Introductions / How did you find sailFar.net?

[gpdno]

Hello,

I'm Greg.  Found this site using the google   I live in Venice, FL with my wife and two kids (7 yrs & 5 yrs).  We sail a Watkins 27 named 'Family Time"  My 7 yr old son named the boat, because he said it was for our family

We get out in the gulf several times a week.  My wife likes to go out in the evening and watch the sunset from the boat.  I also do a fair amount of singlehanding.

Thanks,

Greg
s/v Family Time
Watkins 27

[Ingy]

Ad in Good Old Boat.   Currently sail a MacGregor 26X but am working a Luger Voyager ketch that the better half fell in love with (gimballed stove and real head).  Hopefully it will be done this year and surprise me when I finally get to sail it.

[jotruk]

Just want to say welcome aboard to both of you (Ingy and gpddno) I think you will find a good grope of sailors here that have a very hi level of knowledge available to you again welcome aboard

[Porter Wayfare]

Greetings all.

My wife and I are retired, healthy and not-quite-out-of-money. A very lucky place to be. Speaking of lucky places to be, a number of years ago I awoke from a dream with a clear and very important message. The message was: If you are lucky enough to be alive on Earth and you are not living next to the ocean, you are just throwing your life away.

Well, I'm near Port Huron, MI, at least. I did live next to the ocean for a while in Guinea, West Africa but that's another story.

It may be off topic in this forum by about 500-and-some feet, but I got my first taste of sailing working on a 1905 556' ore freighter in the mid sixties. That is another story too. It was like working in a finely cared-for museum.

A couple of other attempts at sailing ended wildly out of control. But I always felt I had it in me.

So when tag-teaming with my sister to care for our mother came to an end in the late fall of 2010, I hit the water in a dry suit and a Laser. I sailed until the deck iced up.

A Wayfarer, with our serendipitously similar names, has been my goal for a long time and in the summer of 2011 I finally found a beauty. She's wood. I sailed her almost every day into December. It seems like the wild days are a little behind me. My wife has noticed that. She wants to sail.

So, here's the evolution of our thinking, my wife and me. She wants to sail but doesn't want to camp out on our woodie Wayfarer dinghy for two weeks at a time. She does camp out every year for a while, so she knows what she's talking about. I guess that means a cabin.

I'm satisfied with the Wayfarer. I tend toward small. Looking at tons of boats on the internet and reading a few books, I gravitated to something along the Alberg line. We looked at a Cape Dory Typhoon Weekender. It was a really nice boat and fit the bill for me. The trailer was even better. But the cuddy was very small and so low I couldn't even sit up straight. Still, I would have gone for it, but she said it was just too small. OK, I'll go along with that.

So now what I'm looking for is a Typhoon with standing headroom. I guess that means: not more than 27' LOD, relatively narrow beam, relatively low freeboard, around 50% B/D, and a galley, at least. Add to that maybe (but what do I know?) something fun about the sails to play with like a fractional rig or a cutter, a tiller, and shallower than 4' (3'6" is better).

And oh, yes, it's got to be pretty. Every time I see the Wayfarer it strikes me how pretty she is and you know how that goes for getting involved.

We're not in a position (or experienced enough!) to jump onto a boat for long periods of time right now. We can get away for a week or two at a time several times a year, spring and early summer being the least likely, and more likely as the year goes on toward winter. We live between Port Huron and Bay City, Michigan.

We're most interested in sailing around islands in the Great Lakes, say Les Cheneaux, Georgian Bay, the islands around Rossport on the north side of Superior. Then there is the Trent-Severn waterway and the Rideau Canal...and on and on.
The Maritimes...mais oui!. We're not very interested in sailing south. Trailerable puts all those places within a couple week's reach.

People who (like you, by now) have been kind enough to sit through my snowballing boat-parameter spiels have calmly told me at the end of it that I am describing a Cape Dory 25D.

As for speed vs seaworthiness, my wife and I both lean to seaworthiness where big water is concerned, for sure. It's just the two of us for cruising--maybe a couple more for an afternoon, but that's all.

As far as a fixer-upper goes--I want a really nice boat. The nicer the better. I'll keep it that way. I have indoor storage available. But I don't I want to redo it. I want to sail it.

I'm obsessed it's fair to say. Am I in the right place? When I stumbled across this site in a search for CD25Ds the couple of threads I read led me to believe I might be. I was impressed by the down-to-earth level of the discussion. (Which reminds me: I think it was Issac Asimov who said something like, Any outsider looking at this planet would not call it "Earth". They'd call it "Ocean.")

