First crappy day and I'm ready to move

Merrily

Administrator
OK, I'm ready to get out of Ohio. We want to be in the East or on the Gulf Coast. We want to sail and powerboat year round. A good yacht club is a must. We live fairly modestly, except for the boat collection. Please put your suggestions in now!!!
 
Gulf Coast
Fairhope AL: the yacht club got destroyed by Katrina but hosted the 2007 Sunfish Nationals. That's the spirit.

East Coast
Newport RI: you don't need a yacht club :D! Sail Newport looks fine to me.
or Naptown MD: bunch of expensive clubs and not much wind in the summer :mad:
 
forget the east coast ( I was born in NJ, but come on, sunshine 365 out here in SoCal!) and move to SoCal, we have great wind in Long Beach, Newport is great, and then there's SD!
 
Another Gulf Coast possibility: Fort Walton Yacht Club, located on the beautiful shores of Choctawhatchee Bay. Year-round sailing and Portsmouth races every other Sunday with Lasers, 420s, Sunfish, and the occasional Force 5 or Megabyte.

It's a harsh winter here if you have to scrape the ice off your windshield more than twice in a month.
 
Any of those Mississippi/Alabama clubs (Pass Christian for example) would be appealing other than the occasional hurricane or bug infestation.

Connecticut has Cedar Point YC. 'Nuff said.

Charleston, S.C., looks like a good bet, too. Close enough to go to Florida for Winter events. Nice enough during the rest of the year.
 
Well, down here in Southwest Florida we get pretty good wind, espescially in winter 20+! Anywhere south from Tamps is a pretty good bet, I sail out of the Edison Sailing Center, but were just your average club, you also dont have to travel far to get to Orange Bowl. If you want to look at your website, goesc.org ! Hope to see you soon


ChalmersP
 
if you dont mind frostbiting in the winter the southcoast of mass is nice. marion, fairhaven, dartmouth. but i agree with ross b socal is the awsome. huntington beach in 2 more years.
 
Come on down to Ft Walton Beach Dec 8/9th. Pretty sure we are having the district championship here that weekend.
Sam Grant & company have grown a great portsmouth fleet that averages about a race every other Sunday and seems to have about 10-16 lasers/radials out sailing every race, plus a bunch of sunfish and other small boats that add up to 20+ boats most Sundays.
 
Come on down to Ft Walton Beach Dec 8/9th. .

I'll consider doing that. I know we'll want to get to Florida this winterat least once.

Ross, we want to sail in the Florida Keys and maybe the Caribbean with our pocket cruiser. SoCal is lovely though.

I guess getting in the greatest variety of sailing would be good, wherever we are.
 
we have Catalina Island! but the Keys are also nice, cant beat the clear water
 
Gulf Coast
Fairhope AL: the yacht club got destroyed by Katrina but hosted the 2007 Sunfish Nationals. That's the spirit.

East Coast
Newport RI: you don't need a yacht club :D! Sail Newport looks fine to me.
or Naptown MD: bunch of expensive clubs and not much wind in the summer :mad:

All these places sound interesting. So many places, so little time. Is there any place to sail Lasers in Annapolis besides Severn (not that there's anything wrong with Severn)?
 
Merrily, we moved from Utah to Sarasota FL in 2002. After years of towing a 5-boat Laser trailer out to SoCal for weekend regattas, Midwinters etc. it seemed logical to move somewhere we could sail year 'round.

California was our first choice, turned out to be WAY out of reach, price-wise. Not only was real estate out of sight, (we couldn't afford anything within 100 miles of the coast) taxes were high, energy costs huge, and then there were the earthquakes, brush fires, landslides, water shortages, traffic, crime and smog.

Florida has turned out to be great (although prices are up here, now too). We got a nice small house 10 minutes from the Sailing Squadron www.sarasotasailingsquad.com (and the beaches) and the weather is wonderful 8 or 9 months of the year. Summers are hot and sultry, but still tolerable for sailing in the evenings.

LOTS of great sailing here. Hope your cruiser is relatively shallow draft, for the Keys. It's pretty shallow down there, in a lot of places.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention the real kicker here - membership to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron is $100 per year for city dwellers, and $150 for anyone outside the city of Sarasota. Boat storage (dry) for our Melges is $330/yr. and the Scot is less.

Can anyone beat that?
 
yup, storage is free for me

I keep my 2 Lasers, Naples Sabot, and winsurfer in the garage lol
 
Come on down to Houston/Galveston! Cost of living is way lower than most places in the country, plenty of year round sailing opportunities, and active Laser district, and very cosmopolitan.
 
Florida has turned out to be great (although prices are up here, now too). We got a nice small house 10 minutes from the Sailing Squadron www.sarasotasailingsquad.com (and the beaches) and the weather is wonderful 8 or 9 months of the year. Summers are hot and sultry, but still tolerable for sailing in the evenings.

LOTS of great sailing here. Hope your cruiser is relatively shallow draft, for the Keys. It's pretty shallow down there, in a lot of places.

We have a Starwind 223, which has a shoal draft keel and centerboard. Yes it's tiny, but it's trailerable. One of our more clever purchases we feel. We're having a new trailer made for it right now, as the old one was getting rusted out.

I'm familiar with the Sarasota SS. It's a very nice area, but what has happened to your house insurance rates lately due to the hurricanes?
 
Come on down to Houston/Galveston! Cost of living is way lower than most places in the country, plenty of year round sailing opportunities, and active Laser district, and very cosmopolitan.

Jay, ever since I saw Thelma and Louise, I've been scared of Texas. ;)

Actually, I think I should put Galveston on the must see list.
 
