Good advice please?

B

Beetlebug

New Member
Well, I had been on a sailboat only once until last weekend when I spent the weekend with my uncle who lives on a sailboat in a small Texas coastal town. I fell in love. I sailed a 22' Catalina, not by myself of course, but I thought it was awesome. So I was talking to him telling him that I wanted to learn to sail and he mentioned a sunfish for starters. I live near Lake Conroe, which is big, but muddy and overpowered by motorboats in the summer, but I still want a sunfish. Another thing is that I'm 3 mo. pregnant and want to start, is that o.k.? Can you still sail when you're 8 mo. pregnant? I was wondering if anyone had any good advice on how to find the best deals, what is a reasonable price, what should I look for? Thank you in advance.:D
 
Tough one! The best answers depend on several things. Maybe there're local clubs or fleets of boats you might like. They could be a source of boats and of ongoing advice. Think about where you'll keep the boat and how you'll get it to the water. Get it ready-to-sail, as it's late in the season to be doing much prep work. In the case of the Sunfish, there's advice on used ones at: http://www.windline.net/buysf.htm

Pregnant ladies do sail . . . depends on physical condition and on lake conditions. . . high winds and waves are more strenuous. The S'fish and other small dinghies are more likely to capsize than the Catalina (just HOW muddy is L.Conroe?).
 
What months are the best for sailing? Lake Conroe isn't too muddy to sail, I've seen small sailboats cruisin' across the water, it just has an ankle full or more of mud at the bottom and it's not the prettiest lake in Texas, plus we have Texas sized bugs and lots of them with our heat and humidity! I looked online for sailboat activity for Lake Conroe and I haven't found much. I still have some research to do. Maybe I should start thinking about next year? Thanks for the link!
 
Any month is good for sailing if the weather's nice. Here in NC, we doff the wetsuits around April 15. Years ago, I sailed the Allegheny by Pittsburgh, PA. . . whenever there was no ice. Try the link to Conroe Yacht club http://www.conroeyc.com/ . They appear to have Sunfish and Dolphin fleets. Oddly enough, they have nothing between those and big boats!
 
As an aside there is a legend that either Al Or Cort's Daughter or Daugther in law couldn't sail a sailfish when she was pregnant so they designed the Sunfish to give her some place to put her feet and make her comfortable when sailing.
 
If you can learn to sail on Lake Conroe. you CAN sail ANYWHERE!!! I use to sail catamarans there in the late 70's, early 80's. The wind will move all over everywhere, especially around the dam. That was the hardest place I ever sailed. If you sail there a lot you will be a VERY good sailor in the long run.

Good Luck,

Doug
 
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