Great post.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Probably the biggest surprise I had, taking our M17 out for the first two
> sails, was that it really wasn't easier than sailing my family's 50' boat!
>
I learned to sail in small boats, in gusty, fluky winds on inland lakes all
over Minnesota and Montana, and when the time came to throw serious money
into
the water and charter 30-footers up on Lake Superior for a few seasons, I
figured I'd be in way over my head, if only metaphorically. (Superior is
arctic-cold, year-round, so "in over one's head," if literally, is about 10
minutes
from the end of the story.) As gloriously thrilling as it was to ride a
heavy
displacement vessel in 20+ winds over the swells and waves on an inland sea,
in terms of actually sailing, it was about 1/3 the effort of keeping the M15
going and dry, without the tons of ballast, the winches for every line, and
so
on. I've always told folks that if they learn to handle a small boat in
all
conditions on inland lakes and rivers, they'll be overqualified to sail the
bigger vessels when the time comes.
My son was an infant, lodged up in the cabin forepeak the first time he
"sailed" our 15. I later watched him easily earn his Boy Scout sailing
merit
badge, which required a deliberate capsize and recovery. Now he's in
college,
at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, in New York www.usmma.edu. He'll
spend a
lot of years at sea on vessels that won't require the skipper and crew to
move in an instant to the windward side as the boom sweeps across above them
--
so he'll have to keep his sailing skills sharp some other way. The academy
midshipmen have dozens of boats at their disposal for personal use -- most
of
them Lasers and other small boats, which really sort out the sailors from
the
passengers out on the Sound.
Small Boats Rule!
**************
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