My other great passion

I'm nutz about Venture MC's, but here's my other great love....

What is it? All I see is a blank space.

Sailing. used to race collegiate back in the youth! Now I cruise...

What is it? All I see is a blank space.

Must be a setting somewhere. It's just a link to a youtube.... Looks like others are getting it.

Worked great here Jack!! BEAUTFUL!! I can sure see the connection between your two passions Condor. Not to long ago another VR member, @Stealthblade, passed this very moving song along to me, thought I would share it with you. I played it while I watched the video you have posted - try it and see what you think!!

I love sailing. I have been a lot of competitions and even won some. I especially like ghosting along single handed at night, just the moon, stars and phosphorescence streaming off the stern. On the other hand I love getting out in real weather where you are reefed to the max and not sure if you are going to make it.

The only time I've been sailing was on an 84' catamaran from Key West to the coral reef to go snorkeling! I was surprised at how fast that cat was. The trip was really special! There were only 3 crew members. It would be something to be able to afford a cat like that one!

Some of those looked like they were moving along at a pretty good clip.

What kind of speeds are they hitting?

I saw a lot of waves come over the bow, How often do crew get washed overboard?

AnOther thing that I'd really like to try in my life. That's incredible!

Great photography.

Mike

I had a 10ft rowboat til some lowlife wanted it more than I did this fall. Still working on information and may go to jail for this one.

Worked great here Jack!! BEAUTFUL!! I can sure see the connection between your two passions Condor. Not to long ago another VR member, @Stealthblade, passed this very moving song along to me, thought I would share it with you. I played it while I watched the video you have posted - try it and see what you think!!

 

Great sound Puc. Kingston Trio sounds mixed in with a Jimmy Buffet ballad. I like it... and there's more.

I have a video that was made in the last days of the square riggers. A crew member on one of the last square riggers to round the horn took a movie camera with him. It is amazing to get the view from up in the rigging as the hull disappears under the breakers sweeping the deck. The view from the top mast as it sweeps from 50 ft out to one side over the water then sweeps across the deck to go 50 ft out on the other side is amazing. Wooden ships and iron men.

One can simulate sailing/boating standing naked in a cold shower blasted by a breeze box, and throwing $100 bills in the toilet.

Had my share of boating as one can tell. Still get out in my solo kayak on Puget Sound and enjoy the rollers from the ferries.

No more of the big $$$ stuff for me. Like said about the two happiest days of boaters life.....................

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

So I have a question. Do these boats have motors as well or is the wind Just that reliable out there?

One can simulate sailing/boating standing naked in a cold shower blasted by a breeze box, and throwing $100 bills in the toilet.

Had my share of boating as one can tell. Still get out in my solo kayak on Puget Sound and enjoy the rollers from the ferries.

No more of the big $$$ stuff for me. Like said about the two happiest days of boaters life.....................

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

It's like most hobbies. They can not be justified financially. You do it because it is what you enjoy. It enriches your life. Unless you are Cowpuc. I'm sure Tweeks and his other bikes have saved him a bunch of bucks compared to driving a cage and especially a motorhome on his travels.

This was given to my from a Craig's list add, I was the only one that showed any interest and the guy said " If you come today I'll give it to you" It isn't pretty but a ton of fun. The very first time we raised the sail. knowing nothing we looked at a sales broacher of this 1976 Watkins W23 on a laptop in the driveway and figured out where most everything went, Wires , ropes, mainsail, jib. I had to make a tiller handle and after sailing her for the first time I welded new rollers as needed to the trailer. Fixed the main sail and cleaned it out . This sat in the guys yard and had hornet nests and 6" of pine needles . I told the bride the only thing between me and a midlife crises is the dam in the Mississippi . Karen said that she would give me a ride past that. I sure talk tough.

