# dream of cruising



## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Since I can remember I have dream of cruising. Now I’m 45 and feel ready to do it. I have little to no experience as a sailor and would like to hear opinions on where to start, what to read, schools to attend or any other advice an expert sailor would give to a “wannabe” like me.
Thanks!


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## Idiens (Jan 9, 2007)

Read Read Read.

Suggest you start with Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a small income" just to get you really fired up.


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## Freesail99 (Feb 13, 2006)

I think step one would be to take a few sailing lessons and see if sailing is really for you. My son loves to "look" at sailboats but gets sea sick the moment he steps abroad one. You could also offer the crew on someones boat. Join a sailing club.

Fair Winds


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

*Georgef:*
get a boat, lifejacket, radio and go! Depending on where you're at, to go north keep the land on the left, south, right. Get lost, pull over and ask someone.

Although the most complicated sport on earth, we try to complicate it more, when in reality it's really simple. Tune yourself into the weather, water, and adjust accordingly. School is good to learn the terminology, and some techniques, most everything else you can learn yourself, what you learn may be cheap or it may be expensive, the expensive things are the ones you learn best.

Don't let anybody throw dirt on your dream.


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## eryka (Mar 16, 2006)

Read a LOT! I like Tania Aebi's "Maiden Voyage" for inspiring a laidback approach as the previous poster suggests. Or you could go the other (a.k.a. big bux) extreme and do a crewed liveaboard learn-to-sail charter someplace exotic like the BVIs, or slightly less pricey like Chesapeake or Pacific Northwest.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

If you want a taste of the life and to learn how to sail quickly...I would suggest a plane ticket to the virgin islands and a live aboard sailing school on a cruising boat in 10-14 days you can become quite confident in your skills and know more about what you want in the boat YOU buy. 
BVI Sailing School, Swain Sailing British Virgin Islands
Learn To Sail

You don't say if you will be singlehanding, or have crew, or where you will be sailing and where you want to cruise to. For more specific guidance, that would be helpful.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Cool, thank you all! I’m getting the suggested books and certainly appreciate the intuitive approach to learning. I’m the kind that is very comfortable teaching my self but, I feel that there are some big risks associated with making mistakes far and away from any coast guard. I feel very confident about developing the skills for piloting a cruiser but would like to minimize as much as possible my lack of experience…so….a couple more questions:
Where would you put more effort in the theory part? Weather or navigation? What do you think are the riskiest part and how do you prepare for them and finally, I live in southern cal, very close to the marinas in Oxnard and Ventura. Most of the sailing schools I found on the web are associated with fractional boat ownership thus I feel that there main business is not to teach and yes to sell me a boat, any suggestions/referrals of a school/instructor?
Again, I sincerely appreciate your answers
Thanks!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

*Georgef,* why didn't you say you lived here close to me! I'm in Channel Islands Harbor.

This area is the most demanding of any sailing in the world. There's more boats lost between Pt. Conception and Ma. Del Rey than any place on earth. Reasons, people with money, but no brains.

PM me, and we can hook up and I'll take you sailing and give you enough to get you going. Even though some dispicable dock rats on this forum have characterized my Hardin as no faster than driftwood, (even though they don't know how driftwood moves around here).

DON'T go to any of the schools around here. Money pits, I managed one of them part time til I became so fed up with their crap that I said so-long. You're better off chartering- I know a great captain, that will give you everything you need to feel comfortable at sea. The only problem is that he has a Catalina 36.

I'll let you buy me dinner at the Whales Tail during happy hour and talk about it, OK


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Idiens said:


> Read Read Read.
> 
> Suggest you start with Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a small income" just to get you really fired up.


Crew, crew, crew. Join a boat club and go racing on weeknights in the summer. Prepared to be yelled at by junior Captain Blighs, but it's still a great way (and cheap!) to learn. Offer to crew on cruises with older couples who might need help docking/anchoring/going up the mast.


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## bestfriend (Sep 26, 2006)

ianhlnd said:


> I'll let you buy me dinner at the Whales Tail during happy hour and talk about it, OK


Just don't agree to pose for any photos.

Hey Cam, those are great links. I think the admiral may go for something like that to learn how to sail. Thanks!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

It's too bad you are way down there. If you were up in Toronto you could meet me at the yard on Saturday and learn the whole process from fairing the keel, through cleaning the hull, polishing, dumping the freeze out of the engine, flushing the water tanks and scrubbing down the head...  I think it's very important that you get a true and COMPLETE picture of the boating life - it's not all fair winds and pretty girls...


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## bestfriend (Sep 26, 2006)

I can see it now....."make sure you get that sanded real smooth now, and my ice is melting."