I'll consider doing that. I know we'll want to get to Florida this winterat least once.

Ross, we want to sail in the Florida Keys and maybe the Caribbean with our pocket cruiser. SoCal is lovely though.

I guess getting in the greatest variety of sailing would be good, wherever we are.

If youre considering coming down here and crusing, you should definately go to the Dry Tortugas, I think its 70 miles west of the keys. It takes about 20 hours sailing from Fort Myers goinf 7.5-8 knots

I garuntee that you would have a blast, there is also an anchorage!
 
How much would that indoor storage cost in Orange County if it wasn't in your parents' house? ;)

Don't get started, boys. Merrily is trying to figure out where to move to, and I'm serious about moving. SoCal is out of the question, so no need for any responses from there. :rolleyes:

The East and Gulf Coasts are what we are interested in. I do frostbiting if I have to, but it's not my preference.
 
France ? Great weather (sunny but not too hot, reliable, long summers), good culture. Decent work/life balance (well maybe biased a bit to the life side and less so on the work side). Cheap property, crumbling economy ...

I'd better stop here are I understand political comment is not allowed on the forum.

Ian
 
Mon mari ne parle pas le francais. Mine's not so great either.

But it either of you is almost certainly better than me at it. I have a little cheat sheet with what to shout at marks, in luffing matches, etc. Getting there but its a long slow process.

You would manage fine (and would be welcomed).

Ian
 
But it either of you is almost certainly better than me at it. I have a little cheat sheet with what to shout at marks, in luffing matches, etc. Getting there but its a long slow process.

You would manage fine (and would be welcomed).

Ian

:) So how do you tell someone to head up in French or demand rights at the mark? We haven't officially set English as our language at the club races. Maybe I'll be a pain :rolleyes:. For those of you who already think that I am--c'est la vie.
 
:) So how do you tell someone to head up in French or demand rights at the mark? We haven't officially set English as our language at the club races. Maybe I'll be a pain :rolleyes:. For those of you who already think that I am--c'est la vie.

Head Up = Au lof
Water at a mark = De l'eau

Not yet managed to find out what a hail to get somebody to resume their proper course would be though.

(or so I'm told). Its waving both hands around in the air and trying to keep control of the boat that gets amusing (which I have seen done)

Ian
 
Head Up = Au lof
Water at a mark = De l'eau

Not yet managed to find out what a hail to get somebody to resume their proper course would be though.

(or so I'm told). Its waving both hands around in the air and trying to keep control of the boat that gets amusing (which I have seen done)

Ian

How about Starboard!?
 
hey i live right down here in Fairhope, AL. We hosted sunfish nationals this past summer and are in the proccess f getting a new club. There alot of land for sail down here right now and i have large boat collection in my yard right now. this is a great place (if your into the small town kind of thing). theres mobile across the bay with a couple of yacht clubs if that is more appealing but it wou;ld be nice to get some new sailors down here. let me know if there is any way i can help you out.

Nick Dees
 

A French person - great. What would you shout to get somebody to stay/return to their proper course i.e. when somebody is sailing above or below their "proper course" and getting in your way. e.g. when you sail close to leeward of them and they bear away to block you or they luff beyond their proper course when they have no such right. In English I would call "Proper Course" but have not yet been able to find what would be called in French.

(Also, if the ones I gave above are wrong or there are better alternatives, please do correct me as my French language skills are (very) limited).

Merrily - I think we have now established you can move to France and we are now just mopping up the details (and sorry for hijacking the thread).

Ian
 
A French person - great. What would you shout to get somebody to stay/return to their proper course
Doh!:eek:
I don't know. Next time, I'll try "waving both hands around in the air" ;)
(Also, if the ones I gave above are wrong or there are better alternatives, please do correct me as my French language skills are (very) limited).
They are perfectly right.

Merrily, you're welcome!
 
Doh!:eek:
I don't know. Next time, I'll try "waving both hands around in the air" ;)

(Just in case you thought I was) I was not being nasty - but its something that happened the other week. A trivial incident, lots of shouting and arm waving and the boat in the right lost out massively to everybody as they spent some time just out of control going all over the place.

(I tend to poke more fun at the British that other nationalities and happily accept people poking fun at me or my "Britishness" - which happens but all in good humour).

Ian
 
So now we have established Merrily is moving to France, we have to sort out the area. Do you prefer lots of wind or things being a bit more peaceful ? Do you prefer sea or lakes, coast or inland ? With your new boat I'm guessing somewhere up round the Quiberon/Gulf of Morbihan might suit you nicely. http://www.robinbarkerphotography.com/gallery_11586.html or http://www.robinbarkerphotography.com/gallery_11586.html

(Its OK, I don't live round that part of the world)


Ian

As far as I know, I would still have to pay US taxes if I moved to another country. Does anyone know anything about this? Not into being taxed twice. :(

Other than that, France would be lovely.
 
As far as I know, I would still have to pay US taxes if I moved to another country. Does anyone know anything about this? Not into being taxed twice. :(

Other than that, France would be lovely.

I doubt that. If you become a French resident you would be liable for French taxes. Only complication is if you had income in the US. After 4 years I have just about managed to extract myself from the UK tax system. Despite the issues I have not paid tax twice on the same money (once the UK get round to refunding me tax they are not due to have collected). There are actually quite a few US nationals living in France. Plus, I believe there is a double taxation treaty between France and the US (i.e. you don't get taxed on the same money twice) - started in 1978 and amended 2004.

You are running out of excuses.

Ian
 

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