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

[Topspin]

Ay, make yourself a plan
They need you at the top
Then make yourself a second plan
Then let the whole thing drop
For this bleak existence
Man is never bad enough
Though his sheer persistence
Can be lovely stuff


(B.Brecht: Song of the insufficiency of human endeavor, 1928)

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

If the plan is to stay put in one place for several years looking at the same scenery, wouldn’t it be a lot easier and make more sense to live in a trailer and not have to worry about dragging anchor, sinking, emptying the composter or taking a dinghy to shore?

Hmm...what's the beef?


"Make more sense" - to who?


Or did you forget the s/ tag?

[Jdege]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

People often come to cruising with a plan to sail around the world, or to visit all the “must-see” sights of an area. Some have plans and schedules and goals and objectives. Many make detailed financial plans and budgets. They plan for retirement, for healthcare, for the end of cruising.

Obviously we all make plans. I’m not suggesting it’s wrong or anything. Clearly some level of planning is always necessary. It’s just that I don’t tend to plan a lot. Or rather, the plans I make tend to be written in sand.

Just curious how others approach this.

Ever since I started telling people that I was going to retire to a cruising boat people
have been asking me if I planned to sail around the world.

My answer has always been that seems like too much of an obligation, and the whole idea of retiring to a boat is to eliminate those.

I'll sail to wherever seems most interesting, until I decide I'm not interested in sailing.

I don't have plans, I have vague intentions.

(Right now, I'm contacting marinas and boat yards looking for some place I could keep a boat while doing some refits and upgrades. Seemed like it's something I should have lined up before I actually buy a boat.)

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Jdege

Ever since I started telling people that I was going to retire to a cruising boat people have been asking me if I planned to sail around the world.

My answer has always been that seems like too much of an obligation, and the whole idea of retiring to a boat is to eliminate those.

I'll sail to wherever seems most interesting, until I decide I'm not interested in sailing.

I don't have plans, I have vague intentions….

. Reflects my experience and approach as well Jdege. We too have had the same question from non-sailor friends. I think the RTW idea is one thing which has made it into the general public awareness. So I guess that’s why those unfamiliar with the life bring it up.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

. Reflects my experience and approach as well Jdege. We too have had the same question from non-sailor friends. I think the RTW idea is one thing which has made it into the general public awareness. So I guess that’s why those unfamiliar with the life bring it up.

Going around the world can become a job if one's not careful!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Going around the world can become a job if one's not careful!

The horror. The HORROR!

[weavis]

I have absolutely no interest in RTW sailing. The furthest I have sailed is from the UK to Mallorca, a couple of thousand miles in pretty good weather. I was at most 100 miles from shore all the way... sometimes 50.

There is a joy to be found in being based somewhere and exploring locally. I am happy where I am at present in Spain and being able to exit the Marina, head for Portugal or head the other way past Gibraltar and go to France, the Balearic Islands, or Italy...

Many times after working... I'm happy to just sit on the boat, feel the water, smell the air and sleep.

I've been giving a lot of thought to getting a canal boat in the UK and exploring inner waters in a year or so...Just stop and explore when the mood strikes.

[AiniA]

Originally Posted by daletournier

Going around the world can become a job if one's not careful!

Actually it can just happen. You are somewhere nice but decide you want to go to another nice spot to see wha it is like. Generally it is easier to go to the next nice spot if it downwind. When you get there it is sort of like a rinse and repeat process and you end up heading west if you like it warm or east is you are a bit of a masochist.

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Actually it can just happen. You are somewhere nice but decide you want to go to another nice spot to see wha it is like. Generally it is easier to go to the next nice spot if it downwind. When you get there it is sort of like a rinse and repeat process and you end up heading west if you like it warm or east is you are a bit of a masochist.

I am that accidentally circumnavigation.. Lol....never really was the plan, but sooner or later you have to go around the world to get home.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by daletournier

I am that accidentally circumnavigation.. Lol....never really was the plan, but sooner or later you have to go around the world to get home.

I can certainly see this happening to us. If we ever go through the Panama Canal, then it becomes a natural downwind ride. But I certainly have no plans or ambition to do it. I’ll be impressed if I ever circumnavigate Newfoundland. Heck, I might not even get out of the Bay of Islands .

[Matsubob]

THIS was a great thread to read! That was FUN! Thanks!

[Gene Neill]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

I don't know if he still feels this way, but Jim once said he hoped he'd die jumping out of a whore house window at the age of 106.....

My Dad always used to say something similar, except it was "shot by a jealous husband."

[RMatichak]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Sailing to a schedule stinks.

And potentially very unsafe!

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by daletournier

For some it's about achievement, how much can I see etc, for me it's about living somewhere new for a good stretch of time.

Also I'm with Robert who confessed earlier he dosent like passages, "I don't like passages", it's the part of the cruising life that sucks for me, small coastal stuff, preferably anchored each night is what I like,the moment teleportation is an option I'm in!!!!

This is where I am the opposite!....... I love long ocean passages.
The smells mid ocean, devoid of any land contamination,
the albatross and other ocean birds
the rythym and isolation of separate watches where time stands still, yet the clock gets moved back or forward one hour, ......a funny reminder that out there, a land world is controlled by a clock.
My immersion into clouds, waves, wind and weather as each brings a message of hope or steely grit if the barometer drops.

It is a whole other world mid ocean, where ironically it is the only time I have no plans ..... and my mind can rest.

[redhead]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

This is where I am the opposite!....... I love long ocean passages.
The smells mid ocean, devoid of any land contamination,
the albatross and other ocean birds
the rythym and isolation of separate watches where time stands still, yet the clock gets moved back or forward one hour, ......a funny reminder that out there, a land world is controlled by a clock.
My immersion into clouds, waves, wind and weather as each brings a message of hope or steely grit if the barometer drops.

It is a whole other world mid ocean, where ironically it is the only time I have no plans ..... and my mind can rest.

Thanks for this. For the last 30 years or so, I've put myself to sleep imagining just this. I've yet to find out, but I'm closer than I've ever been before.