wrote in message
...
On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:49:44 +0700, Bruce
wrote:

Your final comment that "One other thing, if one can't abide being
becalmed from time to time then don't take up sailing" simply
indicates that you have never actually "cruised". Oh, maybe a little
day sailing but how many trips have you made where you didn't expect
to see land for three weeks to a month?

When you are sitting 250 miles off shore and the wind hasn't made a
ripple on the water for three days, as happened to a friend of mine,
you too might find the thought of trying to motor that 250 miles to
get to a place you can buy some food and water as somewhat appealing.

I had another friend that was depending on one of your recommended
outboards, because his sail drive ate it's gears, and the wind
stopped. It took him 10 days to make just a bit over 100 miles to
shore, drifting most of the way. Those little outboard tanks sure
don't carry much fuel.

No Wildur, you go out and make a couple of real voyages and then come
back and talk to me. You might even find that we'd agree on a lot more
things that you think we would.


Very well said Bruce


Very well said if you like listening to ignorance personified. I guess
you identify with that mode of operation?

Bruce comes out and says a voyaging sailor can't be becalmed for two or
three days because he'll run out of food and water. He needs that diesel
engine so he can go to shore and get more food and water.
Bwahahahhahahah! Some cruising sailor! If you don't have adequate food
and water for at least TWO MONTHS aboard at all times when cruising then
stay off the oceans. You obviously don't belong there.

Bruce apparently has that week-ender attitude but claims he's some sort
of cruising expert. What a sham!

One can put a Honda 4-stroke 9.9HP on a transom bracket and in calm
conditions make four knots even with a forty-foot sailboat provided the
bottom is clean. At four knots you use about a quart of gasoline per
hour. That's 16 miles per gallon. The engine meets California emission
standards. It burns no oil because it ain't no crummy, 2-stroke
technology. Ten gallons of gasoline will take you 160 miles. If you
don't carry a couple six-gallon jerry cans of gasoline then you can only
blame yourself.

If Bruce is the type who's unprepared and running out of provisions
after only two or three days off shore then perhaps he might need to
rely on a motor but I say that's a very stupid way to cruise. Myself, I
could stay for a month becalmed and still have provisions enough to last
several more weeks. And, my boat's only a 32-footer.

I've cruised many times for weeks on end. And offshore. I don't expect
to have to stop someplace and get food and water every couple or three
days. That's not the way I cruise. Even when land is at hand and I
anchor here and there in remote places away from the crush of humanity
for weeks at a time I have little desire to visit a store every couple
days.

When I'm anchored for a while in a harbor somewhere near a grocery store
I might allow my provisions to become somewhat depleted because I like
to take that chance to use up the older items before they have a chance
to go off. But when I choose to continue my cruise I stock up fresh with
at least two months of food, water and other necessary supplies (rum). I
also have a nice blue tarp which I can use to collect rain water in an
emergency. I know how to fish and I can live for weeks and months on
fish, rice and limes. One never knows when the urge will strike to
go'round.

Having the urgent desire to run to land just because the wind doesn't
blow for a couple days tells me Bruce and his friends have no business
calling themselves sailor's. Wimps and a lubbers would be more like it,
in my opinion. And your siding with them doesn't say much for your level
of sailing knowledge or experience, either.

What you demonstrate with your sucking up to pretenders is you're a
pretender yourself. You, Bruce and his impatient, unprepared friend with
a forty-foot boat that only holds three days of food and water haven't a
clue. Real sailors don't rely on a motor as much as you advocate they
do. You advocate it because you just don't know any better. But, that's
typical behavior for most run-of-the-mill lubbers. Get a sailboat and
use it like a trawler. Then go around trying to convince other people
your misconceptions and impatience is the rule. Well you don't convince
any real sailors, that's for sure.

Wilbur Hubbard