" said:
I figured I would keep land in sight

Doing what? Driving down US-1?
The Southeast US coast is shallow. In many places, you can be in knee
deep water out of sight of land.... in many places the only "land" for
miles is rather mushy swamp.

Staying close to sheltered water is not too difficult... staying in
sight of land, forget it.


.... and not even try to play in bad weather, but this is why I'm
here to learn, On a lake I'm sure I would have no trouble but I really
hope to be able to do a coastal trip.

heh heh heh again I hate to be the voice of doom but you can have
PLENTY of trouble on a lake.... lesson 1, never never never EVER
underestimate your opponent!

Learning all the parts of the boat and how they work is enough of a
job at first to not complicate with learning advanced weather & tides
& navigating & anchoring etc etc, any & all of which could (and have)
filled libraries worth of books. Pick as benign an environment as
possible for your first couple of sailing excursions. Believe me, no
sailor will think less of you for it!


Jere Lull wrote:
Running down the coast's fine, but there's some mighty interesting
stuff to see and do on the ICW and it's a whole lot less demanding.

And it's still demanding enough to be a challenge; and it's just as
much 'real cruising' as anything else.

Too many people want to take off for Cape Horn without knowing the
basics, and sink their own dreams unwittingly.

I've had a long string of trailerable boats, and except for a brief
period as a bulletproof teenager, felt no compunction to 'prove'
anything by sailing them long distances when there's a perfectly road
to drive them on.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King