" Sir Gregory Hall, Esq." wrote in message
...
"X ` Man" wrote in message
m...
On 9/8/11 6:01 PM, Wilbur Hubbard wrote:


There are two main kinds of cruising sailors. There's my kind of
cruising sailor which is somebody like myself who cruises and has
cruised for decades. This breed lives aboard, avoids marinas like
the
plague they are and has no other home. We are sensible, thrifty
people
who view our cruising boats as a boat first and a home second. This
means not a lot of lubberly junk aboard and few troublesome systems.
This means constantly keeping in mind that, "first she's a boat."
This
means no finicky women folk aboard except perhaps when we have
company.
This means reliability above all and ease of operation. This means
sailing more than motoring. This means thrift, economy, fortitude,
stamina, some hardship, manliness, independence and much more. It's
all
about taking charge and doing things in a trouble-free and
unobtrusive
manner. It means a voyage or a cruise that would be quite boring to
report on in writing. This means not even wishing to report on it in
writing because the satisfaction comes from the doing and not from
the
pretentious bragging or recounting of one senseless predicament
after
another. This is called the Capt. Neal philosophy of sailing.

Then there's the Capt. Skippy philosophy which runs mostly counter
to
everything espoused by the good Capt. Neal. Skippy is a relative
newcomer who lacks insight and experience and has had a long litany
of
full-of-trouble cruising fiascos up to and including severe damage
to
his hull from groundings. While Capt. Skippy does live aboard and
has
sold his home ashore, he still has not cut the umbilical cord
because
his wife's mother lives ashore and her house is their house when
necessary. Skippy is almost as concerned with shore side birthday
celebrations and weddings as anything else. This also means a woman
and
sometimes more than one woman aboard. (and a mother-in-law to boot,
yuck!) This means probably an extra TWO TONs of useless lubberly
crap
that goes along with a woman and caters to a woman's fickle desires.
This means more systems and more maintenance and less reliability
and
less sailing time. This means schedules and lots of motoring to meet
schedules. This means great expense, cramped spaces, inefficiency,
encumbrance, dependence and a willing, weak-spined, male attitude.
It
also indicates shared responsibility and delegating to an inferior
sailor and betting your life on the fact that the inferiority won't
put
you under. It practically guarantees that every cruise or voyage
will
become a comedy of errors that any magazine would relish publishing
to
make modern sailors all appear a lot of fools.

Poor Skippy!

I've seen photos of your boat, Willy. It's the floating equivalent of
a cardboard appliance box a homeless guy might sleep in in a city
alley somewhere.


Your trite rejoinder is a crass example of issue-avoidance typical of
failed liberal types! It's nothing more than an extended ad hominem
attack posted to avoid arguing the merits of my erudite observations
due either to lack of experience, dearth of intellectual acumen,
and/or
a stubborn unwillingness to admit "if the shoe fits, wear it!"



Thanks, "Gregory". I wasn't even going to dignify X-man's childish
taunt with a reply but your copy and paste of my Bruce in Bangkok
rebuttal servers the purpose admirably well.

Wilbur Hubbard