She or he has a point. People who use all the "stuff" never really
become sailors. They may think they're sailors, but they would

Sorry Russkie, that is crap. I know where you are coming from but you
ignore the possibility that maybe we are people who have been
sailing/boating all our lives and now prefer to have machines do more of
the work for us. I don't consider hauling 100ft of chain road up by hand
to be "sailing".

My first trip with this boat was delivering it back home a few days
before Xmas. Was about 30-ish degs during the day and a 2 day trip. I
was alone, all my friends had bugged out. Came into a cove for shelter
from a stiff NW wind just as the sun was disappearing. with "auto"
steering slow ahead I went fwd and prepped the anchor (45lb Danforth
plow). Back in the cockpit I put the engine n neutral and pushed a
button on the windlass remote. It was so sweet seeing those yards of
chain roll out. I let enough out for 2:1 and reversed the prop to snug
it in, then let a full 120 ft out. During the night I do not know how
cold it got outside. But inside I could hear the wind and even with my
12000btu propane heater the cabin was 37 degs in the morning. Once up I
bundled in many layers of clothing, started the engine, and want fwd.
Again I held the remote and pushed a button. It was such pleasure to
watch foot after foot of chain rode come up out of the frigid water,
across the bow roller, through the windlass and on down inside. When the
anchor came up I released the button, pulled the last foot or so and
secured the anchor. Then I went back to the cockpit, put the engine in
forward, spun the wheel and resumed my winter trip. Did I miss out on
something by not doing that by hand? Don't make me laugh. I don't need
a radar where I sail, but having one is real nice. Now that I do have
one (came with the windlass) I will want one on my next boat. I learned
to sail, and did, for over 3 decades plotting manually. Still can. But I
enjoy having my GPS map do it for me. Life is getting shorter and I
prefer to enjoy it rather than doing things I can have machines do for
me.

Btw, there were always clueless "sailors". Even back in the
lash-the-sticks-together age of primitive rafting.

I'm sure people said the same things as you when the first engines were
put into sailing yachts. But unless your name is Pardey I doubt even you
would be w/o one.