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Rosalie B.

wrote:

What do you "unlearn"?
For some racing sailors, it's difficult to relax while cruising

Rosalie B. wrote:
There's more than just relaxing unless you define relaxing as not
rushing to the destination but enjoying the journey.

Is it a matter of enjoying sailing? If an individual does not enjoy
sailing then they're not going to like cruising *or* racing. If they
do, then there is enjoyment to be found in both.

Yes enjoy sailing, but cruising doesn't really have an overabundance
of sailing in it which can be frustrating. And if the person has to
be beating someone else, then they are concentrated on the race and
not just on the sailing.

Maybe it is that they need to value sturdiness over lightness. To
pick sturdier materials.

I can tell that you're one of those "cruising only" sailors.

Well Duh. Except I'm not really a sailor or boater at all. Bob
wanted a boat, and so I come along. I do the navigation, and I know
HOW to sail the boat. And I've lived on the boat for 6 months at a
time and traveled on the boat. But I'd never call myself a sailor.
However, I was just speculating on what the difference would be going
from people I know who ARE sailors.

Breaking
stuff is slow. The surest way to lose a race is to have even minor
gear failure. And racers go out to sail & race in conditions that
cruisers stay home in.

I wouldn't agree with that. People who have our type boat are
perfectly happy in conditions that most racers and other cruisers turn
back in.

I really don't know anything about small sailboat racing except that
my niece and her husband do it, which is not much of a recommendation
to me. My niece was the one that was driving from Key West to Orlando
to meet her grandmother and family, and after lunch she turned the
wrong way and drove almost back to Key West before she noticed her
mistake.

And to have spares aboard in case something
breaks, and also to have the stuff on board that one needs to live
comfortably and not feel that they are camping out.

That's not a *sailing* skill, is it? Sounds like common sense plus a
slight amount of organization.

Most of the races that I've seen at close hand or read about, they
take everything off the boat except what they have to have on board. A
bucket rather than a head for instance.

grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html