My first sail was with my Father on Barnegat Bay in NJ when I was about 7. He had blown up the motors in his cabin cruiser and decided to try sailing instead. He had bought an old wooden monohull and spent a lot of time stuck out in the bay trying to figure it out. My next exposure to sailing was about 3 years later at Boy Scout camp in NY state, where we had moved. I remember being drawn to the sunfish that they had there and the little time I spent on them was not enough. Four years later the parents are divorced and I move to Florida with my Mom and brother. I spy a catamaran/windsurfer rental shack on Clearwater Beach and that was all she wrote. My Mom paid for us to be taken out on a 30 minute ride. When the H16 powered up and the rudders started singing and that hull came out of the water I was hooked. I started riding my bike 12 miles to the beach every day in the summer and on weekends the rest of the year to have the privelege of "assisting" the guy who actually worked there. He would take the money and get stoned in the hut and I would get to sail the boats as payment for my slave labor. I was teaching tourists the basics of sailing in about 20 minutes and then sending them out on their own. I would draw pictures of catamarans on all my school folders and would hang out at the Hobie dealer looking at Hobie Cat Sailing, by Jake Grubb for hours. I spent the next 20 years renting and borrowing cats until I finally purchased my first boat, a TheMightyHobie18 Magnum. I am now just starting my "next level" of sailing training, learning the science of sailing and all of the technical aspects of sailing well, rather than just "point & go". My training plans include videos, books, getting as many good sailors to sail with me as possible, and taking Rick's sailing classes next spring. I am also seriously considering signing up my kids to the Clearwater Sailing Center so they can learn more by taking actual lessons and be around more kids their age that are also into sailing. They have Optimists, Lasers, JY15s, and Waves available.

I am always talking up sailing to my friends and people I meet and I always offer to take them sailing or to help them get started. Most of them have the perception that it is just too much work even though they have never actually tried it. I do have a couple of friends that are now trying to fit getting a cat into their budget. They had sailed previously and my constant chatter has resparked their interest. Two of my three daughters are also into it.