Rebel Heart's Contribution to the Cruising Community

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by sneuman

I took one on a trip a few years ago and it turned out to be a real life-saver (well, metaphorically speaking, anyway). I'd not hesitate if it weren't for the gas-powered part. It'd be nice to dispense with the need to carry another (dangerous) fuel along. When will a propane-powered one come along?

Not a bad idea, although between propane and gas I don't know how much of a safety difference there is. Converting any gas engine to propane is pretty straightforward.

Generator Conversion Kits to Propane and Natural Gas.

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by sneuman

Of course, Moitessier lost more than one boat (three was it?), including Joshua. So, there is that.

Which makes about one every 75,000 miles or so.

[letsgetsailing3]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

Then there's this:Volumes of Salt: Black Wave: Leaving seamanship in the dark

It's one of the very few books I have thrown across the room in sheer exasperation.

That may well be the worst book I ever read.

I was lulled into it by the average 4 star rating on Amazon. How it achieved that rating is beyond me. All I can guess is that all of their friends and family rated it four and five stars, and none are sailors.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

and to those that point:

"let him who is without sin cast the first stone"

sure must be a lot of non-sinners around then

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

sure must be a lot of non-sinners around then

I'd say there're very few people on this entire forum who are in the habit of casting stones like the individual who began the Zenamaran thread:http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...an-106946.html

I find the vast majority are here to learn from other boating success stories, obtain advice, ask questions and... learn from failures. The response and participation is generally overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Since we have no new info from Eric, we might as well talk about something else for a moment…..

Originally Posted by Jud

But why anyone would subject themselves to such public display is absolutely beyond me.

Why Blog and give personal details of your live online....three reasons:
1) $$
2) Ego
3) $$

We made an "easy" $150 to $250/mo from our blog while actively cruising. The more traffic you get to your site/blog then the more money you can make. You don't really think the Bumfuzzles blog just for "fun" do you? I put "easy" in quotes because keeping interesting posts up on a blog is WORK. Once you start making a few hundred dollars a month from writing and sharing your adventure, thoughts and opinions, it's addictive and besides $200 goes a long way on a cruising budget.

I fell into all three of the above. Sure I enjoyed it, but I also viewed and referred to it as "work" needing to write a fresh blog post 2-4 times a week to keep interest and most of the other cruising bloggers I met out cruising had the same feelings about their blog, which was: It started out as fun, then became a way to make some extra cruising money, then it was an ego stroker, and then it became work. The better the blog, the better the writers ability to make it seem less like work and more like talking to 1500 of your closest friends via email and being a "normal guy".

Once a week AT LEAST, I get a call from a cruiser outfitting their boat asking if I will give them a discount because they have "a very popular cruising blog". In exchange for a free water maker or Refrigeration unit they will talk favorably about us on their blog, I'm told. I've already had 3 of that type of call just this week! I tell them what I tell everyone, no thanks. We are happy to have our clients blog about our water maker or products, but we don't buy favorable blog posts with discounts.

This money making mindset out there these days. I'm not saying Eric and crew thought this way and viewed their blog as a money maker....but heck...you don't write a Cruising Mexico Book after a year of being down there with limited anchorage experience because you want to share your expert knowledge with your fellow cruisers. Eric did it to make money and publicity. There is nothing wrong with this...but we also need to be realistic about what blogs are and how people are using them these days for "fame and fortune".

One old time cruiser I met while we were in Mexico asked me if anyone just buys a boat and goes cruising anymore without having the need to grab a slice of fame with their blog. He has circled the world twice and lived aboard with his wife for 30 yrs, but no one knew him. He wasn't famous. He didn't have a blog, facebook page, or internet presence. I have learned more from him about cruising and boats than from any other person…yet you have never heard of him, read his books, or helped him make money with his blog with a “Donate to us” button.

[boatman61]

You nailed me with number 2.....

[Jud]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Since we have no new info from Eric, we might as well talk about something else for a moment…..


Why Blog and give personal details of your live online....three reasons:
1) $$
2) Ego
3) $$

We made an "easy" $150 to $250/mo from our blog while actively cruising. The more traffic you get to your site/blog then the more money you can make. You don't really think the Bumfuzzles blog just for "fun" do you? I put "easy" in quotes because keeping interesting posts up on a blog is WORK. Once you start making a few hundred dollars a month from writing and sharing your adventure, thoughts and opinions, it's addictive and besides $200 goes a long way on a cruising budget.

