[Titan1969]

I happen to be on Grand Haven beach Wednesday night and spotted 9 sailboats doing drills...or so it appeared.

North, sails into the wind, run down sails-release spinnaker, back south, turn back north and repeat. Very cool to see...had a lot of people on beach watching.:thewave:

p.s. tried to use my camera phone to post pic...but to poor of quality

 

[TheSeaPenguin]

Sounds like the Grand River Sailing Club - I know they had a race this past wed: Race Schedule

 

[gauldk]

That is GRSC, we race every Wednesday. If you are interested in being aboard one of the boats, let me know. There's always a boat with available crewing opportunities!

 

[Moon Man]

Would anyone out there take on crew with only dinghy and cat experience? I want to learn the bigger boats before I buy one.

I am in shape, listen well and work hard.

I have sailed mostly Lasers and 6 Meter Nacra Cats. Just main and jib.

 

[gauldk]

Hey Moon Man, there is certainly crewing opportunities available for the GRSC races! There are two ways you could consider getting involved.

Last year began a "Monday Night Lights" racing series where it's more of a practice race for crews to hone their skills and to introduce new sailors to the thrills of racing. Its a bring your kids, neighbor, coworker type of series and perfect for new sailors.

The second way would be to join a crew for the Wednesday races, these races are the normal races where the crews get pretty competitive. Lots of fun and it gets your heart rate up.

The schedule of races is here: grandriversailingclub.com/grscrace.html

For more info, contact the race committee guys:
Dick S. dseyffer at iserv.net
Jim M. jmul1235 at gmail.com

 

[Moon Man]

Hey Moon Man, there is certainly crewing opportunities available for the GRSC races! There are two ways you could consider getting involved.

Last year began a "Monday Night Lights" racing series where it's more of a practice race for crews to hone their skills and to introduce new sailors to the thrills of racing. Its a bring your kids, neighbor, coworker type of series and perfect for new sailors.

The second way would be to join a crew for the Wednesday races, these races are the normal races where the crews get pretty competitive. Lots of fun and it gets your heart rate up.

The schedule of races is here: grandriversailingclub.com/grscrace.html

For more info, contact the race committee guys:
Dick S. dseyffer at iserv.net
Jim M. jmul1235 at gmail.com

Thanks for the reply, I will reach out to Dick and Jim. Monday nights sound like a good start. I love moving fast and love competition (of the healthy kind), but I wouldn't want to be tripping anyone up in a race.

Cheers!

Do you have any advice for someone new to big boats? Any rules of the road I should know? It feels pretty strange to be asking strangers for a ride on their pride and joy, but after reading the forums it seems that in some places finding people that show up on time and listen can be tough for a skipper.

 

[gauldk]

Your comment about finding someone who can show up, work hard and listen is true so if you can do both then you are putting yourself at the front of the pack.
Each boat is a little different and each crew has variations in their methods. Just pay attention, familiarize yourself with the boat, locate all the lines/sheets/winches and ask questions.

I am not a boat owner either and was just a guy looking to join a crew. That's how I got hooked up with GRSC. A friend and I joined the club and have been active and contributing members since. That has probably helped earned the trust of the skippers and earned the invitations to crew for them. If you follow a similar path, I'm sure you will be welcomed aboard too.

Sales pitch: $100 a year membership gets you access to tons of skilled sailors to learn from, access to boats, Lake Michigan, a clubhouse with prime Grand Haven location and amazing people. Try and beat that!

 

[Moon Man]

Your comment about finding someone who can show up, work hard and listen is true so if you can do both then you are putting yourself at the front of the pack.
Each boat is a little different and each crew has variations in their methods. Just pay attention, familiarize yourself with the boat, locate all the lines/sheets/winches and ask questions.

I am not a boat owner either and was just a guy looking to join a crew. That's how I got hooked up with GRSC. A friend and I joined the club and have been active and contributing members since. That has probably helped earned the trust of the skippers and earned the invitations to crew for them. If you follow a similar path, I'm sure you will be welcomed aboard too.

Sales pitch: $100 a year membership gets you access to tons of skilled sailors to learn from, access to boats, Lake Michigan, a clubhouse with prime Grand Haven location and amazing people. Try and beat that!

So I should sign up as a member in order to crew right?

 

[gauldk]

Talk to Dick and Jim, if there are boats looking for crew for the Monday night series then they would be able to tell you.

There is no written rule that you have to be a member to race with the club although if you continue to participate, it would be courteous to pay the dues so that you can support the program that made sailing accessible. Maybe come for a few races and if you are having a good time, consider joining!

 

[JulieMor]

Was anyone out yesterday? We sailed out of Holland yesterday afternoon and were treated to a great sail!

 

[Barquito]

We are across the lake in Milwaukee. We were planning on getting the boat out for the first sail of the year on Sunday. However, it was blowing constant 20 kt with higher gusts. Too high for us to try to figure out our messed up rigging. We need one of those perfect 8-10 kt days (on a weekend)!

 

[JulieMor]

We left the Holland channel around 3. Winds were about 12 knots. We got out a few miles and they were pushing 20 so we reefed and that made the ride a lot smoother. We were in a Jeanneau 379 but there were a lot of smaller boats out there too. We got back around 5.

The only time I've sailed out of Michigan is when heading to or coming back from Mackinac Island. It's a little different experience than sailing out of Chicago.