On Feb 21, 12:35 pm, "Sir Thomas of Cannondale"
wrote:
... In my opinion, Skip needs to show me more in the way of sailing trips before
he gets my "Yup, Skip knows what he is
talking about and Wilbur is a jerk"

I am a coastal sailor. If I wrote that the channel into Portland, Maine was
XXXXX and someone said I was a liar,
I couldn't just say "I've been sailing longer than you so take that"..

I would need to explain. Tell why I though the channel was narrow. Maybe
for me it was. Maybe Skip is
cautious and what he thinks is narrow is a big open ocean to another.

I hope this clears up what I meant. ...

Cool. I don't have any first hand knowledge of the area, but I just
took a quick look at a chart and the official channel is less than
half a mile wide off Sea Grape Point and there are enough obstructions
that a not too weatherly or nimble boat with a 2 meter draft and an
inexpert crew might find it awkward to beat through the shoals. As
you say "narrow" depends on the context.

But, your definition of "cruiser" still doesn't smell right to me. I
make a distinction between expertise and action. A duffer beach
camping in a canoe yawl is cruising in my book even if he manages to
drown himself in cup of water. I've met some shockingly inept folks
out in the Pacific and I've made more than my share of bone headed
moves myself but we're still cruisers. I have to take a deep breath
and count down slowly from a pretty big number to keep from screaming
when I hear that Skip is getting a USCG license, but he's cruising.

-- Tom.