where did you learn to sail.

where did you learn to sail.

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blueg33

35,910 posts

224 months

Monday 12th January 2015
quotequote all
I learnt to sail in my Dads Firefly at Salcombe. I was 5 when I had mr first sailing lesson, and remember beaing really scareed when Dad sailed the boat backwards as the bings in the transome were missing and I thought that the boat would fill up with water.

By the age of 8 I could help the firefly with my dad crewing. It was not a boat that was suitable for single handed.

I learnt to sail bigger heavier boats from the age of about 9 when Dad bought his first cruiser racer.

One claim to fame, is that me and my dad taught a friends son to sail. He became the skipper on Logica the BT Global challenge boat, I think he was the youngest ever round the world Skipper and finished 4th overall.


TeeRev

1,644 posts

151 months

Monday 12th January 2015
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My first sailing experience at about 12 years old was a tiny single sail rigged pram dinghy on Lancing boating pond, you could rent them for an hour or so for about 2 shillings and I used to get my parents to take me there as often as possible.
I tried to get my Dad to buy a yacht but bought a powerboat instead so I got into waterskiing and then scuba diving and sailing became less interesting to me, although I still really enjoyed it when I had a girlfriend from Bournemouth for a while and we used to rent a small cruiser from Sandbanks to daysail around Poole Harbour.

I went on to have my own powerboats for a few years but the last one had to go to help fund a bigger house, needing to get on the water cheaply I discovered windsurfing which became a passion for many years. My Son also learnt to windsurf through my interest, I went on to organise UK events and he became one of the top UK wave and freestyle sailors as well as competing on the World Tour and winning the indoor windsurfing jump contest at the London Boat Show.

Unfortunately he died in 2004 aged 21 in a jet ski accident and our lives needed a new direction so we started yacht sailing and I worked my way through the RYA courses. These days my wife and I go on flotilla sailing or bareboat charter holidays in the Med or the Caribbean quite a lot, I still windsurf a bit and have re-discovered scuba diving.

When my retirement housing development project is finished next year I would really like to buy my own boat, we were at the Boat Show yesterday looking at 45 footers but I know my wife is right when she says you can have an awful lot of very nice holidays for 250K so it will probably never happen


blueg33

35,910 posts

224 months

Monday 12th January 2015
quotequote all
TeeRev said:
My first sailing experience at about 12 years old was a tiny single sail rigged pram dinghy on Lancing boating pond, you could rent them for an hour or so for about 2 shillings and I used to get my parents to take me there as often as possible.
I tried to get my Dad to buy a yacht but bought a powerboat instead so I got into waterskiing and then scuba diving and sailing became less interesting to me, although I still really enjoyed it when I had a girlfriend from Bournemouth for a while and we used to rent a small cruiser from Sandbanks to daysail around Poole Harbour.

I went on to have my own powerboats for a few years but the last one had to go to help fund a bigger house, needing to get on the water cheaply I discovered windsurfing which became a passion for many years. My Son also learnt to windsurf through my interest, I went on to organise UK events and he became one of the top UK wave and freestyle sailors as well as competing on the World Tour and winning the indoor windsurfing jump contest at the London Boat Show.

Unfortunately he died in 2004 aged 21 in a jet ski accident and our lives needed a new direction so we started yacht sailing and I worked my way through the RYA courses. These days my wife and I go on flotilla sailing or bareboat charter holidays in the Med or the Caribbean quite a lot, I still windsurf a bit and have re-discovered scuba diving.

When my retirement housing development project is finished next year I would really like to buy my own boat, we were at the Boat Show yesterday looking at 45 footers but I know my wife is right when she says you can have an awful lot of very nice holidays for 250K so it will probably never happen

I would love to have a chat to you about retirement housing development. We do supported living and extra care development. There could be some info that we could share.

Quhet

2,421 posts

146 months

Tuesday 13th January 2015
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Sea scouts smile

We used to sail toppers, pico's, mirrors etc. Great fun!

blueg33

35,910 posts

224 months

Tuesday 13th January 2015
quotequote all
Generally - its bets to learn in a dinghy and transfer the knowledge to bigger boats. Dinghy's give you a much finer sense of trim, and if yu cock it up you go swimming. If you cock it up on a big boat you break stuff.

TeeRev

1,644 posts

151 months

Tuesday 13th January 2015
quotequote all
blueg33 said:
TeeRev said:
My first sailing experience at about 12 years old was a tiny single sail rigged pram dinghy on Lancing boating pond, you could rent them for an hour or so for about 2 shillings and I used to get my parents to take me there as often as possible.
I tried to get my Dad to buy a yacht but bought a powerboat instead so I got into waterskiing and then scuba diving and sailing became less interesting to me, although I still really enjoyed it when I had a girlfriend from Bournemouth for a while and we used to rent a small cruiser from Sandbanks to daysail around Poole Harbour.

