Quote:
Originally Posted by Lasivian
Is how huge a budget most of these people seem to have compared to what I have to dream with.
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when we moved to south
florida in the 1970's the sailing scene was a whole lot different than it is today. boats were smaller and simpler and much less well equipped. but the
bahamas are only 50 miles away and once you made that 'scary'
gulf stream crossing the
water was shallow and well protected and most of the islands just a short sail apart.
we met oday 22's and venture 25's and bristol 27's and the whole range of small boats that you might think you'd be crazy to take out of sight of land.
navigation was by
compass and paper chart and if you had some extra money you might have an rdf for the crossing.
no
refrigeration. stoves were pressure alcohol or kerosene. some used coleman camping stoves with lpg bottles. anchors were nearly always danforths and
rope with maybe a short chain leader. and they survived and had a great time and stories to tell their grandchildren (who will be mightily bored).
one couple we met in
miami had just returned from the
bahamas in their bristol 27 after their six month
permit ran out. they told us they had run out of money but had been anchored in hopetown harbor. they were living on peas and rice and lobster. seems they were anchored over a sunken boat in the harbor that was full of lobster. every morning he dove down and got a lobster for breakfast. in the afternoon he dove down and got a lobster for dinner. said to me 'you can get pretty sick of lobster'. said to him, 'i'd like to fiind out for myself'.
we had an albin 27 for awhile (excellent for
cheap bahamas boat). two years after we
sold it we met up with it iin the berry islands. a 20 something couple were living on it. and equpped just as i described above. no fridge. coleman camping
stove on lpg. and having no plans of ever returning until the money ran out. she gave us a
phone number and asked us to call her mother when we got to a telephone to tell her we had met up with them and they were fine. and speaking of phones, back then they were few and far between. i remember the nearest
phone south of
nassau was sixty miles away.
don't let all those megayachts that you and i will never own scare you away. unless you're planning deep ocean sailing you don't need a whole lot of boat or a whole lot of
gear - just the right stuff.
we eventually worked up to a 'big' boat - a
csy 37. but it was never over equpped. just the right stuff.