Hello! You likely found this site because...
a) you are a family member (hi mom and dad)
b) you are a sailboat enthusiast looking for some ideas/project info
Whatever brings you here, welcome! If we don't know you and are looking for advice on a sailboat project, don't hesitate to leave a comment. Jeff loves helping people and giving advice (and he does it quite well! Yes, Angie is writing this). You can leave a general comment or question on our Discussion page, or under a specific project located on our Projects page.
A little bit about us...
Jeff and Angie met in 2004, and were married in 2007. Jeff originates from western Michigan, and Angie is from the Chicago area. Jeff's academic studies took them to Toronto, where they moved together in 2007 (although Jeff had lived here for 2 years prior to that, while an MA student). They have happily planted themselves in the city ever since, and have a cat named Tootsie, who is actually the one running the show around here (she is known all over the internet for her cameo appearance on our bulkhead replacement project page).
Angie works in a downtown church, coordinating a drop-in program for the local homeless population. Jeff was a full time student during his first few years in Toronto, and now works at a downtown graduate school.
That's great, but get to the boat already...
Jeff's love of sailing started as a curiosity (which he has about many, many things) that was explored through an intro to sailing class (given to him from Angie as a Christmas gift. she's pretty great, isn't she?) This class was offered at Humber College here in Toronto, and was held over the course of 2 days. After that class, Angie could tell this was something he really loved, and looked into sailing clubs as a birthday gift. Little did she know, she was creating a monster...
There's a club here in Toronto called the Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club, that offered a very cool 'crew membership' option—an extremely affordable way for people who had an interest in sailing to gain experience, meet new friends, and get on the water (visit www.tscc.net for more info). During his first summer, Jeff met a couple wonderful people that gave him the opportunity to sail with them twice a week, and the rest is history. He was officially hooked!
Jeff was a crew member for 3 years. During this time, he was crewing on a small racing boat, called a Wayfarer (see picture below!) This is a 16 ft boat, made in England, and the club has quite a large group of wayfarer sailors that go out every Tuesday/Thursday together.
In the summer of 2013, it was evident that Jeff's love for sailing was not going away anytime soon. Jeff and Angie had noticed over the past couple years all of the options for local travel via sailboat (and being that they don't own a car, this was even more exciting!) Toronto has an island, which is just off the downtown mainland. There are also many wonderful little (and not so little) towns with ports/docks all along the lake Ontario coast. Angie didn't love the idea of owning a racing boat, but the thought of having a boat that the two of them could 'camp out' on sounded increasingly more fun!
So in September, 2013, they found an amazing deal on a Tanzer 22 sailboat and went through with it. They were boat owners! Because Jeff knows his stuff, they knew what they were getting into (you don't get a super cheap boat without any issues!) so the months to follow are dedicated to starting on these projects. This blog is a space for us to show our progress, share what we are learning, and record our future sailing adventures.
Thanks for stopping by! :)
a) you are a family member (hi mom and dad)
b) you are a sailboat enthusiast looking for some ideas/project info
Whatever brings you here, welcome! If we don't know you and are looking for advice on a sailboat project, don't hesitate to leave a comment. Jeff loves helping people and giving advice (and he does it quite well! Yes, Angie is writing this). You can leave a general comment or question on our Discussion page, or under a specific project located on our Projects page.
A little bit about us...
Jeff and Angie met in 2004, and were married in 2007. Jeff originates from western Michigan, and Angie is from the Chicago area. Jeff's academic studies took them to Toronto, where they moved together in 2007 (although Jeff had lived here for 2 years prior to that, while an MA student). They have happily planted themselves in the city ever since, and have a cat named Tootsie, who is actually the one running the show around here (she is known all over the internet for her cameo appearance on our bulkhead replacement project page).
Angie works in a downtown church, coordinating a drop-in program for the local homeless population. Jeff was a full time student during his first few years in Toronto, and now works at a downtown graduate school.
That's great, but get to the boat already...
Jeff's love of sailing started as a curiosity (which he has about many, many things) that was explored through an intro to sailing class (given to him from Angie as a Christmas gift. she's pretty great, isn't she?) This class was offered at Humber College here in Toronto, and was held over the course of 2 days. After that class, Angie could tell this was something he really loved, and looked into sailing clubs as a birthday gift. Little did she know, she was creating a monster...
There's a club here in Toronto called the Toronto Sailing and Canoe Club, that offered a very cool 'crew membership' option—an extremely affordable way for people who had an interest in sailing to gain experience, meet new friends, and get on the water (visit www.tscc.net for more info). During his first summer, Jeff met a couple wonderful people that gave him the opportunity to sail with them twice a week, and the rest is history. He was officially hooked!
Jeff was a crew member for 3 years. During this time, he was crewing on a small racing boat, called a Wayfarer (see picture below!) This is a 16 ft boat, made in England, and the club has quite a large group of wayfarer sailors that go out every Tuesday/Thursday together.
In the summer of 2013, it was evident that Jeff's love for sailing was not going away anytime soon. Jeff and Angie had noticed over the past couple years all of the options for local travel via sailboat (and being that they don't own a car, this was even more exciting!) Toronto has an island, which is just off the downtown mainland. There are also many wonderful little (and not so little) towns with ports/docks all along the lake Ontario coast. Angie didn't love the idea of owning a racing boat, but the thought of having a boat that the two of them could 'camp out' on sounded increasingly more fun!
So in September, 2013, they found an amazing deal on a Tanzer 22 sailboat and went through with it. They were boat owners! Because Jeff knows his stuff, they knew what they were getting into (you don't get a super cheap boat without any issues!) so the months to follow are dedicated to starting on these projects. This blog is a space for us to show our progress, share what we are learning, and record our future sailing adventures.
Thanks for stopping by! :)