Whether they’re at the end of their collegiate career or after aging out of a summer sailing program, a lot of young sailors have a hard time finding a way to continue sailing as adults. Some of the barriers to sailing, including location, finances and time, can be hard to navigate when you’re living on your own for the first time. Even with a community as friendly as sailors, it can be hard to know where to start or how to continue. What follows are the stories for young sailors who succeeded in figuring out the kind of sailing that was right for them.
Living Aboard
“I was working for a tech start up, and I wasn’t making a ton of money, so I needed a cheap place to live. I heard from somewhere that people were living on boats in the harbor for cheap,” says Boston sailor Lexi Ossinger. Looking at ads for used boats, he also realized that they were more affordable than he imagined. The brokers he spoke to, though, told him to get a slip first, explaining in Boston people can wait years to get a good slip in any marina.
“I started calling around, and there was one marina left that said, ‘Yeah, I got one slip left, but it’s the worst that we have. It’s super narrow and long, and it’s next to