I fell into all three of the above. Sure I enjoyed it, but I also viewed and referred to it as "work" needing to write a fresh blog post 2-4 times a week to keep interest and most of the other cruising bloggers I met out cruising had the same feelings about their blog, which was: It started out as fun, then became a way to make some extra cruising money, then it was an ego stroker, and then it became work. The better the blog, the better the writers ability to make it seem less like work and more like talking to 1500 of your closest friends via email and being a "normal guy".

Once a week AT LEAST, I get a call from a cruiser outfitting their boat asking if I will give them a discount because they have "a very popular cruising blog". In exchange for a free water maker or Refrigeration unit they will talk favorably about us on their blog, I'm told. I've already had 3 of that type of call just this week! I tell them what I tell everyone, no thanks. We are happy to have our clients blog about our water maker or products, but we don't buy favorable blog posts with discounts.

This money making mindset out there these days. I'm not saying Eric and crew thought this way and viewed their blog as a money maker....but heck...you don't write a Cruising Mexico Book after a year of being down there with limited anchorage experience because you want to share your expert knowledge with your fellow cruisers. Eric did it to make money and publicity. There is nothing wrong with this...but we also need to be realistic about what blogs are and how people are using them these days for "fame and fortune".

One old time cruiser I met while we were in Mexico asked me if anyone just buys a boat and goes cruising anymore without having the need to grab a slice of fame with their blog. He has circled the world twice and lived aboard with his wife for 30 yrs, but no one knew him. He wasn't famous. He didn't have a blog, facebook page, or internet presence. I have learned more from him about cruising and boats than from any other person…yet you have never heard of him, read his books, or helped him make money with his blog with a “Donate to us” button.

Interesting --I honestly didn't know people make money by blogging. Maybe it was sort of in the back of my mind (I've heard of it), but I didn't really think that a prosaic and generally very boring cruising sailor's blog would earn anybody money.

Most "kroozers" are just sailing the well-travelled tradewind passages, and writing about what has already been written about ad nauseum, so I (personally) am not interested. And then there is also the sense of not wanting to read about something before I do it, to not spoil the adventure, to not have to much foreknowledge, to not have "experienced" it through someone else's psyche and eyes --it somehow dulls the real experience with pre-conceived info. And, truly, why would anyone want to read the Rebel Heart blogs --except now, in hindsight. "Rebels" Charlotte and Eric...hmm...not! Charlotte's overstrained emotional blog musings do nothing for me. (But I do find it somewhat fascinating that they both were running simultaneous blogs at sea, her emotional unpacking belowdeck, contrasted with his dry maritime observations about sail trim, etc., giving one a voyeuristic window into their very separate lives as the tragedy unfolded above and belowdeck...almost makes for a movie treatment far better than the recent Redford movie, with real drama built right in --no Hollywood scriptwriter needed).

If I read a blog, it's something like this, that I wouldn't ever experience: Northern Passage – 2010 :: Ousland Now that's a freakin' cool blog

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by letsgetsailing3

That may well be the worst book I ever read.

I was lulled into it by the average 4 star rating on Amazon. How it achieved that rating is beyond me. All I can guess is that all of their friends and family rated it four and five stars, and none are sailors.

Let's not forget the "Jesus is my watchstander!" congregation. I don't object to religiosity (well, I do, a bit), but it's no substitute for keeping a proper watch. The Black Wave folk expected the Lord to help them without, seemingly, them helping themselves by the miracle of seamanship.

It reminded me of a few other similar stories over recent years of faith-based sailing.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

I have to agree with Boaty and I disagree with Dave on the quality of many of the new generation sailors. No question that technology has made offshore sailing much easier than in the past but there is this thing called "tenacity" and some people have it and others don't but its a very important ingredient in the mindset of a good offshore sailor. No amount of technology will help you if you just give up with the **** hits the fan.

Unless you beleive humans are de-evolving. There is no evidence to suggest sailors are less tenacious. Comparing the past when there was X sailors and today when there are 10X sailors isn't appropriate. All we have is a greater spectrum of humans sailing hence a greater range of reactions


Dave

[SV Windrush II]

Originally Posted by S/V Alchemy

Let's not forget the "Jesus is my watchstander!" congregation. I don't object to religiosity (well, I do, a bit), but it's no substitute for keeping a proper watch. The Black Wave folk expected the Lord to help them without, seemingly, them helping themselves by the miracle of seamanship.

It reminded me of a few other similar stories over recent years of faith-based sailing.

