Who started out as a Sailor?

[rad1026]

My father in law was a Navy man. Commander to be exact. Pilot who served on the USS Constellation. Five girls and no boys. I got the best of the five. He taught his girls how to sail a Laser when they were kids. My wife and I sailed that Laser every weekend and loved being out on the water and camping in a tent on the beach. Our honeymoon was spent in San Diego and we rented a Hobie 16 for a day out on Mission Bay. We were astounded by the power and speed of that boat. 16' of hull and a 26' mast. Lots of sail. When we got back to New Mexico we found a Hobie 14 turbo and grabbed it up. We sailed that little boat for a couple years to figure out what a jib does and how you tack and jibe a multi-hull boat. What a blast. Then we moved up to a Hobie 16 and joined the local Hobie fleet. We started racing the local sanctioned regattas. That's where we really learned. Our local Memorial Day Regatta was held at Heron Lake, NM. One of the longest running Hobie regattas in the nation at the time. Typical Memorial Day at Heron would be water temps in the 40's to 50's, air temp 60 on a warm day, or snowing, you just never knew. One thing you did know, you didn't want to go in the water. Our first race there were over 30 boats in our class, wind was gusting to 35. The start line was madness. We made a ton of mistakes, and have the scars to prove it, but we didn't crash and that's how you learn.

We didn't get our first power boat until 2006. A 1989 Chaparral 2100SX. Beautiful boat that I kept immaculate to the day we sold her just this year. Growing up in Southern California we spent our summers at the beach, but I didn't get on a boat until I was 15 when one of my gymnastics teammates invited me to Lake Havasu with his family. I loved it from the minute I sat down on that little ski boat. Still love the smell of two stroke on the water at first light when you jump in to ski the glass.

My kids were on the Hobie Cat before they could walk. They learned how to water ski and wakeboard and pull and retrieve the old man. More good times.

So now the old Chaparral is gone and the AR240 has our attention. We still have the Laser and the Hobie. We don't sail as much as I would like, pretty much on my birthday anymore. I get to choose and that's what I will choose until I can't do it anymore. Last year the wind was nuclear and I was nervous, but the old man can still sheet the main and fly a hull. I love the feel of the wind on my face and the knowledge of how to use it.

Anyone else start out as a Sailor?

 

[zipper]

I did not start out as one and until 4 years ago I had never been on a sailboat, except the USS Constitution. We bought our second sailboat first, 3 years ago, a 91' 35' Beneteau. A year later we bought a little 14' ODay Javelin w/ a trailer to sail places we cannot with the big boat. A lot of fun.
This is our story... https://jetboaters.net/threads/we-have-been-looking-to-add-to-our-boating-options.15561/

 

[rad1026]

A big dream of mine to sail on a larger rig. I will make that happen soon. I love your Beneteau!

 

[BigT51]

I had a Hobie 16 for 10 years in my younger days (before getting married and having 4 kids), even raced in the Hobie Nationals in Cape May, NJ. I spent many hours flying a hull, wearing a butt bucket while hanging on the wire over the water. A lot of great memories - I loved that boat. I ended up trading it for a Chris Craft Supersport. I've also crewed on a 41 ft Kirby racing out of the Buffalo Harbor Sailing Club on Lake Erie, that was a blast as well. Every Wednesday evening they would have class racing and get more than 200 boats out on the water. We would stop off at Shooters in the harbor after the races. A lot of great memories there as well. Retirement is about 10 years out and I keep telling the wife we're going to get back into sailing. For now, we love the Yamaha - it's one of the few things the entire family enjoys and it enables us to spend time together which is the best part.

 

[rad1026]

My son turned out to be a much larger man then me. At only 5'6" my wife and I had a hard time making weight for class races, and a harder time righting the rig if it went over. We could do it, but it wasn't easy. Its really fun to sail with the boy now as he is 6' and all muscle. We can push pretty hard and not worry about getting launched. With him out on the wire we can take some pretty heavy wind. I'm getting older now too and can't move as fast on the tramp as I would like to and its nice to have a crew that can take up the slack. And really, just the position on that trampoline is hard on the back, knees, shoulders. It takes a toll on us old guys. I really want to sail a larger boat. You guys from back east have probably never been to Lake Powell on the Arizona/Utah border, but it is one of the most stunning landscapes anywhere in the world. I want to spend much more time on Lake Powell in a nice sailboat. I think that would be a worthwhile adventure. Retirement is only two years out for me and that's my plan. That and having the Yamaha on Lake Havasu.

