Baby Steps

[Astrochef]

I'll start with an apology... to quote Bob Seger, "'Cause it sounds like a long song comin'".

Hello all, my name is Ty. I live in Michigan just North of Ann Arbor. Like many of these introductions, I've always wished I could sail. Just assumed it was out of my financial reach. (and figured my wife would balk at the idea).

On labor day 2020 we were at a beach on Lake Huron, I had binoculars out watching a sailboat glide by a little off shore. My wife says, "I bet they're having fun". So I went ahead and told her that I thought sailing would be a great idea for when we, eventually, retire. Instead of scoffing, she surprised me, "hmm, I can actually see us doing that. We discussed the learning curve and the fact that we couldn't just retire, buy a boat and cast off. She said I should look into it and figure it out.

I started searching for sailing information. Since then I've been reading, watching and digesting everything I could find about how to sail, learn to sail, improve your sailing, etc. I was about 20 minutes into searching when I found this site. (I've been lurking here, all but wearing out that search function, ever since) It's taken me this long to find a local sailing club that offers a program that, I'm hopeful, I can actually pull off with my hectic and sometimes unpredictable work schedule. I am the Executive Chef at a banquet hall.

Last week on a cruise vacation, we rented a 4 person hobie cat. As stated, been researching this for over two years, so I felt justified saying "yes, I know how to sail". (It's not my fault they didn't ask if I actually HAVE sailed). I was given explicit instructions on where in the bay I was allowed to go and told if I screwed up, they'd know I didn't really know what I was doing and I'd be towed back and not get a refund. That didn't happen so I count it as a win. We got the boat back to the beach to return it almost exactly at the hour mark that I had paid for. Also a win in my eyes. Small victories aside, I did get stuck in irons more times than I'd like to admit and had one pretty uncontrolled jibe. All in all I was pretty happy with the result considering my experience level (none).

The best part was when my wife told me that she's even more excited to take lessons now. She's confident that with practice, and some actual instruction, we're going to have a lot of fun sailing. We're now registered for classes starting in late May. If I can pass the course, we'll have access to the club fleet of Interlake 18s on a moderate size inland lake near our home. We can spend the Summer making sure we really enjoy it and that I don't, you know, suck at it. Then maybe look into buying a trailer sailor down the road. I figure I've got about 10 years to work my way up to a cruising boat in retirement.

I'm sure it will be quite some time before I have anything to really contribute here so I hope I'm forgiven for the LONG intro. (it has been over 2 years in the making after all) Mostly I wanted to finally sign up and say thank you to all of you who make this site such a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.

Thank again for letting me ramble,
Ty

[Be Free]

Welcome aboard!

Your story reminds me of myself 20 years or so ago. I remember walking with my wife near a marina (I think it was near Daytona, FL) admiring all of the boats. An older couple struck up a conversation and I told them pretty much the same story. I really like sailboats and we plan to get one and start sailing after I retire.

The couple had been cruising for a while and they told me that the best advice they could give me was not to wait. They said that they had waited until retirement to start but that looking back they regretted all of the time they had missed.

I took their advice to heart and found a boat we could enjoy together and would actually use. I'm still a couple of years away from "officially" retiring and I would certainly have regretted missing out on the last two decades of sailing.

Keep learning. Keep improving your skills. And keep your eyes open for an opportunity to get a boat you can use right now; don't just dream about that perfect boat that you may never find for that trip that you may never take.


To paraphrase another kind of sailor, "Today is a good day to sail!"

[OldManMirage]

Yes, buy something now. Learn to sail now. We started with a 17 foot trailer sailor 30 plus years ago. Even though I already had several years of dreaming and reading about sailing it took several months for that to actually translate into real sailing. And then we learned about anchoring and tides and currents and thunderstorms and so on and so forth.

We really stepped up when we sold the 17 and bought a 27 Catalina - and then I convinced her to move onboard and we lived on "Breezy" for 3 years. We sailed as often as we could. The whole experience was great. We learned a ton about all aspects of boating.

But the point being get your own boat and sail now. No substitute for it.

[thomm225]

Since you have access to the club's Interlake 18's, you can take your time buying something for yourself.

Just sail that Interlake 18 in as many different conditions as possible.

If they have racing, you might try that also after a while.

Crewing gets a little slow, but being Skipper while racing can teach you a lot. Just deciding when to tack on the layline when you are the lead boat is a challenge

I learned enough to get the boat (Hobie 16) across the lake and back then started racing.....

[kayakerChuck]

Welcome aboard!

Hopefully you connected with the UM Sailing Club. It's a great bunch.

I'm a member of North Star Sailing Club in Harrison Twp. We have several race series, including Friday night fun sail. All are welcome! Myself and another boat compete pretty seriously to be the last place finishers in the fun sails- Friday nights are NOT serious racing. Fun, learning, and a burger at the end are more important. Here's a link that includes the schedule:
https://www.northstarsail.org/racing.php

Let me know you are coming & you can probably sail with us on my O'Day 30, or I can hook you up on another boat or 2.

(I have an O'Day 22 on a trailer for sail- er, for sale :-) , and I also teach ASA 101 & 103.)

[Astrochef]

Hi again,

Thank you all for the words of advise and encouragement. We absolutely intend to buy a boat eventually. Providing we can develop, at least some, skills this Summer. I would hope by next year I'll be looking for a modest sized trailer sailor.

I did look into the UM club on Baseline lake, I've spent a lot of time swimming and water skiing on that lake, but their schedule was going to be difficult to manage around my job. We ended up going with the "American Sailing Institute" group at Kensington Park. Its about 10 minutes from home and I spend a lot of time at that park anyway.

They do have a racing program and as long as we can show some aptitude, we'll give that a shot for sure. They also have a few 28-30 foot keelboats on Lake St. Clair that it sounds like there are opportunities for newbies to get out and crew on. Really hoping to work that in as well.

Assuming this goes as I hope, once I get to the point of owning a boat of my own, (I would suspect something in the 18-20 foot weekender range) I may be reaching out to you KayakerChuck to inquire about those ASA classes. 'Till than I'm just hoping not to end up one of the wannabes that disappear.

Fingers Crossed,
Ty

[Chotu]

Hell of a second post! That was a fun read. I wish you all the luck and fun in getting to know sailing

[kayakerChuck]

It's a small world. Way, way back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth & ASI was still part of American Youth Hostels, I helped maintain their fleet & Windsurfers at Kensington.

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!