How long have you gone without seeing another human being on the water?

[Deep Blue Blues]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I don't think its so much people as the crush and pace of civilisation after a few years of small ports where everything is within dinghy and walking distance.. its like everyone else is on amphetamines.
London was scary when I went back after 6yrs live aboard barefooting Andalucia and the Balearics.. and as for that multi, multi lane outer ring road.. sat in a converted post office van I was getting a lift in from the coast.. maybe in a car it would have been less dramatic but perched up front in a cab looking down at most other traffic... scary.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

It's like the act now fast pace on demand type world we live in can't just be quiet for a second.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Blues

Couldn't have said it better myself.

It's like the act now fast pace on demand type world we live in can't just be quiet for a second.

just take a valium like a normal person...........

[Lepke]

Deep Blue

Edit: wow lepke. Are you still solo? And did you interact at all? Like email? Message in a bottle? Nothing?

Nothing. No human contact at all. No email, telephone, visitors, etc. It just never occurred to me. Solo, yes. I like quiet, remote, scenic places. Very remote. Just animals and sea creatures. I try to avoid the ones that want to eat me. Eventually some people tracked me down and talked me into being more social. I don't know which is better. Now or before.

I am probably a classic loaner. I don't get lonely. I don't miss people. When I am with people, it's only small groups of people I know. I don't go to cities unless necessary. I don't got to public events. The people I do see have things in common with me.

In a way of explanation, I am a Vietnam veteran with about 3 1/2 years of combat. It changes you. Your world is the people around you. In my case, usually 7 people far away from big bases. With little or no support. I didn't like the war or how it was run, but identified with the people. My solo-ness may have started with my last girlfriend - she stalked me for 7 years. Friends are mostly other veterans, usually people I served with.

But I'm different now. Besides sites like this, I talk to one, sometimes 2 people a month unless I'm cruising. Then it's whoever is on the boat or the guy pumping fuel, etc. I'm a social butterfly.

[Classicsailboat]

Guess my question is what are you achieving when spending long periods alone ?

[Tayana42]

Lepke, thank you for your service. I'm glad you made it through. Everyone gets by in life in his or her own way. Whether extrovert or introvert there is no wrong way just the way that works for you.


S/V B'Shert

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Classicsailboat

Guess my question is what are you achieving when spending long periods alone ?

Its a time of introspection, self awareness, self sufficiency, strengths, weaknesses, limitations.. a coming together into the One.. if you fancy the Mystic.. a form of reconnecting with a natural order..
Its an experience many choose not to take on.. some it makes.. some it breaks but the majority come away wiser and better for the experience.
City folks may struggle to cope having a programed reliance on the Herd.

[seasick]

After 39-days alone at sea (my personal longest) I found I was in the near exact frame of mind as when I used to consume magic mushrooms in my experimental youth. I found it difficult at best to make eye contact or interact with anyone. I couldn't comfortably be in stores or crowds. This feeling, combined with the ground moving under my feet as I adjusted to my land legs was a bit disquieting. I find I must consciously stop myself from the singlehander's inclination to talk people's ears off.

I find I have to resist the urge to dive on to the produce shelf at the supermarket and just roll around in the green leafy vegetables. I literally stop and smell the roses and every other flower along my walk. I continue to catnap rather than sleep the night through. I try to hold onto the Zinned out perspective but at the same time embrace the transition back into the seeming irrelevance of society.

[reed1v]

We spent about two months coming up from Cape Horn to London. Was not solo, and did see ships off on the horizon once into the North Atlantic. However, lots of chatter on the ssb and ham sets. Did not have internet back then but suspect one could sail forever and have a lot of synthetic human contact nowadays via the internet. Unless you are going around the world non stop, then two to three months is about the max for most long distance cruisers.

[barnakiel]

73 days but does not count as we were two in the boat.

I think if you like being alone, you can just sail towards the core of an ocean High and stay there until the system dissipates.

Remember, in many cases, where there is no wind, there may still be considerable swell. You will not like this in a small mono. Go cat or a BIG monkey. In a small monkey, use a flat one (an Optimist e.g.)

b.

[SniperSailor]

Originally Posted by Deep Blue Blues

Not exactly Thinwater, calm comes from nature as well as ones attitude. I'm calm all the time, but it's like I'm alone in the chaos so why not separate myself from the chaos. Let the problems of the world be faced by those seeking to entertain their problems. I've overcome problems, I see them as blessings now. I'm free from it all, except location.

