Why go sailing? Whats the satisfaction in that?

this thread is positively excellent... I could publish the original question..Well done "Cavecreature"....... and every response to make a great read. Very thoughtful you all. I won't add anything, don't know if I need to though everyones answer may be different.

I sit with my coffee ready to do the last couple pages of the new edition of my paper and now I start in the perfect frame of mind.

Cheers

[CaptainK]

Hey Bob.

I'm drinking my coffee with my lunch, here at work. Coffee and tuna sandwiches go good together!! And I'm showing a co-worker some of the stuff here on the forum.

I also just got myself a 1973 Catalina 27.

Keep up the good work on your publications.

[BC Mike]

Another brilliant reason for sailing is there are a lot of young ladies that would like to sail. And they are more likely to want to sail with me ( dirty old bugger pushing sixty ) than some young inexperienced stud type. No question that the large and fast power boats can attract women, but they are the high maintainence show case type, often blond, and I do not think they have as much fun as my mob does when they are getting wet and cold. If any of that appears to be sexist I do not care, it is the facts, and I need crew.
Michael

[coot]

how can a person who sails around wherever they want and lives that sort of lifestyle find self satisfaction without working hard or having material goods to show for it?

Is all as it appears or is there as I suspect, something that is gotten out of sailing that attracts people to it and is satisfying enough to keep one from feeling useless?

Your question supposes a particular view of the life. It is not obvious to me that you can keep that view and also fully appreciate a life without the aspects you ask about.

There is nothing wrong with using hard work to achieve your goal, but far too many people think that "hard work" IS the goal.

I don't NEED "hard work" to be happy. I may DO hard work, but only in exchange for something useful to me. I take a job because I am paid a salary. Having taken a job, I have an obligation to do it well, but only within the terms of the agreement. I'm not required to work 70 hours a week every week, just to "work hard".

If you feel "useless", the first question is "Who should you be useful to?"

My answer: Be useful to yourself. That means doing things that make you happy. Sometimes you work as a means to that end, but I say "work to live; do not live to work".

To summarize:

Because my happiness is not tied to my job, I can have happiness without a job.

b.t.w. Cruising does not mean living without material goods. I have a boat full of them. I even buy new ones from time to time. I am just selective about what I buy, because I do not have unlimited money to spend.

Can any1 try and explain what its like to be out in the ocean perhaps the only person/people for hundreds of miles? I have read that there is a feeling of being very small and defensless... also some people just cant mentally take being like that. Is it stressfull or calming and is there any way to know (perdict with some degree of accuracy anyhow) how you as an indavidual will react when in a situation like that without actually finding out by doing?

The first thing I think of is "tiring". We usually have only two crew, so when I'm out in the ocean I am on watch 12 hours a day. With a 4 hour watch, you can get a good 3 or 3.5 hours of sleep during your off watch period.

I find it either stressful or calming depending on the weather conditions. I've seen the sea flat like glass, and I've been motoring against steep 5 ft waves and falling off another one every 2 seconds. As you can imagine, the two are very different.

I don't know anything about the small/defenceless feeling you are describing. I guess that means I am not subject to it.

I can suggest that you actually go out there to find out if you will get seasick. I never got seasick or airsick when I was younger; more recently, I only got seasick when it was 90 degrees F or more. Unfortunately, when I finally had enough money saved to go cruising, I got seasick in cold weather for the first time in my life. My best guess is that it has something to do with aging.

I really liked being out in the ocean, but because of the seasickness, I probably won't do it as much. Fortunately, there is a lot of sailing you can do without getting into such harsh conditions.

[ssullivan]

BC Mike C once whispered in the wind:
Another brilliant reason for sailing is there are a lot of young ladies that would like to sail. And they are more likely to want to sail with me ( dirty old bugger pushing sixty ) than some young inexperienced stud type. No question that the large and fast power boats can attract women, but they are the high maintainence show case type, often blond, and I do not think they have as much fun as my mob does when they are getting wet and cold. If any of that appears to be sexist I do not care, it is the facts, and I need crew.
Michael

You know, I think you might be right. When I had my Kells 21 footer back in college, I thought I'd get all the girls to come out. Turns out... sailing does NOT get you any girls... at least it didn't for me and my friends. So many times we'd invite girls to go sailing while we were out at the college bar. Not once was one ever impressed with the idea. It was easier to suggest breakfast than sailing

It seems (to me) like I've always gotten the girl first, then introduced her to sailing carefully so it would take. Living aboard while re-fitting has caused my wife a lot of stress and gave her a little bit of a bad taste for sailing, which she loves. However, since the re-fit is almost complete and it's looking like a home/art gallery/hotel in here, she's quickly coming back around.

[Starbuck]

Your dad might respond to the idea of the problem-solving and self-reliance necessary when cruising.

If that doesn't do it, mention the never-ending list of small and large projects that'll keep him busy. That might just grab him!

