Hobbies?

[Sea Dreaming]

I wasnt sure which forum this thread belonged to. So Im putting it here.

Im a busy person and I have to have a hobby all the time. Right now, while Im working, I cycle interests over a period of months. When I lose interest I put the tools away and pull out something else. Because Im working I dont have a lot of time to spare but Im pretty voracious about my hobbies when I do them.

When we move aboard later this year, I worry that Ill go nuts being bored and have too much time to just sit around.

I have some portable hobbies, like drawing and writing. But neither hold my attention for long because I get frustrated with my limited talents in the areas!

What other hobbies do people take aboard? Cruising grounds first year will probably be mexico. Though it might be the Caribbean. Knitting seems too hot for these areas. Can one even buy yarn?

Whats a girl to do?

[Sailmonkey]

I found that what limited hobbies I could take with on our small boat filled the little amount of time that wasn't dedicated to boat cleaning, maintenance, and grocery shopping.


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[cgrabens]

Boat work will be your number one hobby. I play ukulele, yoga, snorkel/swim, cooking, art, and I plan on learning how to build my website (which has proven difficult for me but means there's lots of room to grow). Photography, celestial navigation, jewelry making are all things I'm interested in learning. Oh we do plan on bringing the sewing machine so getting better at sewing is on my list too. I could potentially try to make money with that, making small zippered pouches, totes, backpacks, etc.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

I wasnt sure which forum this thread belonged to. So Im putting it here.

Im a busy person and I have to have a hobby all the time. Right now, while Im working, I cycle interests over a period of months. When I lose interest I put the tools away and pull out something else. Because Im working I dont have a lot of time to spare but Im pretty voracious about my hobbies when I do them.

When we move aboard later this year, I worry that Ill go nuts being bored and have too much time to just sit around.

I have some portable hobbies, like drawing and writing. But neither hold my attention for long because I get frustrated with my limited talents in the areas!

What other hobbies do people take aboard? Cruising grounds first year will probably be mexico. Though it might be the Caribbean. Knitting seems too hot for these areas. Can one even buy yarn?

Whats a girl to do?

Funny enough I'm doing one of my hobbies right now... thinking, writing, reading and generally maintaining my abilities with the English language while living in an environment where 98% of my real life communication is in Portuguese..
Also I am keeping up to date with weather, sea's, fault finding info that keeps me safe, hanging out with mates and generally trying to help others in my own little way.. Yup..!! not a bad hobby is CF..
Other hobbies you could take up is splicing and rope work.. know some folks finance their own docklines selling ready made ones to other cruisers.. table mat's etc.. with all the colours these days. belts, bracelets...
Practice/perfect it doing your own stuff first.. its not that hard once you get into it..

[sv Winterlude]

You'll enjoy cruising Mexico (or anywhere) more if you can communicate with the locals. Learning Spanish (or French) is a good hobby - and will enhance your cruising experiences. Try the app DuoLingo - it's about the only language program that holds my interest. I liked Rosetta Stone back a few years ago, but DuoLingo is free. I also enjoy photography (learning Adobe Lightroom currently), reading about where we're headed and adult coloring books for those necessary mindless moments.

[dwedeking2]

Photography I find is a perfect hobby. It's one of the few hobbies I've been able to do for years without getting bored with it. There are so many different areas of focus, either subject matter or technique. Also there is always something to learn about it.

You also may find that you slow down a bit when you get away from society (not right away but over a long period of time). I was the stereotypical ADHD type of person, always bouncing through interests and action items. Couple years in some remote locations and I'll find I'll just sit there and watch a bird or animal for 30 minutes. lol

[Greene]

I took up carving wood as a very portable hobby. The idea arose when I decided I wanted to make a mermaid figurehead for our Island Packet. If I wanted to carve a figurehead, my head had better figure out how to carve. The tools are minimal, small pieces of basswood are portable and finding a neat piece of driftwood to carve is now part of my hobby.



Mike


Wrinklesinoursails.blogspot.com

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Greene

I took up carving wood as a very portable hobby. The idea arose when I decided I wanted to make a mermaid figurehead for our Island Packet. If I wanted to carve a figurehead, my head had better figure out how to carve. The tools are minimal, small pieces of basswood are portable and finding a neat piece of driftwood to carve is now part of my hobby.

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Mike


Wrinklesinoursails.blogspot.com

Nice work...