Well the Book says Faith without action is dead. Therefore we need to take all precautions and diligence to be safe, then God has something to work with.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by Jud

Long time, Jon! Gee whiz, man--I didn't know you'd been sucked into Cruiser's Forum ;-) I just posted here today as well --first time in years --I wrecked my Cal 20 mast over the weekend...check this hot and happenin' thread...it beats the Rebel Heart saga by a mile...lots of ranting and raving there, more than in this thread...jump on board [really big grin] Jud PS/can you email me about the keys to the cove? It's been too long.

Hey, Jud - great to see you, how the hell are you? Nothing like a good old fashioned abandonment/rescue trainwreck to become re-acquainted with some old sailing forum mates, eh? :-)

Originally Posted by Jud

I would never post on forums ad nauseum (or at least would take care what I wrote --case in point here) prior to a major offshore trip (or would do it under a pseudonym) --and, more importantly, would most certainly not publicly blog about the preparation or, most importantly, the day-to-day.

My biggest take-away from the whole situation. Seriously.

I agree, absolutely... The notion of 'pre-announcing' any sailing venture in advance has always made me extremely nervous. To some extent it's often unavoidable, but I still don't like the idea. I'm reluctant to tell anyone where I hope to be headed this summer, because I may not make it there to begin with, and the potential for screwing up could be pretty high if I do :-) Charlie Doane singled me out as a "baying dog of the internet" after the BE GOOD TOO fiasco back in January, so I know he's among the many lying in wait for me to get into a major jackpot. Going blog-less, I at least stand a chance of remaining under the radar should something go amiss :-)

For example, Stanley Paris' blog bugged the hell out of me, it seemed so full of proclamations such as "when Dr Paris completes his circumnavigation...", and " he will become the oldest, Greenest blah, blah, blah..." Just seemed like really bad karma to me, his seeming lack of appreciation that a voyager should never say "I'm gonna sail to...", but rather, "We're bound for... ", or "heading for...". As a result, it was no surprise Dr Paris' first attempt ended as it did, so many factors in the planning of the voyage seemed to have been taken for granted, or left to others to sort out...

He wasn't a sailor, but the wisest words ever uttered regarding any trip on the water came from the great Yogi Berra... "It ain't over 'till it's over..." Closest I've ever come to a disaster of epic proportions with a boat, occurred in the last few boatlengths of a 1,300 mile delivery... :-)

Great to hear from you, buddy... I'll shoot you an email, I haven't been around the cove for awhile myself, so I'll have to see what I can dig up...

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Unless you beleive humans are de-evolving.

Have you looked around lately...one could make a pretty good argument for the "de-evolving" case when Miley Cirus and Kardashian are better known than the vice president...but then again it is that crazy Biden...so maybe that was a bad example..

[deckofficer]

Now there is a contribution to the cruising community. RB's misadventure bringing old sailing buddies together on this thread. Now that is "on topic".

[Jud]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Hey, Jud - great to see you, how the hell are you? Nothing like a good old fashioned abandonment/rescue trainwreck to become re-acquainted with some old sailing forum mates, eh? :-)



I agree, absolutely... The notion of 'pre-announcing' any sailing venture in advance has always made me extremely nervous. To some extent it's often unavoidable, but I still don't like the idea. I'm reluctant to tell anyone where I hope to be headed this summer, because I may not make it there to begin with, and the potential for screwing up could be pretty high if I do :-) Charlie Doane singled me out as a "baying dog of the internet" after the BE GOOD TOO fiasco back in January, so I know he's among the many lying in wait for me to get into a major jackpot. Going blog-less, I at least stand a chance of remaining under the radar should something go amiss :-)

For example, Stanley Paris' blog bugged the hell out of me, it seemed so full of proclamations such as "when Dr Paris completes his circumnavigation...", and " he will become the oldest, Greenest blah, blah, blah..." Just seemed like really bad karma to me, his seeming lack of appreciation that a voyager should never say "I'm gonna sail to...", but rather, "We're bound for... ", or "heading for...". As a result, it was no surprise Dr Paris' first attempt ended as it did, so many factors in the planning of the voyage seemed to have been taken for granted, or left to others to sort out...

He wasn't a sailor, but the wisest words ever uttered regarding any trip on the water came from the great Yogi Berra... "It ain't over 'till it's over..." Closest I've ever come to a disaster of epic proportions with a boat, occurred in the last few boatlengths of a 1,300 mile delivery... :-)

Great to hear from you, buddy... I'll shoot you an email, I haven't been around the cove for awhile myself, so I'll have to see what I can dig up...

Good stuff, Jon. Good to hear from you too, man! As someone else noted, summarizing that classic American libertarian Harry Browne, who wrote "How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World," laying low is the best strategy.

In the meantime...do please check your rigging before heading out!!