Unidentified subject!

From: Marilyn Dimson-Doyle (mddoyle@mediaone.net)
Date: Fri Feb 11 2000 - 14:51:50 PST


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
        West Wight Potter Mailing List maintainer
                dfarrell@ridgecrest.ca.us
           List hosted by www.tscnet.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Hi,
    I need some advice. Having just entered the world of Potterdom I am
feeling a little unsure of what I should do about learning to sail our P-19.
    I do have some basic skills in sailing that I picked up over the past
four years. I can maneuver our 14' pond skimmer with relative ease. I can
even get back to the dock without scaring the daylights out of myself or any
other unfortunate soul who happens to be on board (or on the dock). I have
spent one season crewing on a Flying Scot during the weekly races (tons of
fun). I am by no means highly skilled or knowledgeable, but I do have a
'feel' for sailing, and I have learned a lot over the past mostly from
asking other sailors, reading and making a lot of mistakes.
    That said, I feel a strong need to get some first-hand instruction in
boat handling (Potter variety) on open waters. Never having dealt with
waves and tides before makes me a bit nervous. I have started looked into
sailing schools. The only one that I have found thus far is rather
expensive ($700.00). It includes 9 hrs class & 32 hrs on the boat plus a
full day coastal navigation cruise, plus a night sailing course. It is
probably a good deal, but do I need that much to sail in the harbors along
the East Coast?
    Another alternative is that they offer a basic navigation cruise (2 hrs
class & 5 hrs in Boston Harbor) for $95. I was thinking that if I could con
Bill Scanlon, from whom I bought the boat, into going out with me a few
times in one of our local harbors plus taking the navigation course, plus
hooking up withe ECPA (I am putting this on their message board also) on
their monthly adventures, would be enough to begin our adventures together.
I certainly have no intention of taking Marilyn or Adam or Krypto out until
I feel very comfortable with my skill level.
    I know you really can't answer the question for me, but I would like to
hear how others have learned and what you think is the best route to go.
    Thanks
Alan
P-19"?"



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Feb 29 2000 - 03:27:07 PST