Boat Search Part I of ........

I figured that after a few lessons, and some racing I thought I'd go check out some boats.  The fever has struck, and the fever is strong!



I know, I know .... patience grasshopper!  Well this little grasshopper isn't very patient!    I do hope, however, to get out and see quite a few boats, and not jump on something just because I want a boat NOW!

The owner of this 1983 Cal 25 Mark II had just had it taken out of the water because she couldn't keep paying the slip fees.  So it's sitting up on stands which I guess actually isn't a bad thing for a prospective buyer.  I get to see all the things the water can hide.  One of which looked like a crack in rudder.



Other then that though I will say the boat is in pretty good shape cosmetically (which doesn't really mean a whole hill of beans of course :) ).  A relatively new main that was cut for the boat, and a jib in pretty good shape.   Rigging is all fairly new, and appears to be in good condition as well.

 Of course the biggest issue would be a nonfunctioning outboard.  That might be a little important.  So a $4000 30 yr old boat with no working engine.    It's a sailboat though - who needs an engine :)

Boca Ciega Yacht Club race night

All is quiet before race day

Sunday morning was race day at Boca Ciega Yacht club. I was a bit nervous showing up Sunday morning.  Wondering if I would get a spot on a boat, would I get yelled at for doing newbie things, would I be the cause of a poor performance - all of the above? :)   So with some minor trepidation I walked into the club house, and was greeted warmly by the club members.    The boat captains were on  one side of the room, the rail meat on the other side.   6 boats just waiting for people.   I volunteered to be rail meat on one of the boats.  I figured it would be a good way to learn and cause the least amount of havoc.

Boat owner  and our raceday boat !

Lawson the captain, and his mother (probably a spry 70+) the owner of the boat, gave us a brief rundown on what they wanted from us.   Fat guy up front - you move from high side to high side when we tack or jibe.  A job I can handle!!

Out we go, and with a great deal of patience Lawson instructs his entirely green crew (other then his mother) on our duties.  We practice tacking and I must say with a great deal of pride - I can move from side to side very well :)

The first race we got a late start. Although to be honest I have no idea how I'm going to figure the start out when I get my own boat.  It's confusing!    But off we go.  Needless to say we are getting beat by everybody.  Even a couple of the 16.5' Catalina's are beating us, and we're in a 30' European made boat (sorry - didn't get the manufacturer).



A downwind leg gives me a chance to see wing-on-wing for the first time, and we might have been hitting all of 4 knots.  But it felt good.   The end of the first race found us second to last, only beating a 22 footer.

For the second race, Ruth Anne (the 70+ yr old owner) decided she had enough of manning the jib sheet winch.  After taking over for her I am now amazed at her.  It takes some effort to pull the sheet in, and then crank the winch.  I had some issues getting some tangles on the winch, by pulling the sheet a little too quickly, and we lost some ground.  By the end of the 2nd race though I had it down, and was feeling pretty good.  Racing definitely is a great way to hone your sailing skills (if you don't mind a little loud suggesting from your captain on how to do it better! ).

Back to the club for some well deserved adult beverages.

I'm just sorry those races are only once a month.   It's time to start seriously shopping for a boat so I can sail!!  In the meantime the club 16'5 Catalinas will do  :)

Club Sailout

So I finally got to get to sail on a real sailboat, and you know what happens.  Yep - the curse of Chris strikes again and no wind!  If you ever want a calm day on the water, just invite Chris over.  I guarantee you that the wind will mysteriously disappear.

This past Wednesday was the club sailout for all of us newbie sailors.  Boca Ciega Yacht Club members volunteered their boats and their time to take out the students from the class to experience sailing some larger boats.   I had the pleasure of joining a super sweet couple, John and Cindy, on their 26' something or other (that's my good memory kicking in again).  It's funny how big a 26' boat feels after you've been sailing on 16.5' Catalinas.  It felt even bigger given how tight the marina had the under 28' docks laid out.   I had no idea how we were going to get the boat out, but John got us out with no problems.   Experience makes things look so much better!

So out we headed into the "immense" Boca Ciega Bay.

Everything was so new to me - the wheel (small boats have tillers :) ), the space in the cockpit, a decent sized cabin (in my mind), the instrumentation (GPS, speed, depth indicators).  It was like rolling out in a  luxury car for the first time.  I know I'm getting plenty of chuckles out there from the experienced sailors out there.  But for somebody brand new to sailing and being on boats it's pretty cool.

Our iron sail (although it's an outboard - so plastic and metal sail? :) ) puttering in the background - or rather foreground - how people use motorboats is beyond me.  Those suckers are loud!  And that's a little 2 stroke engine.  I can't imagine what a full powered outboard sounds like.

Off the engine goes, and the sails go up.  Roller-furling is a wonderful invention!  And then - there was no wind. It's a common them with me, sailboats, and water.  I look at the speed indicator - .7 knots.  We are flying!!  Then I get to take the wheel. I prefer tillers at this point.  It just feels like you get a real sense of the water with a tiller.  The wheel takes a little getting used to for me for some reason.

I change direction, heading closer to the wind a little bit, and tighten up the sails a bit, and we get all the way up to 1.6 knots.  It's terrifying the speed we are getting :)   But then the wind completely dies, and we are just sitting there.   So we sit in the middle of the bay, and watch the sun go down and relax.  Cindy brings out some wine and snacks (is this mandatory equipment on a sailboat? ).  I have to say, being out in the middle of the water, watching the sun go down is one of the most relaxing and tranquil experiences I think I've had.  Pair that with some excellent company, and consider me hooked.

Unfortunately the night had to end, and even though I wanted to drop anchor and spend the night, it seemed rather rude to suggest that when it's not my boat!    So back to the Yacht Club we headed.