In this area the wind is fickle, unreliable, untrustworthy, and will disappear just as you get caught in an 8 knot rip tide. I have gone out the harbour with the spinnaker up ( big multicolour sail used for down wind only) and passed within 40 ft of a boat with spinnaker up going the opposite direction. I passed within 30 ft of a boat sitting totally becalmed, with wine glasses sitting on the deck, while I was pounding upwind through 4 ft breakers. On the other hand my friend who has a boat back on lake Ontario goes out, sets the sail on one tack and doesn't touch it for the next 4 days. Boring.

Bill,

There is a good way to circumvent the dam on the Mississippi.....

Books and Maps about Cruising America's Great Loop - Raven Cove Publishing

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zW5J2knHTN_0.kjAuRwchje94&msa=0

Enjoy!

david

In all the years I've going to sea, it was always powered by dead dinosaurs. Only once did I go powered by God. Everyone started laughing when they shut the engine down and I jumped. When engines die it's an emergency! I definitely would like to learn to sail though, one of these days.

Some of those looked like they were moving along at a pretty good clip.

What kind of speeds are they hitting?

 

I saw a lot of waves come over the bow, How often do crew get washed overboard?

Anywhere from low to high 20's. Believe me hitting 28 knots on water is like triple digits on a bike.

And loosing someone overboard happens more often than not....

So I have a question. Do these boats have motors as well or is the wind Just that reliable out there?

Most have motors. Depending on size, anywhere from a 2hp kicker outboard to larger diesel inboards. There's one sailor and his wife who have

sailed all over the world without any sort of power. Lin and Larry Pardey.

Condor,

I know this is a zombie thread, I found it at the bottom FlyinFool's thread on RC aircraft!

My absolute dream is to sail around the world, including to some unconventional places like Iceland, Japan, Patagonia (with the necessary trip around Cape Horn), Antarctica, etc. Something about the high latitudes, both North and South, really calls to me.

My dad had a windsurfer, and taught me the very basics of how sails work when I was 7 or 8. I got the chance to sail around the Straight of Georgia as a young teen, and it planted a seed. A few summers ago I spent a week cruising the Discovery Islands in my buddy's boat (a motor cruiser), and it lit a spark.

Since then I've been reading, asking questions, and learning. I have never been so possessed by a singular notion in my life.

Today my dream life would be living in a coastal city on my boat; a city with close proximity to good motorcycling, while I spend a few years getting familiar with the boat and the process. I think the progression would be to sail the calm (often becalmed LOL) sedate waters of the Salish Sea, Discovery Passage, maybe up to Haida Gwaii, etc., then to a Van Isle 360, then down to Mexico, out to Hawaii and back, and then head out on the wind to wherever.

That boat would be something in the 40-45' range, a mono-hull ketch rig with two headsails, fairly heavy displacement, with a powerful auxiliary and big tankage. Full suite of electronics, wind vane, water maker, the works.

If I actually had the money today, I'd be hard pressed to decide between a couple of models of yacht of that description. There are an awful lot of yachts on the market these days, priced about 60% of what they were even 2 years ago. Still well out of reach for me, so it's probably a lottery ticket pipe dream.

Condor,

 

I know this is a zombie thread, I found it at the bottom FlyinFool's thread on RC aircraft!

 

If I actually had the money today, I'd be hard pressed to decide between a couple of models of yacht of that description. There are an awful lot of yachts on the market these days, priced about 60% of what they were even 2 years ago. Still well out of reach for me, so it's probably a lottery ticket pipe dream.

Yeah but it's a lot of fun dreamin'... You might want to think about the size of your pipe dream boat. 45'-50' would be a hand full even for a couple to manage. For a single person it better be a floating city on auto everything, and be buddies with Larry Ellison... :-) Plus anything that size and you're going to have to deal with make shift crews and their personalities for any long passage. Plus being a slave to the boat's systems. What I enjoyed most about being around boats is the friends I made over the years while keeping my boat in a marina. Just like the friends I've made on this board what draws you together is the common interest of Ventures and we speak the same language. Same thing holds true in the sailing community.

