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Hawk5274 · 10-30-2012, 02:24 PM

Gringo,
I have been sailing since I can remember. From Newport Rhode Island lived on and in the ocean. Now living in Ohio I have been sailing an old Rhodes 19. Also sailing a Highlander 20' and love to sail into October when the wind is stronger. We used to sail from Newport up to Boston and everywhere in between on a Pearson 60 footer. Love sailing! Now the camper? Just trying a new thing and so far I like my AS camper but haven't taken it anywhere but the back yard? But we plan to go to a State park this coming weekend if the weather is good and sail all afternoon.

Del Gurney · 10-30-2012, 03:18 PM

This is a photo of my last "command" (ok, it's not a sail boat but my first job was on a 40 catamaran at age 14 (summer job) and worked my way up to this 220 footer upon which I was Manager/Senior captain for 4 years.
Photo is under the Sydney bridge (Australia), New Years eve.

Crusty · 10-30-2012, 03:22 PM

I've had a Schock 30, an Irwin 30 Citation and a J24. The pointy end is supposed to go first and somebody needs to pull on that thingy over there, right?

Gringo · 10-31-2012, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagleye

You are pulling on our heart strings! Had a 27' Bristol in the Chesapeake for several years. Bought a farm and a house on Cat Island in the Bahamas, want to sell the farm, get an Airstream, live on the Eastern Shore with a 32' or so. Will see how the real estate moves, time to dream!

Want to trade the Cat Island property for an almost brand new 27FB International CCD? Been used a total of four weeks in two seasons.....

We have a friend on Cat Island, Shaquille Moss at the orphanage. And our friends in the schooner Star of the Sea stop by there at least twice a year...

And La Gringa is looking at me like I'm crazy. She loves that 27FB.

But I am wondering if AS would build us another one with the EB door in the end....

JamuJoe · 10-31-2012, 05:44 AM

Hola Gringo,
We are also in a three-mode retirement. We generally spend Jan-May on our Leopard 42 sailing catamaran JAMU, and the rest of the year split between land cruising with our Airstream FC23FB JALAN-JALAN and our home in Durango, CO. Over the last four years, we've cruised the Central American coast from the Bay Islands of Honduras to Isla Mujeres, Mexico, and crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Alabama this past May. The Airstream has enabled us to explore the USA at our pace in our style, and in January will provide a comfortable 1500 mile journey back to the boat in Alabama. Life is good and we are blessed. The journey continues...........

Gringo · 10-31-2012, 07:24 AM

Cool! We signed up for an intensive week of ASA sailing certs a few years back even though we've both sailed a lot of smaller boats over the years. Instead of getting on the boat with six other students for the ASA courses, we hired the boat and instructor for just the two of us. We wanted to know what it was like to handle a boat without all those extra hands. We got intense instruction, since this setup also guaranteed that we got no breaks while others were getting instruction. Oh, and the boat was the Bella Vita, a Leopard 42. That whole story's at 2 Gringos in the Caribbean: The Busman's Holiday... if anyone's interested in that approach. And no it's not spam we're not selling anything!

We've met a few cruisers from CO who find our blog while researching the TCI and then give us a call on the radio or email us when they are coming through. We practically adopted the crew of the Dancing Dolphin (Victory 35) when they were here for a month for repairs. They're a couple from Pagosa Springs.

We want to cruise Central America, and in fact are not that interested in the Caribbean south of here. too crowded, lousy beaches. We do like the Bahamas. I've been recently researching marinas and boatyards in SE Florida, thinking to sail the boat up in early summer, put it in a yard for upgrades and fixes, while we go to CO and camp in the AS for several months. Now I'm thinking that Sandy has booked all the yards up the East Coast with repairs for the foreseeable future.

