# Newbie with observations



## Lummox3077 (Jun 23, 2015)

Hi there.. here's another "new to the sailing world" poster joining the forum after weeks (maybe months) of reading. At 38 years old I've decided to throw my hat in the ring and purchase a sailboat and maybe live a little now, instead of waiting till I'm retired. Having no family, no bills on my back aside from a low rent payment, and the possibility of losing my job in the next few months has made me step back and see what's important. 
That being said.. I've grown up on boats since before I was born. Fisherman, fresh and salt.. ocean, lakes and bays on the East Coast Nj/Ny. White water rafting, canoeing.. but the closest I've ever been to a sailor is one sunset cruise on an 88' schooner. That was all it took and now I'd like to spend time watching the wind and waves instead of the fuel gauge. 
I have my eye in the 26'-30' range.. weekending, daysailing, overnighting on the hook or pennant.. probably solo as that's how I do most everything else anyhow. I've noticed when reading the forums there are two distinct schools of thought on beginners and sailing singlehanded and learning in general. It appears the American school of thought is training, followed by lessons, then some practice, then some coaching, followed by guidance, then maybe MAYBE you can put the boat in the water... When I see posts from people in other countries the attitude appears to be more like, get some pointers and have a go.. see what happens and adapt the next time. 

Well that's my intro.. be gentle in your replies lol


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## Lummox3077 (Jun 23, 2015)

PS.. I am signed up for an ASA101 course, and intend to follow up with 103 shortly.


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## scratchee (Mar 2, 2012)

In my opinion, the thing about getting a boat before or after learning a little is not so much about putting the horse before the cart as it is about getting a better feel for what you want in a boat. If you have found a boat that you like, I say go for it. You can learn on it. If not, then take some lessons, crew on some boats, and decide what sort of boat you want.

Where do you live?


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## Markwesti (Jan 1, 2013)

Hi , I was gonna say nothing wrong with gettin a few pointers and going for it , well maybe the pointer person would come along . But you are taking the ASA stuff , so that only leaves one thing . What sailboats interest you ? Welcome aboard .


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## nccouple (Jun 11, 2011)

I'm the same mindset. Most experience is learned hands on. I've been in boats since I was in diapers. No formal training here, just hands on and Internet reading. If you understand the water, not doing stupid stuff, now you're limitations. Why go thru the expense of a high dollar school. It's all on the internet to learn. I know I'll get backlash from this post but I've posted most all of my screw ups here for people to learn by and I'll bet over 75% of the people in this group have no formal training. they just keep quite when these subjects come up. Just use common since.


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## Lummox3077 (Jun 23, 2015)

What kind of sailboats interest me? The big old wooden ones with gorgeous varnished brightwork and scars from a hundred stories, the ones the require you to smoke a pipe and own a black lab....but. I thought I wanted a Macgregor 22' or an o'day 19 trailer sailor.. However currently i'm making arrangements to see a 1977 Islander Bahama.. 26'x 10'.. decent reviews for what I want to do, good price, seems to have been made ready but the current owner doesn't have the time to play. I've read so many reviews and so many stories there seems to be a better list of the boats I don't want than the one I am looking for. Kind of the way I bought my last motorcycle.. saw it, bought it, done.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

I dunno. 
I had no training or reading before I stepped aboard a Sunfish as a teen besides the friends I sailed with. 
Before I bought a keel boat I did take the US Sailing 101 course. It was helpful in that it reinforced and codified everything I thought I already knew about sailing a boat. 
You can teach yourself to read nautical charts fairly easily and use a GPS. 

I think that Scratchee makes a good point about actually sailing on a few different 27' - 30' models of sailboats will help you make up your mind which one(s) you like, or don't like.

Gotta start somewhere. Hopping on almost any boat is a way to start.

Welcome to sailnut. My boat is up the Hudson by the Tappan Zee bridge. Where would you be keeping a boat?


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## Lummox3077 (Jun 23, 2015)

Thanks everyone.. Of course I have no idea where I'm finally going to land. I intended on having a boat that I could use somewhere down the Jersey shore.. Tuckerton/AC/along the coast to Delaware Bay and NYC kind of thing. The boat I'm looking at is in the upper Chesapeake. My thinking is, I work 75 mies north of my home, and the boat will only be 80 away. I'll be getting laid off from work in the next 2 or 3 months and am actually looking forward to a couple month vacation. but I haven't actually visited the boat yet, so nothing is carved in stone.


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## outbound (Dec 3, 2012)

Worse crew I've had have done Asa courses or equivalent. Were dogmatic and inflexible and out of their depth with an unexpected or adverse occurrence. Didn't know what they didn't know. Best have sailed a bunch with various good sailors. Time on the water with good sailors gives you experience, knowledge and an opportunity to see different ways to do the same thing. This allows you to process why you are doing what you are doing and giving you the ability to make plan A and plan B.
Join a club or walk the docks looking for a ride. If you are a loner sure do some courses but realize experience is still required.


