Ditto racing for improving your skills. I crewed for several years on club race boats.
One weekend some friends and I decided to sail to an anchorage a 2-3 hours away. My boat at the time was an Alan Gurney design O'Day 27. The other boats were a Catalina 27 and a Hunter 27, each crewed by a couple. I was single handing. We all left at the same time but I arrived at the anchorage about an hour before the other two boats. My race experience simply made me faster without much extra effort. Lesson learned. Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 7:08 PM, Kevin Driscoll via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > Here are my 2 cents. > > - I didn't grow up sailing or on the water but was always drawn. > - After undergrad, I signed on as crew with a friend of a friend to > sail his Camper Nicolson 32 down the East Coast and out to the Bahamas. > When I went aboard I did not know how to sail and when I left 6 months > later I still didn't know how to sail, though I thought I did. (Offshore > sailing on a 32' boat with a wind vane will not teach you how to sail.) > - Later I moved to Seattle and volunteered at the Center for Wooden > Boats in trade for free sailing time. This is where I learned basics of > sailing. Small sloop rigged JK boats > <https://cwb.org/exhibits/blanchard-jr-knockabout/>, with proper > sails, leaving and docking under sail, constantly changing winds from all > directions on Seattle's Lake Union. Other boats, airplanes, kayakers, etc. > etc. to deal with. Forces that make you learn. > - Got busy with grad school moved to Portland, got married, bought a > US 27 with my wife and then started sailing again. Had the basics down and > felt like I knew what I was doing. > - Dumped the US 27, bought a C&C 30-2. > - Then I started racing...mostly on others boats. > - Racing is taught me how to sail. I thought I knew how to sail, as > others think they do, but I really didn't. Racing taught me proper > seamanship, offshore at night with Pacific swells, currents and counter > wind waves. Racing taught me rights-of-way without thinking about it. > Racing gives me confidence in different conditions with symmetrical and > asymmetrical chutes, reefing, sail trim, etc, etc. Racing gets me out > multiple times a week, on a variety of boats, regardless of clouds in the > sky, rain, high winds, or no winds. > - Racing introduced me to a whole community of people, of all > different stripes, who love sailing. Way more than I would have met on the > docks in the marina. These people have become friends, on and off the > water. > - My advice is to get the C&C 25' if it seems right, but do all you > can to get out racing on someone else's boat and smaller boats too. This is > where you will actually learn to sail and you meet an excellent group of > people doing so. > > You will also an excellent group of local C&C owners and racers, like Alan > and Fred in Portland. > > Best, > Kevin > > On Wed, Aug 30, 2017 at 4:07 PM Randy Stafford via CnC-List < > cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: > >> I’ve had learning experiences on boats of many sizes. I capsized a Hobie >> 16, then sideslipped into a mega-yacht with it, all on the same afternoon >> in Maho Bay, St. John. Single-handing a Coronado 15 in 20 kts a couple >> years back, I capsized and couldn’t right it by myself. A microburst >> knocked down the J/22 I was sailing several years ago on Chatfield >> Reservoir. For ASA-104 I sailed a Bavaria 46 from Long Beach to Catalina, >> and slewed around in a 38-foot catamaran on the way back. In 2013 I >> roller-coastered through 15’ waves and 37-kt winds crossing the Bequia >> Channel in a Jenneau 45, burying the bow in every trough. In my limited >> experience sailing for about the last decade, I think every boat can teach >> you something about how boats handle, comparatively. >> >> My main complaint about dinghy sailing is that it is a lot of work before >> and after the actual sailing part. At minimum you have to launch and rig >> the dinghy, then unrig and recover it, and possibly also tow it to / from >> its storage place. Maybe I’m lazy, but I prefer a keelboat in a slip - a >> lot less work every time you sail it. >> >> That said, here’s a picture from a bowsprit-mounted GoPro of my daughter >> and I sailing a Topaz dinghy in 25mph winds last month: >> https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-NqAxQ6JxFTeXVMS3Z2OWdNUGs. We >> didn’t capsize that night but we kept a rail wet the whole time :) >> >> Cheers, >> Randy Stafford >> S/V Grenadine >> C&C 30-1 #7 >> Ken Caryl, CO >> >> >> >> On Aug 30, 2017, at 3:36 PM, Mark G via CnC-List <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> >> wrote: >> >> I didn't start sailing til my early 30's. I started out in Tech >> dinghies, cat-rigged 12 footers. Dinghies are a great way to learn. >> Things happen fast in a dinghy. And since you're the ballast, you really >> learn to balance the boat. But they require a certain level of fitness and >> athleticism - particularly when you flip them and you have to right them in >> the water and climb back in. I then moved to 14 foot FJ's, a little more >> performance oriented but basically more of the same. Then to a J24, which >> is a completely different experience: you're in a cockpit, you have a >> foredeck, etc. Honestly, if I hadn't graduated to the J24, I might have >> stopped sailing. Little bit of time in an Etchells 22 around that time as >> well. From there I knew I didn't want to race so I moved into more >> cruising-oriented lessons. Boats were a 22 foot Soling, then a Pearson 26, >> an Albin 28, a J29, a Pearson 31, a Pearson 303 and a Cal 33. So I've >> taken starter lessons in both a 12 footer and a 22 footer. For an adult, I >> think you're much better off starting in a 22 foot keelboat than a 12 foot >> dinghy. >> My first and only boat has been the C&C 25 Mk1. I initially looked at >> everything made in any kind of quantity between 21 feet and 28 feet. I >> settled on the 24-26 foot size. I wanted something you could overnight in, >> without the complexity of a diesel. I continued to look hard at everything >> made in any kind of quantity in that size range. I loved boat donation >> auctions - a chance to see a lot of boats at once without an owner or a >> broker breathing down your neck. And the best way to identify a >> well-maintained boat is to see some poor ones. After seeing my first C&C >> 25, I settled on that make / model. Looked at a few examples, then bought >> one. Inexpensive, good condition, my only regret being I didn't buy a boat >> with more upgrades. I've since converted to jiffy reefing, put on a >> furler, a boom vang, a stern rail, an adjustable traveler, a backstay >> adjuster. This stuff in total far exceeds what I paid for the boat. >> If you sail in any kind of wind, a newbie sailor needs to know how to >> depower the boat and needs the gadgets on the boat that allow him to do >> so. Newbie sailors tend to sail with friends and family who know nothing >> about sailing and won't be much help when things get exciting. If the >> newbie sailor can't depower the boat from the cockpit with minimal >> assistance from "crew" (guests), they'll be terrorized and probably won't >> come back. >> Mark >> C&C 25 >> Dartmouth, MA >> _______________________________________________ >> >> This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you >> wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: >> https://www.paypal.me/stumurray >> >> All Contributions are greatly appreciated! >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you >> wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: >> https://www.paypal.me/stumurray >> >> All Contributions are greatly appreciated! >> > > _______________________________________________ > > This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you > wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: > https://www.paypal.me/stumurray > > All Contributions are greatly appreciated! > >
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