Sailing Colorado / New member

[slomotion]

For some good logs/photos from some Colorado folks who sailed the Bahamas/Caribbean off and on for years, go here:

S/V Windom

[bmiller]

Howdy neighbor, well nearly, I live in Buena Vista. My wife and I started sailing a few years ago ourselves, now totally addicted. We started with a hunter 23 that we sailed on Dillon. We then graduated to our current boat, a Com-Pac 27. We've sailed that boat on Dillon and have trailered it to Southern CA, the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Northwest/Canada. Sailing on Dillon can be a blast, although the winds are very fickle. It's a short drive for you, slips and mooring balls are usually available at Frisco Bay Marina. Might cost you $1,000 or so for your boat. But having the boat on the water and not having to rig everytime will get you on the water more often.
As for classes I took the bareboat class given by Blue Water Sailing School in Ft. Lauderdale. $1,700 well spent. I'm going back to take the offshore class soon.
We plan on having our boat on Dillon in 2009. Maybe we can get together for a sail sometime.

Bill

[RickD]

We've considered - well, we're considering, whether we want to keep it on the water.

not sure yet.

Extra money spent on slip fees is less in the bank later for us. So - saving money is what it's about right now.

We'll see.

[bmiller]

Nice thing about your trailer sailor is you can head south to warmer climes easily. We've been to Lake Pleasant and Lake Roosevelt with our 23.

[RickD]

Not familiar with either of those places. I'll have to look them up later today if I get time.

[bmiller]

Lake Roosevelt New Mexico


Lake Pleasant Arizona

[bmiller]

Make that Roosevelt in AZ, sorry bout that.

[Guzzi]

A friend just sold his Mac 26S (similar to yours) and sailed it in the ICW off the Gulf Coast every year. Trailered it from STL quite easily.
I think you'll enjoy the Venture as long as you don't ask it to do more than it or you are capable of.
Quite a fun boat.

[Agur's Wish]

Your subject line did catch my eye. After living aboard for several years in the Bahamas on our Tashiba 40 we decided we were ready for some dirt dwelling and bought a place up here in Alma (15F this am. We didn't bail out completely, we still live on our boat 6 months out of the year and we'll be heading there in a couple of weeks. But can you believe it, we're looking for a little sailboat to put up on Lake Dillon. If you'd like to read about our experiences and if your wife would like a point of view of the liveaboard/cruising lifestyle from a fellow first mate, check out my blog. Hope we see you out there soon.

[bmiller]

Alma!!! Talk about a small world, and town. Look us up on Dillon next summer.
Have you spent a winter or even a portion of one there?

[Agur's Wish]

Spent our first winter 4 yrs ago up here and that was enough. Came home last year at Christmas and couldn't make it up our drive in our jeep. What's your recommendation for a sailboat on Dillon. We're not in to racing just want to putter and spend the weekend. There's a Erikson 27 for sale right here in Fairplay but we think that's too heavy. Do you know of any for sale?

[bmiller]

Do you plan on mooring the boat or trailering everytime? If mooring a 27 is not too big. Our boat is a 27, but we moore it there, would not even consider trailering more than once a season. If you plan on trailering over Hoosier pass often,then something like a Catalina 22 or such would be great. We had a Hunter 23 for a couple years, that was just about right for Dillon albeit no headroom. There are always a few boats for sale at the Frisco Bay Marina. I'll keep an eye out for you. I have an O'Day daysailer 18 that might be for sail next spring. One person can rig it and be on the water in 15 minutes.

We prefer the Frisco side over the Dillon side. It's nice to walk into town for dinner or whatever then back to the boat. On the Dillon side there's not much around the marina, except the Tiki bar.

One last thing, if you do have a boat next year a must do is be at Frisco for the 4th of July. We lounge out in the cockpit and watch the fireworks nearly over our heads, just get there early, even a day or so.