Not a failure. More than typical. There are big differences between a
4-5 day cruise, a 2-3 week cruise and slipping the lines for an extended
cruise. My programmers hate for me to go on a delivery. After 10-12 days
standing watch 3 times a day I come home with a notebook full of notes,
flowcharts and schematics to work on. When my brain is relieved of the
daily pressures of the company the creatrive side goes into overdrive. It
takes a week or two depending on your pace of life to get over the wall.

It varies for everyone (retireees being a major exception) but on a long
cruise typically the first few days you have an exciting feeling of
adventure interspersed with feelings of guilt and panic about what you are
missing at work. After about the first 5-10 days youl start to unwind and
your brain sort of goes into a neutral "vacation mode". After a few weeks
pass, if you come from a high power life, you start to need some
productivity component and will find something to do like write your
autobiography, compile a directory of Caribbean rums, build a school in
Haiti or try to reform the government of the Grenadines. :-).

Personally, as I can't fit my woodworking shop in the back stateroom, I
pland to bring a complete software development suite and a supply of
electronic components. :-)

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
I guess I have to admit it, I am a failure at cruising. With my son, I
did manage to get from Carabelle in N. FL to Sarasota in three seperate
trips in which I left the boat in marinas for a month between trips.
Every time I was on the boat for a day or so, my mind would begin to
race with things I want to try at work I invent weird x-ray optics for
a living) so I was unable to relax to enjoy the cruise.
At work, I really enjoy myself most of the time as I have all the cool
toys every science geek wanted when he was a kid. However, whenever I
have to do days of managerial things, I dream of cruising. I could
hire a manager but I worry that any real manager would be horrified at
the bizarre ideas on which we spend money and time so I am left to do
it myself.
My real worry is that someday, I will regret that I did not take time
to go cruising. Then I worry that if I did take a lot of time to
cruise that I would regret spending that time on the boat instead of
inventing interesting stuff (ok, interesting to me at least).
Its hell when you have to choose between things you really like to do
(sarcasm). However, when i listen to my neighbor who hates his job and
feels trapped, I think "There but for the grace of God...."