Free Spirited Sailing Life

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Alabama Jacket

Sorry to hijack this forum topic, but I am new to the site and for the life of me I can't figure out how to post a new topic.... I only seem to have been able to respond to things. What am I doing wrong? Sorry to be so stupid.....

Go here:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/

Pick a category and click on it.

On the left side there is one button that says (new thread).

Click that.

Be careful with the title. You cannot edit it.

[Hudson Force]

It's been my observation that the free spirited sailors with little or no money are not cruising. I come across them regularly and see them in the same spot years later with a boat that's serving as "home", but it needs more work than their resources allow. Four years ago I was anchored in a storm just about a mile from my present location where I had an anchored neighbor. After the storm he came into this small marina and he's still here. Others are here,.... no mast, no working auxiliary, tarps over leaking decks. Keeping the boat cruising has costs. Carefree has costs.

[Aargau]

Yep, so perhaps in addition to the laws of physics, we should add the laws of economics of epoxy, of fiberglass, of rudder pintles and gudgeons, of replacement genoas.

Originally Posted by CaptForce

It's been my observation that the free spirited sailors with little or no money are not cruising. I come across them regularly and see them in the same spot years later with a boat that's serving as "home", but it needs more work than their resources allow. Four years ago I was anchored in a storm just about a mile from my present location where I had an anchored neighbor. After the storm he came into this small marina and he's still here. Others are here,.... no mast, no working auxiliary, tarps over leaking decks. Keeping the boat cruising has costs. Carefree has costs.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by salticrak

Well you see maybe it's just me then...I long for a time when things were less complicated and the hoops not so numerous to jump through.

We have rules and regs for the orderly running of a system/society we live in. And if you are a regular Joe these apply to you. only the rich and powerful can insulate themselves from the rules if they are smart and have connections.

A joker holds up a gas station gets caught and imprisoned. A bloody bunch of bankers gamble and loose other peoples money, they get given more money.Regardless of the world wide consequences of their sheer greed.

We have been conditioned to accept authority. To be seen to be doing the right thing is now almost taken up with a saintly zeal by the regular Joes.

If the system is broke and you follow the rules and regs of that system to the nth degree what does that say about you?

As for free spirited sailors, believe me they exist, they just do not appear on any sailing forums, which is sad in a way.

Some of those rules and regs are important, such as admonitions against murdering the guy who brought his boat too close (you think) to your boat in what you thought was an anchorage only you knew about ...

So the question, really, is "Where do you draw the line ... " but also "Do you get to draw the line?" In other words, can you cherry-pick which rules and regs you follow?

Maybe the guy on the boat next to me in the marina doesn't want to keep fire extinguishers on his boat. Perhaps he views that as too much government regulation.

However, if his boat catches fire, it could take mine with it.

[Coops]

And if it catches fire when he is not there, it happens a lot more than you think, he could have 100 fire extinguishers on board, but it will still take out your boat. Not trying to argue with you, merely pointing out that every contingency cannot be covered.

Coops.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Coops

And if it catches fire when he is not there, it happens a lot more than you think, he could have 100 fire extinguishers on board, but it will still take out your boat. Not trying to argue with you, merely pointing out that every contingency cannot be covered.

Coops.

No, every contigency can't be covered. I'm just trying to make the point that our personal choices sometimes affect the society around us. My point isn't about fire extinguishers. It's about realizing that your choices and actions affect others.

[salticrak]

This may be so, but people generally look out for number one first. Human nature, i suppose. Add money to the situation and you get a whole lotta self interest going on.

Also this Idea that free- spirited means poor or some kinda hippie is a bit misguided here too. O f course things take money to do. How you go about making the cold hard is your business.

There are more ways to skin a cat, this thread was an attempt to explore alternative ways of sailing than selling the house and cashing in the shares type of options out there.

I imagine there are people out there funding their dream trading more than just baubles, bangles and beads.

