Swimming skills for sure. :-)

Reminds me of when I first started sailing in the north bay...
Took out a Santana 22 with an instructor from Spinnaker
Sailing in SF (good instructor, a lousy collection of boats)
and two other students.

Chop was at least 4 foot, wind was over 20kts. We did
MOBs for 2 hours straight. I had just about had it, almost
puked, almost gave up sailing, but I figured I'd try it one
more time. Still learning for sure.

"N1EE" wrote in message
om...
Neal would do fine in San Francisco and
enjoy getting some extra polish on his
skills.

Anyone would learn something every day
they sailed on San Francisco Bay.

Sailing regularly in heavy winds is
invaluable experience. Also, it's
better to get comfortable in high winds,
before that plus huge combined seas.

People freak out in relation to their
experience level.

If you have seen 65 knot winds, then 45
knots is no sweat.

People who have only seen 10 knots, get
nervous and start whinning at 15-20 knots,
and progressively freak out to the point
of being useless as conditions build.

Sailing in San Francisco's worst chop,
in a J-24 is something you can scale
up when you sail bigger boats on the
ocean. Small boats make the sailor!

Having situational awareness is another
confidence booster. Experienced sailors
recognize what the weather is doing--if
it's veering or backing, building or not.
If you know what is going on, then you
will be calm and able to keep other people
calm.

Experiece is the difference between
being "cool" or uncomfortable when things
get really nasty.

San Francisco can not be beat as the best
venue to improve sailing skills because it
has the best wind and the best sport sailing
in the world.

Bart Senior

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote

I don't know about the sails. I do know Neal wouldn't last 10 minutes.

"Thom Stewart" wrote

Hey Craz,

I don't believe your Hong Kong Sails would last a season on SF Bay. It
is a great, ruget sailing area. A place where sailor and equipment are
put to the full test often.

Ole Thom