Different Cultures of Sailing

[les22]

Originally Posted by AiniA

I don't think the number is anywhere near 10,000. When we were in South Africa doing our rtw and no one was going the Red Sea route I doubt there were more than 100 boats transiting. If we assume an average of 2.3 people per boat (scientific fact) that would be 230 people. If was assume an average circumnavigation time of five years (I think it might be a bit less), then you have around 1000 people in the act.

What nonsense!
If it is a "scientific fact" that circumnavigating boats have an average of 2.3 people per boat onboard then somebody calculated that from the number of people and the number of boats so you shouldn't have to "assume" anything.
If about 1,000 yachts go through the Panama Canal each year (best number I've found) and most of them are circumnavigating, that would be a lot more than 1,000 people at that stage of the trip. Add on those that are going round Cape Horn and the dozens/hundreds of boats in any of 50-100 cruising stops on the way and the number of people quickly adds up.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by les22

What nonsense!
If about 1,000 yachts go through the Panama Canal each year (best number I've found) and most of them are circumnavigating, that would be a lot more than 1,000 people at that stage of the trip. Add on those that are going round Cape Horn and the dozens/hundreds of boats in any of 50-100 cruising stops on the way and the number of people quickly adds up.

Not sure how many yachts go through the canal each year. If it was 1000, can we assume 1/2 (500) going each way? Many are not circumnavigating, just moving from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or vice versa.

When we crossed the Pacific the port authority in Tahiti told us that he sees about 400 yachts per year coming across. Some skip Tahiti. Lets say that number crossing the Pacific is 500/yr. If it is 2.3 persons, then that's 1150 people crossing the Pacific.

Many people don't complete a circumnavigation. The yachts from North America might make it to New Zealand then stop. But others start out westbound from NZ so the flow remains somewhat constant. Same with European boats which get only as far as the Caribbean.

In fact far more cruisers stay in one region, maybe migrating with the seasons, than are crossing oceans. In Trinidad alone there used to be over 1000 cruising boats sheltering away from the hurricane areas each summer. Now many stay in nearby areas such as Grenada. Large numbers are circulating each year in Mexico. Then there is the Med. If you include these people, not just circumnavigators, then there are plenty of cruisers, 10,000 would not be an unreasonable number in fact I'd say it is low, very low.

[NevisDog]

Originally Posted by les22

...If about 1,000 yachts go through the Panama Canal each year (best number I've found) and most of them are circumnavigating, that would be a lot more than 1,000 people at that stage of the trip. Add on those that are going round Cape Horn ...

Interesting. I'd love to know the numbers going around the Horn each year. Round it west-to-east and we can hang a big gold earring in our left ear (if we are brave enough to round the Horn then we likely have no worries wearing a single earring in the clubroom bar ). Then round it against the prevailing winds and we can wear that big gold ring in both ears. I wonder how many alive have done that in a small yacht. Maybe it's less of a challenge with modern superyachts and weather routing updated daily but still a challenge. Like that adrenalin rush when we commit to a grade 3 or 4 river run in our canoe?

[Stonefloat]

Originally Posted by wingssail

There are different cultures in sailing besides the different locales in which we sail, and each sailor lives their own dream, each just as valid as the next, yet all worlds apart.

Look at David Crosby's yacht Mayan, (pictured on the left, below). It's all about warm and cozy, tradition, and wood. I love this boat and how comfortable life can be aboard her. .

I had the pleasure to sail aboard Neil Youngs Raglan out of marrowstone Is several years back and I believe that that photo belongs to Raglan (the giveaway is the whalebone trimmed settee in stateroom)

[mglonnro]

We're going to take some pictures of and write about (at least) the Hanse yachts today at the Cannes Yachting Festival.

Why I'm writing this here, though, is that we walked around Cannes for quite a bit yesterday, and seeing all the luxury (stores, cars, hotels, superyachts) brought my thoughts back to the culture of it all, and fundamentally to what we are looking for in life, to make ourselves better off in whatever way we assume will do it.

Don't know, but I do think that for many people happiness can't be found in a Louis Vuitton store or having the most expensive Maserati and the biggest and baddest superyacht of the lot. For some people, maybe it will

Picture: Not a super yacht per se, as much as a super zebra boat

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by Sailorbob8599

That`s interesting, how did Mark Pierce & Andy Ess both come to post identical comment? Is there a glitch in the system or did they both post a quote made by another person?

Who is Andy Ess?

