Poor Bruce P. has fallen into the trap of moving up in his choice of
boats until he's finally ended up in a boat that's too big for him to
handle or afford.

This is illustrated by the fact Bruce languishes on a marina in Thailand
when he could be out doing some serious coastal cruising in what many
consider one of the world's premiere cruising grounds. Why does he
languish in a marina? There are probably at least several different
reasons. I'll list a few of the more prominent . . .

1) Boat is too big and cumbersome and draft too deep for coastal
cruising and exploring the local backwaters where all the action takes
place and where all the things worth exploring are.

2) Boat has too many systems that are always breaking down and provide a
convenient excuse to stay tied up at the dock.

3) Bruce is really not cut out for cruising. He's not a strong
individual but somebody who prefers the company of like-minded
(dependent) people, which people also like to sit around their boats
tied to a dock and bull**** about where they'll go next - year after
year while their boats become even more trouble-prone and decrepit.

4) Too worried about expenses to properly upkeep his vessel. He probably
never considered how a bigger boat escalates expenses geometrically to
the point he really cannot afford to cruise anymore.

5) Knows voyaging across oceans is not really a passion of his but won't
admit it. Grasps at straws for any excuse to stay put.

6) Addicted to telephones and Internet connections. Is a landlubber at
heart.

Let this be a lesson to everybody else who's not got a realistic vision
of what's involved with long-distance voyaging. Furthermore, let it be a
lesson in knowing when to throw in the towel and admit voyaging is not
really for you. Few things are more pathetic than 'voyagers' and their
vessels rotting away in marinas.

Wilbur Hubbard