Geoff Schultz" geoff"at wrote:

(Some Wilbur like fuel-on-the-fire-crap that suddenly creates a surprisngly
negitive impression of someone I'd thought to be one of the adults here.)

I'll give Geoff the benifit of the doubt and assume that Neal is spoofing
his header.

It does bring up an interesting question though, what is a "sailor" in the
context of this newsgroup?

Although my accomplishments and experience are certainly modest compared to
Geoff ,who has covered more blue water miles than all but a couple of people
who have posted here, I'm considred pretty far ranging among the community
of New England cruisers.

http://home.maine.rr.com/bmssez/06Cruise.htm

http://home.maine.rr.com/bmssez/07JuneCruise.htm

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/0907Cruise.htm

http://home.maine.rr.com/rlma/GEfile...er08Cruise.kml

Three of these four cruises, which cover more than 3/4 of the liner length
of the New England coast, were covered in magazine articles and this
summer's cruise was just accepted for one to appear next year. This has as
much to do with my writing ability as the sailing but they wouldn't be
getting print space if they were just "toottling around in home waters".

Except for racing, which I've never had any interest in, I've sailed on just
about every type of boat from 7 feet up to a 380 foot Russian square rigger.
Here's the story of one trip:

http://www.pointseast.com/template.s...EG&style=story

Now, I point all this out not for the reasons Bob will shortly be on the
horn blathering tiresomly about but to get to the point. What is a sailor?

A sailor is someone who sails on a boat. A *SAILOR* is someone who knows
how to get a boat safely from one place to another safely; especially if the
destination is somewhere he or she hasn't seen before. I would be the first
to admit that I am on the other side of the bell curve from the likes of
Geoff and Tom. As someone who has spent their professional life around
boats, much of it as a consultant to sail training organizations, and worked
on projects with people like Rod Stephens and Irving Johnson, I know pretty
well where if fit into the spectrum of seamen. Although many consider me
accomplished, I am a grasshopper.

A "cruiser" is someone who sails (or motors) for pleasure and spends nights
away from the home dock or mooring. Maybe I live in a strange part of the
world, although it is North America's best known crusing area, but the terms
"overnight cruise" and "weekend cruise" are pretty common up here. The
"Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast" says that, when you are anchored on the
far side of Schoodic Point, you know that anyone anchored with you is
someone you can respect. The people who know it best hardly consider those
wates "tootling grounds".

This is rec.boats.cruising. Only in surprising post like this one have I
seen it suggested that it is rec.boats.(sailing international),
rec.boats.(living aboard), etc. The proportional mix of Neal's to Geoff's
is bad enough as it is without trying to make this a forum of the elite.

Thanks, Geoff, I felt like a rant this morning

--
Roger Long