Plan? No Plan? A plan written on beach sand?

[Checkswrecks]

There's more than one way for our brains to be innately wired.

We've discussed planning a LOT because my other half was an attorney who went into management and MUST have a plan and probably Plan B for absolutely everything. Meanwhile, most of my life has been on-call, which means constantly adapting and rescheduling to meet changing needs/desires.

We've come to realize that in most couples, one will have more of a scheduling need. Researching and talking about it, we've come to truly understand that our brains are fundamentally wired different. She thinks in terms what happens when, how long actions will need to be accomplished, and relationships, and the order of things. I was a bit of an ADHD kid (people just said "impulsive" back then) so my brain sees everything in 3D or as tasks and time-wise I'm usually in the moment.

My personal plan is to retire 3 months from now, finish cleaning up the boat, and go Crocodile Dundee Walk-About in the Caribbean this winter till I get tired of it or the kids start popping out the grand-kids. More than about 10 days of aimlessly hanging out is about her limit, so her plan is to let me tell her where she can fly to meet when I am getting to places she'd like.

[sck5]

Its good to have a plan. Its good to be willing to jettison it whenever it seems like something else is a better idea.

That's why the weather is always better when you are cruising. If the weather isnt good you can always stay put or head in a different direction. No sailing in bad conditions for me if I can possibly avoid it.

On the other hand it is a good idea to have a double/triple/quadruple system of redundancies already planned out for key systems on an offshore passage.

[Tayana42]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

I am a Planner.!
Non stop, when others sleep, I plan, I reorganise and reevaluate my priorities in all parts of my life.

Have been doing it with the Franklin Planner since June 1986 and my bookcase full of annual Franklin Binders made a wonderful bonfire when I decided to move back on board fulltime! [emoji4]

http://www.mytimemanagement.com/franklin-covey.html

For thirty years I worked in nonprofit management. For at least 22 of those years in upper level executive management I lived a life ruled by Time Systems Management. My life was scheduled in 15 minute increments. Every meeting, supervisory session, phone call, return email, committee meeting, board meeting, lunch meeting and bathroom break was planned and scheduled. It was the only way I could keep control of all the competing demands on my time. When I lost control of time it always came out of family time.

I don’t ever want to live like that again. It hurts even thinking about it. So now, cruising, I reject schedules other than tide and season. I have no need to be goal oriented. Of course I still plan. I plan maintenance. I plan escape routes from anchorages. I plan when and where to take on water or empty the holding tank. I plan to control expenses enough to not run out of money. What I don’t plan is when to be where or how long to stay there or where our ultimate destination is. I don’t plan to return phone calls or to attend committee meetings. Isn’t cruising grand?

[AiniA]

When we made our first trip to the Caribbean and had no plans more firm than to enjoy ourselves in the sun we had all sorts of other cruisers ask us what our plans were. It was a shock to find out that we were supposed to have plans in retirement. Anyway I made a list of eight options ranging from getting hauled in Grenada for the summer and doing another year, heading to Europe, selling the boat, doing a circumnavigation. I tried to think of all the options. Asked my wife what her choice was and she said circumnavigation. The rest is history. I wish I had kept the envelope, the back of which had the plan options.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by dkroar

The plan: Get off of the dock, point boat north, come back to dock sometime in the future. That's about all I can foresee at this time.

My kind of planning, Donna!

[Mike OReilly]

I definitely plan — have plans. They seem to come in two levels. Mostly they are the big picture kinda plans, but these are accompanied by immediate-scale stuff.

The big picture has us sailing to Newfoundland, exploring the region for a while, then likely heading south, eventually going through the canal, and after some time, washing up on the BC shore. The immediate plans are usually around stuff like tonight’s anchorage, weather, tides, and what’s for dinner. Big picture plans eventual collapse into immediate-scale plans as the need arises.

[Sailor 99]

My plan is to sail away in 4 months. Go down south and end up in the Caribbean by winter. Beyond that I have no plans at all. Literally. It is all up in the air. It changed last night.... and it will likely change again next week. I just don't want to go to work anymore. I don't have to and I am not going to. I have had enough and I have enough. See ya!

[JPA Cate]

A Pacific crossing with good friends would indeed be a fun thing.

My own feelings are different: The difficulties i have with passages are things i can mostly overcome; and I feel very strongly that my place is beside my partner, and especially, if he wants me there.

Ymmv.

Ann

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I definitely plan — have plans. They seem to come in two levels. Mostly they are the big picture kinda plans, but these are accompanied by immediate-scale stuff.



The big picture has us sailing to Newfoundland, exploring the region for a while, then likely heading south, eventually going through the canal, and after some time, washing up on the BC shore. The immediate plans are usually around stuff like tonight’s anchorage, weather, tides, and what’s for dinner. Big picture plans eventual collapse into immediate-scale plans as the need arises.

