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Kokanee · 06-05-2014, 20:22

I can relate to the desire to do this; perhaps it may be my inexperience. I've yet to do any long voyaging.

But I do feel that "checking out" of the modern world for a period of time would be a healthy thing. Perhaps not for months on end, but certainly for a few days or a week or two.

Strangely, I doubt if I would want to do it with another person. Only by doing it solo would one get the full value of the experience. I see it being more like a form of meditation.

Greenhand · 06-05-2014, 20:23

Like that French guy who dropped out of the first solo round the world race to keep going half around again?

HansSolo · 06-05-2014, 20:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenhand

Like that French guy who dropped out of the first solo round the world race to keep going half around again?

Bernard Moitessier.

Andrew Troup · 06-05-2014, 22:00

To me, heaving to is a bit like circling the wagons, as opposed to forging ceaselessly across the prairie.

I like heaving to for meals when the wind is from ahead, unless there's flat going; I enjoy the opportunity to regroup if conditions dictate heaving to, and I've never had a problem with boredom while hove to.

I don't think I've ever been hove to for more than a day or so, but I don't imagine it would bother me to do so for a week or longer, while waiting (say) for a shore expedition to do whatever they came to do, at a location with no safe anchorages.

I thought seriously of applying for a position on a boat ("Antarctica") which routinely did exactly that, but when I enquired, they were not short of people who found that perfectly OK.

They did however enlist me to help them stock up on wine for their trip south; to my relief, having filled a small flatbed with my suggested 'good value for money' NZ reds, they invited me back to the boat for dinner and we tested a few, and they heartily approved of my suggestions (I should explain they were all French, so it felt like a high hurdle)

Andrew Troup · 07-05-2014, 01:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by micah719

.......but it puzzles me that sailors these days seem so different than the old one....saying they love the sea, but do their best to get across it as fast as possible like a man scuttling from his house to his car with a newspaper held over his head.
..........

Indeed. Beautiful comparison.

I've even noticed that individuals whom I've sailed with over many decades, who were once happy to be at sea, have developed this strange tendency to spend as little time as possible actually doing it.

I don't have any aversion to sailing fast, but the thing which spoils an ocean passage for me is motoring whenever the going gets slow.

To me, it feels like 'watching' a movie by perpetually fast-forwarding to the next "action" sequence.

I guess not everyone shares my sense of an ocean passage as having a sort of 'narrative arc', and their satisfaction is almost entirely to do with arriving, rather than immersing themselves in the minutiae of the passage.

If I'm brutally honest, I'd have to say that most people I've come across who are out there "actually doing it" in the parts of the world I've sailed, have been quite up-front (at least, in the last couple of decades) about actively disliking being on passage, or at least, finding that "a little bit goes a long way"- and for them, sailing is clearly a means to an end.

Namely: being attached to a new piece of land.

Now I'm not saying that's right, or wrong. But I know it's not me.

**carstenb** · 07-05-2014, 02:07

This summer will be interesting. My wife and I are planning our first ever passage. Some, I'm sure will say it is not a real passage, but for us it will be.

We're going Copenhagen - Helsinki non-stop, which will be a 3 1/2 - 4 day trip. So about equal to crossing Biscay. We've done a lot of overnights and 36 hours sails, but now it will be a number of days.

We're both excited at the prospect. It will also give us an indication of our mental preparedness for a 3 week atlantic crossing.

carsten

Neptune's Gear · 07-05-2014, 02:42

Interesting Andrew, i started off not really liking ocean crossings, but now I quite like them!. Done a few solo as well, and that is enjoyable in a different way.
Unfortunately I tend to suffer from seasickness for the first few days, so I take drugs! A relatively short passage (3-4 days) does not prepare me for a longer one - I've only just got into the passage routine, then it's over. Fortunately, living in New Zealand, any Ocean Passage is a longish one - it's a reasonable distance to anywhere.
Most time I've spent hove-to is 3 days....

**boatman61** · 07-05-2014, 03:12

Longest time hove to..?
Around 16 consecutive days Dec 2008 in a Hurley 22 crossing the Biscay.. winds speeds 50-60kts and sea's around 10metres.. that was the reported conditions.. not my assessment..

Not the most comfortable trip I've done.. the main hatch was not water tight so the occasional wave breaking over me would send water jetting in soaking my bunk.. and it was so cold outside the 16c water temp was a blessing when it soaked me..
Man it was a shitty trip..

**carstenb** · 07-05-2014, 04:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

Longest time hove to..?
Around 16 consecutive days Dec 2008 in a Hurley 22 crossing the Biscay.. winds speeds 50-60kts and sea's around 10metres.. that was the reported conditions.. not my assessment..

Not the most comfortable trip I've done.. the main hatch was not water tight so the occasional wave breaking over me would send water jetting in soaking my bunk.. and it was so cold outside the 16c water temp was a blessing when it soaked me..
Man it was a shitty trip..

And exactly what demons prompted you to be sailing in the Biscay in December?

**boatman61** · 07-05-2014, 04:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by carstenb

And exactly what demons prompted you to be sailing in the Biscay in December?

A desire to be somewhere warmer..

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

sailorboy1 · 07-05-2014, 04:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by boatman61

Longest time hove to..?
Around 16 consecutive days Dec 2008 in a Hurley 22 crossing the Biscay.. winds speeds 50-60kts and sea's around 10metres.. that was the reported conditions.. not my assessment..

Not the most comfortable trip I've done.. the main hatch was not water tight so the occasional wave breaking over me would send water jetting in soaking my bunk.. and it was so cold outside the 16c water temp was a blessing when it soaked me..
Man it was a shitty trip..

were you hitting your toe with a hammer at same time just to get full enjoyment

**carstenb** · 07-05-2014, 04:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

were you hitting your toe with a hammer at same time just to get full enjoyment

well of course he was - because it felt so good when he stopped

**boatman61** · 07-05-2014, 04:42

Why dya think my hairs gone grey.. I'm only 23..

Hopefully there wont be a repeat when I bring my latest 22ftr down in the next week or so...
No.. its not the aluminium dinghy.. its the blue one behind... LOL