Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor | Hacker News Reader

Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor

arachnoid.com

57 pointsjustlearning16 comments

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For those who don't follow proggit, here is the context:

Programming thought experiment: stuck in a room with a PC without an OS

http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/9x15g/programmi...

I am a little difficult to describe ...

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9xgnd/iama_little_diff...

(redditor lutusp is Paul Lutus, author of the linked book, former NASA engineer who worked on Viking Mars mission / Space Shuttle and creator of the Apple Writer, hacker extraordinaire)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Lutus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Writer

He also wrote GraForth (an implementation of Forth with animation and sound for 1Mhz Apple ][+), one of the most amazing pieces of software I've ever seen.

As I imagine many readers are in Silicon Valley, I'd point out that the San Francisco Bay is one of the best places to sail on earth. Beautiful scenery, 20+ knots of breeze every summer day (scary at first, awesome once you get used to it...), and endless possibilities from tiny dinghies to 50+ foot racing sleds. And racing sailboats is a tremendously fun, inexpensive (unless you own a boat), social, and high-adrenaline activity.

Learn the basics at one of the many Bay Area sailing clubs or schools and go out and try it. There's always demand for crew, and the most important qualities of a new crew member are being ready to take direction, in reasonable shape, and out to have fun. Expertise is a double-edged sword for new crew members, don't think you need it to get started -- you don't.

I've been racing on the SF Bay since 2000 and am totally addicted (raced today, as it happens). Forget what you think about sailing -- it's for old rich people; it's boring; I need to have grown up sailing or be some kind of expert -- and go out and try it.

If anyone is in either the Bay Area or in New York, there are two community sailing co-ops that I highly recommend. I was in each city my past two summers and joined both and had a great time sailing.

In Berkeley, there's the Cal Sailing Club http://www.cal-sailing.org/ with sailboats and windsurf boards. All for $60 for three months plus a few hours of contributed work to the club. They have cookouts and open houses and free sailing lessons from members. Really a great group of people.

In New York, look into the Sebago Canoe Club out in Brooklyn on Jamaica Bay. http://www.sebagocanoeclub.org/ They're something like $200 a year plus a few hours of contributed work. Everyone there is super friendly and have kayaking and canoeing as well and free lessons.

Definitely the cheapest way to learn how to sail if you've never done it before, as most yacht or sailing clubs are much much more expensive and/or require you to own your own boat.

I went sailing for the 2nd time today. It was only circles around a lake but I learned how to harness the awesome power of the outdoors. It is an awesome experience. Recommended for all.

My dad is an avid sailor, with a lake-sailing boat in the backyard (Flying Scot) who invites me to multi-day trips on the North Carolina coast on a cruiser he rents. This means I get to sail without ever really having to take care / pay for the boat.

There are three experiences on a sea-going sailboat that I particularly like:

a) Not quite being in control. You can set your sails to carry you any which way, but the wind and seas will only allow so much. You have to cooperate, but you do have quite a bit more control than a layperson might think.

b) Being "alone". Sailing on the open seas (or even within a particularly big bay or sound) means all you can see around you is water. Even if you're sailing with a crew, the disconnect from the outer world feels even more intense than going camping or some other disconnection from civilization.

c) Having to stick through foul weather. The first time you find yourself 5 hours from shore when it's raining and the seas are rough (not rough enough for small craft advisory, though) you realize there is no possible way to bypass those 5 hours; you just have to sail through it. The things that normally bother you just do not matter when you are completely drenched and trying to keep the waves from bashing you off course enough to lose the wind and get forced into an unplanned tack/jibe.

I cannot recommend 'The Long Way' by Bernard Moitessier & 'The Strange Last Voyage of Donald Crowhurst' highly enough. Both books cover how 2 contestants in the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race could have won but did not, for rather interesting/different reasons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Moitessier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Crowhurst

I saw "Deep Water" earlier this year. While I sympathize with the stresses that drove him in that direction, I honestly can't understand why Crowhurst ultimately did what he did.

I'm a member of a sailing co-op here in Minneapolis, great people and everyone is your teacher. We just pulled the boats off the water a few weeks back (and were already sweeping snow off the boats, dontchaknow). Just tested for skipper status before the season closed out.

Don't know if it's everyone's cup of tea, but definitely worth trying. If there are any HN'ers in Minneapolis/St Paul, happy to take people out for a try next Spring ;)

We sail on little Lake Harriet. The community is really active there, and from what I'm told it's a little more interesting than Calhoun as the winds are much more variable. That's due to all the obstructions and variation around the lake. The band shell in particular creates a deadspot or sweetspot on some days.

I joined the Twin Cities Sailing Club in August, I'm a newb ;), know just enough to be dangerous:

http://tcsailing.com/tcsc/

The people in this club are seriously cool people, a great group. Everyone is very generous in terms of teaching less experienced sailors, I've seen nothing but generosity when it comes to tiller time.

I think we have about a dozen boats or so, a mix of scows and daysailers. There are club days twice a week where you can crew up with a skipper and hit the lake. Once you pass your skipper tests, you can take the boats out anytime you please. Annual dues are $200 or so I think.

Oh and we are having our annual banquet November 7th:

http://www.socializr.com/event/830239512/1867039201

If you are not quite ready for putting down $200 and just want to try things out, definitely hit me up in May and I'd be more than happy to take you out!

Might have to take you up on that! I sailed 420s a bit back in California, but I haven't made it happen yet here in Minneapolis. Seeing the numerous sailboats on Calhoun and Minnetonka always brings a smile to my face.

Which co-op are you a part of? Ever done any ice sailing? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_yachting )

I live about 30-40 miles south of the Cities and go canoeing on the lakes nearby. I used to sail when I lived back in CT and I was planning on putting a sail on my canoe this summer, but never got around to it.

There's a pretty strong overlap between (computer) hacking and sailing.

Cool! Which lake do you sail on? All over? Do you have a website?

I remind those interested in sailing about this:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=809060

The Apple Computer company, no longer in a garage, heard about my program and asked to see it. I added some things to it, made it presentable and stuffed it into a big manila envelope. As I rode my bike to the post office I thought, Who knows, maybe they'll like my program. It might be worth hundreds of dollars.

That doesn't even sound like the same field. I love it.

Retired at 35 and sailed around the world? this guy is my hero!

Well worth the paperback I should think. Another similar book I've read is Dove by Robin Lee Graham which is well worth checking out if you're into sailing. Things like this really make you re-evaluate your goals/path in life.

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