NE Sailboat wrote:

If single handing is as easy as you make it out to be ....... why are
the above folks (Slocum, Chichester, Robin Knox-Johnston) so revered.

Good agents? Lots of people we've never heard of have sailed long
distances single handed.

I'm not for a minute saying that single handed offshore passage making is as
easy as what I do, any more than long passagemaking with a crew is as easy
as coastal cruising with a crew. We're talking here about coastal cruising
which is essentially daysailing except that you anchor or moor somewhere
different every night.

Obviously it's more work and effort to do everything youself but, from the
tenor of your post, I don't think effort is what we are talking about.
"Difficult", as I read your post, means anxiety about how to accomplish the
tasks, worry that effects your decisions, (anchoring instead of docking
because you might damage another boat), getting frustrated, etc. This is
supposed to be enjoyable and rewarding in the way that challenging things
can be. If it's only enjoyable when you're sliding along with the sails set
and a beverage in your hand, you are doing something wrong.

I'm not saying that I never did and never will bump another boat or have
something go wrong but my level of confidence and expectation of
successfully performing the various evolutions and tasks is about the same,
and often slightly higher, when I'm alone than with a crew. The feelings
and events that seem to be diminishing your pleasure in boating occasionally
comeup but it has nothing to do with how many bodies are on the boat.

You say you always sail alone. What you may be overlooking is that you will
end up feeling just as frustrated and out of control if you start taking
people with you. It may have nothing to do with single handing at all. If
you need to rely on the crew to perform in a way that will prevent the
feelings that you have described, you will be putting pressure on them that
will hurt their enjoyment and make you feel even less in control when they
give you that "which cleat?" look. There is an art to command that, it it's
way, is even more difficult than single handing. Even with a good and
experienced crew, if you can't handle a boat of this size by yourself, you
probably are going to find it difficult to direct a crew in a way that makes
it less stressful.

31 years? You should be able to handle a Bristol 32 with one hand tied
after wringing that much water out of your socks.

--
Roger Long