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Sailing lessons...
- Thread starter casa_mugrienta
- Start date
I've got a lot of experience sailing Hobie 16's in Mission Bay. You rent the boat and I'd be stoked to sail with you and give some pointers.
hobie cats are fun to ride soft swells.
best that the boat is owned by others.
best that the boat is owned by others.
And also not your dad, what do you mean I am not done cleaning pop?
Yay! Kitesurfing is easier to learn, but surfing is easier to get started. Both rock!
Ohhhh the starting sequence, the committee boat, waiting for that damned starting gun, all the chicanery going on - very nerve wracking!
Sailing and racing sailboats is a lot more exciting than I thought it was. One night our boat's owner (about a 36 foot boat) couldn't make the race and a woman on our crew was captain for the night. We were racing out of New Rochelle (across from Long Island) on Long Island Sound, about 10 - 12 boats, headed towards a buoy which we were going to go around clockwise. We could see an equal group of boats in the distance headed from Long Island across the sound towards us. As we got closer to the buoy we realized that they were going to round the same buoy as us but in the opposite rotational direction, counter clockwise! One or the scariest and most thrilling moments of my life as we all got to avoid each other twice while rounding the buoy in opposite directions!! I don't know how our girl chick captain did it - but man she was good - she never faltered - Captains Courageous!
On a more sober note and for what its worth safety wise, about 15 years ago a couple that I was acquainted with as friends from industry cocktail party / dinners in my line of work had very recently bought a sailboat and kept it in a harbor on Long Island. I never saw it but probably 30 + feet. They were taking sailing lessons and one Saturday their instructor didn't show so they took the boat out on their own. That same day (it was a beautiful day) I was a few miles away at a BBQ and this really fierce and surprising wind came out of nowhere and we had to scramble to get everything off the tables and indoors - something I've only seen once in my life - really weird.
At that same time the couple sailing their boat were caught by a wind which sent them at such scary high speed that they jumped off the boat into the water. The boat continued on its own for some distance then capsized. Someone operating a family type powerboat, maybe with kids onboard, saw the sailboat capsize and rushed to its aid. On the way, focusing on the capsized boat he did not see that he was going to run over the couple who had jumped off. The husband was not hurt but the boat's prop cut both the wife's legs off and she bled to death right there in the water with her husband holding her. That's something I would have never thought of and really tragic.
I think they jumped off because they were beginner sailors and the boat just went so very, very, very fast and they didn't know how to handle the boat - maybe it was heeled so far over - a sailboat can be complicated to control especially if you're not practiced at doing it - so I think they just panicked and jumped. The wind that came that day - it was such a clear, calm, beautiful day and the wind came so suddenly and fiercely - I've never seen anything like that. Hearing about it afterward, me having felt that wind - I just know that boat could have really been flying.
I can just see the two of them on that nice, oh so nice, clear day thinking "Well we've had some lessons and its so nice and calm, I guess we can take her out on our own". And then that wind from nowhere and them having to deal with something that they were just totally unprepared for.... And they had fairly young kids too I think.
I can just see the two of them on that nice, oh so nice, clear day thinking "Well we've had some lessons and its so nice and calm, I guess we can take her out on our own". And then that wind from nowhere and them having to deal with something that they were just totally unprepared for.... And they had fairly young kids too I think.
wonderful idea - sailing rocks! my sailing experience was similar - went to sailing camp as a kid, loved it. never got a lot of chance since to sail since but this past June, one of the NC YMCA sailing camps up around New Bern had a family weekend....it's cheap, a little rough, but got to sail all weekend and had a blast (little Sunfish sailboats). my 12 y/o took to it like he'd been doing it all his life - already booked it for next year
have thought about these wooden sailboat kits for a retirement project - spend a couple grand, take a few months to assemble - some fun looking boats in this catalog, to my untrained eye.
Lightweight Sailboat Kits That You Can Build
Most of our sailboats can be cartopped, all of them sail beautifully, and all of them are easy to build.
www.clcboats.com
^^Kind of scary too huh? I've raced fog in small aircraft. Not good.
Most of these schools need to teach a lot more capsize recovery in high winds.
It seems one of the first things they should have learned is to ease or release the sheets if they're over powered.
Also I always considered a capsize a 180 degree flip. 90 degrees I call a knock down. It not that uncommon for a boat to get knocked down. It's quite possible they didn't jump but were thrown out. Or did the husband say they jumped? Anyways tragic story.
One of the guys I worked with at the boatbuilder died at sea. They were doing one of the Mexico races and something happened where he bit through his tongue. He bled out before help arrived. RIP Jim.
Not that particular afternoon, but there have been other times...
Ummmm... no thanks!
My parents, back in the mid 70's, turtled the catamaran they were sailing off shelter island. My dad was a competitive small boat racer from the age of 5 all the way through college and beyond. Immensely knowledgeable and a highly skilled racing sailor. But they flipped it literally RIGHT in the south channel between Shelter Island and North Haven, where the little passenger ferry goes back and forth all day long. So they had a whole ferry full of hecklers, spectators, advice givers, and men ogling my mom in her little bikini (she was apparently a babe back in the day) during the hour or so it took my dad to rig the sheets around the hull and flip the thing right side up
To this day, my mom claims my dad was showing off to the crowd on the ferry by getting up on a big heel and laying out on the trapeze when he flipped it
To this day, my mom claims my dad was showing off to the crowd on the ferry by getting up on a big heel and laying out on the trapeze when he flipped it
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Found this pic from ?? but can tell it was after getting a (game changing) tiller pilot. Mid channel quick naps, sitting on the bow under sail watching dolphins etc. Never liked racing but sailing/anchoring without a windlass and pricey upgrades can make it pretty dang exhausting.
Albert's - one go-to anchorage after a surf or dive.
Albert's - one go-to anchorage after a surf or dive.