Circumnavigate / Cruise / Sail

[sailorboy1]

I got into sailing to travel in order to see the world! My hope was that I wouldn't dislike sailing to the point of not doing it and not get to the do the traveling. Turns out that so far I like sailing so it is an added bonus.

But there seems lots of threads and questions about time/cost/plans to circumnavigate the world. I have no goal of circumnavigating and to me the goal of going around the world distracts from the sightseeing goal.

Just wondered what people's real goal is in their "crusing" plans.

[daddle]

"No plan is the best plan"

I stick to this like 5200. I'd say I won't circumnavigate, but that be a plan. Even your word "goal" caused me some consternation. I'm done with plans and goals. I've already done all that. Everything, everything, is working out just fine. It only the moment for me, that's all that exists.

[MarkJ]

We are doing 2 circumnavigations.... One quicky, one loooong slllloooowwwww one.
The idea is to kinda have a quick look to work out what we would like to do slowly.

This one finishes at the end of this year in the Caribbean and we will then do the Med/Caribbean curcuit for a few years plus north and south American. We want to be in Brazil for their olympics 2016!
I have this thing of seeing countries on their national day... so theres plenty of celebrations to look forward to


Mark

[sailorboy1]

I nce read that:

cruising = no place to be and no schedule to get there

So I doubt I'm ever going to get to "cruising". I plan to have places to be but don't plan to have a schedule.

Mark - why do 2 trips? Why not go where you believe you would like to see, if wrong just move on? Not that it really matters since you probably wouldn't have headed out to start if you wanted to stay in 1 place all the long anyway.

[slomotion]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

I have no goal of circumnavigating and to me the goal of going around the world distracts from the sightseeing goal.

I don’t necessarily agree with that because I think many cruisers do leisurely multi-year circumnavigations with plenty of stops along the way. Nevertheless, I too have no particular interest in crossing oceans or circumnavigating. I’ve been sailing off and on since I was a kid and I enjoy sailing. But I don’t really like long passages. I find them to be mostly boring, sometimes scary, and always exhausting.

There are all kinds of cruising styles and some of our best memories are of perfect beam reach days with the boat doing what it does best. But for us, sailing was only a small part of cruising. We sailed from Florida to South America and were never at sea for more than 24 hours at a time. I know yacht club sailors who put more miles under their keel than we did during that time. For us, cruising is mostly about living on a boat at anchor in exotic places. You hang out, explore, see what there is to see. Then you go somewhere else when the spirit moves you and the weather and the boat are right. In the Bahamas/Caribbean "somewhere else" is usually only a daysail away.

[Bash]

none of the proposed definitions fit my concept of "cruising." Having come to cruising from the world of sailboat racing, I think of "cruising" as being any keel boat activity where I don't have to wait for a shotgun blast to get underway.

Similarly, I differentiate cruising boats from racing boats by the over-simplification that cruising boats have dodgers.

[Alexei]

I've been to a lot of countries and seen a lot of things with the Navy. One thing that bugs me in Navy ports of call is that I'm always on someone else's schedule (the Navy in this case), not mine. I've taken leave and gone back to some of my favorites, but again it's not really on my schedule. So when I'm done with the Navy, I'd really like to see these places in more detail (Australia and Singapore in particular....they're my favorites so far). Doing that with a boat means crossing oceans and going halfway around the world....so I might as well do the rest one day, eh? In the end it'll be about fun and experience, but I'll confess to the appeal of bragging rights, too. I've run marathons, learned to fly an airplane, operated a nuclear reactor or two, conned warships, scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef, met the King of Jordan.....all good things to brag about. Sailing around the world? That would be another. I'd also like to run/swim/bike an iron man, hike the Appalachian Trail (in one outing), and go into space. I think all these things are doable before I kick the bucket, so why not?

[hummingway]

I love the water, love being surrounded by nature, like fishing, crabbing and digging shellfish. If sailing takes me somewhere I haven't ben that seems nice but I have no plans. I'm just enjoying the waters of coastal bc while I figure out where life is taking me. The previous two winters in Mexico I fell in love with it. I also got the idea I would enjoy living on a boat but I haven't really put the two together yet. I like hearing about peoples sailing adventures and beautiful, exotic places but I guess I'm not there yet in my mind.

[Aussiesuede]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

I got into sailing to travel in order to see the world! My hope was that I wouldn't dislike sailing to the point of not doing it and not get to the do the traveling. Turns out that so far I like sailing so it is an added bonus.

You and I seem to have come to cruising in very similar manners. My introduction to sailing was back in the early 90's while living in Hawaii. It was fun going on inter island sails, but it was more the "party" aspect that appealed to me at the time, than it was the actual nuts and bolts of sailing. I then decided to crew on a boat traveling across the pacific. The sail from the Galapagos to the Marquesas was excruciatingly boring at the time. The crew was not very well matched, and that only added to the abject boredom. After that trip, I decided that I was a "Cruiser" who tolerated long passages as a means to an end. In a perfect world, I'd eliminate all passages longer than 7 days and all my cruising would be port to port in under a weeks time. I actually like just about all aspects of passages that are under a week. I hate passages of more than a week in duration. The key for me is a carefully chosen crew, as well as a vessel which provides ample capacity for distractions from the mundane.

[YOGAO]

Originally Posted by daddle

"No plan is the best plan"

I stick to this like 5200. I'd say I won't circumnavigate, but that be a plan. Even your word "goal" caused me some consternation. I'm done with plans and goals. I've already done all that. Everything, everything, is working out just fine. It only the moment for me, that's all that exists.

But then again, "no plan" is a plan isn't it? Keep in mind that 5200 ain't permanent.

Fair Winds,
Mike

[dcstrng]

I hit “circumnavigate” because that has been my fantasy since reading Joshua Slocum’s tale as a freshman or sophomore in high-school – many, many (many) moons ago… At one time or another, I’ve already seen much of the world on my employers’ nickel and what I haven’t is only mildly fascinating to me; however, I’d like to make the loop just once being one of those who (so far) enjoys sailing far more than anchoring, yacht-clubbing, rafting, beach-combing, whatever… Nonetheless, so far I’ve rarely been outa sight of land, so who knows… the dream is still alive, but the clock is ticking.

[hummingway]

Slocum's "Sailing Alone Around the World" is my favourite sailing tale and one of my favourite books. I enjoyed Chichester's tale of his record setting circumnavigation (another fan of Slocum) but it is a tale of a man and a sailboat setting a record under the worlds eyes where as Slocum's is a one of cultures, seas and land faced by a man alone with his boat. It is a trip that couldn't be repeated in this world and I think that's one of the wonderful things about his story. Still there are lots of adventures out there for those of stout heart and willing spirit!

[Eyeback]

but mostly a dream. Circumnavigation is a great dream and if you fall in love half way through, then switch your dream.