John and Cindy made the mistake of telling me to let them know when I wanted to go sailing again.  They may hear from me a lot :)

I'm certifiable!

Well it has been awhile .  How quickly land life takes over .  I never realized how busy moving to a different state, with a different job could be.   Now that Im relatively settled, I've started to set my sights on my long term goal.   To that end I did a little classwork and some ON THE WATER work :)  Yes - that's right, I got on an actual sailboat, with actual water, and real wind (well some wind).   It was definitely a test to see if I enjoyed sailing as much as I thought I would.   Guess what ?   I DO!!   For anybody in the Tampa area, I would HIGHLY recommend the Boca Ciega Yacht Club sailing classes. It's $250 but it's 5 weeks of Wednesday night class, and weekend sailing sessions.  Plus you get 3 months of membership in the club.  At the very end they give me a very official looking paper :)

And I can check out the club's 16.5' Catalina sailboats and learn on my own.

The weekend sail sessions were very helpful.  It was 2 students and 1 boat captain that taught us many, many things (with only a little forceful reminding ;)).  Wanna know points of sail?  I'm on it.   Can I trim the sheets - you know I can.   Can I heave-to; absolutely!  The one thing I have issues with on a smallish boat (I'm a big guy :) ), moving from one side to the other when jibing..  I feel pretty darn clutsy holding the tiller to one side, making sure the main sheet doesn't let the boom fly across, and move my big butt!     Looks like I need to work on my nimbleness!!

Next post - yes I will post more - I almost promise; a Wednesday night sailout with club members on their boats.   Looking forward to it!

Now the fever is in full force - boat shopping here I come!!!

Debby didn't want me sailing

Well I was supposed to get some sailing lessons this past weekend.   I looked around a little bit, and found out that the Sailing Center out of the St Pete Yacht Club, offered a free weekend of sailing lessons if you became a member.  For a $250 membership due, that seemed like it was worth it just for the lessons themselves.  On top of that you also had free use of the clubs Ideal 18'.   First come first serve of course.  But lessons and free boats - sign me up!!!   Of course with such an awesome deal, the interest was very high.   The next available "free" sailing lesson was late August or September.    And since I'm a very impatient person - I found out they offered private lessons.   This past Sunday I was going to spend an afternoon, one on one with an instructor.   And see what sailing on the Gulf was like compared to an inland Ohio lake.   My initiation was sooooo close!!     And then mother nature decided that................

Tropical Storm Debby decided she wanted to pay a visit.   Oh well - I'm learning that schedules and sailing are not a good mix.  You sail when Mother Nature tells you, you're going to sail.   A good lesson for my future endeavors :)    To my instructor's credit (or misplaced optimism ?)  he did call that morning to see if I wanted to see if the weather cleared later in the day.   Of course it didn't because apparently Debby wants to stay around and vacation in the area a bit longer :(

So July 14th is my next class schedule (there's that dirty word again - schedule), and I will have to get by with looking at the water, and loitering in a West Marine to dream :)

Another Year in the books

What a difference a year can make.  The Ohio native is now living in the land of water and warmth (well there are warmer places :) ).   The change I've been longing for, and quite frankly needed, has happened.  It still strikes me as almost surreal when I drive to work, and there is water on both sides of me as I cross the bridge from St Pete, to Tampa.  Even a long commute is ok when the scenery is water :)

The downside of course is my kids being back in Ohio, and I do miss them.  But they are off doing there own thing these days (really - do college age students really hand with their parents anyways? :)). And this fall they will both be off at college.  So if there is a time to make the change now was as good as any.  It's just amazing the variety of emotions that have gone on since this move became a reality.  Worried, nervous, excited, sad, happy....    And that was just on the 15 hour drive from Cincinnati to Tampa.  On the one hand I was leaving a life I was having trouble really enjoying, and headed towards an unknown life.  Also I was leaving kids and family behind.   But in the end, life is too short and I felt like if not now then it'll never happen.

Now it's time to move onto the next change - BOAT!!!  Must find a boat :)   But until that happens I have some sailing lessons coming up, and plan on joining the St Pete Sailing Center and use their 18' sailboats to learn on for now.    

And the best part for whoever is left tuning in here every once in awhile - Internet access - so I can post more regularly then the 1 every month thing I've been doing!

Hopefully there will be some sailing pics from this weekend to share :)

I Made it Somewhere Warm!

So finally I get around to updating what I've been up to for the last few months.  It's been quite the roller-coaster, but I've finally landed somewhere.  That somewhere is Tampa, more specifically South Pasadena.   2 miles away from the apartment I'm in - St Petersburg Beach!  1/2 mile from the apartment complex - Pasadena Marina.   The weather is warm, the water is close, and I see boats everywhere :)

As part of the move I was able to get a few things accomplished that will help out with my eventual liveaboard goal.   FIrst thing - got rid of a ton of stuff!!  It is truly amazing how many things we accumulate over the years.  It is even more amazing (or is that depressing) how much of that stuff we don't use.

The second thing, that I hope will help fund some cruising kitty, is my house in Ohio is rented out.  I still have to get the thing paid off, but going forward I plan on using that to supply me with some steady income (albeit not a lot) so I can sail, sail, sail away (insert favorite boating related song here!).

Now for the fun part.  I have an apartment lease for a year.  It's time to start looking at marinas, boats, and build some sailing skills.   All things that I hope to be able to update this blog with.  The problem lately has been the new job has been incredibly hectic, and no internet at the apartment yet, so I've had limited access to do some updates.  Weak excuse I know, but an excuse nonetheless :)

Well that's it for now - sitting in a cafe doing this quickly before I'm off.    But this is where I live now - the other side of this pic is water!!  Yep - the apartment complex is next to water.   Chris is happy :)