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View Full Version : Were you ever a serious sailboater?



harbormaster
02-09-2003, 09:17 AM
I know I was a diehard sailboater before powerboats. How about the rest of you?

JimG
02-09-2003, 09:58 AM
Nothing against sailing. But as the son of a tunnelboat racer/charter captain/part-owner of a boat shop, I am a natural born powerboater! Dad bought a Sunfish once. We sailed it one time, then sold it! I guess dad missed the aroma of exhaust... :)

Cuda
02-09-2003, 10:34 AM
I have never been sailing, though it is on my list of things to learn.

GEOO
02-09-2003, 10:54 AM
YES,
I owned a Sail Boat for four years. Had a blast!!

HyperDonzi
02-09-2003, 11:31 AM
I went sailing twice last year, was pretty enjoyable, very relaxing. I need to try sailing around 9pm so that I sleep at night. Anyone who hasnt tried it, go to the local marina and ask a experienced sailor for a ride, you will learn a lot.

Rootsy
02-09-2003, 11:34 AM
and i remember my childhood and teenage years, long before the donzi... nice sunrise sunday mornings... my cup of coffee just putzing back and forth down the lake...

i had some flat bottom plywood ancient sailboat that was a freebee and i put her back together... when she probably shoulda been burned but she survived another donzen years!

dang i wanna be a kid again!

KMLFAMILY
02-09-2003, 11:57 AM
I have been out a couple of times on them in low wind conditions,drove me nut"s.I was ready to jump overboard and swim to shore.I guess it's just not my cup of tea.A few co-workers have them.We trash talk all the time in good humor.I am sure there is much to be learned from them regarding navigation skills etc. When they start talking about racing,i just don"t know.I do know entering Newport Harbor R.I. with a gazillon of them coming at you from every direction, the right of way rule isn"t fun.
Give me that sound of an engine on any day !

ToonaFish
02-09-2003, 03:26 PM
Dunedin, Florida. Summer of '84. Hobie cat pulled behind my spanking new Pulsar NX. Life was good and I was lucky, unlike the Nissan.

Bunches,

Celene 'windsurfing to Dog Island'

MOP
02-09-2003, 04:13 PM
Started off in power, wents nuts on speed for awhile. Then had a long break from boat owning, in 73 got a small diesel trawler only because deal was unreal sold it after a few years. Was given a sail boat and in fairly short oder learned to sail it, I got more and more serious and statred racing. Went through seven boats did real well for awhile, then I bought my Biz. That was the end of time to sail, got out and after two years bought my Donzi. Still don't get much time as my hour meter tells me 57 hours in 3-1/2 years, spend as much time hauling and flushing as I do running it. But one day I will sail again, I found it very rewarding and relaxing.

Brad Lyon
02-09-2003, 04:37 PM
When I was a kid we had both blow boats and stink boats. I never really cared for the blow boats, not enough speed for the amount of work! My opinion is still the same.

Brad

oldLenny
02-09-2003, 05:43 PM
..sailed for many years in the Strait...(Georgia) Hobies, Flying Juniors and one-designs...Cut my teeth in the ocean waves in a 14 footer and full sail...That was a blast!...Took lessons at 10 years old, bought a few...Raced out of Kitsilano in Vancouver for about 7 years, (my twenties)...wet suit stuff and cart-wheeling hulls...GREAT times, there will always be a place in my heart for sailing so long as it is "entertaining stuff", you know, small boats, big waves, big wind...thinking stuff... :D If you ever make it up here we should go out in an 20' Olypmic cat...(no, not your kind of Cat, no motors...)

Gearhead99
02-09-2003, 05:52 PM
Never a sailboater.

Too slow and too quiet.

Got to get there and get back.

Digger
02-09-2003, 05:53 PM
Yes. lots of sail time, mostly lasers, sunfish, comet class. Also was a shareholder (sharecropper? I dunno something like that) in a Hobie then a Prindle catamaran in Hawaii. On some hangover mornings on Oahu I would force myself to get up early, drive by the Kalapawaii market for er... medicine, and park the truck at the beach, walk to the dunes, rig and launch the cat off the beach. It was so freaking beautiful that it would clear the cobwebs and make me feel ok again. Also in the Philippines, at the marina in Subic Bay we could rent a 22' Catalina for 20 bucks all day. ...nothin' wrong with sailing in my book.

BigGrizzly
02-09-2003, 05:59 PM
I/ve had them boath each has its own reward. Mom was for speed and Dad loved sailing. Brother ownes A 40 foot ketch had a 44 foot sloop when he dissapered off to the bahammas for 2 years than. I Raced lightnings and e-scows- not good at it .Than along came my Jersey Speed skiff and than the 16 and it was by by sail boats. Like my family saids motors are my thing.

