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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

General Sailing Forum

My first sailboat

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djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Initially Posted - 09/13/2006 : 21:45:34

Hi All, in an earlier post, I talked about my first sailboat (it was actually my uncle's) I found this picture that my uncle sent me. It is a 1960 White Cap made by Old Town Canoe. He kept it at my Grandfathers cottage up north Michigan on Burt lake. The cottage was on the north end of the lake and the town of Indian River was on the south end. Ten miles from north to south. The first time Me and my brother Pat took the White Cap out (he was 11 and I was 10 and neither one of us had ever sailed before), we sailed to Indian River. We hung out there all day and caught a freash wind coming back. Our parents had called the police earlier when we did not come back much earlier that day. Man were they releived to see us, then pissed that we pulled such a dumb stunt. Every summer I made the trip as least three time a week. Cheers.

Dennis
No Boat
S.E. Michigan

Edited by - djn on 09/13/2006 21:47:02

John P
Captain

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USA
324 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2006 : 22:03:05

Nice.

Myself, being much younger, recall my first sailing experiences as a rider on an older E-Scow. I would usually find myself strecthed across the transom, as it was clear of any rigging or sheets that would get tangled amongst a youngsters feet. My first solo experience came from the standard AMF Sunfish. We had a '72 model that was a hand-me-down to me. It had been repaired several times (lots of bottom damage from the flood of '72), yet I sailed that thing forever it seems. Amazing how such a small vessil could keep one occupied for such a long time. I sialed it for pleasure and for racimg for several years. (I won the junior sailing 1st place trophy about 4 years in a row!). Sadly, it went away when it was no longer used and the bottom was too rotten to repair. But, wow, what fun.

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2006 : 22:29:06

To repeat a story... When I was about eight, my dad made a pair of pine leeboards that fit over a flat-bottomed rowboat, rigged a square-rig using a bedsheet in the bow, and put an oar-lock on the transom. He'd tow me a couple of miles upwind on White Lake in Western Michigan, and I'd zig-zag back down the lake--as much as 60 degrees off the wind. That's where I fell in love with the sailing.

Edited by - on

saribella
Captain

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USA
286 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2006 : 22:38:48

I find it enthrawling of how people began sailing, and the crafts they started with. I had a friend who sailed a small Hobie Cam on an inland lake northwest of Lansing, Michigan when I was in high school, and we spent a few days a week cruising and annoying the fisherman. Although I beleive I became hooked when my father's friend took us out on Lake Michigan on his 40 ft all wood schooner from Saugutuck when I was 12. After that experience I began my true love and appreciation for sailing. I spent alot of time on both the east and west coasts, and had various sailing expiriences while in the Marine Corps. My inlaws currently own a couple of homes on Lake Michigan south of Holland, so sailing was only an inevitability as they had an old sunfish, which they claim is over 40 years old, and a sailfish which is said to be somewhat older. The sunfish is still in remarkable condition and I sailed that from spring till fall since 02. The sailfish is a tank, and I beleive it to be unsinkable, but not as fun when the water becomes colder. The sunfish has been put through a little use since I got ahold of her. It was only a matter of time until I bought my own boat, which I did this past spring to my wife's relief. She has issues with my any time any conditions appraoch while sailing the sunfish.

After owning a boat of some size and room, the only way to go is bigger and better. I would like to beleive that no matter what other boats I may own, I will always keep the Saribella as she is not as small as a sunfish, but not big enough not to delute the feeling of intimacy with the water. I would love to hear more stories of how others began thier sailing life. I am taking my 7 YO on her first overnight trip this weekend, and have every hope that she will remember it her whole life and look back at the times sailing with utter fondness.

Edited by - saribella on 09/13/2006 22:56:07

stampeder
Master Marine Consultant

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1608 Posts

Response Posted - 09/13/2006 : 22:42:38

those pictures sure look old Dennis, you must have started sailing way back before they invented electricity.

