What kind of sailor are you?

[Wansworth]

I have long suspected that the dream of sailing to distant south sea isles was not for me I am more the coaster the inshore pilotage sailor or even less the harbour sailor enjoying anchour ages of putting the boat on the piles to scrub off between tides.I have spent many days rigging and trying out sails firmly moored to the quay Taking tea watching the yachts ebb and flow.I have waved goodbye to ocean crossers without a thought that I might also cast off.
This is in the way of a confession and acceptance of my my shortcomings as an ocean voyager but very much as it was in the coasting trade Ieaving harbour and entering harbour with a bit of sea travels between was really enough.

 

[justanothersailboat]

All power to those who have the chance to do epic voyages, but I don't. I'd rather get in lots of relatively unambitious local-sailing fun than wait ashore for the "perfect" opportunity that could be a very long way off.

 

[dansaskip]

I had that dream too for a long time - in the end it was a that itch that had to be scratched - so I set off on my trip not knowing if it was really for me, whether I would enjoy it or not and prepared to maybe give up if it didn't suit. But you never know until you try. Years later I had sailed about 23,000 miles and crossed oceans. I am glad I gave it a go.

 

[johnalison]

I don’t believe that there is a pecking order in sailing. For some people a trip on a canal or a sail on a reservoir is as challenging or as satisfying as they need. For myself, I get a thrill from being in anything from an Avon dinghy to a channel ferry. There was a time when I could see ocean sailing as a distant dream, but one that was always unlikely, given the pressures of family, work and pension payments. In any case, I never thought that I had the robustness or expertise to do such a crossing. My early cruising was local, extending as my boats got larger, and although I am no longer in a position to do it, I can look back on our extensive Channel and Baltic cruises with satisfaction, ranging from Cork to Gdansk, and will probably put up all eight courtesy flags just once in celebration. As for what kind of sailor I am - I would say one that was happiest when out of sight of land.

 

[LittleSister]

I have long suspected that the dream of sailing to distant south sea isles was not for me . . .

You could say you've done it, and if people say 'Did you go to Vanuatu?', you could say, "No, but I did get to the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island'.

It was great to read those books of the intrepid wanderers when we we younger. They were inspirational and entertaining, but I always knew it was not for me (and my bank manager concurs!). But I've gained such pleasure and satisfaction from coastal cruising and crossing the channel, North Sea etc., often single-handed, it doesn't feel at all a pale substitute, instead something distantly related but different.

One of my most memorable senses of achievement in boating was after I'd sailed with friends around the East Coast and across to Holland and France in a larger boat, and had been to sea quite a few times in my own first 'sleep aboard' boat - a little 16' 3" centre boarder. I took it out for the first time at night, rowing out on my own to where it was aground on its drying morning among the reed beds at the navigable limit of the river, climbed aboard and made a cup of tea on the camping stove as I waited for the tide to come in. I then felt my way out of 'my' little creek into the main channel, only a little wider at that point. It was a lovely mild, calm, very dark late autumn evening as I crept downstream against the tide with the outboard barely above tickover, struggling to pick out with a torch the withies and buoys ahead marking the very winding channel between the mudflats. Luckily some had suitably coloured reflective tape on them. Eventually I arrived where the channel deepens, broadens, becomes less convoluted and the buoyage larger and much easier to make out. I tied up at the 'dinghy' pontoon of the riverside pub there, just about in time to get a drink. I felt such a pleasurable sense of pride and satisfaction at my achievement that it stays with me to this day, yet I'd come less than three miles!

 

[capnsensible]

Tahiti is a nice landfall.....

 

[Egret]

I've sailed Colne and Blackwater for nearly 70 years now (started before born) and haven't felt much need to venture further at all,

 

[Wansworth]

You could say you've done it, and if people say 'Did you go to Vanuatu?', you could say, "No, but I did get to the Isle of Wight and Brownsea Island'.

It was great to read those books of the intrepid wanderers when we we younger. They were inspirational and entertaining, but I always knew it was not for me (and my bank manager concurs!). But I've gained such pleasure and satisfaction from coastal cruising and crossing the channel, North Sea etc., often single-handed, it doesn't feel at all a pale substitute, instead something distantly related but different.

