than the gun). He settled for off loading my crew and following me back to the dock. Glad he knew that he had impacted my life that day and decided to leave it at that.

I have since spent eight years in the US Navy, although that was on the aviation side of the house. I did take the opportunity to do some sailing on a day sailer with an old salt, who showed me the ropes, but have since forgotten most of what he taught me. For some strange reason, lately, I have this burn inside of me to find a boat and cast off. I do plan on attending some classes to knock the rust off and learn all that I can about seamanship and boat handling.

When and if I find the right boat, my days will be spent on sailing Lake Lanier and maybe some other lakes around (if the boat is trailerable). My goal however is to be able to sail the coast of Florida and enjoy retirement, whenever that gets here. It's good to have dreams, just hope I never have to order the wife walk the plank.

If anyone needs crew in the Gainesville Georgia area, I would be interested in exchange for the knowledge.

By the way, Great Introductions by the MODS.

Take Care,

Douglas:hothead
 
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