[capt lar]

While all this stuff is good, my answer is easier.
It's the feel of a boat moving throught the water being driven by wind in sails. That's it. All the rest is tinkering.
Get Pop to try it. My other conviction is all sailors know it. My first time, at 5, I felt it and knew it. If you feel it, the rest follows. If not - golf.

Larry

I remember a sail coming into the Monterey bay. The winds were at about 15 gusting to 20. Seas were 10-12 and steep. I was running just off the wind and with the seas on Kittiwake. Single handing. It took all I had to keep from broaching for the 10 mile run. Not sure of the boat speed, as I could not let go of the tiller to drop the log, or even look at the GPS. I know it was way past hull speed over ground. All I could do was hold on, and steer. When I got into the harbor, I estimated an average SOG of about 10kts. You want to talk about a feeling of accomplishment
On another trip, I was singlehanding up to Santa Cruz on Kai Nui. The seas were about 2-3' and winds about 10. THe boat was in the groove. I let go the tiller, and took a nap for about 30 minutes. I guess that falls into the just cruising along catagory Finding the sweet spot where I could just let the boat sail herself is another feeling of accomplishment. Most importantly, when working, and producing a product, you may feel pride in the quality of that product, but is always the same. Consistancy is what you strive for. When cruising, diversity is what you strive for. Every sail is somehow different.

[grace c.]

Why do I sail?

Because I'd rather feel the wind in my hair than the couch on my rear,

Because I'd rather be a traveler than a tourist,

Because I'd rather have more experiences and fewer things,

Because Beryl Smeeten is my hero,

Because I'd rather be out on the water with the man I adore, in the boat that I love than anywhere else I know,

Because I am a sailor.


Best wishes, hope to see you on the water...

grace c

[Cavecreature]

I printed off alot of the responses and got my dad to read them. He is actually talking about how fun it might be to get a little boat and try his hand at it! This post makes for a facinating read and is doing way better than I at first hoped. I first put this on here to get some feedback for my dad but I find that although I was thinking I knew why people sail, there is alot more reasons than I ever thought. Questions have been answered and then some by people from many walks of life which makes it even better than if I got it from a book. Keep the words flowing and thanx again.

[BC Mike]

What age is your dad?
This 59 year old has been stripping the paint off my T22 for the last week or so. There is much to do to get the boat ready for another year of sailing.
Michael

[jim lee]

It's the feel of a boat moving throught the water beings driven by wind in sails. That's it.

Pretty good! I think, in the end that's what I -really- like about all of it..

My wife, Julie & I won the game of life early, bought a boat and sailed off into the sunset.

Turns out it was a little -too- early for us. We ran into exactly what you father was wondering about. It became "Why get up in the morning?". And we didn't like that much. Then it turned into "We can't be real sailors until we do "X". First its go cruising, then its do a passage, then its.. Whatever. Pretty soon your sailing around Cape horn the wrong way dead of winter nekid on a wind surfer. Where does it stop?

It turns out that many of the younger set (Late 20s early 30s) were having the same problem out cruising. Full of energy to create something but no real reason to do anything. We found it pretty dull living soley for ones self. That and finding that Julie was preggers in the Marquesas.. We sailed home.

Middle of ocean..

Can't realy say, 'cause its a feeling. We had no long range radio so it was very isolated out there for us.Our heads sectioned the ocean off into "rooms" I guess our brains couldn't deal with the huge boundlessness of mid Pacific. So we mentally chunked it up into hallways, rooms and doorways. I thought I was going kinda' bonkers 'till I asked Julie about it. Turns out her head was doing the same thing.

Funny.. I miss the flying fish. The little buggers facinate me. Also, the thought that they're still out there jumpin' over waves today, although I'm living in a world that knows nothing about them, is kinda' strikes me as oddly interesting. I'd kinda' like to go back out just to look at 'em again. Out in the big blue nothingness.

Well anyway...

It can drive you nuts, or you may love it. Betst to try it just in case.

-jim lee

[Cavecreature]

Interesting. Ive heard reports of people going "bonkers". That was part of my main question. Interesting to hear from someone who was feeling the slight edge of crazy if you could call it that .

[Cavecreature]

hmm no rating. well now there is. Just ignore this post

[Alan Wheeler]

Jim, you have touched on an interesting point I have often thought about. How much more fun would it be, to turn a sailing trip into something a little more than just a trip and another country. Wouldn't it be fun to be involved in some sort of research. Like sail to a remote Island somewhere and do a some research project for some authority. I was just watching such the other night on a News article. A bunch sailed down to some remote antarctic Island and did a study on Global Warming. For them, that meant taking a wander around, taking some film, looking at some penguin never seen that far south before and coming home again. OK, so I wouldn't be volunteering for deep south expoditions on a regular basis. But see what I mean. It kinda puts a purpose in a trip.
But then, maybe I'm nuts. I haven't been too far outa sight of land yet. It may mean a whole different level of nuts.