One of my most memorable senses of achievement in boating was after I'd sailed with friends around the East Coast and across to Holland and France in a larger boat, and had been to sea quite a few times in my own first 'sleep aboard' boat - a little 16' 3" centre boarder. I took it out for the first time at night, rowing out on my own to where it was aground on its drying morning among the reed beds at the navigable limit of the river, climbed aboard and made a cup of tea on the camping stove as I waited for the tide to come in. I then felt my way out of 'my' little creek into the main channel, only a little wider at that point. It was a lovely mild, calm, very dark late autumn evening as I crept downstream against the tide with the outboard barely above tickover, struggling to pick out with a torch the withies and buoys ahead marking the very winding channel between the mudflats. Luckily some had suitably coloured reflective tape on them. Eventually I arrived where the channel deepens, broadens, becomes less convoluted and the buoyage larger and much easier to make out. I tied up at the 'dinghy' pontoon of the riverside pub there, just about in time to get a drink. I felt such a pleasurable sense of pride and satisfaction at my achievement that it stays with me to this day, yet I'd come less than three miles!

Your a poet!

 

[Wansworth]

My ocean crossing yacht was a 15foot double ended macwester which seemed spacious until another person shared the cabin.sixmonths cruisingthe south and west coast………sold to finance a 26lifeboat conversion that was my nemeses!

 

[Stemar]

I've always loved the water and boats, but life got in my way - marriage, children, etc, so I came late to sailing. We had a holiday in Brittany and on the beach we went to, they had sea kayak intros, a couple of hours for 40 francs, so the kids and I went almost every day - a great time. The following year, we had a budget for a holiday, but the kids had some sort of childhood lurgy, so we couldn't go. Madame then said something very foolish, "You've always wanted to go sailing, why don't you use the holiday money for a sailing course?" Expensive mistake, I booked a Comp Crew course There were four of us two CC and two Coastal Skippers and, when I saw what was being asked of the CSs, I asked if, provided I could reach the standard, I'd be able to upgrade to Day Skipper. The instructor was dubious, but agreed. I'd done aircraft navigation and met in the Air Cadets, and transferring that to boats wasn't hard, and I got my DS.

After a couple of years sailing on other people's boats, I decided I wanted my own. Madame was unconvinced, but a few days later we were walking along a canal, and she saw a rather nice little cabin cruiser. "I wouldn't mind something like that", she said, so I started looking. We had a narrow escape with a real project, but couldn't find anything suitable locally. Back then, there was a place up in Cheshire that was a few fields full of boats, and they had several possibilities, so we went to see what we could find. We did the rounds and there was nothing; most of the boats within our budget didn't need TLC, they needed a humane killer. We looked at each other, "There's nothing for us." "No, but I just don't feel like we've finished, let's go round again". That's when we saw a Macwester Rowan, open, and with a ladder against it, so we went to have a nosy. Madame loved it. I can't remember why we didn't buy it there and then, but I started hunting the minute we got home, and within a month I had a mooring arranged on the Thames, and we had bought our Snapdragon 24, Jissel. A sailing friend arranged a week's stay in a marina for free - no idea how he did that, but seeing the Solent set us thinking about what a nice area it was compared to Thurrock, and a bit of research found us a mooring we could almost afford in Portsmouth Harbour.

I'd have loved to do the liveaboard ocean crossing thing, but in a Snapdragon? Maybe not. Besides, we still had teenagers at home, and Madame isn't in the best of health, and I'm diabetic. Still, that hasn't stopped us spending most summer weekends aboard for the 18 years we had her, and then on Jazzcat.

So, what kind of sailor am I? Not the most adventurous, and getting less so as I get older, but we just love being out on the water. Happiness for both of us is apéritif o'clock in a quiet anchorage, watching the sun go down and the world go by.

 

[Wansworth]

I've always loved the water and boats, but life got in my way - marriage, children, etc, so I came late to sailing. We had a holiday in Brittany and on the beach we went to, they had sea kayak intros, a couple of hours for 40 francs, so the kids and I went almost every day - a great time. The following year, we had a budget for a holiday, but the kids had some sort of childhood lurgy, so we couldn't go. Madame then said something very foolish, "You've always wanted to go sailing, why don't you use the holiday money for a sailing course?" Expensive mistake, I booked a Comp Crew course There were four of us two CC and two Coastal Skippers and, when I saw what was being asked of the CSs, I asked if, provided I could reach the standard, I'd be able to upgrade to Day Skipper. The instructor was dubious, but agreed. I'd done aircraft navigation and met in the Air Cadets, and transferring that to boats wasn't hard, and I got my DS.