And with that in heart, I'll further my efforts by putting myself in the calm of nature. I'd rather hear the squall blow than small talk about nothing. I'd rather be blinded by the glare of the sun than see the warm glow of someone's face illuminated by a smart phone while driving. I'd rather be a victim of a storm than to witness victims of the powers that be here in the US.

You get my drift. Political/technology rant over. ��

I agree with most of what you say. I just enjoy being alone, and in the quiet. I just dont have the skills for small talk and chit chat. Guess that comes from growing up on a farm in rural Virginia. You could go outside at night and actually see stars and it was quiet.

REAL quiet, however, can be somewhat disconcerting. I remember some 40 years back driving in the Colorado Rockies and stopping on a mt. pass somewhere, turning off the car, and walking away. All of a sudden i stopped and something seemed wrong...it was the total absence of sound. NOt a bird, cricket, or even a breeze. Dead quiet. It took a while to get used to it...I kept listening for SOMETHING. Ive heard its much the same in a quiet room like Bell Labs has....after a short while you start something akin to a withdrawl from drugs except ist for sound.

[Deep Blue Blues]

Man, boatman, would you be my friend? And good advice Seasick and snipersailor. That's what I was wondering.

I grew up on a farm in Missouri. You could hear a frog fart most any time. I believe if the deafening silence comes from nature, it must be something we are supposed to experience.

Perhaps we are forced to face the demons we Harbour. Perhaps physical silence is the universe's way of allowing us to sing our own song for a change.

We visited Mammoth cave in my younger years and they took us way way down then turned off the lights. Pitch black, dead silence. I loved it.

I'm not escaping anything. I could stay where I am and continue the fight, but progress is slow if any. I just want to experience it all. Including the "worst" of it.

I know where great heroism, true grit, and self worth comes from. No hero became a hero without going through some **** first. Even if it's being a hero to yourself it's worth it because of self worth and perspective.

I need a hero, even if it's just me.

[Mahayana]

My wife and I sailed for three weeks in Lake Superior last July-Aug without seeing another boat. Not a whole lot of time as compared to an ocean, but as a lake we thought that was unusual. The east and north shore of Superior offers the most pristine, remote and drop-dead georgeous anchorages we have seen. So we were blessed we got to experience this wonderful part of North America by ourselves.

[barnakiel]

You just can't escape chaos. Stop and think about it: why not, maybe in the middle of an ocean calm, imagine for a moment there is no living soul left. Would there be any chaos to speak of? No. Because chaos is just another idea, and ideas do not exist outside of our minds. We live the ideas we think up.

Been there, done 'that'. 'That' did not work.

Much as I hate self help and other yoga styled zen mumbojumbo bibles, I remember reading in one of 'those books' (just prior to depositing it in the ocean chest) something that helped me better chase my silence. The sentence went: "Same actions, same results". A-ha!

A-ha!

It is all about making a change. Making a change is all about being 100% clear about what one is.

Off course, there are some by products that may not sound and smell nice, pre-factum: getting rid off by the society, possibly material poverty too, etc. etc. etc. All of which are hugely overrated by s.c. Western societies but a fact of life in huge swaths of the world. You do not die from social alienation nor are you likely to die of hunger. Not in New York AD 2016.

I like being offshore in calm only when the sea is flat, which is hardly ever. Beautiful days on our 'calm' passage from Darwin to Christmas, glory moments somewhere in the Sargasso Sea. Few and far apart enough to hope for again.

Have fun chasing your silence and forget about finding it offshore. It is not there. It is here.

Cheers,
b.

[Deep Blue Blues]

Barnakiel, your exactly right. I enjoy living spontaneously. I think routine is the worst thing to happen to human beings in life.

Blending into the whims and sway of this beautiful creation and just flowing as a part of it is my goal. I'm like the flower growing in the parking lot. Dreaming of green pastures. I just prefer solitude from those playing a louder version of the game we all are.

And if we truly are Co-creating what our thoughts come up with, I'm thinking hard on smooth sails in calm seas along beautiful fruit filled islands where pirates and squalls aren't allowed to visit and beautiful virgins serving honey jerk chicken and lobster and great hugs reside in small groups every 100 miles or so. Haha!

[Ironman162]

Im like you too.
I found coming back people irritate me no end ...its asif they are too close to my liking.
Children always have to scream and I seem to be invisible to most people.
Needless to say within half hour Im back on my boat!