What I'd suggest to get your feet wet is start big enough to spends nights aboard, and small enough to trailer if the need arises to escape the marina rent. Costs go to zero when it's moored in your back yard. Something in the 26-27 foot range.. A Chrysler 26 is a great boat for that reason. I've owned one and have many friends that have...when we were younger...

The reason a lot of the larger boats are on the market is the economy. Even big dogs are feeling the pinch and their 30-50 footer sitting in a marina becomes an anchor to the pocket book.. Marina rent doesn't and can't go away. The last time I checked slip fees were running around $8 bucks a foot and from what I've heard are now pushing $10. $400 to $500 a month starts to get old when things get tight. You might rationalize the cost if you're going to live aboard, but keep in mind most marinas don't have live aboard slips available... They're rarer than chicken lips...

I hope I haven't put a damper on your dreams, because some of the best times of my life, besides MC touring, were sailing and when I had the boat in the marina. Old age has set in and even though I still have my 'love' she's sitting on a trailer in the back yard... For free.. ;-)

It's a great thing that dreams can be tweaked before pulling the trigger! The thing is... what resonates with me isn't just having a boat with sails, it's the whole package. The bluewater passages, live-aboard, circumnavigating the marble, all of it. I'm single, child free and have no real encumbrances, and live a pretty frugal lifestyle. The only thing stopping me today is dollars. But I'm not one to be well satisfied with severe compromises, mostly. I also feel a compulsion to do this before I get too old... and longevity doesn't feature strongly on the male side of my family tree.

That requires a craft of a certain size. From what I've come to understand, it could be and has been done on boats as small as 27', but with a lot of compromises. The small-ish boats in the Golden Globe at 32-35' are getting closer, but not quite there.

If you like watching sailors on YouTube, have a look for a fellow named Erik Anderaa. He sails single-handed in a Contessa 32' from his home in Norway all over the North Atlantic, in the winter! He's also a pretty good videographer and drone pilot, so his vids are thrilling to watch. The total opposite of all the beautiful couples cruising the Caribbean in their million dollar catamarans. Another good fellow is Patrick Laine; also on YT, he sails out of La Rochelle, France. Retired pilot I believe; totally competent and practical. I've also enjoyed learning from a guy in the PNW or CA called Christian Williams, again on YT. Some of these sailors also post on related web forums.

If money were no object, I'd call up Hallberg-Rassey in Sweden and get them to build me one with all the automatic gizmos (to the tune of about , but I think (or it has been suggested to me) that a ketch under 45' could be single-handed well enough, and manageable for two quite easily. This at the expense of speed, of course. The fact that ketch rigs aren't popular anymore means I'm looking at boats in the 20-30 year old range. The systems part doesn't scare me at all; I'm a carpenter by trade and builder by profession, and consider myself a competent mechanic. I don't have a lot of experience working on boats, but I did spend a couple of weeks replacing part of the hull and deck on an old wooden former RCMP boat last year (though why the owner even wanted to do so was beyond me.. the thing had been parked on the bottom TWICE in it's life, though somehow still floated).

But also because a nice ketch flying all her white canvas on a reach is unspeakably beautiful.

If I can make it happen in the next couple of years, AND IF world travel is even possible in the 'new normal', I intend to at least get to tidewater and take a couple of courses for basic certification, then try to crew on boats headed to Mexico or Hawaii to get a deeper feel for it. I'm also going to get a HAM radio license this winter, though not only to learn about radios in marine applications, obviously.

The cost of buying the boat is far less than the cost of buying a home, even if you factored in replacing all the rigging and systems. The last time I owned a house was almost 20 years ago, but I did live in my 117 square foot RV for almost 2 years! The marina fees are about the cost of property taxes here in Canada. Live-aboard slips are like unicorn hair, that is a fact...