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Sailormann said:


> It's too bad you are way down there. If you were up in Toronto you could meet me at the yard on Saturday and learn the whole process from fairing the keel, through cleaning the hull, polishing, dumping the freeze out of the engine, flushing the water tanks and scrubbing down the head...  I think it's very important that you get a true and COMPLETE picture of the boating life - it's not all fair winds and pretty girls...


The sanding is taking forever since someone accidentally used Marinetex for a fairing compound...  Probably not the best person to be using as an example to follow.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

cool, many thanks. I will let you know when possible and if works for you we hook up... no cameras ok? ;-)


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Thank you for the link, clearly a great way to start...will investigate further


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

not a problem, not sure how happy you'll be w/the results...anyway...are you sure that "it's not all fair winds and pretty girls...?"...oh well...sigh


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Combining the thoughts of a few of the wise old greybeards of sailnet.

SAIL - If you havn't done any then get out there and do it. Rent a boat for a day, take a charter holiday, but sail. Funnily enough even the gales at sea when you are dreaming about them don't seem to have the same impact as the real thing. As you say yourself it's not all beer and skittles and while I have no desire to dampen your enthusiasm it's amazing how a few hours in a wet damp cold cockpit can do just that. It's real easy to love sailing when it's sunny, 10-15 knots and calm seas. It's not so easy to love it when you are cold wet and miserable. BTW if you don't feel confident enough to take out a sailing boat on charter then rent a cruiser for a few days. It will still give you a taste of the world aquatic. 

OBSERVE - Get yourself down to your local yard and just sit and watch a few of the folk cleaning and painting. Get an idea of what it's like to be covered head to toe in the dust of sanded antifoul. Imagine the fun times you are going to have when it's your turn to slip your own little ship. 

THINK - Are you planning on a "do it upper" ? If so try and get on board something and go and spend an hour crouched down under the cockpit or in the lazarette. Got lots of money and thinking of buying something new or almost new ? Even on the newest and the brightest little ship something is going to go wrong when there is no one around but you to crawl up behind the engine to try and fix a leaking stuffing box.

I am not trying to dissuade you merely open your eyes. Amazingly there are those of us who quite enjoy the scrapping and the painting. There are those of us who quite enjoy being wet cold and miserable, cos on occasions it can be quite invigorating, in fact there is little in this world that gets the soul a humming like finally dropping anchor in a nice quiet bay after a dirty run down the coast. Dinner on the BBQ, rum at hand, your favourite person by your side as we sing sing sing "Oh he's a lumberjack...oh sorry wrong sketch.  The sheer unbridled joy of a freezing cold morning when you slide back the hatch and sit watching the mist rise off the water or a slow steady rain falling. (hee hee, then get in the dinghy and row the dog to shore so it can have a crap and you can get nice and soggy.) It's all good. There is nothing so much worth doing as the Water Rat famously mused. But it's not for everyone thank christ and finding out you are one of the "yeah nice but it's not for me crowd" after you have just dumped a hundred grand or so on your dreamboat would be a shame, a shame that has happened to thousands of other before you. 

On the other hand yet again, if the first time you take the tiller and feel that living beautiful thing lean into the wind and accelerate away on a nice beam reach, you cannot get the smile of your dial then you my friend are hooked. Hooked into something that is surpassed by very little on this troubled old world we inhabit. 

Good Luck.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Well said fuzzy wombat... Unfortunately, too many magazines glorify the cruising lifestyle without showing the reality of it. It isn't all sipping mai-tais and watching a beautiful sunset at a remote anchorage. 

Even on a new boat, you're going to be modifying the way it is setup, fixing things as they break, doing preventative maintenance on things, and you'd be surprised at how much time all of that takes up. 

Of course, inspecting and maintaining the bits and pieces of your boat earn you points for the black box... and if you take care of your boat, it is far more likely that she will take care of you when the weather goes really bad and you're too far from shore to make it in safely....


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## Idiens (Jan 9, 2007)

Valiente said:


> Crew, crew, crew.


He said he wanted to go cruising, you are suggesting race training, which requires crew, crew, crew (or be-yelled-at, be-yelled-at, be-yelled-at - 'cos that's what they do to be fast and hard - and win. (Ian's got the best idea, meet some friendly sailing people first).


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## sailortjk1 (Dec 20, 2005)

When did they furry marsupial become so intelligent?


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

It's all the rum that Sea Angel has been feeding him...


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I hear you and I'm very aware of the greatest risk, finding out you are not that person and asking your self "what m i doing here???" 
That's why I'm going trough a lot of investigation before I spend a dime. I use to sail "penguin class" as a kid down in Uruguay and actually enjoing being wet and miserable in the cold winter days in the south atlantic, the main differenc _ i have to admit _ is that now I'm a 45...and very spoiled. BTW I cannot go to wild since my main partner here is my 10 years old son,my wife and youngest already bailed out....to bad for them! I'm not going to my grave without giving this a fair chance!


