"Keith" wrote in message
...
Get a trawler.

--


Keith
__
Buckle up. It makes it harder for the aliens to snatch you from your car.
"Parallax" wrote in message
om...
By happy and fortuitous circumstance, I suddenly find that not only am
I financially able to do the cruising I want, but my personal life has
fallen into place with my 17 yr old daughter seeming to be cured of
melanoma. So why am I suddenly not looking forward to it? We had a
great day of sailing on Sunday. The short hops will not involve too
much time away from family or work so what is it? Is it possible that
the work toward achieving it is better than the actual doing it?
I've done a little cruising in the past so I know the stress at night
of worrying "Is my anchor dragging" whereas home in bed that never
crosses your mind. I know the "God, am I bored" during
loooooooooooong days of very light wind followed by the "Omigod, what
am I doing here" fear at night with wind that is probably less than I
imagine it to be. Is it possible that the last 9 years of starting
and running a small business has stressed me so much I just want to
relax? Regardless of that Christopher Cross song "Sailing", we all
know sailing is NOT relaxing. People have asked me what I like about
sailing and I always tell them that for me its about problem solving,
not relaxing.
Does anybody else have such odd thoughts before a cruise?

Interesting questions

I am north of 60 years. I have done some cruising - not around the world -
but offshore from FL to New England multiple times, and quite a bit in NE.
All sail, but I have owned a few (smaller) power boats over the years.

I'm in between boats and my wife wants a trawler. I'm not quite convinced,
so I have been having similar thoughts. - why do I like cruising? .

I was fond of saying that boating was the one enjoyment that I have never
tired of, but I don't know anymore. It is relaxing NOT having a boat. Not
having to worry about it, tend to it, pay for it ... .

I think with sailing it was always the adventure. For me, it is hard to see
the adventure with power, although I know some will disagree with that.

I could go on for a long time on this.The silliest thing is that I may ,
yet again, plunk down so serious money for another boat.

What's the cure? Do we need something to define ourselves?

Bill

This just goes to show
that ones own experience and motivations cannot
be easily generalized to others.

My god - someone on usenet who actually has perspective!

"rhys" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 19 Oct 2004 21:31:34 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

Unlike, say, wanting powerlessly for a bureaucrat to do his job on
land, at least you have the option of going offshore G.

You lost me on this one.

In the sense that getting on the ICW is akin to queuing up in a
government office line-up to get a licence or a permit or something:
you are dependent on some paper-pusher's whim. If you find the ICW
stressful, however, you can sail offshore. Unlike dealing with
bureaucrats, you have a choice to make a change.

That's a strange analogy.

Not to be morbid, as fewer sailors drown by far than office workers
die in car accidents,

I am pretty sure there are far fewer sailors cruising than office
workers driving.

I mean per capita. Divide number of active cruisers by number of same
drowned while cruising: I would wager it's safer to cruise than to be
an urban car commuter.

Another strange comparison. So cruising is safer than driving. What does
that
have to do with anything? Cruising is safer than alot of things.

but the lessons of the sea are far less
ambiguous than those of the shore.

I'm not sure that is a fair comparison. The lessons are different
for sure.

Again, it comes down to you and your skills dealing with the sea. Only
in the rare shi-to-ship collision, extreme gear failure or chance
mishap (ramming a submerged container or whale) is the case similar to
getting killed by some drunk yahoo behind the wheel while you are
driving safely.

Another strange comparison. Means nothing. This is just rationalization.
I don't thing any of these comparisons are useful. Activity A is more
or less safer than activity B. There is no point in even making the
comparisons.

The proximity of other people onshore can erase all your good
intentions and safe habits. The sea is less ambiguous due to the long
periods of solitude.

I give up :)

R.

rhys wrote in message . ..
On 20 Oct 2004 09:08:33 -0700, (Parallax)
wrote:

I have
three kids, 17 yr old daughter, 14 yr old son and 8 yr old daughter so
I have plenty of reason to want to be home.

Interesting. I have a three year old son and a 30 year old wife. I am
43. We are planning to world cruise when he is 7 or so until he is 12
or 13 on the basis that he'll tire of us then G and prefer to be
ashore with "his own kind".

Our logic is that by age seven he will at least keep himself on the
boat and act as look-out. Kids of 9 or 10 can keep half-watches in the
daytime. If we have another kid before we go, the age difference
provides a live-aboard minder for No. 2 Child.

I figure he won't want to do extended cruising again until I'm in my
60s, by which point...

So we are planning a "mid-life sabbatical" of a few years, rather than
wait until my retirement and maybe not do it at all.

So I figure in my circumstances, we have plenty or reasons to go
sailing G.

Carpe bloody diem and all that.

R.

