What inspired you to start sailing?

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Warm blue Med. water in Cyprus

As a 13 year old at school in Dhekelia, Cyprus,
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Mr. Schreker the chemistry teacher taught sailing to many of us.
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I have appreciated his kindness ever since.
 
My parents never asked my opinion on the matter.I had to go to the boat with my sisters as they popped out of my mother until there were too many of us for the boat when they would leave some of us with a maid .Despite getting violently seasick I always wanted to go back because it was an adventure every time for me.We had a Dragon then a 12mt gaff rigged double ender then an Arpege.I fondly remember going to sleep snuggly tucked in in the berth while my father fiddled with the shortwave receiver as the wind howled outside.Magical.
 
No choice. I was taken out on the Thames Esturary from Gravesend at aged three. Put to crewing soon after, we kids were used by weight depending on the wind strength. My mother was delighted when we were big enough for her to stay home.
Funnily enough, I still love it. Must be a perverse reaction..
 
Grew up in a sailing family. First sailed solo in a Mirror dinghy on a lake in Austria.

There is a family story that my father first got into boating by accepting a clapped out old cabin cruiser in lieu of repayment of some money he had leant to a friend. This sparked the interest in boats, but the always broken engine encouraged trying sailing instead.
 
At a tender age, I remember seeing one of Richard Scarry's anthropomorphic animals driving a cabin-cruiser through a rainstorm, in one of those kids' annuals.

The prospect of staying dry & warm inside, while steering away from the limits of the shore (I was a terrible, very nervous swimmer) remains to me a singular thrill...

...although many, many decades later, I only have a dinghy, which leaks a bit. Surely some mistake? :rolleyes:
 
stingo said:
For me, it was the articles in National Geographic about Robin Lee Graham and then reading his book, Dove.
Click to expand...

I leant to swim at the age of about 7 and had my first ride in a small boat at about the same time near Vancouver. I've had a passion for all things nautical since.

Many sailors in France say they were inspired by Bernard Moitessier's "La Longue Route".
 
Sailed as a youngster with my Dad. Parents divorced, lost touch with the OM and took up rowing. Would have been elite were it not for the blo0dy weed, which I have now finally conquered. Once my knees began to pack up with the ravages of the rowing, returned to sailing and wonder why I never pursued it for all these years. Have many good friends from both pastimes.
 
I was too short (5ft 9in) for Basketball; I was no good at football and never heard of rugby when I was growing up in Athens; I joined the water polo team and played water polo for many years, which is good during the winter but summer time sailing was even better. I was lucky enough at the age of 11 ~12 to be accepted by one of the best sailing schools in Athens and I was training practically every day on Finns, Flying Dutchman's, 470s, Solings. One chap from the team (King Constantine) a few years earlier even won gold at the Olympic games in Rome.

I still enjoy dinghy sailing, but our North European climate makes necessary more often than not to have a boat with a lid on, my Macwester Wight is good for that.
 
My father ordered a cruiser from Mitchell's yard in Portmellon before the war but never got it. He took us on the Broads and on boats at the seaside as children, so it seemed natural to sail Fireflies when at school, one of which we owned. I then returned to the Broads for holidays and we started cruising when the children arrived, as being more sociable. I don't think I was ever inspired; it just seemed natural.
 
Saw Taikoo an OYC ketch in Inver kip, thought it looked interesting so I went over and kicked the tires. Went out the next week. Sailed whenever I have had the opportunity ever since. *
 
I am, therefore I sail; my parents sailed and so did my brothers, although I have been successfully inoculated against boat ownership by the traumas my dad suffered while owning a manky auld wooden boat which seemed to need 4 hours of maintenance for every hour of sailing. Mum has more or less retired from sailing, but is still happy to go if it's sunny and warm!
 
My father had an old toreout15 footer.I think my life would have been different if he had an Enterprise as the girls from the yacht club only liked the racing boys,still I developed a strange likeing for singlehanded sailing fed by books about derring do,stamp collecting would have been a better bet........are women stamp collecters sexy?
 
