"Roger Long" wrote in message
...
I'm not going to touch the posts in which this came up with a boathook but
it is a worthwhile question.

With the exception of cruise ship vacations, I think any definition for a
group like this has got to be pretty much in accord with standard usage.
In this part of the world at least, if you go out in a boat and are not
fishing, transporting anything to a specific place (yourself included) and
are free to alter your route according to whim, you are cruising. Since
there is a word "daysailing" for doing this for short periods, "cruising"
must include at least one night spent on board. Power, sail, makes no
difference. You just have to sleep aboard and be in "The journey is the
destination." mode.

The more restrictive definitions proposed would make this a rather
uninteresting place, just Geoff and Wayne posting back and forth as near
as I can tell.

--
Roger Long

==

Roger,, had some time to think on this one ..
I'm sure you read a number of boating, sailing magazines, we all do I think.
I like
Good Old Boat, DYI, and Latitudes & Attitudes. Oh, and the one you write
for
Points East.

The type of cruising L&A recommends is very different from what Points East
would write about. If I had to chose? L&A. Why? Because for me, cruising
is
about long trips, sun, Jimmy Buffet, beaches, babes, .. that whole scene.

I love Maine, and sailing in Maine. But, the weather sucks, fog sucks, the
season
is twenty minutes long. Even in the middle of summer, it gets cold on my
boat at
night.

So; in answer to your question. Cruising is what ever you want it to be.

I have my opinion, and others have theirs.

I do admire those sailors like the Pardeys who have sailed all over the
world,
long distances across open ocean, and as such; I put them on a pedestal.
These are folks who have experienced a broad range of cruising lifestyle
circumstances.
Good weather, bad weather. Anchorages all over the world. On and on.