"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
news.com...


http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...0065365399306#


Pay close attention, Capt. Skippy, as it's going on a year since
you've sailed the Gulf Stream.

Technically, that's true, as anything longer than the instant you're
in it is "going on a year" - and, as always in this very curious trip
ashore, you've once again exaggerated our time on the hard - but I've
done it 6 times in the last 3 years, and in the couple of years before
that, have traveled an aggregate of several thousand miles in it,
under sail.

How many crossings have you made in that time?


None in the past five years. But, that's not the point. The point is I
consider you a cruiser. I consider myself a cruiser. What you understand
and what most wannabes DON'T understand is time spent working on one's
boat in a yard or otherwise, time spent on the hook or a mooring is all
part of the cruising life when the vessel is one's home. Those who keep
score of crossings, coastal trips, ocean voyages, etc. are nothing more
than lubbers who've substituted their sailing trips for their former
acquisition of material things ashore.

You've no doubt seen the bumper sticker that says, "He who dies with the
most toys wins." Well, this attempt at humor is all too unhumorous as
it accurately reflects the landlubber mentality as to what's important.
The cruising life belies this hording of a bunch of unnecessary,
material things that equal status to lubbers as there simply isn't room
enough aboard for anything but the most essential of things.

The major difference between a smaller cruising yacht and a larger
cruising yacht is the larger yacht sailor has just not managed to divest
himself of as many material things - but he must be given credit for
placing himself in a situation where he might eventually achieve the
more pure cruising life - for at least giving it an honest try.


Wilbur Hubbard