Initial interest as a youngster reading Robin round the World, but only took it seriously as a teacher when the local authority taught us to sail, on condition that we became instructors and taught the youngsters.
 
Took the long road my Dad was a test pilot on mobos so we had every weekend on every mob you could imagine round the scottish coast and loch lomond ( as a wee boy heaven was flat loch sunshine engine off ) met tloml was told i was moving south and so i did so the feelings were dorment we had many many 10 hour round trips for weekends on the loch and even got married in luss shmbo fell in love with the loch 4 kids later the most local expanse is windermere so of we troddled most weekends and then bought a little vivacity trailer sailer , chucked the trailer got a mooring the love story resumed spent a summer with 4 kids and the dog crammed in every weekend and had a ball and never put the sail up once ( why because i never knew how ) then bought a large bayliner and thought bloody hell i can stand up this is great but like mcalan we had a mercruiser pushing us along costing a fortune and noisy as hell we thought this is not it its meant to be chill relax and wife had a brain wave we bought a 28 yacht and oh my oh my we found what was lost the kids can get busy ha ha free crew and they love it really love it but we now have a serious problem we have bought a new baby and we had to bring her home on the sea ( was even going to pay for skipper or transport ) never done open sea but we got a message from uricanejack ( you know you want to) and OOOOH MMMMY GGGGGGOD if there is one ,we had a ball for a wife that hated boats water and everything connected , coming across from france was as close to our honeymoon as you can ever get and in my kids words DAD THAT WAS COOL and do you know yes it was so we now sit south coast not sure what to do coast or lake but what we do know there is not a feeling like it full sail silence and full speed took the long road but we are hooked
 
just add water said:
Took the long road my Dad was a test pilot on mobos so we had every weekend on every mob you could imagine round the scottish coast and loch lomond ( as a wee boy heaven was flat loch sunshine engine off ) met tloml was told i was moving south and so i did so the feelings were dorment we had many many 10 hour round trips for weekends on the loch and even got married in luss shmbo fell in love with the loch 4 kids later the most local expanse is windermere so of we troddled most weekends and then bought a little vivacity trailer sailer , chucked the trailer got a mooring the love story resumed spent a summer with 4 kids and the dog crammed in every weekend and had a ball and never put the sail up once ( why because i never knew how ) then bought a large bayliner and thought bloody hell i can stand up this is great but like mcalan we had a mercruiser pushing us along costing a fortune and noisy as hell we thought this is not it its meant to be chill relax and wife had a brain wave we bought a 28 yacht and oh my oh my we found what was lost the kids can get busy ha ha free crew and they love it really love it but we now have a serious problem we have bought a new baby and we had to bring her home on the sea ( was even going to pay for skipper or transport ) never done open sea but we got a message from uricanejack ( you know you want to) and OOOOH MMMMY GGGGGGOD if there is one ,we had a ball for a wife that hated boats water and everything connected , coming across from france was as close to our honeymoon as you can ever get and in my kids words DAD THAT WAS COOL and do you know yes it was so we now sit south coast not sure what to do coast or lake but what we do know there is not a feeling like it full sail silence and full speed took the long road but we are hooked
Click to expand...

Inspiring tale, but the odd full stop would help; I was out of breath by the end.
 
I didn't get a choice to begin with as I was in a carry cot at the time. Later on as a teenager I moved from a school in Romford to a school in Burnham-on-Crouch and they said "Would you like to go sailing every Wednesday afternoon?"...
 
grumpy_o_g said:
I didn't get a choice to begin with as I was in a carry cot at the time. Later on as a teenager I moved from a school in Romford to a school in Burnham-on-Crouch and they said "Would you like to go sailing every Wednesday afternoon?"...
Click to expand...

Similar here parents had boats I sailed, at 7 I was crewing cadets and did my first nationals. Continued sailing and racing bigger boats and small boats ever since. Not done any really big passage and have no plans to enjoy sailing on my terms...
 
Blimey, this is a thread that opens up bucket fulls of memories! Been boat daft since about 3, I think! Few tides since then, still attit...

First shag was on a boat too :cool:
 
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