Your first sailing experience

[Michael Heintz]

My first conscious memory of sailing must have been in the early 60’s. I’ve been sailing since birth but this day stands out as myâ€

[Patrick Harrison]

I think I was around 5 or 6 when one of the doctors in the neighborhood took us out, all I remember, were the horse flies that tortured us all day, so there must not have been much wind, hard to believe in North Dakota.
Then in 2000 Kim and I went on a scooner up in Camden,ME for a couple hours, that kind of sparked an interest, than again in July'04, that's when I purchased a stack of books and Aug. of '04 I bought an '87 Hobie Holder 14 a sloop rigged single hull and took her out on Bow Lake for the first time and I've been hooked every since. The lakes got to small even the great Sebago Lake grew to small, so I started looking and found a great deal on "Alatna" and the rest as is often said is history.

[henry hey]

I learned to sail on a sunfish while at Interlochen arts camp in Northern michigan.

Amidst all the obsessive arts stuff going on, there was a simple little waterfront program at the summer-long camp. They had several sailboats including sunfish, vintage lightnings, tasar, hobie cat, o'day day sailor, o'day widgeon, and Boston Whaler Harpoon 5.2. I started with the sunfish and never looked back.

Those were the days of simple blissful sailing!

Amazing.

-henry

[Will Wheatley]

My very first sailing experience was with my father on the South River outside of Annapolis. I was four and dad used to keep a Windmill on the beach at Grandma's house. I liked being with my dad and I loved the water so it was always good.

However my first sailing experiences that really got to me in the way we all know was On Spa Creek in the early 70's. A classmate form 3rd grade named John Duram was an experienced sailor and his dad owned Laser #2. We would sail it around Spa Creek and occasionally we would capsize the boat and swim it under the Eastport bridge and sail around the mouth of the Severn. Those were the experiences where I really learned how to get a boat to go in the direction I wanted. John was a good teacher.

I always knew I had a majical childhood but when I remember those times I can hardly beleive such a place existed. I cannot imagine letting my 9 year old go sailing unsupervised with another 9 year old, and I was 8 at the time, and we were not that unusual for the area. For many years my friends and I would keep dingy's and rafts in various places around town because we knew it was faster to get a lot of places by water than to walk.

Thank you John for encouraging this trip to the past. I loved growing up in Annapolis and whenever I have opportunity to recall those times is a pleasant time.

Happy Sailoring~~~~/)~~~~

[Carl Thunberg]

I'm just catching up to this thread. Don't know how I missed it until now. I can thank my brother for getting me into sailing. He found an 8-foot no-name sailing dinghy and convinced my Dad to buy it. I was 8-years old at the time. My brother used it a couple times and lost interest, but I took to that little dinghy like a kid with a puppy. We named it rub-a-dub because it reminded us of the three men in a tub. I spent many happy days doing figure 8s around lobster buouys in Poorhouse Cove in Maine in that little dinghy.

I still have that dinghy and today my kids are getting just as much use out of it as I did. Here's a photo of my daughter Molly and her friend Christina in rub-a-dub.

<a href="http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u78/ ... 007167.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u78/ ... 007167.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[fenixrises]

Hi all,

I was 22. My first sail was solo! Imagine that. I went out on a lake in Maine on my uncle's Sea Snark. Didn't know a thing about sailing but I figured it out as I went.

Had a good time for a couple of hours and managed to tangle the mainsheet up with the tiller and then flipped the boat upside down. Then the mast fell out!! Fortunately I was heading into the shore a the time so it was easy to rescue the boat and sail and mast.

Within 8 months I had my own, an upgraded version of the Sea Snark called the Sunflower. Bright canary yellow plastic covered the hull and the sail was white and yellow stripes.

And guess what? I experimented with the mast and sail. Tried to convert it to a marconi rig. Didn't work out too well. So went back to the original setup.

Take care,
Fred

[trapper]

I love this topic. My husband does not post so I will post his first sailing experience.

