There are three kinds of sailors... those who've run aground,
those who will run aground, and those who've lied about not
running aground.

"John Cairns" wrote in message
...
Somebody told me once that if you haven't run aground, you're not a
sailor.
John Cairns
"Scout" wrote in message
...
Thanks Katy,
I went from age 15 to 43 without sailing a day, absorbed and distracted
with
life's other pursuits. But the joy of sailing that I had found in my
youth
stayed with me; it became a dream deferred.
My father, an old navy man, found a Styrofoam sailboat for me when I was
about 13, I think it was called Snark or something. Anyway, he would
anchor
his cabin cruiser at certain points, and I would launch my sailboat from
his
boat. I would sail it for hours around Long Beach Island, capsizing it,
swimming it to shore, playing games (like seeing how close I could come
to
Dad's boat without hitting it), and just generally loving it. To put
things
in a time perspective, I was sailing it past Dad's boat when he came out
and
told me he had just heard over the radio that Neil Armstrong had walked
on
the moon (July 69).
When the boat was stolen, I was heartbroken and didn't manage to get
another
until now. But I remembered two things distinctly from my childhood
sailing
experiences: it's incredibly exciting to harness a good breeze and, the
damned things flip easy! With that in mind, I decided to buy a more
serious
boat (all things being relative, I'm comparing my current boat to a 12'
Styrofoam toy). Here's what I said: I'm looking for a boat I can afford
to
sink, or destroy, if it comes to it. I then found this Starwind, with a
trailer and a new Honda outboard, full sails, needed some work, blah
blah
blah, for $2800. I've beaten it a bit, unintentionally of course. I've
not
only gone aground, but slammed it on a sandbar by missing the inlet
channel
and getting dropped by a wave onto the sandy bottom, I've forgotten to
put
the engine in neutral while docking, and the grimaced when I realized
the
chomping sound I heard was my prop taking bites out of my rudder, I
stepped
my mast, lost my balance, and grimaced some more as the mast tilted a
few
degrees to port and ripped out two base screws, I dropped my boat on a
winch, while trying to dry dock it in my yard, and put a hole in the
hull,
and... plenty of other neat stuff.
But I've learned a lot too. I think I'm ready for comfort, a bit more
safety, and of course, bigger, costlier mistakes!
Scout

yep, similar to an old motorcycling adage, "two kinds of riders: those who
have fallen, and those who have not fallen yet."
Scout

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote
There are three kinds of sailors... those who've run aground,
those who will run aground, and those who've lied about not
running aground.

Scout,
No matter what you read here or on any other ng, ListServ, or whatever, sailing is the best way to learn how to sail. The
discussions here of a technical nature can be interesting and sometimes fun, but the reality is that some of the posters here
are...how shall I put this politely?....erudite techno-heads?...you know...college professor types with advanced degrees. They
do know how to sail...very well...but they just can't seem to get away from dissecting everything to death...(to wit: the
Bernoulli vs Newtonian force stuff...who cares as long s it goes like it's supposed to?) The saving grace is that they haven't
sunk so low into their academia that they still can't rise up and act human at times.

And Scout, all those kids you think you're getting rid of within the next few years? Ain't gonna happen...they'll take turns
over the years coming back, just to see if you've kept your parental skills honed.

Go out there and buy a bigger boat (with a survey, please) and get sailing!

--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

used to hear,'' if you don't crash, you're not going fast enough''.

I always rode at 98%.

Scotty

"Scout" wrote in message
...
yep, similar to an old motorcycling adage, "two kinds of riders: those who
have fallen, and those who have not fallen yet."
Scout

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote
There are three kinds of sailors... those who've run aground,
those who will run aground, and those who've lied about not
running aground.

On Sat, 2 Aug 2003 07:04:39 -0400, "Scout" wrote:

yep, similar to an old motorcycling adage, "two kinds of riders: those who
have fallen, and those who have not fallen yet."


Theres 10 types of people in the world. Those that get binary, and those that
don't get binary.


S/V Cat's Meow
http://www.catsmeow.org

You plan to stay on the Joisey shore? Just asking because sailing the Chessy
favours a shallow draft.

Scotty

"Scout" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the O'Day background. We're tall too and I'd like to be able
to
stand inside the cabin, so that's a consideration.
I'm getting it narrowed down slowly but surely. I've read a lot of
discussion here regarding hull types, keel types, etc. I plan on staying
with a fiberglass mono-hull. I prefer stability to speed, but would like
to
keep up in a group sail (my marina organizes group coastal sails). I'm not
real interested in racing (I have enough stress in my life) but want to be
able to extract the best performance possible from my boat. I'm leaning
away
from swing keels and wing-keels, and more toward a fixed or full keel.
I'm not rushing out to buy anything, I'm just keeping my eyes open,
because
I'm slowly accepting how much there is to know about sailing
(efficiently).
I base that statement on the number of threads posted here in which I'm
lost.
Added to that is the fact that we are moving soon, and my wife has her
heart
set on something grand, we have one kid who just graduated college, two
more
still in college, a daughter hinting about a wedding, etc., and I'm
thinking
that when I buy this boat, it had better be the right one because it may
be
the last one for a long, long time.
I'm crawling up the learning curve with the help of this group. I don't
think a person could buy a book with the kind of information, honesty, and
debate seen here everyday, and certainly not with as many laughs. BTW,
I've
purchased a couple of professional vhs videos/dvd's on sail trimming,
rough
weather sailing, etc. I'd be willing to mail them around to any
interested
parties, just promise to mail them back. Anyone interested can email me.
First come first serve kind of thing, but no problem if they go through a
circuit.
Scout


"katysails" wrote
Ahem...Scout...ask former O'Day owners about O'Days...not former
Catalina
people...We have owned 2 O'Days. Bith were great
boats, although the 22 was a trifle squashy inside *we're both tall
people* We sailed the crud out of the 22 and then went on to
the 27...by the time we were ready to go up from there, the options
decreased since real O'Day's were amde before 1982 and we
didn't want that old of a boat. The newer ones were made Lear siegler
from whatever Pearson bought from O'Day....they went to
what they termed a European interior...pretty bleak...

Well said Mom.

You might want to set your word wrap.
If you do, click on tools; options; send; (in news sending format), plain
text settings;
automaticly wrap text at ___ charachters, when sending. I use 76.

Scotty



"katysails" wrote in message
...
Scout,
No matter what you read here or on any other ng, ListServ, or whatever,
sailing is the best way to learn how to sail. The
discussions here of a technical nature can be interesting and sometimes
fun, but the reality is that some of the posters here
are...how shall I put this politely?....erudite techno-heads?...you
know...college professor types with advanced degrees. They
do know how to sail...very well...but they just can't seem to get away
from dissecting everything to death...(to wit: the
Bernoulli vs Newtonian force stuff...who cares as long s it goes like it's
supposed to?) The saving grace is that they haven't
sunk so low into their academia that they still can't rise up and act
human at times.

And Scout, all those kids you think you're getting rid of within the next
few years? Ain't gonna happen...they'll take turns
over the years coming back, just to see if you've kept your parental
skills honed.

Go out there and buy a bigger boat (with a survey, please) and get
sailing!

--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

I had planned to spend a lot of time in the Chessy, with occasional jaunts
along the coast.
All I want is everything!
Scout

"Scott Vernon" wrote
You plan to stay on the Joisey shore? Just asking because sailing the
Chessy
favours a shallow draft.

Theres 10 types of people in the world. Those that get binary, and those that
don't get binary.

That's funny....do you think Scott will get it?
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein

Daniel and Issac

I don't think Isaac made any money from it...don't know about Daniel...
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein