wrote in
message oups.com...
It was a good trip, weather was good to excelent the entire way, and we
had no major boat issues.

We were very impressed with the scenery in North Carolina above
Beaufort, almost made me reconsider our retirement plan in SWFL but
that is just about written in stone at this point. Oriental is a
wonderful little town that we are glad we stopped at, likewise
Charleston, SC. We had a fantastic, albeit expensive dinner at the
Charleston Grill right in the downtown area that was the equal of
anything I've had elsewhere. The Charleston City Marina is also a
first class operation which I would recommend to anyone.


Welcome back to the land of fog, mist, and 55 degree water.
Sounds like you had a great trip. Congrats.

Eisboch

If I am going to be slow boating, I prefer sailing. It is the most
economical and the quietest.

I would agree that quiet is nice but going dead to windward (or with no
wind) at 9 kts has its attractions also, as does the comfort factor.
It would take a sailboat of at least 80 to 90 feet to equal the
interior space of our GB49 and it still would not have the visibility
from the flybridge or the stability of gyro roll stabilizers.

Economy is open to question. Sails for large boats cost $10 to $20K
each and require constant repair and replacement. I used to spend over
$5K a year on sail repair and replacement on my old 34 footer when I
was racing it seriously. That will still buy a lot of fuel even in
these inflationary times.

One of the things that I've noticed about cruising sailboats is that
about 95% of them are under power, rising to more like 99% if they are
really trying to get some where, or are in constricted waterways. If
you are going to be under power most of the time anyway, why not get a
boat designed for it?

Shortwave Sportfishing wrote:
On 6 Jul 2005 13:38:10 -0700, "
wrote:

Thanks. We made it just fine, even had a chance to get reacquainted
with ham radio along the way via Winlink/Airmail/APRS, etc. APRS was a
real crowd pleaser with the friends and relatives back home who could
track our progress and position along the way. Meanwhile I've worked
about half a dozen countries from the boat in the last couple of weeks
on 20M SSB.

Winlink, Airmail and APRS are all fantastic systems and a real credit
to the guys who put it together and made it work.

They did a hell of a job didn't they?

They sure did. It's good to see ham radio leveraging up to date
technology in creative and useful ways. Pactor III in particular looks
like it is right on the cutting edge of what is do able.

If I am going to be slow boating, I prefer sailing.

Agreed.

... It is the most
economical and the quietest.


That very much depends... you would not believe how noisy a sailboat can
be under the right/wrong conditions. It's also every bit as expensive as
any other form of boating.

wrote:
I would agree that quiet is nice but going dead to windward (or with no
wind) at 9 kts has its attractions also, as does the comfort factor.
It would take a sailboat of at least 80 to 90 feet to equal the
interior space of our GB49 and it still would not have the visibility
from the flybridge or the stability of gyro roll stabilizers.

What about a 50' catamaran? And sailboat stability is a whole 'nother
thing... I prefer heeling to rolling, even with stabilizers.


Economy is open to question. Sails for large boats cost $10 to $20K
each and require constant repair and replacement. I used to spend over
$5K a year on sail repair and replacement on my old 34 footer when I
was racing it seriously. That will still buy a lot of fuel even in
these inflationary times.


Darn right.

One of the things that I've noticed about cruising sailboats is that
about 95% of them are under power, rising to more like 99% if they are
really trying to get some where, or are in constricted waterways. If
you are going to be under power most of the time anyway, why not get a
boat designed for it?


Darn right, again. I have my own theories about why so many sailboat
cruisers motor all the time, including the fact that so many of them
choose boats with poor/awful sailing performance in the first place and
then load it down. Another is the refusal to accept the constraints of
nature in making a schedule.

However, a big plus in cruising under sail is that it is a demanding &
esoteric endeavor that provides it's own rewards... tremendous ones.
There's nothing else like it. A motorboater will have some difficulty
finding the appeal in this, and even more difficulty understanding
racing under sail (which is even better).

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 20:33:13 -0400, DSK wrote:

racing under sail (which is even better).

That I agree with.

On 5 Jul 2005 23:16:56 -0700, " wrote:

Here's a link to an op-ed piece about the philosophy of slow-boating.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...5618b7fc9c9df7

Nice, Chuck!

--
John H.
On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD