The Cost of Sailing / Cruising

[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.

[John A]

rusky,
The enviornment is sadly changing. In the eastern Caribbean and the Bahamas, as a singlehandler sailing a Cabo Rico 38, it was not uncommon for someone to ask me what type of work experience I'd had before going cruising. A couple of times I was asked about my college education. This was from the "two year vacation" cruisier types from the east coast of the US.
Those of us out cruising for personnal satisfaction didn't worry about such things.
regards John

[osirissail]

>>>The enviornment is sadly changing.<<< Oh! it is so true! After several years of being a regular at the Georgetown Regatta in the Bahamas - by some strange quirk of fate I was being talked to by the "insider's circle". Some days later I heard the "insider's circle" discussing setting up rules and regulations for cruiser behavior at the regatta. Now these are people who are not citizens of the Bahamas, they are visitors like you and me and they are going to publish rules? I upped anchor and left as quick as I could to never return. Slowly but surely as you say, things are changing.
- - The old time swashbucklers, independents, and what I call the "local characters of cruising" are being overwhelmed by the masses of upper middle class "normal people" in their fancy cat's and home appliance loaded monohulls (with washing machines on board). What is the cruising world coming to? There are still plenty of "worldly cruisers" still around but they are feeling to pressures of "not having" the extra do-dad's and condo-comfort extra's and spit and polish yachts.
- - And the real "characters" with their totally white "santa" beards, beat up sandals and rum-stained shirts are few and far between. I do notice lately that they seem to be heading for places like Guyana and Cumana. Maybe too many of us have been blabbing about what the life is like out here. Shush now, keep it quiet or we will be pushed totally out more hordes of yuppies on a two year sabbatical.

[Keegan]

Originally Posted by osirissail

>>>
- - The old time swashbucklers, independents, and what I call the "local characters of cruising" are being overwhelmed by the masses of upper middle class "normal people" in their fancy cat's and home appliance loaded monohulls (with washing machines on board). What is the cruising world coming to? There are still plenty of "worldly cruisers" still around but they are feeling to pressures of "not having" the extra do-dad's and condo-comfort extra's and spit and polish yachts.
- - And the real "characters" with their totally white "santa" beards, beat up sandals and rum-stained shirts are few and far between. I do notice lately that they seem to be heading for places like Guyana and Cumana. Maybe too many of us have been blabbing about what the life is like out here. Shush now, keep it quiet or we will be pushed totally out more hordes of yuppies on a two year sabbatical.

Cat owners can be nice too! Please be careful with the stereotypes because they cedrtainly do not apply to all. Are you really going to act/feel differently towards someone who has a washer on board because you happen not to Hell, if you dinghy over a beer we would be doing a load of clothes for ya
Just last year I was sailing my cat around with a rum stains all over my shirt! Scallywags sail all types of vessels, cats included.

[osirissail]

- - Apologies if I offended anyone - I did not say that Cat owners are not nice or friendly - although you might be careful about advertising the washing machine, you might be inundated by scruffy monohull folks dropping bales of wash off on one of your pontoons. I even have a washer/dryer on my monohull and have done wash for folks on smaller vessels.
- - I was just bemoaning the loss of the real "characters" that ply the seas with their converted "lifeboats", tri-marans, and old wooden schooners and barks. They are very colorful in a nostalgic way. All of this was prompted by a recent concert at the Horny Baboon here in Grenada put on by a couple off a "converted lifeboat" who have circumnavigated - gosh knows how many times. The group attending the concert would have made Jimmy Buffet jealous of his early "pirate" days in Key West. The music was good but he entertainment was in the collection of post-ancient mariners in attendance. "Us modern" folks are just too normal . . .

[Keegan]

Originally Posted by osirissail

- - Apologies if I offended anyone -.

No offense taken

[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

[John A]

I've gone over to monohalls to exchange greetings and the couple onboard has told me that they can't open their hatches because their AC is running! Different types of people sail in all kinds of boats.

Maybe a new thread could be started about why long-term cruisers nolonger visit the Virgin Islands due to the bare boat charter crowd.
John A

[Don Lucas]

"wankers" - I love you down under people :-)

don't know what this means but I bet most of my guesses would fit close enough

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

"wankers" - I love you down under people :-)

don't know what this means but I bet most of my guesses would fit close enough

It is great to be able to curse in a foreign language on the forum.

[Vic de Beer]

Originally Posted by osirissail

>>>The enviornment is sadly changing.<<< Oh! it is so true! After several years of being a regular at the Georgetown Regatta in the Bahamas - by some strange quirk of fate I was being talked to by the "insider's circle". Some days later I heard the "insider's circle" discussing setting up rules and regulations for cruiser behavior at the regatta. Now these are people who are not citizens of the Bahamas, they are visitors like you and me and they are going to publish rules? I upped anchor and left as quick as I could to never return. Slowly but surely as you say, things are changing.
- - The old time swashbucklers, independents, and what I call the "local characters of cruising" are being overwhelmed by the masses of upper middle class "normal people" in their fancy cat's and home appliance loaded monohulls (with washing machines on board). What is the cruising world coming to? There are still plenty of "worldly cruisers" still around but they are feeling to pressures of "not having" the extra do-dad's and condo-comfort extra's and spit and polish yachts.
- - And the real "characters" with their totally white "santa" beards, beat up sandals and rum-stained shirts are few and far between. I do notice lately that they seem to be heading for places like Guyana and Cumana. Maybe too many of us have been blabbing about what the life is like out here. Shush now, keep it quiet or we will be pushed totally out more hordes of yuppies on a two year sabbatical.

