Shy Cruising or don't invite me to the Potluck :)

[Cuttyhunk]

Originally Posted by Bash

I'm afraid I'm one of the checkbook cruisers Atoll is complaining about.

Cruising is not my #1 adventure. Rather, it's how I take a break from that adventure. For now it's mostly limited to sabbaticals--a word I would never misspell--and research trips. I tend to be well-funded when I go abroad because the scholarship in which I engage contributes to new understandings of the local environment, thus benefiting local populations.

I tend to avoid shopping whenever possible, whether at home or abroad, and rarely haggle over goods because I consider myself to have more important ways to invest my time. I read, I write, I sketch the birds that land on the davits. When that gets old I pull out the guitar and play quietly.

I look forward to cruising when I retire five years from now, although I'd point out that I will only retire from teaching, not from writing. My cruising kitty will be enormous, by Atoll's standards, because of the decades Wonderblond and I have spent at our respective grindstones. When the boat gets hauled, we'll gladly pay someone else to do the sanding, a privilege we've earned by spending so many years toiling away on blackboards.

I was born at the very peak of the post-WWII baby boom. When I retire, hoards shall be retiring with me, not only with full pensions, but with actual checkbooks as well. We will be out there with in-mast furling, electric winches, and fully integrated navigation packages.

Resistance is futile.

Don't you mean "hordes"? :-)

[minaret]

Originally Posted by bethflkys

Don't you mean "hordes"? :-)

Hordes with hoards?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by bethflkys

Don't you mean "hordes"? :-)

bash drops his ach's and oh's occasionally when he is chatting with the great unwashed

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by atoll

and how do you feel about having to pay to use your own anchor,and pay to park your dinghy so you can get ashore................,

once the developers have filled up all the available space with marinas,and moorings

Like every longtime cruiser I am often saddened by changes that see a quaint anchorage stop transform into a commercial entity.
But that is what developers call progress

I can tell you from professional experience... The marina side is not the money maker but the adjoining upland development which has a perceived Increased value for local investors and residents.

I see myself as just a visitor to any location with no vested interest and always with the option to leave.

I don't blame those who buy into those changes as being at fault as I haven't earned the right to

When I anchor off of a new development, I am simply a squatter and happy to live with that.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by atoll

and how do you feel about having to pay to use your own anchor,and pay to park your dinghy so you can get ashore................,

once the developers have filled up all the available space with marinas,and moorings,which seems to be the norm these days in many natural harbours in northen europe,making yachting an elitist sport

If you are talking about a mooring field, I'm fine with that because I otherwise probably would have to anchor in a marginal area or not at all as that implies the area is popular and mooring fields allow more boats in a limited area. A small number of areas have anchoring fees but it's their harbor, their rules (even without the money being brought in, they may not like run down boats coming in and using their harbor and fees discourage this).

I have no problem at all paying a reasonable rate for access to a dingy dock. Someone has to pay for it.

If either scenario is overpriced, I will move thru the area quickly. I'm OK with that.

Yachting has always been an elitist sport. The $500 a month cruiser is rich by 3rd world standards and has never made up a significant slice of the cruising/yachting world. I think it's the stories of the likes of the Pardey's that give people the mistaken impression of what the "typical" cruiser is.

[robert sailor]

For those real adventurers there will always be a place to sail off the beaten track, no worries but if you want to visit the high end areas especially in the western world then its going to cost you something.

[David_Old_Jersey]

So if an invite to Potluck is out, how about boat based Dogging instead?

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

... Yachting has always been an elitist sport. The $500 a month cruiser is rich by 3rd world standards and has never made up a significant slice of the cruising/yachting world.

I dunno. Maybe "Yachting" the way we say it in the US but I always thought the underlying joke of the budget cruiser threads was the knowledge that the real budget cruisers wouldn't spend money for internet access. The subtext being that they were either constantly moving or as Mr Sailor suggests, far off the beaten track.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

................. but I always thought the underlying joke of the budget cruiser threads was the knowledge that the real budget cruisers wouldn't spend money for internet access.