BUIZILLA
02-09-2003, 07:38 PM
WAY more sailing experience than I care to admit....or bore you with... wink

J

south of north today...and tomorrow too

MOP
02-09-2003, 07:50 PM
Like it or not there is a little Rag Bagger in our heritage. I love my Donzi and I love to sail. I even did a Submarine once down in the Bahamas. If it floats I love it!

Marlin275
02-09-2003, 08:11 PM
My Dad designed and built a modified 37' Piver trimaran in an airplane hanger at Ft. Lauderdale airport when I was 8 yrs. old. Sailed to the Bahamas so many times and watched hurricanes beat the waves into air when we thought we would lose her. Sail is another way of life but the sea floats us all. The lessons learned, the weather, and the beautiful outdoors are what its all about.

Greg Maier
02-09-2003, 08:34 PM
Grew up on sailboats on the Chesapeake. That is when I saw my first Donzi. Actually, had to take several required sailing classes to graduate from college.

mphatc
02-09-2003, 08:47 PM
Started out a sailor, raced Windsurfers and once placed 7th in the World Championships, raced on Winnipesaukee for many years, sailing everything from 22' - 30' boats. But life is very busy and the Donzi allows for easy quik enjoyment and water skiing, plus we can take the Corsican to explore other lakes.
I still own a 23' Sea Sprite sloop, and will always love to sail. Nothing is as romantic as a night sail under a full moon!

Mario L.

CDMA
02-09-2003, 08:49 PM
Grew up sailing. Dyers, Opti-tubs, lasers, hobbies, Capris...

Raced, played, enjoyed

Totally different then a Donzi but at times equally enjoyable. I no longer sail often but I miss it tremendously. Only time for so many hobbies in a life and at this point the Donzi's come first. Maybe some time in the future I will try to get back into it...

And I second baxter on the fast cats..they are a blast

Hey poodle ever seen the Boston Whaler Cat???

Chris

You want me to design what?!?!?!

Trueser
02-09-2003, 09:07 PM
Gota say no to Sailboating. For some it may be what they need, but I would rather have the Power.

Rodger
02-09-2003, 09:11 PM
I can't decide which is more exciting; sailing or watching paint dry.

Tony
02-09-2003, 09:32 PM
In high school and college I would crew on my uncle's sailboats, racing in Lake St. Clair. Very intense, exciting, and competitive! Also, every summer we'd do the Port Huron to Mackinaw race, and that was always a great time. As a bonus, the college kids (who didn't have to be back at work Monday morning)) would get to return the boat back downstate at a relaxed, party-like pace!

tailwind
02-09-2003, 10:16 PM
As most of us competitive, Having grown up sailing, we do indeed share a racing spirit! If it wasnt a laser, sunfish, moth or etc, we indeed would be elsewhere! By the way , anybody here ever heard of the Moth champinship in elizabeth, NC? Class boat in the 60's - 80's?

FlatRacer, aka BarrelBack
02-09-2003, 10:40 PM
My family had a Sailfish, and then an AMF Force 5. My dad could sail pretty well, but he was very conservative in his approach. I, on the other hand was a speed freak from an early age. I wasn't happy unless the rails were awash and my ass was hiked out in the wind. Of course, I dumped every time out!!!
Never met a sailboat I couldn't capsize. :D

FR

Formula Jr
02-10-2003, 04:16 AM
I love both, each has a totally different mind set. There is something about planing out a course, filling the stows and getting there purely on wind power that is so relaxing You have to do it to understand it. Powerboats are a thrill, and its more of a play with the water. Since I moved out to Oregon I can't enjoy sailboating as much since I have to step a mast each time I go out and that turned in to too much troble for the lakes around here.

Sailboats I've used extensively include.
33 Swiftshore, 27 Berlinger, 27 Mustang, 25 Hunter, Laser I and II, Snark - a piece of poo, Mobjack, Thisiel (sp), Catalina 34, and I raced in Annapolis with both a wooden and a glass Windmill in my teens. My uncle was a Star boat champion in the 50's and he passed on alot of that knowledge to me. If anyone thinks sail boats are boring, they should try hanging out on trapez in a Laser, or single pontoon sailing on a Hobie, its a blast and just as fun as airtime in a powerboat.

