I wish....

I used to sail, with my XH, but I had to stop, he yelled.

I loved it when we turned the engine off and raised the sails, what a feeling. Very elemental - wind, water and your wits.

I loved to pilot our boat, get the wind just right in the sails, heeling just enough to feel a little uneasy, but have great speed.

Momj - I presume he yelled not just to be heard....I'm always telling DH he has to yell louder so I can hear what we're going to do next. We have non-motorized sailboats - 16 foot scow and 18 foot catamaran that we sail at our cabin in MN. It is an awesome feeling as you say - when you take off in the wind with no motor. DH is the skipper - I am the crew. It's a funny situation - one of the few things we do where I'm following orders instead of giving them!! I think I need to find a sailing forum for not too serious sailors - I really like it but I'm not a zealot like DH. We have chartered a boat in the San Juan Islands a few times with a friend who had the necessary skills and we just followed orders. I'd like to learn enough to be able to do that - DH is much more skilled than I am but we don't have experience sailing on our own in bigger boats with engines. We are thinking about chartering a boat in the Caribbean in the spring for a friend's 50th birthday - with a crew.

Sounds nice. I took sailing lessons from a company called Womanship, their motto is "Nobody Yells". My XH liked to sit and criticize - loudly.

We did bareboat charters in the San Juan Islands, I loved sailing there, and in the BVI - that was nice, but very hot. It was fun to sail up to small islands and explore - with about 100 other people!

We sailed in the Chesapeake Bay, near where we lived - a very nice place to sail. We had a neighbor who was an airline pilot and had an erratic schedule, so he and I sailed a lot during the week, the Bay was quiet, no power boat chop, and in the fall, it was pretty near perfect sailing.

While I'd love to have another sailboat, as you know, it's just a big hole in the water where you throw hundred dollar bills, so now I'll sail on OPB (other peoples boats) when I get the chance.

that is one of my dreams, to learn to sail. I have sailed a couple of times on ohters boats. I will do it, maybe in the next couple of years. Sue

If you want to learn to sail, this is a great program. I took their course in 1987 (3 day, daytime, since I live close to Annapolis) and loved it and learned so much. It's very good course, and not stressful. They do a very good job. They have programs in various places as well as sailing trips, etc.

After sailing with my (now) XH, who was always angry and yelled at everyone about everything, this course gave me a lot of confidence and a lot of skills.

Happy sailing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Womanship

I do not sail myself but have a sister who has sailed for years. There are programs in some cities that will teach women to sail, I know there is one in Minnesota.

I think Womanship sounds very interesting. Kyliegirl - I'm in MN - what do you know of that's here? I don't want to go to something with a bunch of too serious men - or too serious women for that matter.

Here is the link! I know one of the gals very well....

Here is a link that might be useful: sailing