Anxiety Attack from Sailing Magazines

[Tillsbury]

I’ve not read Cruising World until recently. It seems very old-school compared with the UK magazines, but then they would probably refer to a 45-footer as a pocket cruiser nowadays. They only seem to be reviewing boats well over 50 feet nowadays...

[chuckr]

We are those cruisers that lead a dull life that few would publish unless we went to unique places - and we have and had articles published about them. We have not had any real disasters and we are old and do not take chances and keep our boat in primo condition.


We have had a few issues that would not make good reading in that they are short term and how to take one small item and turn it into an article is beyond me. Saying that we may discuss one item in an article I am currently writing but it will only be a paragraph or two with a picture or two.


I use to live in Idaho and a member of Mountain Rescue - if I ever tried to write and article on that it would never get published as borrirrrirrring - but people do get articles published about disasters or almost disasters in the mountain or on the mountains but in the scheme of things it is incredibly minor.


Now saying that we do read some of the pubs when we see them and maybe something we can learn from them. How did they end up in that situation and how could they have prevented it. I our opinion learn from others mistakes and try not to make the same one.


Just my thoughts from someone who has been published.

[Hesti]

Things go wrong - if they can. Good preperation, good maintenance and avoiding unnecessary risks reduces the likelyhood.

In modern systems, typically, it is not one root cause that leads to a catastrophic outcome but a combination of several. If you read the articles from this point of view, you can learn a lot about avoiding problems.

Experience - is often won from mistakes. If you learn from other peoples mistakes, that makes it cheaper for you.

The things that nevertheless went wrong and that you somehow dealt with successfully - those then teach you to be humble and they make your campfire stories. Berthing in a harbour under sail as the engine had gone on strike, bleeding a diesel in front of the harbour entrance with a current running across, emergency anchoring in a current with stones behind you as the engine went on strike, ... .

[Fiftybucks]

I do appreciate the wisdom and need to be prepared that these articles are intended to convey. My point is, its OK perhaps to take these articles in monthly doses, but whem hit with 100 issues of impending disaster in a period of 2 days it just had an unintended effect.

[smith8273]

If ya want anxiety — try reading an online forum: Batteries will not charge, anchor drags, rivets failing, mooring line chafes through, yikes!

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by chuckr

We are those cruisers that lead a dull life that few would publish unless we went to unique places - and we have and had articles published about them. We have not had any real disasters and we are old and do not take chances and keep our boat in primo condition.

For me this leads back to the primary question: why do you (or I or anyone) sail?

I'm sure there are tons of different answers to this question, but it's interesting still.

People climb mountains as well.

[MarkSF]

No-one wants to read an article about how we went sailing one afternoon, nothing in particular happened, although we had a delicious lunch, and got back to the dock in time for a nice cup of tea.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Fiftybucks

I do appreciate the wisdom and need to be prepared that these articles are intended to convey. My point is, its OK perhaps to take these articles in monthly doses, but whem hit with 100 issues of impending disaster in a period of 2 days it just had an unintended effect.

Disaster p0rn.

I tend to mostly avoid such stories, especially in large doses.

Besides avoidance of those, our strategy has been to grow our sailing experience incrementally. Every year our experience gets pushed a bit, either as a goal we set (in which case we have done planning and discussions in preparation), or through fate - incidents, opportunities - where we were forced to adapt and learn. The boat gets incrementally better too as we make small improvements and changes.

The result is that we are at present confident and happy sailors; we enjoy the sailing we do and take pleasure in becoming more capable with each year.

[boatman61]

Do a search on here for Cheeki Rafiki, Wolfhound, Rebel Heart to name to name a few.. or if your more a cat man theres a long thread on the delivery (not) of a new design owner assist that came to grief off the E coast USA.. the name escapes me.
Happy anxiety food..

[gamayun]

Funny, yet not. This is the very reason why I don't watch YouTube "survival in big storm" stories. It just makes couch surfing sound so much better and safer than dealing with real life.

[Cheechako]

Those stories happen. But realistically, they are written because they have shock value and are interesting. Many go a long time without issues like that. But, keep in mind the saying "The sea is a harsh mistress" is true.
Plan, be conservative, never hurry. Oh, and be conservative.
There's a ton to be enjoyed coastal cruising. Do that, decide from that if you want to cross oceans. I decided I enjoyed not crossing oceans, although I sailed oceans for as much as a week at a time, I never crossed the Pacific or Atlantic. But I sailed bothe the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. I like anchorages, I like cultures and outdoors/wild life. That's my driver.

I've known people who bought boats, big boats, never sailed much, headed down the rough West Coast after years of prep but little sailing or cruising. Had a bad trip, left the boat in So Cal and got divorced!

[CatNewBee]

Just read the newspapers about how many got shot on land, suffer cat accidents, been robbed, die in plain crashes, become terror attack victims, suffer from earth quakes or suffer of illnesses or die in fires and floods.

Life is dangerous everywhere, then compare the numbers with your sailing magazine, you'll find life on the ocean is safest...

[JasonS]

Scariest part of every day is backing out of the driveway and driving anywhere. I even resorted to a YELLOW car. Then again I live in South Florida...
Jason

[pcmm]

I stopped reading "Cruising World" along time ago as they seemed to develop a big boat only mentality ( sells ad space) their take on "cruising" is you need a $1mill boat with all the latest gadgets and the pocket book for "professional only" maintenance. I remember when they featured Dave Martin an is Cal 25, they were "Shocked" that you could go cruising in a boat that small. Heck their idea of a "pocket cruiser" is 40ft. Where I am that's def "Big boat" territor.

Lats & Atts is a much better version of the sailing world Keep those and recycle CW.

[HBrew]

I sympathize with your situation. Like you, I started my ocean sailing sitting at home reading endless articles discussing things that I couldn't always follow (so much jargon) but the tales of woe were easy to understand. The problems seemed insurmountable.

It made me decide to start learning to sail by taking lessons at a sailing school. Lot's of people say just cast off and go, but that seemed too risky to me. I sailed for 6 months earning my Yachtmaster and by the end of this process I had learned a lot, but just as importantly, I had a better idea about all the things I still needed to learn. But, I felt as though I had a sound basis to start the school of hard knocks.

If these articles put you off sailing then perhaps it's not for you, but I suggest you give it a try with professionals on board to guide you and then you'll make a more informed choice.

Best of luck.