Very good post Frank, hope a lot of people get into this thread.

Frank Boettcher wrote:
This is to indulge my curiosity more than anything else. For sailors
with at least 30 years experience, or more appropriately for sailors
who started at a relatively young age and continued to sail as they
aged. Feel free to elaborate on your answers with comments that
provide additional explanation or information.


1. Did you sail more in the first five years or in the last five
years?


35 years total, more in the first five years by a factor of 10.


I don't remember my first 5 years of sailing very well,
although I do have some memories of specific incidents like
being caught in T-storms, playing with toy boat off the
transom, etc etc. Since we bought the tuboat I have been
sailing OPBs a bit less then we sailed ours, but have been
on some longer trips including deliveries and the Chi-Mac
race which has been a long-term ambition.


2. If the answer to number 1. is the last five years, were you retired
during that time?


NA


Don't know, I'm as retired now as I'll ever be, and hope to
get in another 40+ years of sailing before I'm done!


3. Have you owned multiple boats and has each one been larger and more
expensive than the one before it?


Yes, three boats over that time each bigger and better


Bigger ain't necessarily better and vice versa. If you count
small one-design dinghies, I've owned maybe 25 boats; the
biggest (in length) was when I first got out of the Navy and
went in shares on a custom 1-Tonner, the biggest in
displacement is our current tugboat.


4. As you moved up in boat size did that also correspond with moving
up professionally with more stress, responsibility and time
constraints?


Yes or I could not have been able to afford the progression.


To a large extent, yes. I am fortunate in not having as many
time constraints as many people, OTOH I also put my
priorities differently.


5. If the answer to 4. is yes did you sail less with each new boat
after the intial purchase year?


Yes Sailed less overall as the boats got larger.


This may be a reflection of disenchantment with new toys, or
it may be a reflection of not choosing the boat with
practicality in mind. I've never owned a boat I couldn't
singlehand... that said, it's very true that some are more
difficult to handle than others. I have been spoiled by our
last two sailboats which were both very effective designs in
getting a lot of bang for the buck and being very simple to
maintain as well as user-friendly.



6. Did you raise kids and during the time that they had conflicting
interests and activities, did that contribute to less sailing.


Yes, although they sailed with me, and each went through a club
school, they had other interests that diverted attention away from the
sailing.


No kids, but have invested a lot of time in taking other
peoples kids (including our nieces and nephews) sailing &
cruising. I would love to get them into racing but so far
none have gotten the bug.



7. Did a high percentage of your closest sailing friends and
acquaintences at the start of your sailing carreer at some point move
from sail to power or off the water altogether?

The saddest yes of all. My closest three sailing buddies, two of whom
were primarily responsible for getting me involved as a teenager/young
adult moved to power in their forties.


What's so sad about that?????



8. Even when you owned boats did you do bareboat charters on a regular
basis.


Not so regular, three charters in 35 years.


Not regular, but did a few charter trips. All were with
friends whose main interest was an exotic vacation, not sailing.



9. Did you race (either your own boat or crewed on others) when you
were young and do you still race.


Yes and Yes. Raced Hobies when very young, switched to GORC crewing
in the late seventies through eighties, and still do some club race
crewing. Did two series 04-05 seasons crewing on a friends Bendytoy
311 took second in class both seasons


Sounds great!
My answer: yes & yes, crewed on almost every one-design
dinghy there was back in the 1960s & '70s, skippered a few,
then became partner in a fairly serious 470 campaign aimed
at getting into the Olympics. At the same time started
getting invited to skipper big boats in day races, also did
a few deliveries. I went cruising with my family a number of
times but at the time felt this was 2nd-class sailing.

The most fun racing was in college, very close competition
in identical boats; along with almost daily practice &
intense focus.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King