Sailboats bring with them a whole nother world, of language and technique. I'm glad I was exposed to both worlds.

catch 22
02-10-2003, 05:56 AM
To slow for me....... I GET SEA SICK frown

BUIZILLA
02-10-2003, 07:58 AM
Tailwind, funny you mention Moths..I started in Moths in the late 60's out of Miami Yacht Club. Guy by the name of Lew Twitchell was the Moth Master. He taught me to sail prams in 1965 out of Pelican Harbor Yacht Club. I was the I.O.D.A. World Champion and U.S.A. Team Captain in 1967-68, out of Coral Reef Yacht Club. I also had an O.K. Dinghy (luved that boat), Laser, Windwill, Star, lightning's, and used to sail Snipe's against Augie Diaz. If it had a tiller, I sailed it. Tried a Scow once, what a ride that was...did cat's for a short while, pretty intense..

Jim

oldLenny
02-10-2003, 08:54 AM
Buizilla, I just sold about 2 months a go an original O.K....nice boat, they love to plane when running downwind, and, do you remember the "pitch-poling"?, we used to call them the "death rolls"...

BUIZILLA
02-10-2003, 09:16 AM
Lenny, funny you mention that... eek! I did that exact scenario in a Midwinter race when I stuffed the bow on a screaming broad reach, just before a jibe turn at a marker and got literally catapulted out of the boat... that hurt.

J

mattyboy
02-10-2003, 09:24 AM
yes, it was the worst 5 minutes of my life :p :D

Matt

Forrest
02-10-2003, 11:09 AM
Try a beach cat in the ocean such as a Nacra, Supercat, or even a Hobie for that matter, on a windy day. Not slow by any means, and not for the faint of heart either! We would have two out on the trapeze while running over Atlantic swells, big chop, and Navy ship and submarine wake on the Supercat 17. That boat would take it without submarining or pitch-poling. It wasn't all that good in light air though. That's where the Nacras would wip our butts! Beach cat sailing was one of my all time faviorite pastimes when it was too rough or windy to go out in the 16 Donzi back in the days when I lived on 88th Street in Virginia Beach.

Formula jr. - I too used to race fiberglass Windmills on the Rappahannock River (Virginia) when I was in high school as well. I haven't seen Windmills since I was spending time in that mid- and upper-Chesapeake Bay area. Now that's a boat that will teach you not to make too many mistakes!

tamburello
02-10-2003, 11:48 AM
Never thought I'd see a post about sailing get so many replies!

I grew up in a family of sailors. The progression of family sailboats included a 27 Coronado, 32 Pearson Vanguard, and currently a 29 Island Packet. We also picked up some smaller sail driven craft including three windsurfers, a Force 5, a Laser, a JY 15, and an Opti.

Some of my best boating days were on sailboats. I love blasting around in my Donzi, but hanging it out on a sailboat when it's blowin' like a devil and the waves are up is just as much of a rush. Afterall, it is a way to get out on the water when the lake is too torn up to take out the Donzi.

Danny
02-10-2003, 12:27 PM
I'm the 4th generation owner of an island cottage. there have always been sailboats around. Growing up I crewed on our neighbours 30 ft C&C. Big wind and big waves were always fun. Had an O'Day day sailer and raced Lasers and still have a couple of windsurfers. I'll be honest the idea of a Hobie still intrigues me. That being said on a Friday night getting to the cottage for cocktail hour I think I'll stick with the Donzi.
Danny

RH
02-10-2003, 04:02 PM
I grew up on a lake and spent the summers on a blow boat watching the 68' Classic 18 going flying by. That was when I was hit by the Donzi bug. I sail every summer, started on a Laser, crewed on an Eboat and salied some M16's. It's just not as fun for me on the sailboats!
RH

Tomahawk
02-10-2003, 05:42 PM
Did quite a bit of sailing and racing in the early '70's to late '80's. Owned 8 different boats but mostly beach cats - Hobies and Prindles. Raced in Michigan, Wisconsin, Washinton and Oregon. Sold my last sailboat about 4 years ago. Fun but time consuming. Maybe later.

David O
02-10-2003, 08:00 PM
Have sailed all my life and raced since mid to late 60’s
Shark catamaran
Flying scots
Lasers
Hobie cats
Nacra cats
Cruisers
1 tons
¾ tons
½ tons
¼ tons
MORC
IOR
PHRF
Have raced in
Numerous SORC’s
1-Ton Nationals – Newport
½ -Tons Nationals – Chicago, A Hood / Sparkman-Stephens Team
¼ - Tons Nationals – New Orleans
MORC North American Championships in Tampa St. Pete many years ago.
Raced with Robbie Doyle on one of Ted Hoods boats in Marblehead.
Raced GulfPort, MS to Cozumel, Mexico 1 time
Raced Pensacola, FL to Isle Mujeres, Mexico 4 or 5 times
Sailed and taught sailing in the Movie JAWS II for Universal Studios.
Movies.com (http://movies.go.com/filmography/Filmography?person_id=226159)

