I’m a sailing addict and after some looking, I wasn’t able to find any threads about either recreational sailing or racing. So to kick things off… I’ve been sailing since before I could ride a bike. My best friend’s father had a Sunfish in the early 70s and taught us both to sail when we were about 4 or 5. In high school we started racing a Hobie 16 and while I was in the Navy I raced 470s and frequently made use of the Catalina 22s MWR had for adventures in and around southern Spain. I’ve owned a pretty wide variety of boats over the years from little styrofoam Snarks to 23 foot crouisers. These days I live in a lake community in northern NJ and sail a variety of dinghies. I even have a 1969 project Sunfish just like the one I learned on. My HOA has organized racing from July to September and I’ve been racing my Sunfish here for a few years. I’m also a fan of watching SailGP - especially in the off season when the lake is a bit too solid for sailing.
How about you? Tell us what you sail and where…
For decades I was sailing on Wooden Boats that I also worked on. But with Covid and few other things I stopped.
I mainly sailed on a small Skipjack and a Tuckerton Sailing Garvey that is now at the Tuckerton Seaport Museum. It is a 1730s design IIRC.
A picture of The Adam Hyler under sail here:
I ran the maintenance program for the Hyler for decades. I helped build the replacement called Pete’s Banjo, this one is wooden but Fiberglassed to reduce maintenance.
I mainly sailed on the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers and occasionally out onto Sandy Hook Bay.
I spent a week and then maybe a dozen other sails on the Clearwater.
I’ve done some fiberglass sailboat sailing and enjoyed catamarans. But as stated above mostly wooden sailboats.
In the Navy I did no sailing, I was an Electrician Mate on the USS Ranger, CV61. A carrier is pretty far from a wooden sailboat.
That is absolutely awesome. It sounds like you’re a fair bit south of me, but if you get the urge during warm weather you’re welcome to splash around in one of my lateen boats (1969 Sunfish, 2021 Fulcrum Rocket)
I was very fortunate in being stationed in Rota Spain in the early 90s to deploy to submarines as a Cryptologic Technician. They held the 470 Worlds in Rota in 1992 and I got to train with Jordi Calafat - who not only won the Worlds, but went on to win the gold medal in the Barcelona Olympics that summer. I got out in June, so I didn’t get to compete for the base trophy that summer, but if I had reenlisted I probably would have been back at sea anyway.
I grew up on the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, CA. I learned to sail when I was ten after my dad picked up a Super Sabot (longer than a normal Sabot with a centerboard). It was sail number 15; I have no idea how many were made. I sailed it all over Newport Bay by myself and with friends, often needing a tow when I got blown into the inner harbor. Since then, I lived on and sailed my dad’s Newport 30; perfect for trips to Catalina, and while living in Port Townsend, WA had a nifty sailboat one step up from a Lido 14 called a Quarter Master 15.
Actually, I’m on the Bay Shore. Exit 117 GSP.
Tuckerton was just the place that wanted the boat when we deemed it done. The Hyler had a good run, but we kept getting older and the boat needed a major rebuild to keep going.
We were still calking it old school with cotton. A fiberglass glass covered wooden boat was buildable for only a little more than a rebuild and a lot easier to maintain.
I learned to sail in high school when a neighbor and his wife needed a third to race their Lightning. Crewed for them what seemed like every summer weekend through college. I do miss little sailboats…
I don’t have an exit - too far north and west. You can use 142B, 144B or 153B but you still have a 45 minute ride from any of them 
Lightnings scare me. Breaking anything on that boat costs at least a mortgage payment.