Attainable Adventures?

[nbuckner]

Howdy, y'all. I'm pretty landlocked and so I fiddle around with my 19' sloop on nearby lakes. However, I have vast dreams of future ocean sailing (ie sailing from Galveston Bay to Australia) and I read about the various aspects of sailing as much as possible. Currently, I'm reading the Dashew's Mariner's Weather Handbook. Though I haven't read much of it yet, I have a copy of Bowditch. Books by Jimmy Cornell and Beth Leonard are on my short list of books to obtain and read. And, of course, I gorge myself on the unending threads in this forum.

Inevitably, the interwebs led me to the site Attainable Adventure Cruising. I've read a couple of their free articles, but many of the articles reference others that require their $20 per year membership. So I suppose the sixty-four dollar question is: Is the information on their site worth the price of admission?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

[dpddj]

It's good information - I paid the fee for a year. It seems to be oriented to hardcore cruisers so I did not renew. My suggestion - wait until you get a tad closer then consider it. I am not disappointed I signed up for a year. Probably won't do it again. There is a lot of good info on this forum, if you can get past the bad apples that seem to make it their task in life to be PIA's. Or just plain mean.
Enjoy and don't give up!

[darylat8750]

The Attainable Adventure site is more controlled than some and you don't have as much BS... I mean personalities to plow through. I'm pretty tight fist-ted and even though I'm a trawler guy who is a coastal cruiser I subscribed. Still cheaper than most magazines used to be.

Steve Dashew's Set Sail site is well worth reading. He has sailed across oceans more times than many of us have driven across a country.

[snort]

Originally Posted by darylat8750

The Attainable Adventure site is more controlled than some and you don't have as much BS... I mean personalities to plow through. I'm pretty tight fist-ted and even though I'm a trawler guy who is a coastal cruiser I subscribed. Still cheaper than most magazines used to be.

Steve Dashew's Set Sail site is well worth reading. He has sailed across oceans more times than many of us have driven across a country.

I drove back and forth across Ireland in one day (Dublin-Galway-Dublin). God, that was a stupid thing to do.

Nautic-Ed has interesting free articles to read every so often. I haven't taken any of their online courses, but they have some intriguing stuff.

[rognvald]

Buck,
In my opinion, it is far better to spend your money buying nautical books from experienced authors on varied subjects and, after learning how to sail, begin chartering larger boats to gain "big boat" experience. You also have a great boat to practice your points of sail, reefing, line controls, etc. so when you make your transition to a larger sailboat you'll actually know how it works and how to sail the boat. Another great experience is to join a local racing club and participate weekly. By the end of the Summer you will have greatly improved your sailing skills. As a final remark, one great surprise we had when we became active sailors is how many "big boat" sailors really don't know how to sail their boats. . . unless you call jib sailing with the motor on . . . sailing. Good luck and good sailing.