[emoji106]. This ^^^^

[Jim Cate]

Been thinking about this a bit, and think I understand my own metamorphosis from planner to non-planner.

When I first started sailing, it was weekends only, much driven by racing calendars (this was in the SF Bay area). Some folks in the YRA office did my planning for me! But soon I started to lust after cruising, and planned those short excursions in between race seasons... still kinda directed by others, but now I had to figure out how to shoehorn in some cruising adventures. Those adventures got longer as I became more experienced, ie trailer the boat to Santa Barbara and go out to Santa Cruz island for two weeks, or up to the PNW for a month of sailing in the Canadian Gulf islands. Now we were talking real planning, 'cause I had to fit things into work schedules, kid vacations and so on. Meant really planning to be in a specific place on a specific day. Gave me a headache!

Then I bought a "real" boat, one that I could do coastal cruising in, and the trips to Santa Cruz Island involved significant coastal passages in a limited time frame, again due to work schedules. My headaches got worse, and were accompanied by some pretty unpleasant passages northbound on the California coast. Eventually Ann and I did our first offshore cruise, Hawaii and back with a six week time slot to do it in. Now the planning involved longish passages without the option of leaving the boat somewhere along the way and catching a bus to work. Migraine time! But we planned and executed successfully.

Not long after that we finally started "real" cruising! Mexico and beyond, no fixed return date. Well, we planned like hell, and even kinda kept to the plan... mostly. Ran out of money in French Polynesia and slunk back to work for another year or so. With our considerably expanded experience, we now "planned" a circumnavigation and took off again, expecting to spend the winter in Baja and then head back to the SoPac. Well, damn! We were having such a good time in Mexico that we stayed on another year... so much for the plan! And we kept on with this non-plan, working our way westward when we felt like it (observing cyclone seasons, etc, as required by our self preservation instincts). Several years in the NZ to Tonga/Fiji/New Cal circuit, and then on to Oz... still "circumnavigating", we were!

Well, we first got to Oz in 1992, on our way west... and we're still kinda here. Did a lot of trips to the islands, but returning to Oz for cyclone season, and now we seem to mostly circulate between Tasmania and warmer areas as the seasons dictate. This has turned out to be one hell of a slow circumnavigation: our "plan" has fallen prey to having a good time where ever we happened to be... I could summarize the philosophy as "if you are having a good time where you are, don't leave for some arbitrary place on the plan... you may not like it as well!" You'll know when it's time to move on,

So, that's been my experience with planning: you start out with fairly rigid ideas, mostly due to forces outside your control (like work). As you gain experience, you learn to extemporize, to adjust and to enjoy the "now", and soon you find yourself next to Mike O, drawing things in the beach sand and thinking about the happy hour to come!

Jim

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

..... As you gain experience, you learn to extemporize, to adjust and to enjoy the "now", and soon you find yourself next to Mike O, drawing things in the beach sand and thinking about the happy hour to come!

Jim

Well said Jim and so very wise!

To metamorphize from a scheming cocoon to a wandering butterfly, guided by the wind,..... is what makes the journey complete.

[weavis]

I had plans. Some worked, some didn't.

Now I have an outline. Lots of room for variables.

[El Pinguino]

My planning started at age 11 or 12 when I read in a copy of a local yachting mag ( Seebreezes?) about the first OSTAR while sitting on the back seat of the family Austin A40 on its way through Mordialloc from a weekend at the seaside( bizzare the stuff one remembers..) . About 1958ish? I reckoned I would be up for it in 1960...

That plan didn't survive contact with reality..

Since then more than a few long range sailing plans ( 20 year lead time ) have come to fruition.

Plan A for 2019 fell in a heap for a variety of reasons ( drought down on the campo, crew health issues, broken travelift, sigh).

Plan B looks good... as does my current 10 year plan....

There is a reason that in one's logbook one does not write 'From Gloomy Harbour *to* Sunny Bay' but 'From Gloomy Harbour *towards* Sunny Bay'.....

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

I definitely plan — have plans. They seem to come in two levels. Mostly they are the big picture kinda plans, but these are accompanied by immediate-scale stuff.

The big picture has us sailing to Newfoundland, exploring the region for a while, then likely heading south, eventually going through the canal, and after some time, washing up on the BC shore. The immediate plans are usually around stuff like tonight’s anchorage, weather, tides, and what’s for dinner. Big picture plans eventual collapse into immediate-scale plans as the need arises.

When do you plan on moving out of the single anchorage where you spent the entire 2018 season?

[daletournier]

Making a plan for me is now more about giving a loose initial direction knowing that I'm going to change the plan.

I believe it's a great trait to feel comfortable changing plans and as often as you want to.

Often society trys to instill guilt on someone that changes his/her mind frequently in regards to planning, one that has imagination and gets excited finds it easy to change plans and direction.

The only constant in life is change.