I went on to have my own powerboats for a few years but the last one had to go to help fund a bigger house, needing to get on the water cheaply I discovered windsurfing which became a passion for many years. My Son also learnt to windsurf through my interest, I went on to organise UK events and he became one of the top UK wave and freestyle sailors as well as competing on the World Tour and winning the indoor windsurfing jump contest at the London Boat Show.

Unfortunately he died in 2004 aged 21 in a jet ski accident and our lives needed a new direction so we started yacht sailing and I worked my way through the RYA courses. These days my wife and I go on flotilla sailing or bareboat charter holidays in the Med or the Caribbean quite a lot, I still windsurf a bit and have re-discovered scuba diving.

When my retirement housing development project is finished next year I would really like to buy my own boat, we were at the Boat Show yesterday looking at 45 footers but I know my wife is right when she says you can have an awful lot of very nice holidays for 250K so it will probably never happen

I would love to have a chat to you about retirement housing development. We do supported living and extra care development. There could be some info that we could share.
Hi blueg33,

I probably phrased that a bit incorrectly, the retirement I was talking about was mine. Our business was primarily manufacturing and fitting steel/stainless/glass/timber balconies, balustrading and staircases, mainly to large developments in London and the South East.

At the end of 2008 we were coming to the end of a couple of large marina developments, one was due to go into a second phase but the developer went pop and with few very large contracts in the offing for the foreseeable future we made a decision to scale our business down and re-develop our industrial site.

We now just design, manage and sub contract our work, demolition on our site has just finished and we have a builder about to start work on nine 3 bedroom houses with a fourteen month build time, after that we're building a penthouse on top of a block of flats that we own, then we're retiring and are going to do a lot more sailing.

I notice from your profile that you are also a windsurfer, where did you do your sailing, our paths may have crossed somewhere on a beach. I like your Evora, one of my retirement treats will be another Lotus, I had an Elan many years ago but quite fancy the Exige at the moment.

blueg33

35,910 posts

224 months

Tuesday 13th January 2015
quotequote all
TeeRev said:
Hi blueg33,

I probably phrased that a bit incorrectly, the retirement I was talking about was mine. Our business was primarily manufacturing and fitting steel/stainless/glass/timber balconies, balustrading and staircases, mainly to large developments in London and the South East.

At the end of 2008 we were coming to the end of a couple of large marina developments, one was due to go into a second phase but the developer went pop and with few very large contracts in the offing for the foreseeable future we made a decision to scale our business down and re-develop our industrial site.

We now just design, manage and sub contract our work, demolition on our site has just finished and we have a builder about to start work on nine 3 bedroom houses with a fourteen month build time, after that we're building a penthouse on top of a block of flats that we own, then we're retiring and are going to do a lot more sailing.

I notice from your profile that you are also a windsurfer, where did you do your sailing, our paths may have crossed somewhere on a beach. I like your Evora, one of my retirement treats will be another Lotus, I had an Elan many years ago but quite fancy the Exige at the moment.
Hi teeReev

No worries on the retirement development front, I put 2 and 2 together and achieved 5, now if only I could do that with profits....

I dont windsurf as much as I used to, but mostly my windsurfing is Poole Harbour, Sandbanks but only when its really windy and I am free - a rare combination sadly. Do you windsurf? If so where abouts?

The Evora is great, its my daily driver, I fancy an Exige for the weekends smile

TeeRev

1,644 posts

151 months

Wednesday 14th January 2015
quotequote all
blueg33 said:
Hi teeReev

No worries on the retirement development front, I put 2 and 2 together and achieved 5, now if only I could do that with profits....

I dont windsurf as much as I used to, but mostly my windsurfing is Poole Harbour, Sandbanks but only when its really windy and I am free - a rare combination sadly. Do you windsurf? If so where abouts?

The Evora is great, its my daily driver, I fancy an Exige for the weekends smile
On the development front you do seem to be pretty knowledgeable, what companies have you worked for, our paths may have crossed at some of them in the past.

Windsurfing, I live in Seaford but very rarely sail there, my local beaches are Shoreham and Eastbourne/Pevensey. I must admit to hardly sailing at all myself last year as I was just too busy, also I've taken up golf, dohhh!!

I do know Poole pretty well though, I used to run the windsurfing competitions at Windfest and a lot of the locals are still pretty good friends, Gary at FC Watersports, Timo Mullen, Guy Cribb and a few others.