[Siberianhusky]

You pretty much hit my biggest fear about going cruising, what on earth do I do when I get someplace?
For some reason I can see my "cruising" turning into a fairly quick circumnavigation, then what.......
LOL, I don't drink, have never taken a vacation, I swim if I have to, no skill as a photographer or artist.
Worked my whole life, have enough money to not have to worry about working if I take off. Never really learned how to relax other than sailing.
What do people do when they are not sailing?
I'm looking forward to long open water solo passages, it's the other part of the life I can't wrap my head around.

[a64pilot]

I always have a Hobby, they run the gamut from flying model airplanes, to building / restoring and flying "real" airplanes, cave diving, fishing, water skiing etc. That covers the last ten years or so, I move from one hobby to the other.
A Big concern of mine is what he hell to do when I retire? I initially thought about a big Motor-home and travelling around the country before I hit upon cruising.
But I've come to the conclusion that between diving and hopefully spearfishing where allowed, working on and improving / maintaining the boat, tours and procuring food and water, shopping etc. There just won't be that much down time.

If I did like most and Retirement means just not going to the job anymore, I'm afraid I'd likely end up an Alcoholic or sometinig

[Reefmagnet]

Photography and video production is my thing. Still in the process of getting up to speed though. I've just switched across to compact interchangeable lens cameras for the boat so I can leave my bulky dslr on shore. Aside from the hobby aspect, it allows an excellent visual record of travels to be recorded.

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[HopCar]

I'm afraid neither of my hobbies would go aboard very well.
Boat building and bee keeping.

[a64pilot]

I've always wanted to keep Bees,they fascinate me. I'll do it one day.
Wife commented I wouldn't as we just moved off the "farm" and if I was going to keep Bees, it would have been then.
I assume Bees are a little like having Dairy cows, you just can't leave them?

[HopCar]

Bees require some maintenance but if you only have one or two hives it's not bad.
There is a learning curve. I lost my first two hives to hive beetles.

I captured a wild hive about a month ago. That was fun.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

You pretty much hit my biggest fear about going cruising, what on do I do when I get someplace?
For some reason I can see my "cruising" turning into a fairly quick circumnavigation, then what.......
LOL, I don't drink, have never taken a vacation, I swim if I have to, no skill as a photographer or artist.
Worked my whole life, have enough money to not have to worry about working if I take off. Never really learned how to relax other than sailing.
What do people do when they are not sailing?
I'm looking forward to long open water solo passages, it's the other part of the life I can't wrap my head around.

What you may find once you start voyaging is when you hit 'the other side' your 1st week is spent re-orienteering yourself to having people and traffic all around you, finding places and familiarising.. the 2nd week the 'Chill' hits.. the tidal surge you've been riding for a few weeks ebbs and you just flop..
Everything's done.. shopping, water, officialdom, boats washed down and cleared away.. laundry is done..
2nd week...
ME TIME....!!
Sleep in.. have a swim off the stern (anchorage), cook b'fast, take the dinghy ashore to a beach and 'Starfish'.. look for shells.. explore within walking distance..
3rd week..
Start the program.. early starts work till 1200..
1200 - 1500 lunch and siesta on beach..
1600 - 1900 boat work
1900 - 2300 swim/shower, cook supper (not out of a tin), read/e-mail/music whatever...
The thing with boats is..
For as trouble free boat as possible one starts above decks at the bow and works their way down the starboard side cleaning/checking/replacing everything all the way down too and around the stern, back up the port side to the bow..
You then do the same down below.. with everything.. no wet where it should not be etc..
I find by the time its all done its time to go topside starboard bow again..
Unlike when live ashore.. then its when I can be assed..

Think about it a minute..
You have just crossed the Atlantic from say NYC to the UK.. that's 3K+nm in sea's you'd normally not be seen dead in..
Okay.. it was only a 4 week crossing but.. if you look back on what you do at the moment that's maybe 3-5yrs mileage with stress loads.. throw in the Extra from the norm..?? another 2yrs.. more salt in a day than it gets in a month.. and not FW washed every evening..
Yup.. she'll keep you on your toes.. if you want her to keep you alive..
I think you will find that your 1st multi week ocean crossing will change your mental gearing a bit..
What say you MarkJ, Jim & Ann..?
There are many other liveaboards but these are folks who keep on the move doing distances.
Now this is me.. what I do...
But I'm a lazy SOB... no big advise being given.. its just its really nice to be able to wake up any morning and be able to say.. "I'm bored..
Sod it.. reckon I'll head for Brazil after breakfast"