Sailing vs Cruising

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Certainly sorry to offend.

Maybe I should have asked what's it like to actually cruise constantly rather than be on a constant retirement vacation (which for some that have worked hard all their lives would be great!)

I'm just one of those that thinks it's a bad thing to actually retire.

In the Call of the Wild when they pulled a sled dog out of the traces because he was too old and slow, he'd still chase the sled until he could no longer keep up

Does this help explain my question?

There is all kinds of "cruising" and no two are alike but there are a few generally used categories:
- Coastal Cruising: Involves regular travel but typically passages are less than 24hrs.
- Ocean Cruising: Involves crossing large expanses of the open ocean. Typically involving multiday passages. Most Ocean Cruisers revert to Coastal Cruising between crossings.
- Weekend Cruiser: Typically a coastal cruiser who is still working and only has weekends and short vacations to cruise.
- Liveaboard: Technically anyone living on their boat qualifies but usually is used to refer to someone who rarely if ever takes the boat out of the marina. Mostly used in Florida as marinas are sometimes less welcoming to "Liveaboards" but love "Cruisers".

As far as being "serious cruising," "real cruising" or "constant retirement vacation" that's purely being judgmental. In many respects, Coastal Cruising can be more challenging than Ocean Cruising.

Whether any of this is done using wind power, is a totally different subject.

PS: Learning and staying mentally active is at best tangentially related to working. If you have a desire to learn, you won't need a job.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

. . .PS: Learning and staying mentally active is at best tangentially related to working. If you have a desire to learn, you won't need a job.

I don't think you can state it like this. It's not "tangentially related"; it can be directy related but depends very much on what kind of job we're talking about.



Compared to having some stupid mindless job, being without a job but with time to study on your own may be vastly better for learning.


But a really stimulating and challenging job may be a better environment for learning for many people, especially since you have a practical application of the learning.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

There is all kinds of "cruising" and no two are alike but there are a few generally used categories:
- Coastal Cruising: Involves regular travel but typically passages are less than 24hrs.
- Ocean Cruising: Involves crossing large expanses of the open ocean. Typically involving multiday passages. Most Ocean Cruisers revert to Coastal Cruising between crossings.
- Weekend Cruiser: Typically a coastal cruiser who is still working and only has weekends and short vacations to cruise.
- Liveaboard: Technically anyone living on their boat qualifies but usually is used to refer to someone who rarely if ever takes the boat out of the marina. Mostly used in Florida as marinas are sometimes less welcoming to "Liveaboards" but love "Cruisers".

As far as being "serious cruising," "real cruising" or "constant retirement vacation" that's purely being judgmental. In many respects, Coastal Cruising can be more challenging than Ocean Cruising.

Whether any of this is done using wind power, is a totally different subject.

PS: Learning and staying mentally active is at best tangentially related to working. If you have a desire to learn, you won't need a job.

Thanks for the break down on types of cruising.

I'm definitely a Weekend (vacation) Cruiser and day sailor as much as possible

I plan to graduate to Coastal Cruiser one day but possibly with 48 hour hops.

I first "cruised" offshore when I was 17 on my 14' Aluminum V bottom boat with 25 HP Evinrude Outboard. This in the early 70's.

The trip was to Tangier Island out in the Chesapeake Bay which is maybe 15 miles out.

We had no radio, no compass (you can't see the island from shore). Supplies included a six pack of Budweiser, 2 cans of Vienna Sausages, crackers, and 1/2 a dozen peeler crabs for bait for the two of us

It was a fun trip and luckily the motor held up and the weather stayed nice.

Plus when you are 17 and the skipper of your own boat, it seemed like a big deal at the time

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...!4d-75.9928952

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I don't think you can state it like this. It's not "tangentially related"; it can be directy related but depends very much on what kind of job we're talking about.

Compared to having some stupid mindless job, being without a job but with time to study on your own may be vastly better for learning.

But a really stimulating and challenging job may be a better environment for learning for many people, especially since you have a practical application of the learning.

I would disagree.

I know a few people with mindless jobs who are constantly learning in a wide variety of areas.

I also know people in what should be stimulating jobs who learn as little as possible...I've known several engineers who got to where they have a job and do the bare minimum.

So while more complex jobs generally result in more learning, it is tangential in that it doesn't necessarily mean you will learn a lot nor do you learn more than if you pursued learning through other venues.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I would disagree.

I know a few people with mindless jobs who are constantly learning in a wide variety of areas.

I also know people in what should be stimulating jobs who learn as little as possible...I've known several engineers who got to where they have a job and do the bare minimum.

