Just to get in the action !

[Alee-dia]

Hello, I’ve signed up a bit ago but wanted to say a quick hello before I get stuck in just lurking on the forum.

I’ve recently been certified in Basic Keelboat and excited to learn more! I’ve had a few extra sailing hours since and joined a racing club to increase my learning curve.

Right now, I’m interested in getting more experience in the Northeast (I’m located in NYC) but have been looking into continuing the US Sailing certification track.

Cheers!
-L

[SV Bacchus]

Hi Alee-dia!

Looks like you are taking the right track in getting exposure thru some basic training and joining the racing club. Good on You for doing so!

Welcome aboard and keep reading this forum. You will meet some great people and have a broad knowledge base from which to get the info you're looking for.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Alee-dia.

[skipmac]

Welcome to the forum,

I think racing is a good way to learn sailing, especially on OPBs (other people's boats). You get to see how far you can push the equipment before it breaks and don't have to foot the bill.

So do you plan to continue racing or get into cruising? NE and Long Island Sound is a great cruising area.

[Alee-dia]

Thanks for the kind welcome, all.

I suspect I will enjoy racing, and if I do I know I have some options in the city and upstate, so I hope to continue.

At some point I would like to take the next step add the basic cruising and bareboat cruising to my resume, so thank you for the location recommendation, skipmac! Are there any other courses, certifications, or paths that are recommended?

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Alee-dia

I suspect I will enjoy racing, and if I do I know I have some options in the city and upstate, so I hope to continue.

If you connect with a group or area with active racing you should have no problem finding a place in the local fleet. Amateur racers are always looking for more crew. Until you get a little bit of experience you might spend more time as rail meat (crew that spends a lot of time sitting on the windward rail acting as ballast ) but showing up and working hard will quickly move you up the food chain.

Originally Posted by Alee-dia

TAt some point I would like to take the next step add the basic cruising and bareboat cruising to my resume, so thank you for the location recommendation, skipmac! Are there any other courses, certifications, or paths that are recommended?

Lots of options. Starting out racing is a great way to build your sailing and boat handling skills. This is certainly of benefit to cruising but there is much more, what may be referred to as seamanship (seawomenship?). Cruising of course requires much more than just sailing the boat but all the associated knowledge and skills maintain a boat and get it from one place to another. Expertise in navigation, weather, plumbing, wiring, all the various boat systems and more are all called for.

How to gain this to some degree depends on the person and how that person learns. Formal classes work for almost anyone but it's possible to learn a lot of the basics from self study. When I got the sailing bug I wasn't living in a location nor did I have the money to take classes (were classes available that far back in the olden days?) but I went to the local library and read ever book on the shelf that referred even peripherally to boats, boating, boat building, design, repair or anything else associated with boating. Managed to get a crew spot on a delivery and all the stuff in the books started to make a lot more sense. Back home read and reread with a better understanding of what it all meant. Repeated the process a couple of times then took off and went cruising for a couple of years.

At the end of the day taking courses and reading books help but no substitute for getting on a boat and getting on the water, which is the whole point of the exercise anyway.

[slowneasy]

Welcome to the forum.