Peter Hendra wrote in
:

Quite possibly we are talking about quite different areas of sailing.
I am understandably focused on cruising sailors and not day sailing. I
have met quite a few of the latter - not sure which is more amusing,
the men with the gold braided Captain's cap or the women with their
designer yachting gear. - no I know that not all are like that.


I think, too, our being on the opposite sides of the planet, though
sharing somewhat a common language, the people in our places are totally
different. The "cruisers", here, come in two distinct versions....

The first, of course, are the reasonably affluent. The husband has
worked 90 hours a week, most of his life, surrounded by "staff" of one
kind or another. He's used to having it "his way", in his world. Now,
having "made it", he has a beautiful yacht commensurate with his status,
or perhaps perceived status, and is "captain" of his new ship, having
relinquished his "old ship" to another back at the office. He and the
wife, or trophy wife in many cases you see down the dock, are living HIS
dream, not necessarily hers. The really affluent simply hire crew for
the 120' custom yacht and a professional captain. The reasonably
affluent want to be alone. Hubby has been to the finest sailing schools
and has sailed amazing ships. He's a good sailor, all 'round. The wife
spent her life in the mall with hubby's credit card stack doing her life.
Now, going along with his dream, she's faced with sailing the big
Beneteau 60 she's not quite competent to sail. Hubby, used to "handling
everything" back at Diaphram, Foam and Condom, LLC, thinks he can cruise
with only her as crew. If he dies in his sleep, of course, she'll die,
lost, in a week or two at sea.

The second is the "budget cruiser". They worked hard, too, but didn't
quite make it on 90 hours a week. They sold the house to buy the boat
and sometimes have to work ashore to pay its awful bills, some very
unexpected. You'll recognize their boats either tied up or anchored out
to save money, or tied up for a day or two at the transient dock. The
boat looks "lived in", like an nice old RV. It's cluttered with their
"stuff" because they don't have a home to leave their stuff in any more.
They liveaboard full time, moving like nomads from anchorage to
anchorage, sometimes following the jobs available to keep the dream
moving. Their dingy and outboard motors look, well, "old". The wife is
a much better sailor than the trophy wife after she has been at sea a
while and learns to like it. I know a few who wouldn't have it any other
way. Others always have "divorce" or the wife stays ashore with family,
most of the time, leaving hubby alone or with someone he's met who sails
with him as he can't do it all himself. I used to sail with one of
these. We had a great time on his old boat.

In either case, you'll find another phenomenon putting everyone at risk.
Many of the wives are NOT interested in learning and doing. They want to
be passengers to the sailing. This leaves hubby virtually sailing alone.
If anything happens to him, disaster ensues. Tonight as I type this
after midnight, there are many boats at sea sailing in this condition...a
condition towards disaster.

My perception of women "down under" is of a more resourceful, tougher,
hardier female group. I think it's related to the history of Oz and NZ.
Those not tougher either went back to England, if they could, or died.
I'm sure in the new cities there are as cosmopolitan a breed of females
as in an American city, cared for, mostly helpless in a sailing
situation. But, as with Julia Hazel, most are more adventuresome and
better suited to a sailing environment.

I sail with guys who sail with their wives, alone, many places. The wife
is NOT qualified to drive a dingy with an outboard...and certainly does
not belong, by herself, at the helm of a 35' sloop, 50 km offshore, even
in calmer conditions, on watch as the only sailor aboard is asleep,
totally exhausted BECAUSE he is the only sailor aboard, and NOT
physically fit to be the ONLY sailor aboard. Boat captains who are
bankers or lawyers or doctors or office jocks and over 40 don't like to
look inward at their own limits, either. They shouldn't pull up the main
unless there's some young, strong, able seamen to help them do it
right....

Larry
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