Sailing Advice

[psiow]

I am new to this forum. My first posting.

I am planning to do blue water ocean sailing and would appreciate if anyone could give me advice on who I can speak to personally in the Southern California area who has had vast experience in ocean sailing. Names and contact of that person or persons would be appreciated.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, psiow.

[psiow]

Thanks for the welcome.

[gjordan]

I would recommend spending a whole weekend reading through this forum. There is a tremendous amount of information here(plus some BS) that will get you started on the learning curve. Very few people will give out phone numbers or contacts on the internet, but after you have done some research here you can start posting specific questions and learn a lot. Just remember that on a forum it is almost all opinions, most good, some BS. Good luck.____Grant.

[scoobert]

if you own a boat, you can hire a captain.
if you do not, there are sailing schools.
google scearch "sailing schools Southern California"
first result
California Sailing Schools | Learn to Sail with American Sailing Association

[Celestialsailor]

....what gjordan said...as you can see already
welcome to the forum.

[woff]

In Europe at this time of year I recommend people get over to the Canary Isles and get a passage with the fleet leaving for the Caribbean. Experience is less important than personality and willingness to be useful. There are always boats looking for crew to help maintain a watch and do a little cooking. They arrive in Barbados in time for the Christmas celebrations. There may be a west coast equivalent perhaps heading north from Panama.
Search this site for crew placement threads and make yourself know at yacht clubs on Thursday nights for racing, extra hands are always sought. All sailing experience and knowledge is reliant to the ocean sailor, there is much to learn and preparation is key to minimising risk. I did the navigation at night school where you will meet like minded people. Good luck!

[psiow]

Thank you all for the help and information.

Hi gJordan, I did check up on the previous posting on this forum but I guess talking to someone personally would be better since I have so many questions to ask. But I guess you are right giving contact numbers on the Internet may be a sensitive issue.

However, I was thinking of people in the S.California area who are providing professional services whom I could look out for. Because there are so many professional services, deciding or finding one who is reliable is difficult and I imagine many members here may have experienced a good professional.