My first boat was one that didn't even have a sail or a motor but my brother and I had many hours of high adventure. We won a couple wars in that boat, fought many pirates, honed our sword fighting skills and generally did everything a kid could do in a boat that was almost always half full of water.
One summer we made a plywood sail and ended up stuck in mud on 'the other side' of the little lake (shallow slough) that was near our farm. Once on the other side we abandoned that wonderful tub of splinters and had to walk all the way back around the lake. In the meantime, our sister had reported us as lost and drowned. A couple hours later we showed up at home where we got hugged then spanked. I was nine and my brother was 11. I'm still crazy about boats.
Sometimes when we're out sailing in our C25, I like to go forward and hold onto the shrouds where I kind of squint my eyes and pretend I'm a pirate again.

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djn
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1561 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2006 : 08:53:40

"Hugged and spanked", that was a routine back in my youth. We did not hang around the house, we had adventures and if there were none to be had, we made them. I've often thought about how lucky we were to live in a time when we would leave the house in the morning and come back when the street lights came on and no one was worried that we had been abducted.

Edited by - on

SailCO26
Captain

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USA
457 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2006 : 09:11:11

"how lucky we were to live in a time when we would leave the house in the morning and come back when the street lights came on" - AMEN

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Frank Hopper
Past Commodore

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Pitcairn Island
6776 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2006 : 09:46:27

I grew up thinking lakes were where you got free golf balls. I went to my first real lake in my 30s, (Lake Hefner OKC), rode on a Flying Junior and went home and bought a boat (Tanzer 16) and a book. What strikes me is the look on a sailor's face when they are not near the water but hear a flag pole halyard slapping somewhere close by or are simply gazing out the window at 12 knots true through the trees.

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Bill Arden
1st Mate

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USA
83 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2006 : 10:06:37

Not my first boat (that was a Venture 22), but my first sailing experience - I learned at Community Boating, in the Charles River Basin between Boston & Cambridge. Old Cape Cod Mercurys, 14 foot (I think), cat rigged, no motor. Community Boating was a great resource for learning to sail - and I believe it still is.

Any other Community Boating alums out there?

Edited by - on

dlucier
Master Marine Consultant

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Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)
7583 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2006 : 10:30:06

My first sailing experience was on a rented Hobie cat in Megan's Bay, St. Thomas when I was around 25. I tagged along with a friend who had rented it for an hour and although the wind was light, from the moment we started moving through the water under sail I was awestruck. My next sail was about eight years later on my first sailboat, a Venture 25.

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osmepneo
Past Commodore

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USA
1420 Posts

Response Posted - 09/14/2006 : 16:52:13

Dad built a Rhodes Bantam when I was seven. then moved up to a Dragon in the mid 50's. We had lots of great adventures in his Dragon sailing Lake Ontario between Rochester and Fair Haven. Then he down sized to a Luders 16 and raced in the fleet on Sodus Bay. During this time I sailed Comets at summer camp, and then my brother and I were given a Barnegat Bay Sneakbox that I never sailed. About the time Dad bought the Luders 16 my brother and bought a Rhodes Bantam and raced with the Yacht club fleet on Sodus Bay.

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britinusa
Web Editor

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USA
5404 Posts

Response Posted - 09/16/2006 : 07:45:40

Joining the Royal Navy in 1964 at HMS St Vincent in Gosport (near Portsmouth
England) we had to take up a sporting activity (age 15) I elected for Sailing.
They taught us to sail in Foreland Dinghys in portsmounth harbor. During that first year of training I became a coxwain for Sailing Whalers and Sailing Cutters and finally the Bosun Dinghy.
If I gained anything of lasting value from 25 years in the navy it was appreciation for the power of sail. Subsequently I have sailed (mostly dinghys) all over the world against many of the european navies and in the middle east. But none of that even gets close to the pleasure I get out of puttnig Joint Decision in the water and having the wind move us gracefully towards our destination wherever it is.

Paul.

Edited by - on

Ben - FL
Admiral

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880 Posts

Response Posted - 09/17/2006 : 04:11:38

This is the only picture I have of my first sailboat. I bought it when I was nineteen years old. It is twenty-six feet long and has no motor but does have eight oar locks. I had only five of the oars which were twelve feet long. It is gaff rigged and had cotton canvas sails. The hull is double ended and double planked mohogany.

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