"Janet O'Leary" wrote in message
...
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the
bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in
your
sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain


Was reading your trip and all .. this got me looking at marinas,
docks, municipal, private ..
I was disheartened by the cost. Even the public marinas cost
hundreds of dollars to tie up for a week, month.

And it just gets worse the farther south you travel. In the Florida Keys,
for example, some docks costs upwards of a thousand bucks a month for a
forty to fifty-footer. Unless you have money to burn you need not consider
staying at Marinas. They are a big rip-off and you are surrounded by idiots
should you tie up to one.

As I read this, I got thinking that the costs are out of reach for
most, at least my friends.

Unless your friends earn a quarter million and upwards per anum paying for
staying in a Marina is not only stupid but cost prohibitive for sure. Your
conclusion is correct. Your instincts are good. Even if you could afford the
bill you have to ask yourself if you can afford the snobbery of the pretend,
mortgaged to the hilt, crowd of lubbers who think a yacht will impress their
friends but rarely move them off the dock.

What and where do the less affluent tie up? If a boater, [ example = 30'
sailboat ]
is traveling along the Inland Waterway or needs to move about Florida ...
Where do they go to dock, anchor, moor .. so that the cost is
less.

There is a new law in Florida that states municipalities cannot restrict the
anchoring of liveaboard vessels in navigation any place other than in and
around municipal mooring fields. This means you can legally anchor most
anywhere as long as you don't plan to stay there forever. Some
municipalities still cling to their unconstitutional laws restricing or
prohibiting anchoring but they are being slapped down in court one by one.
Stuart Florida is a good example of this. They cited a sailor for being in
violation of their anchoring statutes but he ended up being somewhat more
affluent than they had thought and he hired a top-notch, female, maritime
lawyer who took them directly to Federal Court in a violation of civil
rights and due process case where Stuart, at the urging of their attorneys,
then made haste to dismiss the charges against the anchored boater and even
paid him thousands to not pursue it in the future.

http://www.soundingsonline.com/ME2/d...7F350DE&tier=4

As I've looked at the various marinas, and the photos of the huge private
yachts .. I keep thinking of the billions of dollars the US Government ..
[ my tax money ] is spending so these rich people can stay rich and keep
their huge boats at government built facilities that average folks can't
afford.

You sound like a freaking liberal, Janet. The rich aren't the enemy. The
government is the enemy. Never forget it. It's a good thing I wasn't your
husband. I sure wouldn't have become a drunk and slunk away. I'd have
slapped some sense into your warped noggin!


What are your thoughts on this ..

My thoughts are that you won't be worth a **** as a sailor unless and until
you rid yourself of your liberal thinking and get real about life. Stop
expecting somebody else to give you a free ride. May you own way in this
world and stop expecting others to do your work for you. Like the bikers say
to female hitchhikers, "Gas, grass or ass! Nobody rides for free."

Wilbur Hubbard