Many years ago when my 1985 M-15 was relatively new, my late wife told me, "either learn how to sail this damn boat or get rid of it". I then invested in attending a sailing school and found the sailing school to be best investment of $$ and time I could make in my M-15. Still have the boat, and have set a rule for my grand-kids who now want to go sail with grand-pa; take the sailing school offered by the local parks department first. I want those kids to know what they are doing when the go sailing with grand-pa on his boat. Steve M-15 # 335 -----Original Message----- From: John Schinnerer Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2019 5:24 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: M_Boats: Sailing safety Ha ha! Reminds me of worse stories; like the guy who was using an AAA road map to navigate along the coast when rescued...a couple heading for Hawai'i from west coast on their first time out... They would have done well to take some sailing lessons. The reading of water & weather; navigation skills; seamanship; basic nautical safety, etc., applies to all watercraft. There's a bunch of common skills for being in a craft on the water. But the specific skill sets for sailing a sailboat, or paddling a kayak, have just about zero crossover. Speaking as someone who does both anyhow, and has worked as a paddle-sports instructor. Unless you have a sail rig on your kayak. Or a very long kayak paddle for your M15. :-) cheers, John On 8/13/19 4:47 PM, Burton Lowry wrote:
Amen to Connie!
We just had a couple pull into our little harbor. In a 30 footer (sailboat). They said they had come up from New Jersey, and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard three times on the way up. My friend, the assistant Harbor master, asked them about their experience in boating. They affirmed they were experienced... they had had kayaks.....
Nothing against kayaks, but doing more learning might have helped!
Burt
Sent from my iPhone
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com