# Hello, don't know the first thing about sailing, except that I'm interested



## Trey_Smith (Dec 5, 2020)

Hi All,

I came here looking for a community that I can learn from to get informed and hopefully get into the sailing lifestyle. I've been thinking about it off and on for years, and my family is now in a position where we can really start moving towards that goal. I'm hoping to meet welcoming people either at my experience level or with greater experience that I can network with. Based out of Texas right now, family of 5, wife and I are in our thirties, and that's about it!

-Trey


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Welcome Aboard. You have come to the right place.


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## Skipper Jer (Aug 26, 2008)

Welcome, so what do you want to know, what questions do you have and how soon do you want to go sailing?


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## BarryL (Aug 21, 2003)

Hi,

Welcome to Sailnet! 

How close to the water are you? Have you ever been on a sailboat? What sort of sailing are you thinking of? You can go for a simple day sail in nice weather, a weekend or longer cruise, some casual racing, or any combination.

Barry


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

Good to have you aboard. Are you ready to take some lessons? Thinking about buying a boat to learn on? Lakes, Gulf?


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## SanderO (Jul 12, 2007)

Interest is a motivator.... what exactly interests you?


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## jb cruzan (May 24, 2015)

Congrats and welcome!


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## contrarian (Sep 14, 2011)

Sailboats are a lot like killer rabbits.....


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## Trey_Smith (Dec 5, 2020)

Hi All, thanks for your responses.

I live close to some lakes that are popular for sailing around here, and I plan on taking lessons soon. Wife and I had planned on it this summer but COVID happened and she got pregnant so we put it off, but there's no time like the present, though it may just be me there.

Our sailing interests in the short term involve day sailing maybe out on the lake, but we have been talking more and more seriously about full-timing with our family eventually, If we end up really liking it. She and I did travel around briefly in my travel trailer and lived in it, so living alternative to the mainstream isn't unique to us, but doing so with a family would be! 

As far as buying, I plan to purchase something like a starter boat and go from there, once I'm sure that sailing is for me and want to really do on a regular basis. So pretty much as green as it gets!

What do I want to know? I guess any general advice, suggestions, or recommendations... Nothing specific yet really. 

-Trey


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## Trey_Smith (Dec 5, 2020)

SanderO said:


> Interest is a motivator.... what exactly interests you?


Sorry, just realized I didn't answer this.

I suppose primarily the freedom. And the sea is in some ways, the last frontier. Not to get too poetic about it, but our ancestors navigated it using the wind and doing the same will be a way of connecting. Also I really enjoy fishing so there's that.


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## emcentar (Apr 28, 2009)

Welcome! I was once you, took my first trip on a sailboat in my 30s and was like 'how do I get into this'? Seemed like everyone in sailing was either young and raised on sailboats or an old salt who had been sailing for 40 years.

There's a couple of good ways to get started, none mutually exclusive:

Take a weekend basic sailing course, somewhere nearby that will let graduates of the course take out boats themselves to practice (I took this course here, Adult Basic Course | Belle Haven Marina and rented their Flying Scotts for about 5 years before buying a boat) 
Join a local sailing club. This is a great option to get into sailing with not a lot of money, and you'll meet other locals to sail with.
Buy a boat. Honestly, I only bought my boat because I really wanted to start cruising, after years of just day sailing rivers and lakes. If I'd wanted to get into racing instead, I would have started crewing races instead.
Crew local races. Good way to build up skills, and to get to sail a lot of different boats. But fun mileage can vary with the captain.
Good luck!


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Trey_Smith said:


> Sorry, just realized I didn't answer this.
> 
> I suppose primarily the freedom. And the sea is in some ways, the last frontier. Not to get too poetic about it, but our ancestors navigated it using the wind and doing the same will be a way of connecting. Also I really enjoy fishing so there's that.


It is the same for me. 
Emcentar offered some good options above.
In places like Corpus Cristi you will find sailing schools that will offer keel boat/bareboat skippers courses that are "captained" (meaning they include a certified captain and sailing instructor). They often include classes of 4 or five people and include classroom and on board instruction. These schools will often put together packages to fit your specific needs.

I did mine in Vancouver Canada. It was a week long charter with a liveaboard captain/instructor. They sent me the Canadian Sailing Association study guide, and I did my "classroom" work as self study in the weeks leading up to my week charter (with some of it done as cramming on the plane flight there). The course covered the equivalent of ASA 101, ASA103,and ASA104. On my charter we did sailing, docking, anchoring, mooring, safety drills etc. I requested a female instructor so my wife might feel more comfortable.

You could probably find a school that would put together an instructional package for your whole family to learn as one class. Even kids 10 years and above could probably be included. This way everyone in the family will be trained to serve as crew. It's also great for kids to see their dad in a role of student, role modeling learning a new skill. I wanted to do that with my kids, but they were in their 20's and too busy to all get away at the same time. It took me four years to eventually get each of them out sailing with me, and I had to train them myself, one at a time.


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## sailingfool (Apr 17, 2000)

Take a class with these guys









US Virgin Island Sailing Classes - St Thomas | BRSS


Learn to sail in the Caribbean Sea or enjoy a weeklong private charter with a lesson or excursion from Black Rock Sailing School's St. Thomas location.




blackrocksailingschool.com





In addition to a wonderful vacation, you'll get well up the sailing skills scale with great instruction.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk


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## emcentar (Apr 28, 2009)

Trey_Smith said:


> I suppose primarily the freedom. And the sea is in some ways, the last frontier. Not to get too poetic about it, but our ancestors navigated it using the wind and doing the same will be a way of connecting.


I'm sure that I would have said the same thing 15 years ago when I first started sailing. I dreamed of crossing oceans, docking in exotic ports. I went to Istanbul and watched the sailboats on the gorgeous blue Bosporus from the ferries and wished it was me. I went back to the states determined to learn to sail.

Now I think of sailing more as a puzzle I will never master, a set of skills I can constantly refine and get better, on a great sailing day an utterly absorbing connection between wind, sail shape, and water. I love sailing, but for different reasons than I got into it.

Ten years later with some sailing experience under my belt I went back to Istanbul and all I could think was how stressful dodging all the ferries and commercial traffic on the narrow strait must be. The difference between sailing 'the dream' and sailing 'reality'.


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

emcentar said:


> Ten years later with some sailing experience under my belt I went back to Istanbul and all I could think was how stressful dodging all the ferries and commercial traffic on the narrow strait must be. The difference between sailing 'the dream' and sailing 'reality'.


The key to that might be, is to avoid sailing in places like Istanbul.
I've sailed in the Neuse River Sound, Straight of Georgia, Chesapeake Bay, and the Florida Bay and Atlantic ocean near the Keys. I've not encountered enough commercial traffic to make me nervous. 
The worst I've encountered is dodging "floaters" (semi-submerged logs) in the Straight of Georgia, and the crab pot field coming in and out of the Rhode River in Maryland. (The locals call it the "mine field")


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