Gen X foodies learning to sail
The journey across Lake Michigan, from Chicago to New Buffalo and back, was a beautiful and eventful adventure. But a whole lot happened! The trip involved sailing, motoring, a famous freighter ship, and unexpectedly running aground with family on board! However, through the kindness of strangers and maritime miracles, we overcame the challenges. The joy of reaching the finish line after the long passage was totally worth it!
Kent shares his meticulous planning for our first Lake Michigan crossing. Despite detailed map plotting and weather monitoring, unexpected calm winds disrupted our journey! Forced to adapt, we resorted to using the "iron sail" on the first leg of or trip. This experience serves as a humbling reminder of nature's unpredictability and the need to remain adaptable while sailing.
The 2024 season's "check sail" with SailTime Chicago marked another new beginning for us, with a new boat, Red Sky, which was quite a bit different than our previous boat, Sister Sail. We familiarized ourselves with the traditional mainsail, electric winch, reefing process, bow thrusters, and double rudders. Although challenging, the sail was a success, and we look forward to more outings on Lake Michigan!
This is part two in a three-part series where I describe our sailing school adventure in St. Petersburg, FL. See Sailing School Part I here. Tuesday: February 7 Morning Coffee Tuesday morning brought a pleasant surprise: The boat had a coffee percolator! It had been a long time since any of us had percolated coffee, …
We are approaching the one year anniversary of our Offshore Sailing School adventure where we spent 8 days learning to sail. It remains one of the most exciting things Kent and I have ever done! Thought I'd put together a little write-up of the series of events. Here is how it went: One good thing …
As I mentioned before, we signed on in late August with SailTime Chicago, a fractional membership sailing club, and have enjoyed several outings in Lake Michigan since then. The club keeps their boats in Burnham Harbor in Chicago during the sailing season, but winter is coming and it’s time to move the fleet up to …
If you’d have asked me 5 years ago if I’d ever thought about sailing, I would have guffawed - it’s not feasible, not practical, and frankly, not possible here in Iowa. (Isn't Iowa a fly-over state?!) So when we tell people we’re learning to sail in Iowa, we sometimes get the side-eye. I’m not saying …
Continue reading "12* Ways We Get Into Sailing Without Owning a Sailboat"
In October 2022, on Lake Macbride with the Iowa Sailing Club, I earned my light weather helmsman ranking. This credential qualifies me to sign out an FJ, Laser, or Hobie Wave in light weather. To earn this ranking, I had to demonstrate competency in the following skills: Rig, launch, retrieve, and stow an FJ Leave …
Continue reading "How I Earned my Light Weather Helmsman Ranking"
Let’s get this blog up-to-speed. Since we started at the sailing club in 2020, a few things have happened. Here is our timeline: Summer 2020 - University of Iowa Sailing Club February 2023 - Sailing school at Offshore Sailing School in St. Petersburg, FL. July 2023 - Our maiden voyage as skippers of a chartered …
We're Kent and Becca - brand new to sailing, still learning the ropes. We have a dream of moving on to a sailboat when we retire, but that is a long way off, like, at least a decade. It's tempting to be in a rush, to really get this ball rolling, but not this time! …
SAIL & SAVOR BLOG 