After a couple of years sailing on other people's boats, I decided I wanted my own. Madame was unconvinced, but a few days later we were walking along a canal, and she saw a rather nice little cabin cruiser. "I wouldn't mind something like that", she said, so I started looking. We had a narrow escape with a real project, but couldn't find anything suitable locally. Back then, there was a place up in Cheshire that was a few fields full of boats, and they had several possibilities, so we went to see what we could find. We did the rounds and there was nothing; most of the boats within our budget didn't need TLC, they needed a humane killer. We looked at each other, "There's nothing for us." "No, but I just don't feel like we've finished, let's go round again". That's when we saw a Macwester Rowan, open, and with a ladder against it, so we went to have a nosy. Madame loved it. I can't remember why we didn't buy it there and then, but I started hunting the minute we got home, and within a month I had a mooring arranged on the Thames, and we had bought our Snapdragon 24, Jissel. A sailing friend arranged a week's stay in a marina for free - no idea how he did that, but seeing the Solent set us thinking about what a nice area it was compared to Thurrock, and a bit of research found us a mooring we could almost afford in Portsmouth Harbour.

I'd have loved to do the liveaboard ocean crossing thing, but in a Snapdragon? Maybe not. Besides, we still had teenagers at home, and Madame isn't in the best of health, and I'm diabetic. Still, that hasn't stopped us spending most summer weekends aboard for the 18 years we had her, and then on Jazzcat.

So, what kind of sailor am I? Not the most adventurous, and getting less so as I get older, but we just love being out on the water. Happiness for both of us is apéritif o'clock in a quiet anchorage, watching the sun go down and the world go by.

What an encouraging tale !

 

[johnalison]

I've sailed Colne and Blackwater for nearly 70 years now (started before born) and haven't felt much need to venture further at all,

Most of my club members would say the same.

 

[The Q]

Did some sailing in the Hebridies.
Did a trip across the channel to various places and back.
Did a trip from Ullapool over the top of mainland Scotland, and down the other side to England.

Realized sailing in a straight line for hours on end is not my kind of sailing.

Now I navigate the Norfolk Broads,
in the winter,
racing, 3 one hour races, propping up the T bar or alcoholic bar between.

In the summer,
down river races, stop for lunch at a pub and race back.
Or
Round the buoys outside the club
Or
Race in circles on a broad..
Or

Just go for sail , find a pub, then sail back.

 

[johnalison]

Did some sailing in the Hebridies.
Did a trip across the channel to various places and back.
Did a trip from Ullapool over the top of mainland Scotland, and down the other side to England.

Realized sailing in a straight line for hours on end is not my kind of sailing.

Now I navigate the Norfolk Broads,
in the winter,
racing, 3 one hour races, propping up the T bar or alcoholic bar between.

In the summer,
down river races, stop for lunch at a pub and race back.
Or
Round the buoys outside the club
Or
Race in circles on a broad..
Or

Just go for sail , find a pub, then sail back.

I had many happy weeks on hired boats on the Broads, first with family, then with student friends and later with my wife. We had lugs’l dinghies, large motor boats, Y&B one designs, and best of all sailing cruisers that were engineless. Initially it was the unfamiliarity of the surroundings that I loved, and later on the pubs, though we did lots of messing around in boats, or, as we called it, sailing.

 

[capnsensible]

It's rather pleasant to read of all the different ways that sailing can be enjoyed by so many different people.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Our sailing is of various sorts. Almost everything except blue water. Round the cans 3-4 times a week in a classic dayboat, bit of cruiser racing on the tri, plus day sails, overnights and longer trips mostly on the south coast.

 

[Blueboatman]

I am currently a tucked up in bed sailor with electric blanket, 4 pillows and various books and pad..

I consider this to be a jolly useful and significant upgrade from ‘sofa’or ‘armchair’ or wet shower/soggy banknote grade at this time of night..

All part of the sailing experiences

 

[westhinder]

I am the kind of sailor who is happy on a boat, any boat. Ranging from a 420 to a Dutch barge, a plastic classic, an aluminium expedition yacht or a three masted tall ship… Out for a daysail with barely any wind, crossing the North Sea, the Channel, Biscay or the Atlantic, or just quietly at anchor or moored.
It is not what or where you sail that matters, but the pleasure you get out of it.

 

[Frank Holden]

I'm like the chicken that crossed the road. I only cross oceans to get to the other side.
I started by day sailing - I am back to day sailing.
My last offshore passage - Algarrobo to Puerto Montt - last April put me off for life. Mind you that is not exactly a long term problem.
Two things - windward work and fishing boats - I still wake screaming in the dark after dreaming nightmares about the fishing boats off Lebu.

 

[Stemar]

What I love about this kind of thread is the number of different ways people enjoy the water, from classic wooden boats to new AWB, dinghies to near superyachts, old bangers to brand new, CQRs to Rocnas. Some go from marina to marina, others prefer anchoring and independence.

It just goes to show that there's no wrong way to do it, provided you're not a Captain Calamity.