A counterpoint.

[salticrak]

Cruising Blues and Their Cure by Robert M Pirsig

[robert sailor]

Fairly well written. Many folks these days have been strained through a silk hanky and think the sea and cruising might be a wonderful lifestyle and it might be but in my experience any real adventures have a lot of discomfort associated with them. You've got to be someone who loves the highs and can deal with the lows on a regular basis. Truth is there are really only a few sailors really cut out for an offshore lifestyle of cruising. Living aboard or coastal cruising in Mexico, the Caribbean or the Med doesn't mean offshore cruising to me as this means crossing oceans, at least some of the time.

[kbudd]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

Fairly well written. Many folks these days have been strained through a silk hanky and think the sea and cruising might be a wonderful lifestyle and it might be but in my experience any real adventures have a lot of discomfort associated with them. You've got to be someone who loves the highs and can deal with the lows on a regular basis. Truth is there are really only a few sailors really cut out for an offshore lifestyle of cruising. Living aboard or coastal cruising in Mexico, the Caribbean or the Med doesn't mean offshore cruising to me as this means crossing oceans, at least some of the time.

Fairly well written? You do know that Robert Prisig wrote "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"? In my opinion, one of the best books ever written.

[rebel heart]

I think that's fairly dead on, I especially enjoy this part:

If this is so, then it follows that those who see sailing as an escape from reality have got their understanding of both sailing and reality completely backwards. Sailing is not an escape but a return to and a confrontation of a reality from which modern civilization is itself an escape. For centuries, man suffered from the reality of an earth that was too dark or too hot or too cold for his comfort, and to escape this he invented complex systems of lighting, heating and air conditioning. Sailing rejects these and returns to the old realities of dark and heat and cold. Modern civilization has found radio, TV, movies, nightclubs and a huge variety of mechanized entertainment to titillate our senses and help us escape from the apparent boredom of the earth and the sun and wind and stars. Sailing returns to these ancient realities.

For many of the depressed ones, the real underlying source of cruising depression is that they have thought of sailing as one more civilized form of stimulation, just like movies or spectator sports, and somehow felt their boat had an obligation to keep them thrilled and entertained. But no boat can be an endless source of entertainment and should not be expected to be one.

The big thing I've learned in the last year is that there's no one handing out trophies for being a "real sailor". Cross an ocean, circumnavigate, round Cape Horn, whatever. You still need to pay rent, buy gas, and use the toilet. So if you want to explore far off locales and cross oceans, do it. But if you want to sit around in marinas packing on a hundred miles a year (or none), there you go.

Just make sure you're doing what you want to do, not trying to live someone else's view of cruising.

[robert sailor]

Actually KBUDD I didn't know but I do know of the book you speak of, it too was fairly well written.

[rognvald]

Salti,
The author has given much thought to the subject and is not without wisdom. However, the subject can be stated very simply and that is that one's perceived notion of cruising does not correlate to the reality. Cruising is not an easy life for those whose perceived notion is pictured in the turquoise waters and resplendent sunsets of a picturesque anchorage, sipping White Burgundy and eating Brie as depicted in cruising magazines although we have all experienced these magical moments. However, whatever history these couples bring to the table, they will never adjust since they lack the spirit of true adventure which necessitates a much different mindset and personal history. They couldn't make the transition from daysails from a marina to tossing the lines and heading into the unknown. It was beyond their personal scope. This is why many "cruisers" ,who haven't thrown in the towel but remain frightfully insecure, prefer to travel with the herd since the herd offers them a semblance of what they left behind on land and allows them to meekly follow this amorphous blob from marina to marina and anchorage to anchorage in relative protection. I don't feel sorry for them since they had the courage to pursue a dream and, in a positive note, have come to realize who they really are as people. How can that be bad? Good luck, good sailing and may we never stop dreaming.

[salticrak]

thanks mate, i wonder if ''cruising'' and ''voyaging'' are two different mindsets?

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by salticrak

thanks mate, i wonder if ''cruising'' and ''voyaging'' are two different mindsets?

I think a case can be made that they are, but I'll have to get back to you in 10 years with a more informed opinion.