My wife and I have sailed together ever since we started cat sailing 5 years ago. We also race together, apart from a couple of big events and long distance races like the Great Texas. I'm the driver man, she is the jib man and calls tactics.

This year she bought a used Marstrom A-Cat so she could learn to sail on her own (I think teaching your partner to sail whilst you are on the boat is as risky as teaching them to drive!). She's loving it and it has paid dividends when we race together now.

I agree with the advice of not sending your crew around the forestay if you want to keep them sailing with you. I made a few mistakes at first that nearly ended our sailing career, but am much more careful now. This year at the Texas Cat Champs on the 2nd day it was cold, raining and blowing like stink and she had a great time racing and came in grinning from ear to ear!

Chris.

My GF first started sailing with me after we met. Did some fun sailing and serious racing. Now after getting married she'll only sail with me in the fun stuff. Something to do with an aversion to spinnakers No worries though...I have a consistent, die-hard, experienced crew to sail with in the serious stuff. But bless my wife's heart, she wants to take sailing lessons so that she can better understand the ins and outs of sailing. Definitely a keeper

Buy her a Wave for XMAS

So, that lost post brings up a question. Is sailing stuff and okay gift?
I have to get something for my g/f that sails with me all the time. I was thinking something sailing related, but couldn't decide what would be a good idea!

Absolutely. My wife doesn't know it yet but she's getting a drysuit for Christmas.

Gree:

A sailing related thing I think she would absolutly love.

Eileen has a long coat. It is made out of the same material that the great sailing jackets are made of. You know the fleecey inside with the Gortex-like outside? It goes all the way to mid calf. Big warm thing to put on after a day of sailing. Even if it is not cold out, in your mind, she will probably be putting it on. They are similar to the long coats that you may see at a cold football game.

She uses it to stay warm and also as a changing room, in a pinch. It lives in the car.

Later,
Dan

If sailing is something that she enjoys because its doing something with YOU then sure, sailing stuff for xmas is always fun. If she does it JUST because it makes YOU happy, then it may not be the best idea to get her sailing stuff. In other words, if she's the one constantly badgering you to go out sailing with her, get her sailing stuff, but if you're the one that's like "hey hon, why don't we go sailing?" and she says that she's too busy because she has to wash her hair, then maybe getting her a nice trap harness for xmas ain't the best.

Alternatively, you could do what I did, and get her nautical/sailing styled jewelry. It can be hard to find stuff that looks nice and isn't tacky in this area, but it does exist.

She loves sailing so I guess that would be a good idea. She is actually looking for a boat of her own. I tried to get her to buy my old 14 but she wants one of the new rotomold boats. She has really been looking at the Bravo, it is small enough that she could handle it all by herself, I mean we have my Nacra when we want to go out together, but the bravo seems like a good boat for her and she likes the way it looks.

Maybe a nice new trap harness, that is more comfortable than the old one she uses.

Tell her to get the wave

That way she can race with a bunch of cool people when she wants