He was in his late 50's, alone and contemplating retirement. He sailed from England to New Orleans for a holiday with his first cousin who he had never met.

His cousin had a 30' Catalina and they sailed Lake Pontchartrain. He had a blast. On his way back to England, he looked down at the Atlantic and decided that he would one day sail to the States.

When he arrived back in England he began taking every sailing course he could. He went through the RYA courses in a couple of years and began searching for a blue water boat. He searched in the States from Florida to Maine, England, France, and Holland.

He continued sailing with the sailing school until he finally found his boat lying in Norwich England.

He refit the boat over a year or so and then single handed the Atlantic late Nov. 2005 to Jan. 2006 at the age of 68 and his my hero

[Tod Mills]

I have to blame my brother-in-law and sister for this habit.

They are respectively 12 & 10 years older than myself, who was twelve at the time.

The boat was an 18' Interlake. The first time we went, Ed instructed me to just watch, don't touch. Well, that hooked me!

[Judith]

I love this topic. My husband does not post so I will post his first sailing experience.

Thank you very much for this [awe-]inspiring story! It gives so much encouragement to those of us who are late-blooming sailors

(Good thing my older daughter no longer lives in Orkney, Scotland )

[trapper]

OOps--he went to New Orleans on several air planes (hasn't sailed there yet --He sailed to Oat Island NC (Charleston intended landing) in a 40' ketch. And, Judith your daughter would be much, much too young-- and the Old Guy is taken

His life is an adventure and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to come along--So many of the Cape Dory owners -- typhoons to the big ones --are living an adventures others will never know

Although I have been sailing since childhood, he is the real sailor in the family. That said, he has no idea how to sail a small boat Lots of those big boat skills do not automatically transfer to the small boat. Likewise, those 50+++ years of small boat sailing does not make me capable crew. Luckily, he has been a single hander on the big boat and if I can do anything, it is better than nothing. So, he is a very tolerant Captain

[dugout]

I was 9 and my sister was 13; it was 1967. We spent part of our summers with our grandparents, in Barrington, RI. This summer we were introduced to our new Beetle Cat Boat. My grandfather took me for a lazy sail. I spent the rest of the summer in that boat, and many summers after that in the junior programs and regattas.

I didn't know how good I had it but what kid does?

Good post, John!

Ed

[Judith]

And, Judith your daughter would be much, much too young-- and the Old Guy is taken

Trapper, I wasn't match-making! Just thinking that if my daughter were still in Orkney, I'd now be pondering my OWN trans-Atlantic sail to go visit her However, after only a couple years of casual sailing (mostly just helping skipper Warren whenever possible), that would be a rather daunting prospect. Hence my relief.

Luckily, both she and her sister are now in Bogota, Colombia

Cheers,
Judith

[Roy J.]

On a tiny lake in Northern NJ, they had 2 no name dinghys, and I was given the choice of learning to paddle a canoe or muddle through sailing lessons. I am sure I made the right choice, but didn't get back to sailing for 20 years until I had the chance to sail a both wooden Herreshoff 12.5 and a Typhoon in the same summer in Maine. All down hill from there.

[jerryaxler]

I went out on a lake in Pa. with a friend who said let's rent a sailboat. How hard could it be to sail? After ending up in the water several times for no apparent reason we decided there is more to this than we know. I learned later that we were accidentally jibing and that was the cause of our suprise swim. That was 30 years ago and 5 boats ago when I gave up on golf, tennis etc. to pursue this passion.

[Markst95]

I was maybe 13 or 14 and my friend got a Hobie 14 catamaran. We were big guys even at that age and the boat wasn't big enough to lift one of the pontoons out of the water with both of us on it. We were sailing in shallow water, flying along with the pontoon plowing away when we hit aground hard. The boat launched us forward quite a few feet into the water. Both of us surfaced with big grins on our faces. Luckily the boat was ok.