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I'm officially a skipper now!

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Got my certification in Basic Keelboating today. I can now skipper a small daysailing keelboat in familiar waters, as long as conditions aren't dangerous. I have a new summer sport! FUN FUN FUN! And...<insert much needed money-blowing-in-the-wind icon>. Don't own a boat, but I have access to loaners here in town.


The kids are in sailing lessons, too. They take out these little mini sailboats called Optis. During my lessons I could see the group for my youngest three sailing, and it was the CUTEST thing to see all those little kids sailing along in a group of roughly ten Optis, zipping around together. They looked like little ducklings bobbing and shooting along on the water. Really adorable!
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Yes, a boat, any kind, is a hole in the water for money to go!!

In my teens I took sailing lessons at our local yacht club. Best summer I had. Your kids will be converts forever!
 

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Our yacht club is trying out for the first year some loaner boats. For $200 the whole family (who ever is certified) can "check out" a J22 for a day all season long until mid-October. That is so much cheaper than owning your own boat!
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
We had friends that owned a J30 that we used to race on. They sold the boat and moved out of town a few years ago, but I miss it. (But I don't want a boat of my own, just friends who have one!)
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Is this a thread about . . . . SAILING???!!!! :smile::smile::smile:

Congrats deannatoby! - for your certification and for getting your kids into a sailing program. Sailing is one of those amazing lifelong sports/skills, and you can never go wrong by exposing someone to it. Hope your kids learn to love it!

Jenny - I didn't know you guys raced on a J-30! That's fantastic. I raced for years and years on J-24s and J-22s. They are really fun boats. (LOL - I agree it's great to race on someone else's boat though!) I also did the Annapolis - Newport, R.I. race offshore on a J-35 - so I've got many many hours on J boats.

Here are some pics of my Skisailor alter-ego - the sailor part. :wink: Never posted any sailing stuff at SkiDiva! :smile:

Making repairs last week . . . .
Sailing Scheri - June 29th 005-compressed.jpg

Sailing Scheri - June 29th 006-compressed.jpg

My beloved boat:
IMG_1584-scheri-compressed.JPG
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
She's pretty!

Yep, the racing was interesting. Periods of great excitement interspersed with periods of the slowest movement we could possibly be making and still going forward - yet it's all racing. I never did the cross lake races from Muskegon to Milwaukee (or ports thereabouts) but DH did. I stuck to the ones either on Muskegon lake or just off-shore out in Lake Michigan.

The loaner boat program sounds well worth the money, in my book. Wonder how it's working out for them?
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
She's pretty!

Yep, the racing was interesting. Periods of great excitement interspersed with periods of the slowest movement we could possibly be making and still going forward - yet it's all racing.


LOL! I've been in races where the wind died and we ended up throwing out the anchor to keep from going backwards with the tidal current! You can't really be going slower than like . . . absolutely stationary. Too funny.

And I've had absolutely harrowing experiences in big blows with big waves and incredible forces on the rig . . . and the crew.

Yeah . . sailing has it all. :smile:

And thanks for the compliment on my boat! Her name is Scheherazade.
 

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Skisailor, your boat is FANTASTIC! What a beauty. What kind of boat is it? You look pretty cool hoisted up there making repairs. Impressive!

As I age I learn more and more about myself, and one thing I've figured out is that I love seasonal things. Ski in the winter, sail in the summer. I never gardened when I lived down south, but one thing I love about gardening up here is how seasonal it is. You have a definite winter rest and a definite summer explosion. I know sailing can certainly be year round, but I do look forward to warm weather signaling some days out on a boat.

You have a lot of sailing experience. Wow. Do you ever come to Maine to sail? Where do you sail if you're headquartered in Montana? Boothbay Harbor is supposed to be a primo sailing place, so let me know if you're coming this way! We are hosting the NE Junior Olympics this year.

I'm going to take my 7 yo and 10 yo out on the J22 this week after their lessons. We'll all get some practice! I'm also might do a spinaker class next week. My teacher suggested it, but I want to be sure I'm ready for it before I spend the money. Money....money...money...vaporizing. It used to vaporize just in winter, but now it will be a year-round thing.
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Thanks! :smile:

Well, appropriately for this thread, she is a Sabre 28 - built in South Casco, Maine! But I sail her on the Chesapeake Bay.

I've sailed in Maine a few times - not very much. Took a week of lessons in Linekin Bay (not far from Booth Bay!) on a Lightning as a teenager many moons ago, and also sailed into Bath, Maine as crew on board the 125' schooner "Westward" when I was 20 yrs old. It sure is a beautiful place to sail! Would love to get back.

I'm not in Bozeman full time so I still get back to sail my boat on the Chesapeake. But that said, Ursula Howland - the long time Big Sky ski instructor who has posted here a few times, also sails/races, and she told me they do have sailing regattas up on Canyon Ferry Lake near Helena. It's a huge lake - like 20 miles long - and not too far from Bozeman. So I'd love to see if I can pop up there sometime and crew for somebody.