I have a friend who has an Exige which he races, I drove that at a Silverstone track day last year and it was stupendous, I've also driven the 211 at Hethel which was impressive, unfortunately neither would be road suitable. I don't need an Evora's daily driver capability so a regular Exige or an Elise is probably the way I'll go.



RobM77

35,349 posts

234 months

Wednesday 14th January 2015
quotequote all
Small world smile I windsurf in Poole and am a Lotus fan. I currently have a 2-Eleven.

blueg33

35,910 posts

224 months

Wednesday 14th January 2015
quotequote all
TeeRev said:
On the development front you do seem to be pretty knowledgeable, what companies have you worked for, our paths may have crossed at some of them in the past.

Windsurfing, I live in Seaford but very rarely sail there, my local beaches are Shoreham and Eastbourne/Pevensey. I must admit to hardly sailing at all myself last year as I was just too busy, also I've taken up golf, dohhh!!

I do know Poole pretty well though, I used to run the windsurfing competitions at Windfest and a lot of the locals are still pretty good friends, Gary at FC Watersports, Timo Mullen, Guy Cribb and a few others.

I have a friend who has an Exige which he races, I drove that at a Silverstone track day last year and it was stupendous, I've also driven the 211 at Hethel which was impressive, unfortunately neither would be road suitable. I don't need an Evora's daily driver capability so a regular Exige or an Elise is probably the way I'll go.

I worked for Charles Church, Miller and a couple of others. I am now with a large developer/investor.

I sailed at windfest and used to do the speed trials at Calshot. I lived in Weymouth for a while and sailed with Dave Perks and I also sailed a bit with Angus Chater when he was in the UK, before his said death.

In those days I mostly did wave sailing........now I am too old and too unfit

Brother D

3,720 posts

176 months

Thursday 15th January 2015
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kilty2 said:
Whereabouts in Illinois?

I have a boat in Winthrop Harbor (sic) and would love some more sailing company. It is my first "big boat" (Catalina 28). I sailed a fair bit back in Scotland crewing for other people on 35'+ boats, but most of my personal experience is from windsurfing, and after a 20 year hiatus from all of this, I bought the boat last year with the JFDI mentality.

SWMBO is not impressed, but she is learning the drill. Round the cans on a Wednesday night at Gourock on a club 'Piper' was the best thing ever.

Not much racing out of Winthrop, but, Chicago is cost prohibitive for me (wife wants a slip, not a can).

PM. me if you are interested in getting out on the lake.

Colin
Thank you for the offer there Colin - I'm down in Chicago itself, but am always looking to get on the water when time allows (part of the time-share thing is no racing unfortunately). I tried taking the wife out a couple of times, but with the chop she spent most of her time leeward hanging over the rails, so she's quite adamant she's never going to learn to sail - looks like the dream of a transatlantic jaunt will be solo...

TeeRev

1,644 posts

151 months

Monday 19th January 2015
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blueg33 said:
TeeRev said:
On the development front you do seem to be pretty knowledgeable, what companies have you worked for, our paths may have crossed at some of them in the past.

Windsurfing, I live in Seaford but very rarely sail there, my local beaches are Shoreham and Eastbourne/Pevensey. I must admit to hardly sailing at all myself last year as I was just too busy, also I've taken up golf, dohhh!!

I do know Poole pretty well though, I used to run the windsurfing competitions at Windfest and a lot of the locals are still pretty good friends, Gary at FC Watersports, Timo Mullen, Guy Cribb and a few others.

I have a friend who has an Exige which he races, I drove that at a Silverstone track day last year and it was stupendous, I've also driven the 211 at Hethel which was impressive, unfortunately neither would be road suitable. I don't need an Evora's daily driver capability so a regular Exige or an Elise is probably the way I'll go.

I worked for Charles Church, Miller and a couple of others. I am now with a large developer/investor.

I sailed at windfest and used to do the speed trials at Calshot. I lived in Weymouth for a while and sailed with Dave Perks and I also sailed a bit with Angus Chater when he was in the UK, before his said death.

In those days I mostly did wave sailing........now I am too old and too unfit
I used to work all over the South East and London for Bellways, Wimpeys, Kiers, Oakdene and Country Homes as well a lot of smaller companies but started scaling the business down when the building industry all but collapsed in 2008, now I'm pretty well finished with that part of my life.

Windfest was always great fun and an epic party, a shame that doesn't happen any more. I remember Dave Perks, I never met Angus but know one of his contemporaries very well, Duncan Coombes. I only windsurf occasionally these days but still sail at Weymouth Speed Week every year as it's flat water and I'm also now too old and unfit for wavesailing.