[PortClydeMe]

Originally Posted by wingssail

There are different cultures in sailing besides the different locales in which we sail, and each sailor lives their own dream, each just as valid as the next, yet all worlds apart.

Look at David Crosby's yacht Mayan, (pictured on the left, below). It's all about warm and cozy, tradition, and wood. I love this boat and how comfortable life can be aboard her. Then there is "Once Around" (right side, below). They have built up their coastal cruiser to carry everything. Wood fires and rich wood interiors are not their thing, nor is sailing much, but their life in the anchorages of the Caribbean, socializing with other cruisers, fits them. Then there is our approach, light, simple, fast, and meant for sailing. Oh, we like our comfort, and our wine in long stem glasses, but the joy of the open ocean on a boisterous day is why we have a boat. I won't even try to capture the Catamaran style, I know little of such things, but they are out there, and they love the path they have chosen to the world's seas too.

Yet we're all sailors and we share the connection with the water and the wind. We face the same navigation challenges and we explore, in our own ways, a different life from those ashore. So there is that common culture for all of us.

Sorry to inform you, wingssail, yet the photo you posted is the interior of Neil Young's "ex" schooner "W.N. Ragland", not David Crosby's "ex" schooner "Mayan". Just so you know.

Do a little research before posting. It will help.

[PortClydeMe]

Originally Posted by atoll

this is probably part of sailing culture forgotten by most who assume a boat must float all the time,and those that sail in areas with small tides.

In today's millennial YT-idiot social-media culture, I would change "forgotten" to "never learned", as painful as that truth is.

What might be fun is to set up a new social-media channel focusing on newbies lost at sea. However, it might be difficult to post their cool home-movie videos of the vessels going under ... because the GoPro cameras and the hard drives will go under too. Shame. Anyway, two come to mind. The French dude that posted here at CF about his old Morris drifting away in the Bahamas (the tears here were wonderful!), and that YT couple who lost their boat (it sank at anchor) in a harbor in the Caribbean/Florida somewhere a few months back.

What to name the new channel? Hmmmm. "Newbies Lost at Sea"? "Should Have Learned to Sail"? "Life Is More than a YouTube Account"? "Can We Be Delos Too?"? "Mom & Dad, Please Help!" ... Still thinking. (cough, cough)

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by PortClydeMe

In today's millennial YT-idiot social-media culture, I would change "forgotten" to "never learned", as painful as that truth is.

Are you saying that humankind has peaked? We have all been on a declining path since before the glass fiber and GPS era?

[PortClydeMe]

Originally Posted by mglonnro

Are you saying that humankind has peaked? We have all been on a declining path since before the glass fiber and GPS era?

No. Not since "before". Since "immediately after".

Video killed the radio star. YouTube killed humankind. Something like that.

[mglonnro]

Originally Posted by PortClydeMe

No. Not since "before". Since "immediately after".

Video killed the radio star. YouTube killed humankind. Something like that.

Maybe you're right. It seems like something the "previous" generation always thinks of the "next", though. I don't know, maybe some of both.

[hpeer]

Our big boat (44’, 40,000lb) was designed by Alan Pape. She has amidship topside fittings to accept legs, but we don’t have them, didn’t come with the boat. Her cutaway keel is about 26” across her flat bottom. He underwater profile is something of a landing barge. She will deffiently run UP on things, which has save me on occasion.

I grew up in New Jersey. Not much sailing there. I imagine the same from Norfolk South to Beaufort. Damn few inlets, not topography to speak of. We didn’t much like the Bahamas or VIs, but do like DR, PR, east carribean, Atlantic Canada.

I like the idea of sailing the Baltic, but still have dreams of exploring Labrador and Greenland as well.

[mlucasparris]

Seems like here on Lake Ontario that sailing is dieing. Fewer and fewer boats are powered by sail. Used sail boats can be picked up for a pittance. The annual boat show is dedicated to power boats with a few sailboats stuffed off in a corner. Many sailboats in my marina are just floating Winnebagos, they hardly go out. On beautiful sailing days with good wind you will only see a few boats of sail out. I've been told by former sailors they just don't have the time for it. New boaters don't get the appeal of sailing when pouring hard earned cash down a gas tank seems so much easier than hanking on a headsail.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Stonefloat

I had the pleasure to sail aboard Neil Youngs Raglan out of marrowstone Is several years back and I believe that that photo belongs to Raglan (the giveaway is the whalebone trimmed settee in stateroom)

Sorry, my mistake.

[bluenomads]

Jimmy's done lots of hard work on how many are circumnavigating... about 8,000 at any one time across the world