Sure was fun to talk about sailing with Ursula while sitting on a chairlift at Big Sky!! :smile:

Have fun on that J-22! Great boat. Glad you're taking the spinnaker class too. Surfing those smaller J's while going downwind with a chute up is really exciting!
 

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Are you the diva who works at Big Sky? If that's the case, you would have your summers free for sailing!

Linekin Bay is considered part of us, so as far as I'm concerned you have sailed in Boothbay! So close you can practically spit on each other, if the wind is right. We hit bigtime doldrums last Thursday around Linekin Bay. I just love the setting of the resort there, and I love that it's called a resort when it's really a cool 1950's family camp from yesteryear. A great place. Did you stay there when you sailed?

Thanks for encouraging me about the spinnaker class. It's $225, and I don't want to spend that unless I'm really ready for it. I could do it next year. I'll talk to my teacher to be sure. He thought it was $150, and at that price there are no questions. But for $225, we're spending enough on myself and the kids learning, so I don't want to waste that money if I'm not ready.

I know there are many boat builders in Maine. It would be interesting to visit some of them. We have Hodgson Yachts here in Boothbay, and they are apparently a well-respected yacht builder, but I know nothing of them...yet. I'd love to visit their shop and see what happens. If you want to see an awesome property for a boat builder right next to Hodgson Yachts, check out this place. It's a simple but sturdy small house with it's own little island and a huge boat workshop with two sets of rails. Too bad it costs so much no boat builder can afford it. The owner died, and his two sons are lobsterman, but one would have to buy half from the other, and at close to $1 million that ain't happening. I hate it that such a perfect place for a boatbuilder is unaffordable. The market must do what the market does, and all those tourists feed our economy so heavily, but when something like this becomes available I'd love to see a true boatbuilder/fisherman keep the spirit alive. Boothbay is still a big working community with a healthy fishing industry, which I think is important to our town. Anyway, about that property:

Boat Builder's house in Boothbay, Maine
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
Great property . . . yeah, would be great to see a boat builder in there.

And yes, that is where we stayed. We took a couple of family vacations there in the early 1970s. It was very idyllic as a kid, and it cemented my love of sailing for sure. Boothbay is gorgeous. Lucky you!

RE the spinnaker class, if the money is an issue, I would hold off. Master all of the points of sail with main and jib first and get really comfortable. The spinnaker adds a new level of complexity. And unless you have 3 people (or 2 who really know what they are doing) to sail the J-22 with a chute, you won't get to use it for awhile anyway and what you learn may get rusty.

It sure is fun though! Something to look forward to for sure - but maybe it's a better idea to wait a bit.

If I could get up there this season, I could teach you how to use a spinnaker. :smile: But don't think I can swing a trip to Maine this year. Maybe next summer . . .

And no . . I don't work at Big Sky. I just ski there. :smile:
 

Karlyboogy

Certified Ski Diva
Yes, sailing when it's summer and skiing when it's winter, the perfect combination! I've got a Europe (dinghy) and RS500 (skiff). And the weather here is finally good! Have fun.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
That's really cool. I have kicked around the idea of taking classes on those little sailboats for years, but haven't gotten around to it, and I can't figure out how to fit in another hobby anyway. But I see the Tuesday night Duck Dodge races on Lake Union, or the beautiful sailboats going through the Locks, or even when I just look out my office window to Elliott Bay--I see sailboats everywhere and I am jealous.
 

NewEnglandSkier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yeah, sailing is a great sport. I used to belong to a sailing club and sail on Boston Harbor. It's fun to go out sailing after work on a summer night or spend a weekend day sailing somewhere.
 

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Signed up for the spinnaker class this Wednesday. I'm also taking the club's J22 out for a couple of hours on SAturday, Sunday, and Monday with a couple of the kids each time. That should give me some good practice with the things I've learned before my class and let me and the kids compare what we each learned in classes. They've learned on the little one-sail Optis. Will be fun to see what they think of the two sails on the J22.

So far my favorite things about sailing is CLOSE HAUL!! I love how the boat heels and you feel the wind in your face!
 

Skisailor

Angel Diva
So far my favorite things about sailing is CLOSE HAUL!! I love how the boat heels and you feel the wind in your face!


:smile: Aahhh. . . . yup. And it only gets better. Wait 'til you're close hauled on a moonlit evening, heeled over, with that breeze on your cheeks and all of the waves tinged with silver.

Keep at it.

Glad you've gone for the spinnaker class then!! Please post back and let us know how it goes. And do feel free to ask me ANY sailing questions you might have - technical or otherwise. I'd be happy to help with anything I can explain that you're wondering about.

:smile:
 

deannatoby

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I guess I like the feeling of speed, because the reach points of sail are supposed to be faster, but they don't feel that way because you're not facing the wind.

Ooooo. Sailing in the moonlight. Sounds amazing!
 

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