# Newbie from Washington



## stefrrr (Mar 21, 2011)

Hi everybody! I sailed quite a bit in high school and did a few Outward Bound sailing programs, once upon a time. I lived in Florida until recently and never could convince my motorhead SO that sailing is really the way to go. We went to the Anacortes boat show this weekend and I fell in love with a West Wight Potter 19, and back in love with the idea of an around-the-world cruise someday. 

All the sites and forums I've found offer advice to men to introduce their wives to and enjoy sailing. How do I convince my husband? :laugher


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

Hold on, still working past the "how do I convince my husband," part. That's gotta be a typo...

Okay, reasons I (a husband) am interested in sailing:

1) Stuff to learn from just about every field that guys typically are interested in.

2) Mastery with a well-designed machine.

3) Outdoorsey stuff.

4) Good non-boring thing to get my offspring into.

5) Excuse to buy more gear (face it, it's a hole in the water but we _love_ shopping for it).

6) You can put a barbecue on it.

Anyway welcome to SN! If you're in the Puget Sound area, there are lots of members on this forum who can help you out with local info. And you've chosen a great spot for cruising opportunities.

If you can't convince your man, consider looking into sailing clubs or co-ops, as there seem to be a lot around here.

Edit: somehow I left out 7) There's racing. Any one or two of these reasons should be enough for your guy.


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Nice summation, Adam...

Maybe mention, too, that a seasonal fuel bill will equal a weekend's worth of flying around at 25 knots.. appeal to the inner Scotsman.

And.. the weather that keeps smaller powerboats on the dock is when sailing starts to become more fun and interesting....

Another major factor in BC esp, is that floating debris (primarily logs and deadheads) generally makes running about at speed a stressful thing.. we don't want to hit these things with sailboats either, but at 6 knots there's usually (though not always) enough time to see them before you're on them.

But I fear that committed motorheads (aka stinkpotters) are difficult converts. Kinda like 'born agains' they need to 'see the light' themselves.


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

Ah, you know, I misread and thought he was not interested in boating at all. I think I easily forget that people do non-sail-boating.

In that case it might be a harder sell. Find out why he's not interested in sailing in particular. If he's anything like my SO, he might have it in his head that sailboats are cramped, wet, drafty, and poorly heated, and is thinking that he does not want to spend his winters at sea that way (if he were my SO and it were my boat, well, he'd be right). If that's the case, try to make it out to the next boat shows and see what's available in the sailboat department. All the production boats manufactured nowadays are very cozy, even in our harsh, slightly-above-freezing northwest winters (sometimes it snows?). Even your West Wight Potter 19 can be made cozy inside.

Next, what sort of other stuff does he like to do? If he's at all competitive, find out when the local races are (Wednesday nights seems to be standard) and head down to the waterfront. You'll notice a distinct lack of powerboat races, but you'll probably see dozens of colorful spinnakers or white sails heeled far over in the breeze. It's quite a thrill. Maybe you could even join a crew together, and even if you're only rail-meat for the first few races, he won't be able to deny the appeal of sailing.

Also, I'd point out that sailboats can generally handle conditions that would keep a motor boat tied to a dock, and which are quite common around here for half the year.

In the end if he loves the roar of his quad 250,000-hp engines or whatever, he's not going to give it up in exchange for puttering along at 3.5 knots, slave to the whimsical winds. In this case, you can still crew on OPBs, join a sailing club, or get a sailing dinghy that he can tow behind his aircraft carrier.


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Just tell him that you're going sailing and he can come along... or not)


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## stefrrr (Mar 21, 2011)

Faster said:


> Nice summation, Adam...
> 
> Maybe mention, too, that a seasonal fuel bill will equal a weekend's worth of flying around at 25 knots.. appeal to the inner Scotsman.


That tactic made the biggest change in his perspective. I pointed out that with a power live-aboard we'd be putting over $5k in diesel in it every month, where we probably wouldn't use that in a year on a sailboat.

Thanks for the useful tips. I'll keep you all posted.


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

Are you currently living aboard?

I don't live aboard. But for reference, last I checked, my annual gasoline bill comes to about $60. Sailed/motored 473 nm that year, so less than $0.13 per mile.


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## stefrrr (Mar 21, 2011)

Yeah, it was a totally uneducated guess. But I figured when presenting my case, it was better to overestimate than under. When we get a big boat, it'll be with the purpose of travelling - a lot.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

THere is a fellow locally that as he says, uses ALL his diesel fueling his boat from Edmonds to Friday harbor.......then again, the twin 500HP cats...... at 40 mph.......50' long.......I use about 10 gals, also ALL of my fuel tank of 7 gals and then some to motor to FH....then again, he is there in 2 hrs, 10'ish hrs for me at 6 knots.......

Welcome to the land of beauty! much better here IMHO than any where else I have travelled in NA. dispite the rain everyone says it does here!

marty


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

As much as I know how slow sailing is, the idea of getting from Edmonds to Friday Harbor in two hours sort of blows my mind. I mean it, it just does not fit in my head. At my usual rate it's two days of sailing. Of course I have never motored anywhere except in and out of the marina so it's sort of like asking an Amish person to imagine a transatlantic flight.


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## DonScribner (Jan 9, 2011)

*Is this a trick question?*

Stef,

Guys are really easy. Simply tell him how romantic anchoring in some secluded cove would be. And how you find a man at the helm to be manly and . . . attractive. Let his imagination do the convincing. Then when he's hooked, and he will be, he'll thank you all the more as he's heading off to Worst Marine for some other overpriced gadget.

Fairs Winds!

Don


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

Don, I thought so too. Her guy is into boats already, just not the kind that run on free energy.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Adam,

I just came back to Edmonds from Bellevue, ie east side of lk washington with a friend delivering my boat for a race. He claims to have come from Rosario to Edmonds in an hour. The boat mentioned above is cruising at 20, top speed is about 50 mph. It is in a nut shell, a really nice Cigerette style boat, it does get up and move!

marty


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

What brave new world...


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