Anxiety Attack from Sailing Magazines

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by 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

Could be folks in Boston would agree, too.

[bjymd]

Safety is quite relative to a situation: issues
1) Health: if you are healthy and fit and have ruled out chronic illnesses you are ahead of the game. I would not want to go to sea with chronic angina or a history of diverticulitis etc.
2) Mechanical knowledge and ability: you stand a much better chance of staying out or getting out of trouble if you have experience with engines and electrical systems and perhaps sewing.
3) Sailing knowledge & experience.: If you have taken courses with ASA certified instructors and done controlled passages with them and know that you BOTH enjoy standing in the wet cold shower ripping up dollar bills..then you are great to go.
4) Sailing plans: If you plan to hang out in the Caribbean , San Blais or the Sea of Cortez and enjoy the good life, you will be a lot safer than the newbies who plan to make the big circle and learn on the way.
Risk stratification depends upon multiple variables which you have read about. You can educate yourself and lower the odds of disaster or perhaps sit by the fire in a beautiful winter paradise and wait for the snow to melt with the knowledge that you are pretty safe.
I tried to go to sea and achieved my goals but family matters and Hurricane Irma pulled me back to land. I DO NOT regret a single day on the boat, but I was incredibly conservative in my approach.
Best of luck with your decision.

[Tetepare]

"If I listened to Ozzy Osborne for 24 hours straight, I'd probably kill myself too" - Ozzy Osborne


After a lifetime of sailing, here's my experiences:
de-masting
sinking
collisions ( rocks, docks, other boats)
navigation system failures
horrid weather and narrow escapes
broken pumps, alternators
burned wiring
corruption of officials

torn sails
dinghy theft (attempt)
running out of provisions and water

refrigeration failures
poor weather forecasting
poor anchors dragging
poor dirty facilities and marinas


And, OP's list forgot:
sharks
jellyfish stings
sea urchin stings
motor stops running in the middle of the channel
headsail wrapped around forestay
lost anchor
guests puke
stuff below decks thrown all about and busted
hit dock
hit log
hit at anchor by powerboat
smashed together by powerboat wake while rafted
kept up all night by drunks
kept up all night by clanging halyards
dinner blown away by sudden storm front
hotdog rolls off grill
pork rib grease drips out of grill all over transom (never again!)
birds crap all over
spider crap all over
spiders and webs all over the place
dinghy springs a leak and deflates
outboard won't start
can't get into port due to waves
tornado passes overhead
waterspouts
USCG harassment
landowner harassment
spilled beer
hull damaged at launch
hull damaged by guy with ladder
through-cabin wiring pipe busted during launch
blistering and barrier coat
rudder saturated
new model 5lb gas tank doesn't fit in locker
compass incorrect heading over ore deposits
2 ton weedball on anchor
fight at gas dock
kid put gasoline in diesel tank
fuel tank springs leak
head breaks (and breaks...just buy a new one)
head hoses age and stink
Ethanol ruins fuel lines and require outboard rebuild
Constantly called on to go save somebody
shoe overboard (forever)
Heron lands on and breaks windex
hatch board punches through dodger window
hatches leak on face until rebedded
20 YO binnacle cover disappears
NJ-type lets dog crap in front of boat
auto hit in parking lot
dock 1' under water for most of season
screws disappear
seaweed sucks into intake, stops water cooling (now have strainer)
snapping turtle bite
fish hook in head, in back, in finger
Canadian coppers take half of fleet sailors away due to DUI
Canadians mad US sailor at dock on "their" national park island
Fog bound- listening to wide-open powerboats
Wind jumps to 60mph while 3 miles from port in dinghy..with 4 YO aboard
Guests kids punch holes through mosquito screens
Pee all over the head
Sanitary napkin kills toilet, requires removal and rebuild
potable water system leak...somewhere...
electronic device interference from VHF
electronics smoked by lightning hit
friends boat has too much draft for channel, soldier on
cut vacation short to get to port before bad weather
snow on boat
sunburn





OK, so maybe I missed a few. See ya out there!

[nhschneider]

I have recently received payment from Cruising World magazine for two articles that I wrote, neither of which are about calamities. Both are about unique experiences that we’ve had during our circumnavigation that I found compelling enough to write about them and apparently the editors of Cruising World agreed. Granted, do-do happens which can be frightening, cautionary, humorous or any of a thousand other things. Some of it makes it into print.

Fair winds and calm seas.

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by Calif.Ted

When we got our first keelboat my in laws gave the wife a book called "Cape Horn" "One Man's Dream, One Woman's Nightmare".
Cross country skiing while stopped for lunch my dog dug up a vole from under the snow. I took the vole away from him and set it free, a freakin' owl swooped out of nowhere at high noon. Stuff Happens, May all the Jonahs of the world Rest in Peace.

There's another famous book about Cape Horn where the cat is a "Jonah". But then I wouldn't bring a cat to Cape Horn, because a gimballed litter box is a crazy idea.

Just get out there. But first, get out there on someone else's boat to make sure you really like it. Offer to crew or delivery crew on perhaps an older couple's vessel on the condition that they will answer all your newbie questions and work you hard.

If the life's for you, you'll know by Day Three and the couple will have an easier trip.


I gave up the magazines when the brochure aspect overwhelmed the "useful seamanlike tips" aspect, circa 2005.

[fatherchronica]

My two greatest sailing heroes, Bill Tilman and Bernard Moitessier sank, I recall, sank about 6 or 7 boats between them. Tilman's all went down by ice damage. I was happy to learn by their mistakes, as I have been reading all those sailing books since I was in 5th grade, and all the magazine articles since the early 70's. I have never sunk a boat, but I do keep my fingers crossed. You should start reading Latitude 38 online, mostly folks tales of how much fun sailing is and what wondrous lives they are leading.