Alabama,huh?

noreen&sal · 10-31-2012, 09:15 AM

22' I built in 1964 and 36' I took 3 years to build launched 1974 destroyed by hurricane Floyd. This was all way before Airstreaming. Sal

Bruce B · 10-31-2012, 10:59 AM

We are sailors before anything!
Our "sailing" website is http://esmeralde.net/index.htm
Bruce

Scott J-24 · 10-31-2012, 11:31 AM

Becky and I are active racers (J-24's & C-15's). I just sold the J-24 (very sad day) but I sold it to another active local racer, so she is still out on the water leading the other boats around the course. We are now thinking about picking up a Santana 20/20 to augment our C-15 racing. We were never big on cruising but love racing around the "beer cans" on weekends and summer evenings in the Sunset Series and Sunstroke Series out of Marina Del Rey, CA.

Gringo · 10-31-2012, 12:03 PM

I can understand that. I lived in SoCal for a few years. The island cruising in the Atlantic between the US and South America is a whole different thing than trying to live that life on the west coast. Y'all ain't got enough islands and the wind always blows you to Mexico....

Bunch of cruisers in the PNW though.

Scott J-24 · 10-31-2012, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gringo

I can understand that. I lived in SoCal for a few years. The island cruising in the Atlantic between the US and South America is a whole different thing than trying to live that life on the west coast. Y'all ain't got enough islands and the wind always blows you to Mexico....

Bunch of cruisers in the PNW though.

You can only sail to Catalina Island so many times... If the cruising grounds were more diverse, maybe it would be a different story.

Gringo · 10-31-2012, 12:53 PM

There must be four or five thousand islands between Florida and Venezuela. A thousand in the Bahamas, five hundred in Panama... dozens of different governments to deal with..instead of the US.

Smartstream · 10-31-2012, 01:02 PM

The wife and I both worked in downtown Los Angeles and falling asleep in a cove on Catalina on Friday night was very high on the list of things that help maintain sanity in La La Land. The off season months, September through May on Catalina were delightful. For many years we spent the week from Christmas to New Years at Avalon and New Years Eve at the Casino. We strongly considered buying a home to retire in Avalon but with the Calif. bureaucracy and taxes we opted to leave the state.

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This is me cruising around the Isthmus in my Millimeter and the boat farthest to the left is Unicorn our Peterson 44.

Cheers, Dan

GinMame · 10-31-2012, 04:14 PM

Started sailing at the age of 8. Naples Sabot and Lido 14s.

Safari-Rick · 10-31-2012, 04:35 PM

Started off with a 26 Ft. Deep V haul power boat then went to a 26 Ft. McGrager Sailboat and then to a 64 ft. Once the kids starting getting bigger and lost interest it was a bit hard to find crew-mates. Raced for the US Navy Sail Club when Long Beach NavBase was still open.
Ended up selling the first two and donating the 64. Now an Airstream owner

I sure do miss the sailing though

Ahab · 10-31-2012, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott J-24

You can only sail to Catalina Island so many times... If the cruising grounds were more diverse, maybe it would be a different story.

You can go south or go north. How much more diverse you want to get?

Dorsal · 10-31-2012, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bruce B

We are sailors before anything!
Our "sailing" website is http://esmeralde.net/index.htm
Bruce

Breaking News:

We just made it on the cover of the November 2012 issue of SAIL Magazine! This is us heading for the starting line at the Penobscot Bay Rendezvous in August 2011. We were supposed to compete again this year but because we couldn't take the boat to Maine (puppies at home prevented us from taking our usual summer cruise), we ended up towing our Airstream up to the Rendezvous and they let us stay in the boatyard parking lot with a view of Camden Harbor. Everyone loved our land yacht but they couldn't figure out how to edit the regatta Sailing Instructions so we could race.

We're sailors first, but we love our Airstream because it's so much easier than the boat.

pgr32e · 10-31-2012, 06:25 PM

My fleet in winter storage.....Phil

Lumatic · 10-31-2012, 07:08 PM

1. Me and my friend Turtle Dave and his Hobie 18
2. My grandson and a 50s Chrysler Barracuda

Scott J-24 · 10-31-2012, 10:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ahab

You can go south or go north. How much more diverse you want to get?

With the AS we have lots of diversity, we can go North, South, and East. Then we have our C-15 to race around the beer cans in the water to the West. Got to love living on the left coast.