Yes, folks, Skippy has a long way to go before I can call him a real
cruising sailor.

His latest little coastwise jaunt is evidence of that fact. Why? Well,
mostly because his ways and means demonstrate he still lacks the cruiser
mentality. His priorities are still shore-based as in this particular case
where he forsook a nice little offshore journey to Bermuda and from Bermuda
to the Bahamas when the weather was right for it for the sake of visiting
with friends in Miami on a schedule.

When timing a visit with friends results in your engaging in a light wind
trip where you have to run the diesel a lot then you miss the point of
sailing. Sailing is all about putting sailing first and foremost. You aren't
a real sailor until sailing is first and foremost on your mind all the time.
And you plan a trip with optimal fast voyaging in mind - not some lubberly
visit with friend causing you to weigh anchor and spend a week wallowing in
the slop like a garbage scow having to use your engine a lot of the time in
order to make any progress at all towards your destination.

Fall is the time of the year when real sailors will work the fronts to their
maximum advantage. As long as the wind is fair who cares if it's stout. You
don't really feel it but the miles roll under your keel so fast that you can
hardly believe it. With a big, heavy, overloaded, floating home like the
Flying Porker, strong winds are called for. In light winds such a boat won't
get out of her own way.

I wish Skippy the best of luck but you all need to caution him that he has a
long way to go before he gets much respect from those of who live the
cruising life and know how to work the weather to our best advantage --- and
screw the visiting with friends. They are a secondary consideration to us
real sailors.

Wilbur Hubbard