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## grnrngr (Oct 8, 2014)

On one of my motorcycle forums we were speculating on the relationship between bikes and boats, I think it's the independence thing. 
I started on boats at an early age, did the USPS course when I was in high school but didn't learn to sail until after that, but way before there was ASA or USSA. As a student at the Calif. Maritime Academy, it was a total immersion program, many of the things I learned there could only be learned thru experience, marlinspike seamanship, operating cargo gear, forklifts, cranes and the like, line handling, systems analysis, basically, how to be a good deckhand before becoming a captain. In my current employment, I get the ASA certs free, and it's easy for me to pass the classes, but the only personal advantage I see to having them is for chartering purposes, most charter services require some sort of certification to bareboat charter. Many of our students don't want to own a boat, they just want to learn how to sail so they can travel to wherever, rent a boat and cruise for a while, usually on a much nicer boat than most people can reasonably afford. Personally, while I'd love to sail on a tall ship, or an old America's Cup boat, and I'm not overly impressed with anything "new", I much prefer to put my time and money into sailing my own boat. Speaking of which, I just recently purchased my first larger small boat (US25) and within a couple months decided I need a larger boat to live on.
If you're going to trailer sail for a while, I think 18-23 footers are best for overnights/weekends, but if you're going to live on it and are, like me, taller than 6', I don't think you'll be comfortable with less than 30. While you're deciding what you want, go find a Laser, Banshee, or Hobie Cat, and learn how to sail little boats. You'll learn sail handling much quicker, dinghies and cats (!) are more like riding motorcycles than driving cars (keelboats) and resale value is fairly consistant. Good luck and Welcome!


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## Lummox3077 (Jun 23, 2015)

ok well turns out the Islander Bahama I had researched and watched is a bust.. the seller isn't willing to allow a survey being "he lives too far from the boat" and has "owned it for two years but never left the slip".. the price was right but my gut said keep looking. i'm in no real hurry and have too many projects as it is.. i wanted the elusive, right priced, ready to go, maybe not so pretty boat. the hunt continues..


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## Tripper 17 (Jul 2, 2015)

I think grnrngr speaks good sense. 

I'd add that getting a little boat on a trailer lets you sail near your home as often as work & weather allow. Then you really learn from repetition... Not only maneuvering but rig tuning. 

And when you look for your bigger boat, you'll have some gut sense of rigging to help you evaluate that complecticated stuff. 

And after you do buy, you'll have the dink to get you to and from moorings.

There are a lot of nice little sailboats and nice little places to sail in Jersey. 

Happy Sailing!


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## Lummox3077 (Jun 23, 2015)

Well I put a deposit down on a well maintained and equipped 1974 Aquarius 23. It's been owned by the sellers family since new, and it has been taken care of throughout it's life very obviously, with useful upgrades geared toward making it a single hander. New sails, standing and running gear, plus a 4 stroke 15hp kicker and the remainder of the season on the slip all made it an easy decision to buy. Here goes nothing!


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## Tripper 17 (Jul 2, 2015)

Happy Happy Happy Sailing ! ! !


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## jtorres2007 (Apr 23, 2014)

Welcome to sailing!

I did the have a go at it at first and I learned some but not everything I needed to be a good sailor (MOB - Man Overboard, docking on sail, trimming, etc.). Later in life I got back into sailing and I took a US Sailing Basic Keelboat. It was definitely worth it. It really made me a much better sailor and it got me comfortable with handling a sailboat with no motor at all (Leave mooring on sail, return to mooring on sail). If you have a good instructor, it will definitely make your experience with sailing a lot of fun. 

Some folks do ASA, same thought process, if you have a good instructor that makes you earn your certification, you will definitely have a much better experience. It will also give you guidance on where to go from there. It will also provide you a network of people with whom to sail and eventually do some regattas, if you get into that.

Good Luck!


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## Aaron42 (Jun 20, 2014)

I learned by reading forums and youtube. It's just a practical application of Bernoulli's Principle right? 

A friend of mine got me turned on to sailing. Unfortunately his boat sank in the marina after my 3rd trip, but I was hooked. I got a $1500 boat off craigslist and figured that it was summer time, the water was warm, its a small lake, if I sank it I could swim to shore and only be out $1500 (probably less as I could sell the trailer). I had my share of "oh #$%!" moments but I'm still sailing, the boat is still floating, and those moments are becoming less frequent. I have had my boat a little over a year but due to last year's drought I have only been able to have my boat in the water for about 6 months. During that time I sailed about once a week or so. I sailed yesterday in 20-25kt winds without any trouble.


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