On Thursday, July 13, 2017 at 7:50:15 PM UTC-7, Paul Villinski wrote:
I know there are plenty of guys who come into soaring after years of sailing. Wings horizontal in one and vertical in the other.... Is there anyone managing to do both to their satisfaction, particularly non-retired types? Or is it madness to try to be a fairly serious, recreational soaring pilot and sailor at the same time? Two things raise this question: the desire for an outdoor activity to share with my small family, rather than leaving them on the ground at the airport every weekend (wife grew up sailing and loves it); and a sudden rekindling of my own boyhood love of sailing, when I dreamed of two things: learning to fly gliders and cruising on sailboats. I've been saying for years that if I weren't soaring, I'd be sailing, and am suddenly wondering if I can pull off both at once. The follow-on question is, naturally, does anyone manage to fly gliders and also own and maintain a, say, thirtyish-year-old, thirtyish foot sailboat, or is this a recipe for frustration? The current fantasy is to spend a chunk of August, when soaring weather in the North East isn't at its best, cruising costal waters between New York and Maine.

I have owned a glider and a sailboat for nearly thirty years now. If you are flying and sailing on weekends, there isn't that much conflict - just decide which you want to do on a given weekend based on weather, family, mood, etc. Maintaining the sailboat is more work that a pure glider - maybe much more work depending on the boat. Since 2009, we have attempted to spend a lot more time on a lot bigger sailboat. This has led to time conflicts, since sticking to one hemisphere the seasons are coincident. When we had the boat in the Carribean, sailing was winter activity and soaring a summer one, less conflict. However remote boat ownership is very difficult, if you care much about the boat. Also now have a motorglider and the maintenance burden is substantially higher than a pure glider. This year I am flying in July, sailing in August, will come back to fly a bit in September, than back to the boat to get it hauled for the season (now in BC), then back to put the glider away for the season. On the east coast when summer flying might not be very good then you might do the soaring spring and fall, sailing the summer and make it work better. Out in California, sailing can be all year but is best May - Sept, and soaring best June - Sept. so they crash a bit.