I'm hoping that I may be able to get the help of some experienced eyes and ears to find a boat. If this introduction is not the place to ask for help like that, please direct me to the right one.

So thanks for letting me come onboard.
Porter

[Captain Smollett]

I split the discussion regarding Porter's boat search off to this thread so the replies won't get lost in future introductions.

[Greene]

Brenda and I are currently trailer-sailors who are working our way toward an extended cruise.  We recently became empty nesters and plan on selling our Wisconsin home and moving to the Orange Beach / Gulf Shores area for a new home base.  

We sail a Com-Pac 19/II which we love, but it is time for something bigger.  We are working on our short list of 24' to 31' bluewater cruisers (Dana 24, PS 27, IP 29, Baba 30) and sailing as much as Wisconsin weather allows.  

We started a blog to keep our family and friends up to date on our adventures if anyone is interested in following along.

Fair winds my friends.

Mike and Brenda

[Skagerrak]

Another new member!!   I was born and raised in the great lakes region and have sailed small boats there most of my 46 years. For the past several years I have been living in Norway and cruising an Albin 30 around Europe. (maybe a bit big for this forum but hear me out) A boat this size is not MY favorite cruiser but my wife seems to think she has some input,  . Summer of 2012 we are planning on moving to Virginia Beach and I will sell the Albin and purchase a smaller simpler boat. Maybe a bilge keeler. I'm very enthused with the dry anchorage  option.
Anyone with experience in the southeast (ish) US or the chesapeake area please feel free to contact me with stories or ideas etc... OR anyone interested in information about cruising in scandanavia/ northern Europe, please ask!  Great to be here and hope for lots of good discussions. Found the site on google while looking for small boat cruising info. Ultimately I have a scoot plan and have had for 20 years. I had the boat and was two years from departure in 2009. Thanks to the economic situation in the US I was forced to extend my departure date several heartbreaking years.  It is my intention to live in the moments I've been given rather than mope about the plans that have gone awry. This looks like a great place to do that.

[Jim_ME]

Welcome Skagerrak. Although I'm guilty of kidding about boats being too big, having owned both a 30-foot/9000-lb boat and then a 25-foot/5,000-lb boat, they have a similar feeling to me. From sails on others' boats, I find that the feel and experience is dramatically different (and starts to feel "too big") on a 35-foot/15,000-lb boat. (Obviously, just my personal opinion and experience) I sold the 30-footer and got a 25-footer to scale down enough to be able to set the boat up on a trailer, and gain more self-sufficiency and lower costs--and in that respect it was a major difference in size. You may have already found that there are some bilge-keel boat enthusiasts and threads, including here and here.

What an interesting experience it must be to cruise around Europe. Both the Chesapeake Bay area and the Bahamas/Keys are at or near the top of my places-to-cruise list. As with many of us, the economic situation has been (and continues to be) a setback to plans like these.

Also welcome to Mike and Brenda. The Com-Pac 19 seems like a great size [and design] for trailer sailing. I had a slightly smaller but similar boat for several years, and sold it a few years back. I wish now that I had kept it for these lean years, since it was so economical to sail, and easy to trailer-sail to places--especially when it became difficult to afford to use my larger boat. I'm working toward getting back to that situation, and never want to be without such a boat again.

Fair winds to you, too,
-Jim

[Skagerrak]

Thanks for the welcome Jim. And yes it is a real treat to be able to sail Europe without the time and expense of a Trans atlantic voyage. Amazing how inexpensive it can be when you start out on this side of the pond LOL.

[Jim_ME]

You're welcome for the welcome, Jon.  That is an interesting topic, and one that I've thought about often. Think I'll start a thread on it. Grog to you for mentioning it.
-Jim

[Skagerrak]

mmmmmm grog.  3 :1 for me please

[jmpeltier]

Another new guy!

I really don't know how I found this site.  It was saved on my iPhone's bookmarks so I thought I'd check it out on a screen I can read, and here I am.

Anyways...been living aboard my Orion 27 since October, getting her ready for the Big Trip.  The Big Trip starts in August when I leave 10 years flying fighters for the Air Force to "semi-retire" and go long-distance cruising.  The Big Trip doesn't have a first stop yet, but I figure I'll just sail east out of the Pamlico Sound and turn either left or right when I hit the Atlantic (or keep going straight?!?).  Since it'll probably be late fall, I'm sure I'll turn right.  Now it's time to start combing the forums to learn me a few things! 

