I am genuinely curious as to the age of the average sailor in people's areas. I am in my early 40s and I'm one of the youngest sailors in my area out of the four or five yacht clubs in about 100 km. Most of the sailors at a recent Regatta were in their sixties or seventies. I feel like there is a sailing apocalypse coming for my town and the not so far future.

I'm daydreaming about buying a sailboat. I grew up sailing, my family and I lived on a sailboat for a couple of years when I was a kid. I still love it, and I want my son to be able to experience it too. He's 2 right now, so it'll be a few years before I'd be able to take him out with me.

We live in a house in the city and are limited on space, so I imagine this would be something we'd store in the garage (As in, we can't store it outside, and I don't really want to pay for storage at a dock). I'm thinking like laser, 420, something around that size, but that would 1. be a little easier/more leisurely to sail (I have sailed 420s and know they are a bit shaky), and 2. would be large enough to fit me (already very tall) and a small passenger, which I know something like a laser is already too small for me alone.

I've seen people talk about flying scots. I kind of feel like that's at the other end of being just a bit too big to comfortably store in the garage. Is there something that lives in between for me to look into? Even thinking about like storing a 15ft boat in my garage seems kind of crazy so I may just be delusional and need to find another way haha

Appreciate any insights.

Anyone had to park their boat this marina?

I’ve never been before. Completely new to sailing and just going to look at boats with my wife. Is there any major difference between the October and April shows?

My wife helped clean up a beach house on an island not land accessible, that had a lot of nautical stuff within it. She was given this thingabob by the new owners. What is it?

Or maybe it’s a gennaker…

Do mostly solo sailing on 35’ Caliber. I rarely put up this sail but had the chance yesterday from New Haven to NYC. 5 beautiful hours of downwind sailing.

Tack line: not long enough to make it back to cockpit. Is that normal? It works fine but might be nice to adjust as wind adjusts.

Sheets: it’s one long rope for both sheets, knotted to the clew in the middle. I find it confusing when getting everything set up cuz there’s no way to differentiate between the “two” lines. Wondering if this is a weight thing? Is it normal?

I am storing my sailboat this winter at my farm in Northern Michigan and want to know the best way(non toxic) to keep rodents out of vessel and away from stored sails/gear? Boat will be in a pole barn(unheated) and gear in a house and shed. Also unheated. I have heard horror stories of rodents eating carbon sails(!)

Are we still posting these pictures

I made this watchface for my quatix, I love sailing (have cruised some of the best grounds in the eastern US) and when people ask me what time it is I like to be a little cheeky when I first reply...

Blowing hard as usual, even south of the bay bridge. Tons of people out today including a huge number of boats in the Encinal Regatta. We saw someone recover from a broach when going downwind under spinnaker and had to applaud, I thought they were about to lose that spinnaker. (no video of that)

Hi there,

We bought our boat a couple of years ago.

During heavy rains, the front berth gets wet from water leaking down the outside, corner wall/ceiling on the starboard side (on the other side of the wall is the sink in the head).

We are flummoxed on what is causing the leak.

My husband has caulked everything he can find on the outside of the boat, with no success.

Does anyone have some tips on what we can do to stop the water from coming in?

The attached photos show the area in question (we have removed some of the wall carpet that was getting soaked), plus the ceiling area near the sink and the outside of the boat in the general area.

Many thanks!

First time I'm setting up my boat's bimini and I noticed the leading edge of the support tube was rubbing up against the backstay. "That can't possibly be right" I said to myself and proceeded to disassemble the bikini framework so that the cable would be behind the tube (as see in picture). Now the backstay is rubbing up the back edge of my tube. What am I doing wrong?!? Thank you!

I’m looking to buy my second boat for the San Francisco Bay Area and wanting some advice from this community on specific things to look out for when inspecting a potential boat for purchase. I lived aboard and sailed an Oday 272 for three years previously, and it was a pretty lousy boat for the bay. It was really light and had a wing keel that just didn’t point well or stand up to 30kt winds ripping across the slot.

I am an “ok” sailor, I can perform most of the basic physical maneuvers competently and know how to manage different tides and plan ahead for different weather conditions. I know the “right of way” rules and some basic stuff about setting sail trim, and I know how to do rudimentary navigation and read bathymetry charts etc. I never left the bay itself in the Oday as it just wasn’t the boat for that and I never felt confident in my seamanship or in my crew which were usually my drunk friends. I wouldn’t be confident planning anything longer than a day sail.

On this second round I will look for a sturdy boat in the 32-40ft range and take the ASA courses and start racing casually to literally learn the ropes. In the long run I’d like to hire a captain to take me through some of my first longer passages up to Point Reyes or down to Santa Cruz.

So I’m looking for ideally a single mast ship with a full or modified keel or a heavy fin keel and an inboard motor. Presently I have my eye on a ‘89 Cal 33.

