The Cost of Sailing / Cruising

[Vic de Beer]

When I first started this thread, it was with a feeling..... and I am being very sincere and honest here.... that there is an "elite" or a boating "clique" that wants to,..... subconciously..... give the impressions that boating is for "us" and "you" need to have an income of XXX dolars to join this cruising "club"..... I think, but I may be wrong..that Mischief was getting the same drift.
Now, after all these discussions, I realise...... there is no answer to my original question.... or more likely..... everyone has his own answer to the question, but the answer is not the same for the next person.
The answer is something you have to find for yourself, but, just to make sure that you do not go and do harm to yourself or get into harms way, everyone (all the respondents to this thread) wants to give an opinion/advice, which again is different from the next persons opinion/advice.
So my resolve is: give it a try... and if you find that you cannot afford it, you know that it is beyond your capability and you need to re-evaluate your "want" and, if the "want is still there,.... increase your kitty.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Vic de Beer

, everyone (all the respondents to this thread) wants to give an opinion/advice, which again is different from the next persons opinion/advice.
.

Hey, Vic. Look up the top of the computer screen. This is a forum. That’s what’s meant to happen.

People can take what they want. If some believe the utter balderdash then they have a right enshrined in forum law to be alowed to believe it.

In amongst the posts will be some pearls of wisdom. Otherwise this forum wouldn't work.


Now, where are my socks?

[Vic de Beer]

This is great, it has put my faith back in the idea that cruisers are a unique bunch, all with one thing in common.... a love for the ocean.... well maybe 2 things a spirit of adventure....
welll maybe 3 , a desire to find the perfect beach....
wel, may ....... oh what the hell.....I think you all know what I' say, or trying to say..... you are all cruisers

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Vic de Beer

When I first started this thread, it was with a feeling..... and I am being very sincere and honest here.... that there is an "elite" or a boating "clique" that wants to,..... subconciously..... give the impressions that boating is for "us" and "you" need to have an income of XXX dolars to join this cruising "club".....

Sincere and Honest is good to be honest I do understand where you are coming from. Especially pre-credit crunch when the dreams ($$$ ) arriving on this site seemed bigger (and quite often involving a Catamaran ) I did at times feel that I was looking at the world from a different angle to many (and not just the boat related stuff) - but marching to the beat of a different drum has never bothered me, even if sometimes I have to supply my own drum

But really, this Forum is what we all make of it, put in and draw out. Of course Plusses and Minuses to that one

[osirissail]

Three cheers for Vic de Beer - he nailed it. And I would wager will succeed if he finds out that he wants to.

[anjou]

You pays yer money and takes yer choice.

So what if you dont have the mega yacht and endless budget. Each to their own. This isnt a comparrason game or race. You often find that the ones why 'buy' their way into things pay through the nose and all too often are insulated from the real feel and dont get the essence of what its all about.

Yes we want a bit more than 2 ply hulls al la Wharram, but the best things in life are often free or near to it.
Sod the pay scale or lifestyle hirachy, it doesnt matter what you have or how your get to sea, but how much it fills that place inside you that makes you want to be there.

[S/V Alchemy]

I would imagine that if you begin with a freshly updated and outfitted boat, filled with spares and new rigging and sails, and you anchor out exclusively, catch your own fish, boil your own rainwater in a solar still, and barter for diesel in return for mechanical or sailmaking help, bottom cleaning, anchor freeing, and so on, you could have a very low monthly outlay indeed as a liveaboard cruiser, particularly so if you travel from place to place with a limited number of services for cruisers and provide reliable work.

Of course, the "freshly outfitted" part could cost you a hundred grand, but hey, who's counting?

On the other hand, there are boats out there and people in them still willing to poop in a bucket and handle a sextant and read a compass and get their weather from a 1970s shortwave receiver run on D cells while they hand-sew one of the 18 hank-on sails they carry. There's nothing wrong with that, but I hear of fewer and fewer of those people every year.

My point? Boating hasn't got more expensive. People have.

[jm21]

I get a kick out of some of these sextant remarks. Last time I checked a sextant was more expensive than a GPS. So assuming prices haven't changed it's the high rollers who are navigating by the stars while the poor and humble use a handheld GPS....