Well now,.... Seems like my feeling of "cliques" of those ... shall we say.... more affluent cruisers.... is not totally unfounded.
Seems to me like the notion of "selected ones" does exist and is alive and thriving in the those areas that are more accessable to those folks who want to enjoy cruising from the comfort of their airconditioned sailboats.

Believe me, I don't begrudge those who have "it", any of their share of the planet, I just find it kinda sad that the "local" ecconomies are being determined by wealth of the visitors, and, unbeknowst to them, they set the bar for all those who are yet to get there to also enjoy that part of paradise..... those who may not be in the same income bracket.
By setting those certain requirements, through their indirect (or maybe direct) input, certain locations have become tourist spots for the affluent only..... and when the traditional cruiser makes an appearence, is made to feel uncomfortable, not by his experience, but by the type, or size of his boat and by the amount of money he/she is willing to part with.........

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Vic de Beer

Seems like my feeling of "cliques" of those ... shall we say.... more affluent cruisers.... is not totally unfounded.

Well, all I can advise is for you to read my lats post:

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.

Stop being a wanker.

The only cliques are the ones you impose in your own mind.

I have never been with a more egalitarian mob than the bunch of crusiers I have met in our 18 months at sea.

Mark

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Vic de Beer

From reading the threads on this forum, I get a general, kinda felling that: most people that are on this forum must be independently wealth, or have some income other than working for it.
Judging by the responses to questions, if one should take an average, one would require an annual income that would sustain a lifestyle onshore.
Whatever happened to the "sailing on a shoestring" that so many sailors have written about.... working your way around and at the same time ejoy life...?
I was once asked by a couple, while at anchor in the Bight at Norman Island: what does it cost to go cruising? before I could answer, they then started elaborating on stuff like:
how do you account for airfare home once per year, (sometimes more often ie. Christmas, Thanks giving...etc). Haulout and storage of your boat while home, renting a car while at home, etc etc.
I was flabbergasted as I had a very small kitty and relied on finding odd jobs wherever I went, buying produce and fruiit at local markets, fishing over the side for a fish supper...... careened the boat when it needed new bottom paint.....
I lived that life on a 30ft sailboat, with a wife and child, for many years and, should I choose to, could write a pretty good book on the experience, but I said to myself when I left South Africa, many years ago: I want to be the first person to sail around the world and NOT write a book about it.
Now, as I read this forum, I see that there is still the same number of dreamers who would love to take on the trip of a lifetime, but if I had to go by some of the stories and advice from this forum, most likely would never be able to afford it......
To all those dreamers out there..... you can move a mountain, it just depends on how badly you want to move it.....

Just to add my two cents worth

The phrase "independently wealthy" covers a lot of ground, from a well-managed social security pension to a billion dollar trust fund, and everything in between.

You can't set off to sea just for fun, without having some means of existence which does not require working every day. Some people no doubt work for a while, then live for a while, but most people here have some way of living without working. Most of them are simply retired. How "independently wealthy" you have to be depends on your lifestyle and needs. I bet there are people cruising for less than a grand a month, probably a lot of them. I can't imagine it, but I am certain that it is possible. Ten or thirty thousand dollars a month can be spent a lot easier than you might think. I guess most people are somewhere in between.

[Vic de Beer]

Mark.
Please go back and read my post on : 07-10-2009, 11.54.....
I am responding to exactly what I was hoping not to read here. I can, from the way the postings are heading, that exactly that, which I was refering to seems to more of a reality than anticipated.


Originally Posted by Vic de Beer
Seems like my feeling of "cliques" of those ... shall we say.... more affluent cruisers.... is not totally unfounded.


Are you not acknowledging the fact that they exist by your statement:

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
So, as for being a "wanker"..... are you maybe showing which side of the line you are really on??
I am asking the question and you are confirming it!!

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Vic de Beer

Mark.
Please go back and read my post on : 07-10-2009,

Nah. I'm not going to read it or more crap about it. Go crusing. Go on! Go! You will find it wonderful.




I have gone cruisng and do enjoy it and the vast, vast majority of people I meet.

Theres just a few people on here, the forum that I really enjoy, who really have very negative attitudes. Those, all, have never been out there.

A person can write you 1,000 lines of good advice, and like those others, you will only see what you have preconceived you want to see.

Go cruising. Go now. You might actually begin to enjoy your life and the others around you.


Mark