Delivered boats back from Nassau, Key West, Mexico and many other places.
All this and more back in the days when the Weather could not get too bad for sailing. You just need to be on a 20’ sailboat surfing down 12 to 15 foot seas, offshore at 14 plus knots boat speed, speedo pegged at 14, spinnaker up, to either get hooked or when you hit the dock you run for your life and never look back. Or racing to Nassau from Miami in a true northern blow, 48 knots Plus for the 18 hours it took to get there, Max wind that trip was 70 knots, seas 25 ft. in the gulf stream with a 6 to 8 foot chop on top. Poodle knows what I am talking about.
You guys that think sailing is boring obviously have never been in a sailboat up on a plane powered by the wind only. Trolling around in a power boat with a electric trolling motor also in not very thrilling, so guys it’s all relative, if you like excitement, you got to make it happen.
Remember: No matter where you are, it’s only what you make it.

knee deep
02-11-2003, 05:52 PM
If the wind is howling and everyone is coming in thats when I get on a blowboat and go out. Floating around Lake St. Clair at 3 knots as a kid put everyone aboard to sleep. I got stuck on the wheel with my buddys Mom. I prefer two big diesels, some owners gold card, and a donzi on the boatdeck. I'll sit in the a/c, watching a movie on surround sound theatre, while a cute blonde stewardess brings me hot hors d'ouvres freshly prepared in the galley by the five star chef as the deckhand details the Doni before hoisting it back onto the boatdeck.

And dammit dont you know I always wake up as the Donzi slowly rises past the main salon windows..........

Tomahawk
02-13-2003, 06:23 AM
So David - you really weren't into it much, huh!? Actually, I remember talking to you about this at Eufaula - when your boat was running :D Hope you can make an event or two this year.

David O
02-13-2003, 06:51 AM
Tom, everthing is rebuilt, painted, layed out, ready to go back on the boat. Just waiting on a good period of weather so I can paint the transom.
It will look good at least once and with luck maybe run longer than a day.
Would love and am looking fwd to making some events.
Stuart and I keep talking about trying to get something together here in NW Fla. Using Pensacola as a central location we can make a run to Destin one day and then Gulf Shores Alabama the next day. Both directions are beautiful with plenty of places to eat and be merry.
Hope to see you soon.
David

Tomahawk
02-14-2003, 06:49 AM
Good idea David. We were in Destin last summer for the Emerald Coast Poker Run and really enjoyed the beauty of the area. Try to make AOTH III if you can. Good luck with your 18. Zoom zoom.

Craig
02-14-2003, 07:11 AM
Sailing is "Tacky." (that's a joke). Had a styrofoam sailboat as a kid. It eventually broke from using it as a diving platform. Later Dad later bought a used Starcraft Skylark. Talked to Lee Wangstad (Boating World Classic Boat column) once about that one. He liked them. Ours was the only one I knew existed! Had a lot of fun in that one. Was actually fast. Kind of like the power to weight ratio I guess this boat was only 14' but had an aceptionally high mast (no jib). Also (this is wierd), like Tony, my Uncle got a boat to race at the local lake sized yacht club. It was a "Rebel." Although I don't think I ever crewed for him. I was liking the old '62 Chris Craft and the rumble of the ole' 283 a bit better by then. The old yacht club there trained kids in "Sunfeeeesh" and Lasers and raced Lasers, Rebels, and Flying Scots (a very popular boat across the whole country that was made, I think, only at the single boatbuiling facility near my home (western Maryland) for a long long time. I think they put a plant in Salt Lake City after a long long time. They are nice boats. Don't even know the length though (20'??). Another cool one my Dad used to talk about was a wooden Dunphy "Snipe" made years ago by the now dead Dunphy Boat company of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Found a sit about those boats. Had some original liteature. The boat was 15.5' and cost $195.00 new!! Cool! Dunphy also made one of the coolest old wooden inboards; the X-55. It was made in the early 60's and would, so they say, go 55 mph with only a 215hp interceptor. It's got great lines. Hey how'd I get off sailboats? Used to work at a place that played DC101 radio station where the infamous Grease Man (DJ) would do radio skits. One was about the rivalry between Sailboaters and Pwerboaters. It was pretty funny. He'd talk about blasting through groups of sailboats at WOT. Also had a funny one about "real men" skiing alone! Said he'd get his Miami Vice Scarab going and then let himself back the ski rope to ski with no driver. Ironically I've seen a little device now available that does just that. Looks like an unmanned PWC controlled by the skier. Sounds dangerous, eh?