My advice is to do it earlier when they are young. About 7 would be
great because they can actually swim well by then. We have done
considerable sailing with ours from ages 1 week to 17 yrs. Little
ones seem more amenable to being with the "rents" than teens. Having
a little kid also allows you to get away with things people would
otherwise get ****ed about. They see the little kid and empathize.
Good luck
I have given up getting my kids interested in navigation as they just
do not seem connected in the same way. Kids are not carbon copies of
parents and constantly surprise me.

On 20 Oct 2004 20:09:45 -0700, (Parallax)
wrote:

Good advice, P. Thanks for your thoughts.

I have given up getting my kids interested in navigation as they just
do not seem connected in the same way. Kids are not carbon copies of
parents and constantly surprise me.

No, of course not. I may have a couple of advantages here in that my
wife is the daughter of a boat builder and is quite comfortable on
board, particularly at the helm. She knows how to work everything, but
forgets the nautical names G. She also enjoys the foredeck at 35
knots, although I need to rig downhauls for her 105 lb. frame G

I came to sailing in my 30s, despite being the son of a merchant
seaman, so maybe it's in our blood.

My son at three knows the difference between a boat and a ship (three
masts or more, Daddy!) and assumes it's perfectly natural to sail off
in search of treasure, pirates and what not.

How long all this will last, I agree, is unknowable, but while I am
the driving force behind going offshore for a few years, I am not the
"dragging" force...if I couldn't fill the house with tenants while we
were gone I couldn't swing the expense of cruising for very long, and
for that I need my wife's "buy in", as well as for the job of
"home-boat schooling" our kid, which will likely fall to her.

I wonder if it ever occurs to anybody that bluewater cruising allows
kids to make practical use of trigonometry in a meaningful way? Never
mind calculating amp-hours, SOG, and general chart work, which can be
quite map-oriented...

R.

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:28:44 -0500, "Bill"
wrote:
I think with sailing it was always the adventure. For me, it is hard to see
the adventure with power, although I know some will disagree with that.

======================================

If you like being on and around the water, and cruising to different
places, there's little difference whether you do it by sail or power.
Power is faster in almost all cases, albeit more expensive in most
cases also. That means that you can cover more ground per day and/or
arrive earlier. When we were cruising our Bertam 33 we'd frequently
arrive as others were just pulling out, giving us a good choice of
moorings or anchorages. If you like to anchor out, most power boats
will require some work to make them more suitable (larger battery
banks, inverters, better ground tackle, etc). When it comes to
roominess, comfort and storage space, there's no comparison at all.
Power wins every time. The view from a flybridge is kind of addictive
also, especially for river or canal cruising where it allows you to
see beyond the banks and into the surrounding country side.

"Wayne.B" wrote

If you like being on and around the water, and cruising to different
places, there's little difference whether you do it by sail or
power.

Wha???

On Thu, 21 Oct 2004 16:48:46 -0400, "Scott Vernon"
wrote:

"Wayne.B" wrote

If you like being on and around the water, and cruising to different
places, there's little difference whether you do it by sail or
power.

Wha???
===============================================

I know, I know, heresy, heresy...

I cruised under sail for many years and enjoyed it enormously. I
raced under sail for many years, enjoyed it a lot, and had a fair
amount of success at it. Been there, done that. All by way of
explaining that I've been on both sides of the issue. I can tell you
with a great deal of certainty that there is much to enjoy about
cruising under power. Try it some time, you might find you like it
also. For creature comforts, protection from the weather, room for
more toys, and extended range on limited time, there's nothing like
it. And don't forget to enjoy the view from the flybridge. :-) All
kidding aside, it's quite a different perspective, and not a bad one
at that.

now, I understand just why weenye makes the idgit posts he does. He is a
powerboter.

subtract 25 points from his IQ.

From: Wayne.B
Date: 10/21/2004 3:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Message-id:

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 15:28:44 -0500, "Bill"
wrote:
I think with sailing it was always the adventure. For me, it is hard to see
the adventure with power, although I know some will disagree with that.

======================================

If you like being on and around the water, and cruising to different
places, there's little difference whether you do it by sail or power.
Power is faster in almost all cases, albeit more expensive in most
cases also. That means that you can cover more ground per day and/or
arrive earlier. When we were cruising our Bertam 33 we'd frequently
arrive as others were just pulling out, giving us a good choice of
moorings or anchorages. If you like to anchor out, most power boats
will require some work to make them more suitable (larger battery
banks, inverters, better ground tackle, etc). When it comes to
roominess, comfort and storage space, there's no comparison at all.
Power wins every time. The view from a flybridge is kind of addictive
also, especially for river or canal cruising where it allows you to
see beyond the banks and into the surrounding country side.

scotty, next weenyne is going to say it is more difficult to push a throttle
forward than it is to lift a mainsail.
wrote

If you like being on and around the water, and cruising to different
places, there's little difference whether you do it by sail or
power.

Wha???