I've always considered myself a "budget cruiser" and I agree with Blue Crab's thoughts. Maybe it's because I'm not that far off the beaten path. I did pay for a wi-fi antennae that I clip up in my rigging just 15' above the water. I never pay for any internet access or any monthy data program with a provider.

.... 'taking Blue Crab's thoughts back to the original topic, - Do the shy or introverted post on forums? Is our forum sort of a big online "potluck"?

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

So if an invite to Potluck is out, how about boat based Dogging instead?

I'm looking forward to Mrs B's thoughts on this post.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

I've always considered myself a "budget cruiser" and I agree with Blue Crab's thoughts. Maybe it's because I'm not that far off the beaten path. I did pay for a wi-fi antennae that I clip up in my rigging just 15' above the water. I never pay for any internet access or any monthy data program with a provider.

.... 'taking Blue Crab's thoughts back to the original topic, - Do the shy or introverted post on forums? Is our forum sort of a big online "potluck"?

Oddly enough the internet is the perfect place for introverted folks to hang out. we can hide in the obscurity of the electron. I find it pretty non-threatening really. At pot lucks or parties there is far too much information for me to assimilate. I find it a bit overwhelmed with all the body language. It's just not relaxing to me.

Well got to go do that sailing thingy. I don't think I want to know what dogging is....

[ohdrinkboy]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

I love these kind of events, but also like peace and solitude.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

SNIP

I have no problem at all paying a reasonable rate for access to a dingy dock. Someone has to pay for it.

SNIP

Someone has to pay for a lot of stuff. I can remember back in the 60s we use to pump the head directly into the ocean if we were lucky enough to have one, otherwise just use a bucket and dump it. But that is simply not possible with the number of boats on the water now.

Do you use the bathroom when you get off the "free to you" dingy dock. How about the dumpster for trash, or the roads to go to the store.

A big part of the issue is there are a lot more boaters now than there use to be. A lot more people as well. Growth does not pay for itself on land, and the same is true on the water.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by tomfl

Someone has to pay for a lot of stuff. I can remember back in the 60s we use to pump the head directly into the ocean if we were lucky enough to have one, otherwise just use a bucket and dump it. But that is simply not possible with the number of boats on the water now.

Do you use the bathroom when you get off the "free to you" dingy dock. How about the dumpster for trash, or the roads to go to the store.

A big part of the issue is there are a lot more boaters now than there use to be. A lot more people as well. Growth does not pay for itself on land, and the same is true on the water.

A bit of a thread drift happening.... Really as with most things public docks, roads, etc are paid with taxes and use fee's. No I don't pay as much taxes as most here. Gee probably not even a fortieth as much. But then I don't have a house or car either. Guess who's happier

As to paying for the roads I walk on. Well I pay a share of the road cost with the food I buy, which costs filter back to the trucking company and farms that produced and transported the food. So yes, its all covered. Oddly its how much is paid for. IE via consumerism. But as I don't consume as much, I don't pay as much. Just my fair share :-)

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

I'm looking forward to Mrs B's thoughts on this post.

Wifey B responding as requested.....had to look up "dogging" in the urban dictionary. Must be I'm too young to have heard it. Or actually not up on my British slang. But now that I've done my research....voyeur I see.

Well.....I have been accused as have some of our girl friends of being a bit of an exhibitionist. So you never know....might want to aim your binoculars toward the hot tub. But then that's on the top deck and you'd need to be higher to see.....oh well. I mean I do live in South Florida and do frequent South Beach so.....

But we generally don't put on a show for strangers. And we show respect that their may be children on the near boats. We leave the other things for times we're in a secluded and private setting.

Now that you guys have taken this far off subject. I'm glad the original discussion was started though. Maybe it will help some better understand others and respect the differences. No one should be made to feel uncomfortable just because they feel differently about some activities than others do.