[hatteras53]

General George S. Patton Jr. said that more people die in bed than anywhere else. All of us must decide what kind of life we want to live. Worry and fear we get us no where. Fair sail shipmate. Untie the lines and set sail.

[apirate]

For years I had the opposite feeling. Anxiety over the thought that I may never actually get to experience the great highs and in turn, the lows that cruising brings. It all seemed impossible to reach. Now, with 63 days, 10 hours, and 7 minutes till it's our full-time reality - I'm anxious to get it started! Knowing the end of land life is so near makes going to the office everyday harder than it ever has been. Not easier like I thought it would be. Fortunately, at 37, I haven't waited as long as many do.

The stories you describe have always inspired me. Life in typical US society is so focused on amassing more stuff. Mundane at best. Never daring to take a risk to be happy. At least in situations like those in the mags, I can picture people that had the guts to get out and live the dream.

[wolfgal]

ok, i'm actually with you on this because i read lots of "how do i fix this" posts on CF.... and yes, i read way too many sometimes, until i start to tremble as well.

but, and this is how CF is truly tops, if i feel myself freaking out, i go to the thread called the New Joke Thread. with all that can and will go wrong with boats, you can bet on owners having some serious humour. Hilarious is an understatement!!!

i suggest you give it a go, put down those magazines (especially those that suggest that a 35' sailboat is a pocket cruiser!!!) and treat yourself a heavy dose of jokes.


hot dog rolls off grill!


wolfgal

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Fiftybucks

I have to explain... I am in the market for a 38 sailboat for wife and I. I let a good friend know about our search. He, being a current owner of a large motor yacht and former sailboat person, has kept huge inventories of sailing magazines since the early 1990s. I am talking, hundreds of issues. So, last weekend he (actually his wife) proceeded to gift to me canvas sail bags full of old issues of Cruising World, Lattitudes & Attitudes, Ocean Navigator, Living Aboard, 38 Degrees North, 48 Degrees North, Practical Sailor Boat Buying, and other publications. I live in Idaho in the mountains, it is way way below freezing, and snow is so deep that the Jeep was buried until a week ago. I started the fireplace, and sat nearby, and proceeded to dive into all these issues, not in any particular order or date.
Late evening after the second day and perhaps 50 - 70 issues of the above, I noticed I was kind of trembling, and also questioning our longtime decision to 'get a nice boat on the ocean' and explore. I being influenced by all the articles and all the issues.
The magazines could be categorized as either sales brochures for boats I would never be able to own, with idealistic scenes with the girl on the bow and white sandy beach, or the nitty gritty, types with tales of cheating death and pirate attacks. Over the years of issues and types of magazines, I found that almost always they explained in great detail;

de-masting
sinking
collisions ( rocks, docks, other boats)
navigation system failures
horrid weather and narrow escapes
broken pumps, alternators
burned wiring
pirates and corruption of officials
man overboard and deaths
torn sails
dinghy theft
running out of provisions and water
horrible boat survey results
refrigeration failures
poor weather forecasting
poor anchors dragging
poor dirty facilities and marinas

and one story in Cruising World in the July issue 2010 page 34 sent me over the edge that I just refused to read anymore. The article was called 'Jonah on Board'.
The story was about a couple while sailing south on the Sargasso Sea towards Caribbean destination, was befriended by a small bird seeking refuge. Cool, story with a great pic. The bird stayed for days, while accepting water, bread crumbs and other tid bits, and often roosted below in the cabin. Then one day, Jonah took flight off the sailboat skimming across the water for a few hundred yards and then a gigantic fish jumped up out of the ocean and swallowed Jonah. Another tragic story. I've had it. No more magazines. No more stories of overcoming adversity for me.
Thousands of people own sailboats and apparently survive and actually enjoy the time, experience and the people. I am never going to read such stories again, but I may thumb thru looking at pictures and equipment ads.
Just my 2 cents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VyQipO4miw

[DenverSailors]

Rather than feed the Anxiety Beast, read some Fatty Goodlander (“How to Buy, Outfit, and Sail...”) and focus on prevention. Like anything, preparation mitigates fear, and repetition penetrates the dullest of minds.

[Paul Howard]

Sensational stories sell, especially to those who have no intention of doing any ocean sailing. If someone nearly dies, it is a good story.
I prefer to focus on seafaring stories, not sea-fearing.

[Don C L]

I stick with Latitude 38.

[alctel]

Funnily enough, I've kept a blog for the last 6 years and recently I feel like I've been running out of stuff to write about. When I was new to sailing and to the boat, I kept breaking stuff or mucking things up and it made for interesting reading. Now it's a lot of 'I went here and Did A Thing' and I fear it's a lot less engaging :\

Originally Posted by apirate

For years I had the opposite feeling. Anxiety over the thought that I may never actually get to experience the great highs and in turn, the lows that cruising brings. It all seemed impossible to reach. Now, with 63 days, 10 hours, and 7 minutes till it's our full-time reality - I'm anxious to get it started! Knowing the end of land life is so near makes going to the office everyday harder than it ever has been. Not easier like I thought it would be. Fortunately, at 37, I haven't waited as long as many do.

Same - in the last year before I left I was anxious that something would happen to me before I could leave (it didn't). I was 35 when I left.

[William Youmans]

What worries me the most thumbing through the magazine pictures is seeing all the sailors, cruisers, racers not wearing lifejackets while out at sea. That’s what gives me the most anxiety. You want your picture in a sailing mag- you must have a life jacket or harness on.!!