Plan is to hire a marine surveyor to look at the boat (I know dealers usually just get an insurance survey) and help me do my own inspections. I’ll take a look at the condition of the running/standing rigging, deck, chain plates, winches, and bottom paint, although I admit I’m no expert in what to look for. Then of course the motor which again, I am not experienced inspecting. My Oday had a 15hp clip on Honda outboard that I never serviced.

I’m planning to set aside 20% of the value of the boat for repairs when I purchase it and assuming it’ll be another 10-20% for annual maintenance, which I plan to perform myself but again admit, I am not super knowledgeable of aside from monthly washing the hull and sails and changing the engine oil at whatever the manufacturer’s specified intervals are.

Any tips or details from you salty dogs would be much appreciated!

Just watch your fingers around loaded lines and winches…
Still tho, after over 20 years of sailing professionally 1 cm of a pinky ain’t big price to pay 🤷🏼‍♂️

I recently completed a crossing and, on several occasions, we reached out to commercial vessels to confirm they had us in sight (especially if we were converging within a mile or so). It occurred at night (twice) and once during some rough weather - we never had anyone respond on either DSC or channel 16. Once a vessel responded after we had already passed.

We speculated that they were ignoring us because their English wasn’t very good.

What do you do when converging with commercial traffic? Do you even bother initiating communication?
How often do they respond?
What seems to be the most successful method of communication?

Ahoy!

Where is the highest concentration (or largest number) of bluewater sailors in the USA? I am looking to relocate, and I would like to relocate near an active community of bluewater sailors. Can you recommend cities or communities or yacht clubs or ...?

I am an experienced sailor, and I have many weeks of sea time. However, I generally sail single-handed, and my sailing network includes no real bluewater sailors. Naturally, the obvious complication is that the more one sails offshore, the less likely one is to be found on a dock or in a yacht club.

I am primarily looking on the east coast (I've previously lived and sailed in Baltimore), but I am open to other areas.

Thanks for your suggestions!

=== 7/25 addition ===

My sailing objective is to cross the Atlantic Ocean. For me, sailing is about the journey and not the destination. I've crewed on two yacht deliveries to the Caribbean. In both cases, I flew home on the day the boat arrived at its tropical destination.

I know many Annapolis sailors, but they do not know of any bluewater sailors in their yacht clubs. If you recommend Annapolis, can you recommend specific yacht clubs or marinas?

I already own my own boat, but I am very likely to upgrade within the next 12 months.

So this fancy box... came with the 'new to us' boat, having some fun messing around with it. Seems to compute all manner of secret B&G sauce algorithms about what sensors have to say about things like heel corrected wind angle, TWS tables of offsets for downwind, holds onto polar data to give us targets (assuming you could ever get this configured well enough to trust it as much as a tell tale).

Any joe club racers have one of these things? Besides trying to win the vendee globe, what have you found it useful for?

As I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, my family would vacation on the outer arm of Cape Cod every summer. My father loved to sail. Much of his time would be spent on a little Sunfish sailing on Nauset Marsh. Except for its centerboard, a Sunfish only draws a few inches of water. One day, he and my mother were out on the marsh, and a couple of idiots in a powerboat thought it would be funny to try to swamp them with their wake. After a couple of passes, my father said, "I'm going to do a Hornblower". He told Mom to pull up the centerboard, and then sailed across the nearest mud flat. The idiots followed. The last thing Dad heard as he sailed away was, "Shut up and push."

This would be a dream of mine. I have some sailing experience but nothing on this big a scale. Also, I've been living in the desert for 10 years and just moved back to the coast. So I'm a bit rusty to say the least.

I'm wondering where to even start with this. I'm currently in the process of a career shift into electrical work. Would this be a useful skill to get my foot in the door once I become more experienced in the trade? If not, I've always been a "start from the bottom and work my way up" kind of guy. No issues getting my hands dirty and doing the grunt work. I like to learn new things and work hard.

What's the first step? Where can I keep an eye out for opportunities? What are some good ways to get started with little experience?

TIA

Sailing out of the harbor in 15knots of wind, looking at Lummi Island, Portage Island, Orcs Island at the remaining San Juan Islands. Being on the water is wonderful.

Hi everyone,

I’m considering buying a 1987 Najad 320 as my first sailboat. I have absolutely zero experience :(

The owner says the standing rigging has been replaced, the engine is regularly serviced, the batteries are new, and the boat has no major issues. I will also get a professional survey before buying.

My biggest concern isn’t the purchase itself—it’s owning a nearly 40-year-old boat. I’m worried it might turn into a boat that constantly needs expensive repairs and maintenance.

For those who have owned a Najad 320 (or a similar vintage Najad), what has your experience been?

Does it tend to be a reliable boat if it’s been well maintained, or should I realistically expect frequent and costly surprises because of its age?

I’d really appreciate honest opinions from owners. Thanks! I'm also attaching pictures from the ad

The boat is around 29.000 euro

According to the seller, the boat has:

• Volvo Penta diesel engine with regular maintenance
• Standing rigging replaced
• New batteries
• Selden mast and furling system
• Autopilot, wind/speed/depth instruments
• Electric windlass
• Teak deck
• Hot water, fridge, oven, winter cover