Can you remember the first sail you ever had and what in

[LONG_KEELER]

As a companion to the other thread (hope you don't mind) .

My first sail was in a cadet dinghy as crew.. I had no idea what was going on. I got soaking wet and freezing cold. Loved it ..........................

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I can't actually remember whether it was A 'Tepco' dinghy of about 12-14 ft, hired in Arran by my father, or the Wayfarer of a school friend on a Hertfordshire gravel pit. Whichever, I was hooked - and eventually got an idea of what was going on.

 

[Poignard]

27 foot Montague whaler in the RN.

 

[Refueler]

As a companion to the other thread (hope you don't mind) .

My first sail was in a cadet dinghy as crew.. I had no idea what was going on.

My Father bought an Enterprise dinghy .... I was about 5yrs old ... he and my Uncle launched it of Hillhead Beach in Solent ... they sailed it for a bit - then took each of us 3 boys in turn ...
That would have been 1961 ....

 

[PhillM]

Mirror dinghy sail number 4634 originally called Disc Blu and renamed by my grandfather.

 

[pvb]

A Westerly Centaur. My wife and I ordered it at a Boat Show, had it delivered to Essex, and had a guy show us what happened when various ropes were pulled. Still learning!

 

[Laminar Flow]

When I was ten, I got a large truck inner-tube. On this I built a platform with a square sail and a rudder. Launched on a gravel pit hundreds of miles from the sea, it sailed downwind much faster than I could swim which I, at the time, considered a resounding success.
I have been, unsuccessfully, in recovery ever since.

 

[cherod]

when i was about 6 or 7 my brother and i made a raft out of some wood and launched it off the beach , pretty quickly another piece of wood was used as a mast and an old sheet sufficed as a sail ,, all down wind from there.

 

[burgundyben]

A clinker built dinghy, built by Port Hamble, about 10ft, dagger board, gaff rig, despite being cascover sheathed, it leaked like a sieve, mostly I recall around the dagger board case, one of us sailed and one of us bailed!

 

[Laminar Flow]

when i was about 6 or 7 my brother and i made a raft out of some wood and launched it off the beach , pretty quickly another piece of wood was used as a mast and an old sheet sufficed as a sail ,, all down wind from there.

Yes, that's the stuff dreams were made of back then. As a kid I read Heyerdahl on Kon-Tiki, even built a couple of working models of the famous raft; who needs upwind performance? Still think it's highly over-rated, IMHO.

 

[cherod]

Yes, that's the stuff dreams were made of back then. As a kid I read Heyerdahl on Kon-Tiki, even built a couple of working models of the famous raft; who needs upwind performance? Still think it's highly over-rated, IMHO.

i am talking late 50 s ,my parents would probablly be arrested nowadays for allowing ( ne encouraging ) such stuff.. ( an advantage of growing up on the west coast of scotland )

 

[Gin]

Mid 60’s, Enterprise dinghy on a lake at Datchet- a very alarming and physically bruising first experience.
Late 60’s Van der Stadt Excalibur 35 on the Solent - great westward- puked up the whole way back eastward to Gosport base, hanging over the starboard bow - miserable .
Recovered stomach and interest in 1972 after being told not to engage in any impact sports and ignoring medical advice thereafter to weekly JOG racing for many more years- no more mal de mer, thank God

 

[doug748]

Remember it well, Stanborough Lake near Hatfield, in 1977. The boat I am not so sure about, Heron or Cadet I think

 

[Laminar Flow]

i am talking late 50 s ,my parents would probablly be arrested nowadays for allowing ( ne encouraging ) such stuff.. ( an advantage of growing up on the west coast of scotland )

You're right; much better nowadays, where they get to hang out at the mall with easy access to all the stuff I still don't know everything about.

 

[duncan99210]

Wooden GP14 on the river Dee at Chester. Taught me about tacking in short order as the rivers only about 50m wide. That was in the early 60s. Never really looked back after that.

 

[25931]

Not "sailing" but boating as a Sea Scout in Bolton, of all places, in kayaks in 1943. Two years later old pram dinghies on Fairhaven Lake, Lytham St.Annes.

 

[dunedin]

I have no recollection, but from old photos I believe it was age 2, in Sweden, in a small “pram” style dinghy with a spritsail (cheap home made Oppie alternative)

 

[mainsail1]

As a young kid on holiday at West Mersea. An 18foot sailing boat called "Astra" came with the house we rented for the summer holidays.

 

[Leighb]

I can remember, it was on the River Cam at Waterbeach in Rocket dinghy, pre the amalgamation of the Merlin and Rocket classes. There is a picture in one of our family albums. Not ideal waters for a performance dinghy, you had to tack about every 10 secs. Not that I knew anything else, I was just the moving ballast.

 

[V1701]

I came to sailing later in life, in my early 40's was working as a scuba instructor in Thailand, political troubles meant not much doing & I met a solo RTW sailor from UK through one of the crewing websites. We sailed across the Indian Ocean from Thailand to Maldives (1500nm), my first ever sail, crew of 2 on a Rival 38. I figured if he'd got that far he must know what he's doing. Came back to UK and bought my own first boat, also to live on and I'm still living afloat ten years on. One of those fairly random things that changes your life in quite a big way...