I've never even been on a boat that took $100k to outfit . I guess I'm not part of the club at all. I putz around for a few days in my little ericson 27 that was basically free enjoying nice sails, fresh seafood, BBQing, running about in the dinghy, nice scenery....and don't even realize I'm not really sailing or boating, and will probably never be part of the cruising club. Woe is me...I've been so ignorant.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by jm21

I get a kick out of some of these sextant remarks. Last time I checked a sextant was more expensive than a GPS. So assuming prices haven't changed it's the high rollers who are navigating by the stars while the poor and humble use a handheld GPS....

I've never even been on a boat that took $100k to outfit . I guess I'm not part of the club at all. I putz around for a few days in my little ericson 27 that was basically free enjoying nice sails, fresh seafood, BBQing, running about in the dinghy, nice scenery....and don't even realize I'm not really sailing or boating, and will probably never be part of the cruising club. Woe is me...I've been so ignorant.

Not if you inherit the sextant, or get it from Craigslist.

The 100K remark is an example of how gold-plated you could get. Ask Nigel Calder how his conversion of a Malo to all-electric is going.

It's not part of "being in a club" as much as it is "here's how I'm going to look when I'm in the club". Some people have simple, Contessa 26 tastes (to cite an example of a boat that probably hasn't been wired for widescreen TV and sports a washing machine). Others want to replicate life ashore, specifically "Condo Life", in most aspects. Look at the now-common situation in 40 footers of two heads. Considering what goes on in there, I prefer to have as few as possible. It's the same with all "conveniences": your tolerance for cost will dictate whether you pop for a watermaker or a separate genset as much as will your thirst for water or amps.

There's more than one way to do this, in other words, but all of them are compromises. No set of compromises is inherently better than another. Do I want to circumnavigate "Pardey-style"? Not quite, but then I'm happy with one head. It does have a Lavac, however.

[rusky]

Out cruising, there are millionaires and dole bludgers. No one asks "What do you do for a living?" except for multihull people!!! All are equal -yachties. Some more better off, but all with the same view on life and conversations always are on anchorages/equipment and friends etc.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by rusky

No one asks "What do you do for a living?"

LOL yes they do. Maybe you're crusing 'somewhere else' but I get asked often, got asked today and yesterday. And had a discussion with both about their fascinating lives.

I am proud of my 30 year working life and don't mind telling about it to nice people.

In fact how weird could one be to totally dismiss 30 or 40 years of ones life? Or care so little about a friend that we don't want to kow about their 30 or 40 years.

And the people who mind, and the people who judge because of a persons worth "oh, you are richer than me" or visaversa can go F@#$% themselves as they are wankers.


Mark

[surfingminniwinni]

Originally Posted by rusky

Out cruising, there are millionaires and dole bludgers. No one asks "What do you do for a living?" except for multihull people!!! All are equal -yachties. Some more better off, but all with the same view on life and conversations always are on anchorages/equipment and friends etc.

Now how do I become a dole bludger on a yacht???? Any tips would be appreciated.

2 months to the day & we are off.

[Dune]

I read the following quote, here I think, from a source I don't recall. I apologize for the plagarism, but I would give the credit to whoever wrote it if I remembered. That does not change the impact it left me with.

[quote] To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about. "I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?[quote]

I would hate to have ended this journey bankrupt of life.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Dune

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all...

Theres the one error.

'Man'. 'What does a man need'

Thanks, but I am in love. I have a woman and I want to keep her. To do that I have to make sure she is comfortable and happy.

Apart from that if she doesn't wash she smells so I need running water, heads, shower etc.

She sometimes cooks for me so I give her a good kitchen to lord over.

She is good in bed so I only have beds built for 2 - she can't escape.

Her cooking sux so I need money for restuarants.

and, finally,

I drink beer so I need refrigeration.





Mark

[bobfnbw]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Theres the one error.

'Man'. 'What does a man need'

Thanks, but I am in love. I have a woman and I want to keep her. To do that I have to make sure she is comfortable and happy.

Apart from that if she doesn't wash she smells so I need running water, heads, shower etc.

She sometimes cooks for me so I give her a good kitchen to lord over.

She is good in bed so I only have beds built for 2 - she can't escape.

Her cooking sux so I need money for restuarants.

and, finally,

I drink beer so I need refrigeration.





Mark

Ah Mark, no way to talk about such a fine woman and Nicole...She should make you sleep in the cockpit for a few nights for that..
of course... most of that could be applied to my own lovely wife, who puts up with me.... and I too like to drink beer, wine... whatever... so point taken.