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Idiens said:


> He said he wanted to go cruising, you are suggesting race training, which requires crew, crew, crew (or be-yelled-at, be-yelled-at, be-yelled-at - 'cos that's what they do to be fast and hard - and win. (Ian's got the best idea, meet some friendly sailing people first).


I'm saying "crew-crew-crew" for the most instructive and rapid way to acquire the real-life skills every cruiser needs, particularly for boat and sail handling. He can offer to crew for cruisers on the weekends or holidays, by honestly saying "I have crewed at these positions in these many races on these types of boat", and therefore let them decide whether he's going to be a help or a hindrance.

Same with racing captains: Pick one that lets you cycle through the five or six critical positions on a race boat: grinder, tailer, foredeck/bowman, helm, mainsheet, tactician and/or navigator. Sail as much as possible and, after a few races, in challenging conditions. This will ingrain good habits of seamanship and will allow you to get the most out of whatever boat you get, even if it's a not-particularly-weatherly tub.

I raced for five years and loved it without necessarily wanting to do it myself (except maybe for a "cruiser" type race). I feel now quite relaxed in most conditions..._because I've been in most conditions_...(race skippers HATE to have a race called off due to heavy weather! They see 35 knots as "an opportunity", right, Giu?).

Racing has immensely enhanced my cruising, and made me notice that a lot of cruisers are strictly fair-weather (which is fine) and some who've had the same boat for years don't quite know how to sail them. That's fine, too...for fair-weather sailing.


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## skrap1r0n (Mar 6, 2007)

I recently started sailing. Purchases my first boat a few months back and took it put, having never sailed, only reading about it. I read Chapman Piloting: Seamanship & Boat Handling front to back at least 5 or 6 times in the last 10 years, as well as a lot of other stuff.

Having never done it before, you cannot imagine how nervous I was the first time I pulled on the main halyard. A minute or two later, I cut the engine and raised the Genoa. Hearing that sail pop when it filled was more than enough to know I was finally doing something I needed.

This was the first step toward my dream of cruising. I still need to do as much crewing as possible, as well as take some certification classes, but this is year 1 of a 10 year plan.


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## ref_123 (Mar 12, 2003)

*SB Sailing Center*

Georgef, check the Santa Barbara Sailing Center. Great facility, good instructors. In a week or so you'll be a confident bareboater . It is both a school and a club. They also have charter boats where you can live while you learn. "Social" club sailing programs are great there, too.

Welcome To The Santa Barbara Sailing Center : Boat Rentals, Coastal, Sunset, Dinner & Whale Watching Cruises, Bareboat Charters, Channel Islands, Sailing School, And Much Much More!

Note that I have no business association with them, too . Just like the school and the club.

Regards,
Stanly


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## Cruisingdad (Jul 21, 2006)

Hi Georgef,

Here are some thoughts:

1) Cruising is great. Cruising with a family is awesome. You have to get the wife and kiddos on board (both figuratively and literraly). Without them, it is just different scenery.

2) I have sailed out of Oxnard, Catalina Island, and SD. It is a nice area. Nice marinas. Lots of places to go and learn and still be challeneged. I would tell you to do something that sounds really wierd, but is fun and I think the whole family would enjoy (hopefully): Go to some boat shows!! Go sit on boats, walk on boats, talk to salesman and owners. Sit down below on a few of them and imagine yourself cruising. Get the dream into your wife and kids too.

3) As far as sailing schools, I honestly am not a huge fan of them. Two books that no boat should be without are Chapmans Piloting and Annapolis Book of Seamanship. If you really are hooked, you will read them from back to front.

4) As far as the better waste of money (haha), spend it on chartering or trips to boats versus courses. Take your wife and kids on a crewed boat (chartering). If you do not like it in the islands on vacation, you sure won't like it living aboard (though I would take me on my boat over ANY crewed boat... but you get the picture).

5) Hang around here and ask questions.

6) Crewing on a racer is not a bad idea. As a cruiser, it will teach you the n'th degree of trimming sails... but when you do cruise, you really won't care that much as long as they are decently trimmed. However, I doubt the wife will care much for it. The kids might.

7) Be prepared for the very high cos of boat ownership and boat purchase. Better budget in the low 6 figures pretty easily.

You will love cruising. Like SD said, it is not all drinks and sunsets, but it is beautiful. You will become closer to your family and naure than you could imagine possible. It is beautiful, here is a taste....

- CD


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

TJ - That's merely a scurrilous rumour. No truth in it whatsoever.

Sway - Could be the Rum I guess, could well be.

CD - That was just an excuse to post another picture of your BBQ wasn't it ?


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