Against All Odds ?

[KillerBoo]

Originally Posted by zeehag

LOL---IT!!!! oops i best be nice-- i have a friend........ very loyal, but.......

Hmmm, strange post for being in a thread named "Against all odds"

[zeehag]

geee-- i wonder if she is the same guy!!

[zopi]

More than half the woman you thoght she was?

Oh..this will not end well. AndI'm not even drinking yet.

[SkiprJohn]

You're welcome.

Seems like you've taken everyone's advice and then told us we don't know what we're talking about.

[scook1]

Glad to hear that you are still loving the lifestyle. Thanks for the positive input!
Spencer

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by zopi

Sometimes, you just have to drop lines and go...
... If Patty Wagstaff's dad hadn't have set her in fromt of the controls ...

And sometimes better sense should suggest, don't go, or don't go yet.

If Jessica Dubroff’s dad hadn't have set her in front of the controls to a Cessna 177B Cardinal , and she hadn't the guts and gumption she did, she'd be a (very cute) secretary somewhere, instead of one of the most famous (dead @ 7 y/o) female proto-pilots.

[Dave the Canuck]

Originally Posted by GordMay

And sometimes better sense should suggest, don't go, or don't go yet.

If Jessica Dubroff’s dad hadn't have set her in front of the controls to a Cessna 177B Cardinal , and she hadn't the guts and gumption she did, she'd be a (very cute) secretary somewhere, instead of one of the most famous (dead @ 7 y/o) female proto-pilots.

No one, but no one, makes a point like Gord.

[zopi]

Ouch...True...But seven? "s a bit much, that..

[Aussiesuede]

One Life. Live it, or die trying.

[SweetSerenity]

Originally Posted by jkirstein

I need to get this off my chest:

About 3 years ago my wife and I started thinking about chucking it for a little bit and going sailing. We didn't know much about it and had very little experience. I found this site and began using it to gather information on boats as well as ask questions I thought pertinent to our plans of casting off.

A year later we purchased a sailboat a couple of thousand miles from our home and began spending as many weekends and vacations on it as we could. Again, I used this forum for lots of useful advice.

During the process of using this forum (and others as well) to educate myself, I became very, very frustrated with lots of the responses I was getting. Repeatedly I heard that I wasn't nearly experienced enough...that I was being irresponsible by even considering voyaging offshore, and that I was naive to think that we had anywhere near enough experience to tackle such an endeavor. It was a very similar response to the one that Bumfuzzle got a couple of years previously.

Thankfully we did not listen to the naysayers. My wife and I have been sailing for nearly a year now and have come to dearly love the life. If we had listened to those telling us how crazy we were we wouldn't have experienced spending nights at sea under sail, thousands of dolphins, rays jumping in the early morning sunshine 100 miles offshore, the kindness of strangers, or many, many other beautiful things that we did see. Did we make some mistakes? Sure. Will we make more mistakes? Certainly.

Were we irresponsible? Maybe by your standards, but not by ours. When we left we didn't know how to anchor or change a filter, to use our wind steer or to run an outboard. We didn't know how to use our SSB or make a VHF call. It's amazing what you can teach yourself if you really, really want to know.

If you're reading this and are trying to weigh whether or not you're worthy of a journey, please don't take the word of a stranger. Trust yourself and your instincts. You'll be there when the chips are down. Always take advice for what it's worth, nothing more.

Jeff and Nancy
SV Oblivion
Sailing To Oblivion | It is not the destination but the journey

congrats on having the courage to take the plunge! I am enjoying your website...thanks for sharing it!

[delmarrey]

I'm glad I wasn't one of the naysayers!

Anyone that would travel -2000 miles on weekends/vacations to get to their boat, has my respect!

Carry on!

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by jkirstein

If you're reading this and are trying to weigh whether or not you're worthy of a journey, please don't take the word of a stranger. Trust yourself and your instincts. You'll be there when the chips are down. Always take advice for what it's worth, nothing more.

Jeff and Nancy
SV Oblivion
Sailing To Oblivion | It is not the destination but the journey

Congratulations for the post and your journey. The underlying tension explains why I am a bit of a loner in many activities. Nevertheless, I am glad I have met more than a handful of positive people on this forum and have learnt to shield myself from those “naysayers”.

[rgscpat]

People vary hugely in their tolerance for risk. For some people, making mistakes and risking accidents ("learning experiences") isn't a big deal. Other folks are inherently more timid, careful, systematic, or whatever you might want to call it. Some people feel they don't have much to lose; some are very careful about risking anything.

And some people are not particularly careful for their own sake, but do become more cautious when the safety of others is involved. Good for them.

People at one end of the spectrum jump in head first. They may succeed or they may crash and burn. Those who are hardy and resilient shrug their shoulders at disappointments, learn from them, and press onward. Those who are more clueless and fragile may be stopped cold by failures that might have been avoided with a little knowledge and toss in the towel.

The careful folk at the other end of the spectrum may spend their lives dreaming and planning and fiddling and never get out on the water. Maybe some people really enjoy reading and dreaming or boat work more than sailing or voyaging.

Somewhere in between, most people seem happy with getting some advice, tips, coaching, or maybe formal or casual lessons, talking to other sailors, sailing on other people's boats, reading some books or looking at some videos. Some do more, some do less; some want structure, some demand freedom. Some want the journey to be their own, some need to share it. And so it goes. And so most people recognize the initialism, "YMMV -- Your Mileage May Vary."

[swagman]

Where's this coming from? Maybe you're confusing this site's feedback with other stuff as if I recall correctly a majority who responded to your original thread were in fact supportive and not as negative as you seem to be inferring.

So top marks for taking that big step, but sadly low marks for not making that clear to the readers. It might be right to reflect and perhaps set the record straight?

Enjoy.
JOHN

[Shrew]

I hate to say it, but I'm a fan of discouragement. If someone says "I want to do this, what do you think". In many cases they are unsure themselves and looking for permission. If you are set on something, then have specific questions, such as "Where can I get information on <blah>" or "How should I go about starting" then that is something completely different.

However, this is a forum of relative strangers. Just like I take the advice given with a grain of salt (as stated much earlier), I'm equally cautious about telling someone I don't know what I think they're capable of.

We have no idea what the true capabilities of a person is. I'm sure all of us can think of two friends or family members that, if they both posed the same question to you the answer would be 'no' to one and 'yes' to the other.

I can think of one idividual that has boated for over 30 years and I still wouldn't trust him offshore. I don't want to be the one to kill another person's dreams, but I'm not going to give someone enough rope to hang themselves either.