 

[BigT51]

I hear Powell is incredible, would love to go there some day. Around these parts, the Chesapeake Bay is the big draw for sailing and there's a lot of beautiful sailboats that cruise its waters. If you venture down by Annapolis and the Naval Academy, you'll likely see some tall ships out on the water - the midshipman still train on them. Once I was on the bay and had to give way to the USS Constellation, still bearing cannons on the broadside. That's an intimidating site and even if I didn't have to give way, I would of anyway.

 

[rad1026]

We were in San Diego vacationing many years ago when the Constellation was in port. My father in law decided to take us down to the ship and see if we could get a tour. There was a table with a couple of sailors sitting at the gang plank. When he showed his Navy ID both guys stood to attention and saluted in haste. He requested a tour of the ship and one of them ran up the gang plank and promptly came back with the Public Relations officer. We saw a lot more of the ship then most people would see, including the tactical room where my father in law would plan the sortie missions. That was pretty cool. My wife grew up around the Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk Virginia. We have old pictures of my Father in law and mother in law on the training ships when they would let the officers take their families sailing. How she wound up with me instead of some Navy officer I'll never know, but its been a great 40 years.

 

[motomandan]

I was in the business and owned a Marine Service Company for many years. Spent most of my career working on high Tech Racing Sailing Yachts. I have always love any kind of boating. I still have my Sailboat and our FSH 210

 

[rad1026]

I may have to make a trip back east and see if I can hitch a ride with one of you guys.

 

[PEARCE]

Growing up my parents had a 22' O'Day cabin sailboat. There was room to sleep 4 and it had a sink and alcohol stove for a galley and a cassette toilet for when nature called. It wasn't the fastest, but it was the safest. You could go out in the heaviest of wind and sail her. She could NOT be turned over! We could, and did, drown the winches and she'd keep right on going. My Dad named her Slighride, and that she was. It was trailerable and my parents would take it to the Mississippi/Alabama Gulf coast, since we lived in Jackson at the time, usually about once a year. I only got to go once after my parents split. I was 13/14 at the time. We sailed in Mobile Bay and went up the Intercoastal a ways. It was a trip I'll never forget.

 

[Zizzou 192]

in the past...
I have sailed rc sailboats, mini fish, sunfish, laser, hobie tandem sail kayak, hobie holder 12, and spent a single day on an oday 17.

Got tired of scheduling “crew” to put up with the “wet” mostly car top boats and dancing around wind forecasts, let alone putting together and taking apart and lifting to the top of the car. Fun, yes. Pain in the ass yes as well. The day of physical recovery.

The Yamaha ‘19 sits in the slip under a cover ready to go, and can operate in a much wider range of conditions and carry 8 landlubbers or more on holidays. It’s not even a real boat, but a near idiot proof 8 person waverunner.

Still have the sail kayak and may put a sail on my 8’ zodiac someday just to be foolhardy, or get the old wetsuit on and try a cheap windsurfer.

 

[four_the_kids]

We're going way back in time, 14 years old at summer camp (BSA) working on my sailing merit badge with a sunfish sailboat, canoeing and motor boating all the same year, sailing was the first of the three.

 

[marcham]

Raced Laser II nationally in my teens, along with some club racing on J24. Lots of day sailing on hobie cats, 24 to 27ft sailboats and chartering 35-45ft sailboats BC West Coast, Carribean and Martha's Vineyard.

These days, I kind of like getting where I want to be, spend the day and then zoom back home at 30mph.... I can see in 1 day what would take me 5 or 7 on the sailboat...

My time is more valuable, and my daughter will be a teenager soon.... gotta make the most of each day.

 

[Dfred]

Here’s cheers to sailing! Started as a little kid with a Sunfish..... and now my son fell in love also with it for the chill and challenge of the wind (in this pic, he’s taking the Admiral out for a sunset sail).

Blessed to have spent much of a lifetime cruising and crewing a bunch on our Cat 27, or friends C&C, etc. in vacations and regattas. My brother’s family moved from the Catalina and is now set up on a beautiful Morgan - I can’t wait to crew.

Our live-aboard Bayliner 40’, with a 14’ RIB tender toy, gave way eventually to our Yamaha AR210. Something we can tow! ... Just need to figure out how to get the Sunfish and the AR210 on the same trailer, any ideas? (we have car-topped the Sunfish).

 

[rad1026]

Some great memories on sailboats. I love it!