Don't give me that BS about heat & cold :-) I've done both, including
running boundary fence and digging postholes with a crowbar & shovel
in summer when the air temp is still over 42C at midnight and the sun
glare is so bright that it crisps your eyeballs through sunglasses.
You couldn't drink beer fast enough to keep up with the fluid loss. We
used to budget on a case of beer a person a day on that job. Real
beer, too, not that wussy American stuff.
I think the difference is how far north/south we're talking about.
Here I'm in the temperate zone, sailing is a 365 day possibility and
the winters rarely get below 0C and then not for more than a day or
so. It never gets really cold ( 0C is a pleasant brisk day far as I'm
concerned), sandflies are around only a few months and then generally
only a couple hours around dawn/dusk. Ditto mosquitoes. Long warm
summers with lingering twilights. Further south the summer is too
brief, but there's no land anyway except for South America and a few
islands.
I used to work in the tropics. Diving was wonderful, 25C water and 28C
air temps in the dry season. 60m viz and wonderfully brilliant colours
everywhere. Unlike Bob****, I'm not afraid of sharks etc (wary,
though). I've never dived in the colder waters since doing the
tropics. However, the Wet was like living in a hot wet blanket
relieved only by the afternoon tropical deluges. I used to walk in the
warm rain with mud splashing up my bare legs and the unpaved streets
of Honiara running like rivers, on my way to the yacht club after
work. That was good, but living where everything smelt of mildew for
months and clothes grew fungus in front of your eyes was annoying.
About the perfect condns here would be to spend the winter swanning
about on the Barrier Reef and into the nearby islands, then head back
south for the Wet season and escape the humidity and bugs (not to
mention cyclones). For a change of pace, the Kimberley country of NW
Australia is stunningly beautiful and virtually uninhabited. Out to
Cocos Keeling.
Most of us aren't immune to malaria, or dengue fever, or a lot of
other exotic tropical diseases borne by bugs, and it's a PITA to keep
up a drug regime keeping them at bay. I prefer being where the
disease-carrying bugs aren't. Also a lot of the spots in the topics
are full of people like Neal who can't hack a more robust climate.
You don't have to freeze your butt off in NS, ya know. Once you've a
few other things squared away, sail south for a year or 2. You've got
the blue water cruiser for it which is more than most people
(including me) here have. Plenty of interesting places to see on the
way and a few odd people to drink with. You could challenge Bob**** to
a race on the way south.
As for enjoying the extremes - I'm off on my annual holiday real soon
now :-)
PDW
On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 21:57:02 -0300, "Capt. Mooron"
wrote:
Sandflies... Bah! Tropical Mosquitos??? you have to invite them to lunch.
The ones up North land at the airport, hunt you down and consider Deet as a
BBQ sauce. I'm immune to malaria since I was born a carrier.
Blood thickened by a cold weather environment, thins in a few months in the
tropics. The heat becomes a non issue as easily as the cold.
The water though... that warm inviting tropical ocean. The absolute verdant,
lush plant growth, the fruit and exotic vegetables. I'll also include the
price of Rum and Beer is easily affordable. I can't find a thing wrong with
the premise that formal dress is when you decide to wear flip flops.
20 years of 3 month sailing seasons and 9 month winters that drop
temperatures to minus 40's bracketed by 2 days of Spring and 2 days of
Autumn.... your preference for moderation falls upon deaf ears. I've
engaged my fair share of mid summer sailing at 10 degrees. It's not
something that wears well under extended periods. I prefer the option of a
global migration as and when required. Temperate climes for Temperate
people... I enjoy the extremes.
Capt. Mooron
"Spawned in the Hot Humid Jungles of the Congo.... Forged in the Rugged
North Atlantic... and Tempered by the Cold Artic Ice"
"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
...
| Sorry, Mooron, have to disagree. You forgot to mention the sandflies,
| the mosquitoes carrying malaria, the cockroaches big enough to rest
| your beer can on, the sticky heat and high humidity day after day
| after day with a hot bright white sun beating down and heating
| everything so hot that you can see the heat shimmer and get cooked
| from the deck alone. You forgot to mention the gallons of sunblock you
| need to keep from being fried. You forgot to mention the annoyance of
| having to run engines or gensets to keep stuff cool, and the annoying
| neighbours who do the same thing.
|
| The tropics are OK for a short holiday on a charter boat, preferably
| with aircon, but for living/cruising? Nah. Give me cool climates
| where you can snuggle up with someone at anchor after a busy day, and
| not melt down in a pool of mutual sweat, skin peeling stickily from
| skin......
|
| I like cool climates. Where I live now is just about perfect from my
| POV.
|
| On Sun, 24 Aug 2003 15:25:25 -0300, "Capt. Mooron"
| wrote:
|
| Crap!... to both of your sentiments regarding cold weather sailing being
| more comfortable than warm weather sailing. Nothing beats a warm tropical
| breeze pressing canvas to glide your vessel over a turquoise blue sea
that
| is so transparent you can see the bottom at 60 feet. Unencumbered by
excess
| clothing and free to enjoy the warmth of the sun while ice cubes crackle
and
| hiss in your rum punch. At anchor the water invites you to swim... not
dares
| you to enter. As the coolness of the evening approaches and you rinse off
| the salt and sweat with a cool evening shower before retiring to the
cockpit
| for a sundowner while enjoying the music of the steel drum band on shore
| drifting out to your mooring.... I doubt envy is the first thing that
| springs to mind when and if you think of sailing up north.
|
| CM
|
| "Scout" wrote in message
| ...
| | Amen to that Katy. I love sailing in the cold weather. no bugs, no
sweat,
| | not too many motorboats, plenty of breeze, hot meals and coffee both
taste
| | better, sleeping is more comfortable all snuggled up in a warm sleeping
| bag,
| | etc.etc.etc. Just don't fall overboard.
| | Scout
| |
| |
| | "katysails" wrote in message
| | ...
| | Hooray, Hooray...By Ocotber that means we'll be once again Neal=free!
And
| | while he's been sitting down in the seweltering stink and stench of the
| | sub-tropic doldrums, we all up here have been sailing....We had a very
| | pleasant night sail alst night...wind at about 8-10 kn....we just
ambled
| | about a bit until we returned to our mooring...stormy today with a
really
| | bad forecast with fronts reversing...
| |
| | --
| | katysails
| | s/v Chanteuse
| | Kirie Elite 32
| | http://katysails.tripod.com
| |
| | "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
| | and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein
| |
| |
|
|