[Captain Smollett]

Another new guy!

I really don't know how I found this site.  It was saved on my iPhone's bookmarks so I thought I'd check it out on a screen I can read, and here I am.

Anyways...been living aboard my Orion 27 since October, getting her ready for the Big Trip.  The Big Trip starts in August when I leave 10 years flying fighters for the Air Force to "semi-retire" and go long-distance cruising.  The Big Trip doesn't have a first stop yet, but I figure I'll just sail east out of the Pamlico Sound and turn either left or right when I hit the Atlantic (or keep going straight?!?).  Since it'll probably be late fall, I'm sure I'll turn right. 

Welcome Aboard Sailfar.

If you don't mind saying, where are located now that you  will be heading East out of the Sound to begin your journey?

[jmpeltier]

Welcome Aboard Sailfar.

If you don't mind saying, where are located now that you  will be heading East out of the Sound to begin your journey?

I'm in little Washington...about as far up the river as one can get!


-John

[Captain Smollett]

Cool.  We are right down the road from you, and pass through Washington often.  We like that YOUR Dairy Queen is open all year round!  (Ours closes in winter).

 

[chriswheat]

Lower starboard corner of page 71 in the latest Good Old Boat.
 I have a C&C 27 in the Chesapeake which I need to take south, in search of my sanity.
Chris Ferrier
Second Wind

[s/v Emerald Tide]

Referred by a fellow sailor friend.

I am a new sailboat owner, just learning the ropes, so reading the forums helps me.  I grew up in the wrong place, the Detroit area, and have known this ever since I can remember.  As a kid, I dreamed of moving to California, but my father told me it was going to fall into the ocean, so I switched my fantasy to the East coast, and pointed my career in that direction.  I have loved the water, and have had a burning desire to own a boat for, well, forever.  My preference would be to be a dolphin or manatee living in the water, but I will have to settle for being a human, gliding across it under sail.  My boat is on the big side for sailfar, Pearson 424, but when she's "out there,"  I feel like I "might could" (I have SO got this Southern thing going on), get away with being on this forum.

Since getting my beautiful girl, ET, my thoughts have seriously drifted from career and "normal" life, to sailing.  (I really DO try not to roll my eyes too obviously, when "my people" advise me on how to grow my business.)  I'm in the process of figuring out how to make the transition.  I hope to see some thoughts about how to do this on your website, while trying not to be too jealous of people who are already "there."  I feel hopelessly "dialed in to the real world" right now.  For the immediate future, I am living vicariously through the sailing stories.

Someday I aspire to be a live-aboard sailor.  But, I fear, there are many miles to go before I can realize my dream.  Meanwhile, I am cramming as much sailing information into my old brain as it will hold.  (Darn it, there doesn't seem to be a lot of room left in there.  May I have a bigger brain, please?)         

[Lin Pardey]

I was invited to join in by someone who read a post I put on Cruisers Forum.

 Larry and I have sailed about 200,000 miles on what others would call small boats. Seraffyn at 24'4" may be short, but she definitely is mighty and a great sailing boat. She took us to 47 countries over eleven years. We are told the stories we wrote about our adventures on her launched a lot of dreams. Then came Taleisin, her big sister at 29 feet. (The book that was just published called Bull Canyon, a boat builder a writer and other wildlife tells of how we built Taleisin). What a wonderful vessel she turned out to be, though when it came time to antifoul I often wished we had her little sister back. So we are definitely small boat enthusiasts.

Speaking of small boats, have any of you been watching the amazing voyage of Matt Rutherford in his Vega 27. He has successfully sailed right around the Americas through the Northwest Passage, around Cape Horn and is only a few days away from tying the know by arriving back in the Chesapeake - amazing accomplishment, especially as he is doing it to raise funds for my favorite group of sailors with disabilities.

Lin Pardey
www.landlpardey.com

[Tim]

Welcome aboard Lin, many of us have been influenced by your voyages and writing and are happy to have you amongst us.

[CharlieJ]

Welcome aboard Lin.

I've been reading your stuff since your first started writing. Remember the story about your dinghy getting all tarred up alongside a ship? You and a friend were visiting and Larry making you clean it up? That long ago

I've not had the cross ocean time, but have around 12000 miles of coastal, on two boats, but much of it on a 1961 Meridian 25.

It's all great and these folks are really into smaller, simpler boats.