When did you start sailing?

Halcyon Yachts

Halcyon Yachts

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I came across this picture which made me smile...

Two+in+a+boat.jpg


It reminded me of my first experiences on a boat - not quite as young as this, but not too far behind. My older (and far less responsible) brother was sailing a Laser and I was his ballast. As we passed close to a buoy, and without any notice, he leapt out leaving me all alone. Feeling bewildered, yet very excited, I took the tiller and reveled in my first ever command! From that moment on I was completely hooked.

What were your first experiences on the high seas and do you remember any specific incidents that sparked a passion for life?

Pete
 
I was probably about the same age as the helmsman there when mum and dad and my aunt and uncle clubbed together to get a Wayfarer. I have vague memories of being put to bed in the space on top of the buoyancy tank under the foredeck.

I'm not sure exactly how old I was when they bought the Mirror that was officially mine, but there's pictures of it outside the house that we moved away from when I was eight, so younger than that.

Pete
 
My Grandfather got his Finesse 21 the year I was born, I have many fond memory's of school holidays bouncing of the sand in the Thames estuary sailing from Leigh on Sea.
 
Dinghy (Lymington Scow) off the beach in Swanage or Salcombe in early 60's - me in a carry cot... Progressed through the 60's in a West Highland sloop (18' long but 5' deep, kept in Chichester Marina when it was very, very basic), then a 33' Morecombe Bay Prawner aka a Nobby, an Itchen Ferry built in 1857, a Listang, a Robber IIIe 1/4 Tonner (in which I made my first channel crossing as skipper), a Nicholson 32 and lastly our Moody 376.

Very lucky to have Parents that trusted me at 18 to cross the channel with mates before GPS and chart plotters. Now we have to let our son use Gallivant and despite him having been afloat since 6 weeks old, it's still a nervous weekend for me....
 
I started very late in life, at 39. It was just before I met SWMBO, I was selling computers for Compaq and had acquired vast amounts of tradeable vouchers. Being single and wanting a holiday I went into a travel agent and asked about singles adventure holidays, sailing had not entered my head at this point. We eventually got around to a week in Falmouth learning to sail 'boats'. Then one of the assistance came up with 'two weeks in Paxos sailing Wayfarers, with Falcon Holiday'. "Paxos, thats warm isnt it?". "that'll do!" The rest is history.
 
When I was about 8 or so. Boarding school in Swanage taught me to sail (& swim!) in their small Oppie-like dinghies launched alongside the pier in the 50's.

My Dad had a boat in Shetland, a traditional 20ft open clinker double-ender, which we competed in local regattas.

Didn't buy my first sailing boat until 1969, a Leigh Cockler (small gaff-rigged smack) which we sailed to Calais, de-rigged then motored to Paris via the canals (& back again)
 
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As a boy I went on a week's sailing course arranged by my school at Cobnor, Chichester.

Our instructor, the late great Jenny Boon, pointed to the slipway and instructed us " Right boys, I want you all on the hard in ten minutes ! "

You can imagine the schoolboy mirth...
 
Messed about in boats since about 20. Bought my first small fast-fisher type MOBO 2003 and graduated up to a 33ft FB in 2009. We had been looking at Sailing for some time, but all seemed a bit slow. We then went out in a 30' saily boat in 2010 to try it with some friends and suddenly we (me and SWMBO) understood what all the fuss was about - loved it. We went over sail in late 2011 and regret not doing it much earlier.
 
Last year, probably around April at 24 years old :)

First boat was bought in september, tidied up, sailed twice and sold on.

Second boat was bought in November I think and I plan to keep hold of it for another year or so.
 
Before Decca, when you had to read morse and use RDF to check where you were. Roller reefing was a boom that rotated with a handle in front of the mast.
 
The same year that England won the World Cup! Or it could have been a couple of years before, sailing off the beach at East Mersea where Essex Council has a camp site. Every summer they had an International Camp there with young people from all over Europe and beyond. I used to go for a month with my parents as my dad was a youth worker. I had a great time and learned a lot about international relationships! My first sail was in a moulded ply dinghy - possibly a Mayfly - then we used to sail in YW dayboats and what we called Walker boats (Tideway?). Sailed on and off since then in a variety of boats but that was where the seed was sown.
 
Pete, I started this year just after your brother Steve delivered my boat! Loving it every chance I get, and moving up the steep learning curve the hard way!
 
I learned on Wayfarers when I was about 15 and still at school. I had got hooked on the idea several years earlier - probably as a result of watching the TV series of Swallows and Amazons - seem to remember developing a crush on Amanda Coxell playing Nancy!
 
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