One of the many things that we love about living in Spring TX is our accessibility to Lake Conroe. We are in two sailing clubs at Lake Conroe and today Lake Conroe Sailing Association had a destination sail for lunch. We had 5 sail boats and 13 people meet at County Line Barbeque for lunch. We had great wind and it was a fun time for all.
We started our racing experience on a 52’ sailboat with a friend in San Diego Bay. That experience was enough to give us the sailing bug and shortly after moving to Spring TX we bought our first sail boat. We bought a newer Catalina 22 and we named it Sanity. With real estate being so stressful I envisioned us relaxing on the lake.
However, once we started sailing my husband got interested in racing our sailboat. We soon realized that our newer sailboat was pretty but it was also pretty slow. Catalina 22’s are supposed to be a one design boat but they changed the design back in 1986 and the newer design weighs about 500 pounds more than the older design. My husband tried everything he could think of to try and get our newer boat to compete with the older boats but the longer the race the more we would fall behind.
In 2002 the Catalina Nationals took place here in Houston at Houston Yacht Club at Galveston Bay. Our son was supposed to crew but being a sophomore in high school he decided he had other interest so we ended up with a 13 year old crew member from another boat. As I said the longer the race the more we would fall behind and so as the race proceeded we were in dead last. It was a rough day on the water and my husband went on top to change the whisker pole as the winds had shifted. At this point in time I was a fairly new sailor and would get my left/right confused; when you use the tiller left is right and right is left. I was at the tiller and my husband said to go right; I went left and oops I knocked him off. We had practiced man overboard and now I had to put it in to practice with a 13 year old crew member and in rough water. We use fanny packs that have an air pack that can be deployed and thankfully my husband had it on as it took me two turns to get him back on the boat. His clothes were weighing him down and without that pack I’m not sure he would still be with me today. It was not a pretty experience but thankfully I got him in the boat.
After that incident I I told him if you want to race we need to have the right equipment; so we sold our pretty but slow Catalina 22. We bought another Catalina 22 but this one was built in 1971 with sail number 501; it had been rigged for racing and had a racing history. We named our new old boat INSANITY as it seemed insane to sell a newer boat to buy an older boat. At the time we bought Insanity it was not a pretty boat my husband prettied it up for me and long story short we have loved our Catalina 22.
The picture above is not a picture of our sailboat as it is hard to get a picture of your own boat since you are usually on it. This is a friend’s boat that my husband often crews for in our Lake Conroe Sailing Association Thursday night races. On Thursday nights my husband crews and I help on the committee boat as we keep Insanity at Conroe Yacht Club on the other side of the lake. As you can tell from this story you don’t have to have a lot of experience to start your sailing experience. As with everything in life the longer you practice the more experience you get. Sailing has turned in to a wonderful hobby for me and my husband. As your children leave the nest it is nice to have something that you can spend your spare time doing and for us that has been sailing. If you live in the Spring/Tomball/Magnolia/Conroe area and have an interest in sailing come out and join us sailing on Lake Conroe.
For all your Spring/Tomball/Magnolia TX Real Estate needs, contact me today!
Marchel Peterson - Results Realty Marchel@AgentwithResults.com
Cell: 832-721-8332
Copyright © 2011 Marchel Peterson, All Rights Reserved. *ActiveRainPhotoBloggerContest: Sailing at Lake Conroe!!*
Picture taken by Marchel Peterson all rights reserved!
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