[mrlassiter]

I think (and some say I don't,) that there have always been rule and regulations, it's just that the names we apply to them or the way we view them has changed. Even Joshua Slocum loaded his ship with the necessary trinkets and tidbits to 'pay' the various tithes/taxes he was likely to encounter. And certain would be discoverers were met at the shores by less than receptive inhabitants of the lands. Failure to abide by the rules back in the day may have meant a lot more than getting a hefty fine, or finding oneself in a jail on some foreign land. It may have meant instant death...

[seandepagnier]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

It's been my observation that the free spirited sailors with little or no money are not cruising.

Unfortunately this is mostly true, however not very representative because the vast majority of boat owners are not cruising either.

My boat costs under $100 per year to maintain, so 90% of my spending is food. I have started more and more to grow food onboard, forage and hunt. I also regularly obtain free or cheap available stuff in one place and trade it for something better somewhere else. For example: I have found fillet knives diving and then trade for basket of fruit, or sunglasses for limes, diving mask for octopus etc..

That said, cruising around in new zealand has been extremely expensive, costing just over $5000 for 18 months. Again, about 90% is food, and this is so much because of my ridiculous chocolate addiiction which is over a third of my spending. I am glad to be leaving soon.

[salticrak]

Uncanny really...

[goboatingnow]

That said, cruising around in new zealand has been extremely expensive, costing just over $5000 for 18 months. Again, about 90% is food, and this is so much because of my ridiculous chocolate addiiction which is over a third of my spending. I am glad to be leaving soon.

Thats not an unusual spend on food in my experience, there are many places where thats very good going for 18 months.

I love to see what you regards as "cheap"

dave

[Hudson Force]

OK, maybe I need to rethink this. Maybe I am a free-wheeling, free-spirited, cruiser living the cruising life for little money. Could it be so? We cruise and liveaboard fulltime poking about from Maine to the Bahamas and retired for the last 11 years. During that time we've left our boat and taken the following side trips by jet plane and/or charter cruises: Ireland, Amsterdamn, Rhine Cruise, Costa Rica & Panama Canal, Galapagos, Lesser Antilles (twice), Manchu Piccu, The Amazon, Australia, New Zealand, California Coast, Egypt, plus a mountain snow trip each Christmas to New Year. Sure, this is expensive, but we are retired public school teachers and not with any great wealth. How do we do this? Because most of the time we are cruising without significant costs..... no car, no mortgage, no debt, no big marina fees, no ownership of anything that's not on our boat and we still put away $400/month for our future health needs. Our monthly cost of living on our boat averages less than most people spend on their property taxes and utility bills alone. We are strong implementors of the DIY maintenance schedule for our vessel.

[salticrak]

That's the ticket

I feel a lot of of people are put off today by the perceived expense of cruising/voyaging.

Yet back in the 60's and 70's people did it on small budgets and smaller boats.
A trend i have noticed in another activity i take part in is kayak fishing. there is a guy with an el cheapo kayak, el cheapo rod and reel catching some of the most awesome fish.
He just gets out there and does it. Me on the other hand have gone and bought the top of the range kayaks, rods, reels etc. but my captures to date are a shadow of this el cheapo blokes.

here is a link to how it used to be done on Wharram catamarans.

http://www.pca-seapeople.net/

[somedayy]

[QUOTE=salticrak;1229802]G'day all

I have been reading a few tales about people who have sailed to distant lands,with little or no money.

Their joy sheer of living a life that is not tied down by rules and regulations is obvious.


You may want to read this Blog. There is no more Joy for these folks. more JOY everywhere!

[Therapy]

[QUOTE=somedayy;1257185]

Originally Posted by salticrak

G'day all

I have been reading a few tales about people who have sailed to distant lands,with little or no money.

Their joy sheer of living a life that is not tied down by rules and regulations is obvious.


You may want to read this Blog. There is no more Joy for these folks. more JOY everywhere!

Thank you so much for that link. Nice reality check.