So while more complex jobs generally result in more learning, it is tangential in that it doesn't necessarily mean you will learn a lot nor do you learn more than if you pursued learning through other venues.

Our engineers/techs have to keep up.

They/we have to pass cyber awareness classes as a minimum and most need an Information Assurance Cert just to touch some of our computers. To change passwords and do admin functions they need a higher cert

Then we have systems ranging from 1990's Mainframes with small 3 gig drives to new systems with ethernet connections. The latest computers have 32 gig of just ram. Drives are in the terabytes

You almost need an AARP card to work on the old stuff, but those guys also need to know the new systems and have the certs as well. I need to know enough about the new stuff to be dangerous as manager

Then there's the flying. I learned to fly the simulators after getting up here. I knew how to fly RC planes so it wasn't that much of a jump. I learned the city doing fly overs (virtually) and I would also pre fly my weekend sailing destinations

I kinda stopped that though because on 5-8 hour return sails I'd think about being in the simulator and making the same trip in 15 minutes with the twin 5,000 hp engines

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Our engineers/techs have to keep up.

To a degree...Really basic grunt level engineering, I could teach a reasonably intelligent teen to do 90% of the work.

Of course this brings up another issue...

Is it a Chicken & Egg thing? People who like to learn tend to gravitate toward more intellectual job. Those that don't tend to gravitate towards non-intellectual jobs. (of course there are exceptions, my examples are by far the exception. Most actively learn all the time but they also tend to be actively learning both within their career and outside of it.)

[ATC]

I read a little here and respond very little, but my take on the question is "cruising is the most expensive way to go third case".

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by ATC

I read a little here and respond very little, but my take on the question is "cruising is the most expensive way to go third case".

The full saying is closer to Cruising is the slowest, most expensive way to travel third class.

[Coast Wanderer]

Wow, lots of discussion about cruising vs sailing..
I don't sail, I have a power boat with brand new twin engines and I cruise, but sailing has always intrigued me, so I watch all the sailing YT videos I can stand, but when we go away in our boat, we stay in a bay, a marina or wherever we want, for as long as we want. I retired from a technical corporate job once, but chose to work as a photographer/videographer, so I'm not about to take on any multi-month long passages or travel the world, or even stay out in the boat for months at a time, but for us, just cruising the coastal waters near us and spending time out, meeting other people who can bestow upon us their experiences and the reciprocal thereof, is part of the pleasure of cruising. I don't judge, I just enjoy the company of people who do what they love to do.
Sailing vs cruisng, is one better than the other? Yes, definitely, the one that fits you best is better than any that do not.

[AZUS]

One of the things we enjoy about all of the ports and anchorages we encounter around the world is the wide diversity of people living on and sailing their boats.

We even enjoy those cantankerous souls who insist on defining the rest of us as “worthy” and “unworthy”!

[Hasbeen]

I was a cruiser, I was also a racer. I sailed 53,000 miles around the Pacific islands. I stopped in a couple of ports for many months, & one for 18 months, but could often go for 2 or 3 months without being anywhere where you could buy fuel, gas or food.


There were a couple of occasions when I had to make a 500 mile passage to get to somewhere where I could get gas for fridge & cooking. Food you caught or baked yourself, or traded with the villages.


I carried only 10 gallons of diesel, & a little more outboard & generator fuel. Perhaps you can guess I don't like motoring in a yacht, if they sail well, they are usually lousy motor boats.



After 6 years I became homesick, silly boy, & sailed home. It was a great time, & I would go back tomorrow, if I was young enough to handle it.

[thomm225]

The boat I have now is still small but my son convinced me that painting the interior white or a lighter color over the old paneling would help

He even did a section without asking me and I didn't like it .......at first. It took a month before I proceeded on from where he stopped

It's not perfect but it's much more "livable" than before so i could possibly spend more time down there than just sleeping or cooking maybe if necessary

Before is displayed in the video which was after a long, cool, windy sail last October across the Chesapeake Bay westward into Mobjack Bay then up the Severn River to a decent anchorage. (forgot to turn off the playlist)

My problem with this boat is that every time I put it up for sale and someone comes to look at it I end up trying to talk them out of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWwQ4iUfiyM

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Hasbeen

I was a cruiser, I was also a racer. I sailed 53,000 miles around the Pacific islands. I stopped in a couple of ports for many months, & one for 18 months, but could often go for 2 or 3 months without being anywhere where you could buy fuel, gas or food.


There were a couple of occasions when I had to make a 500 mile passage to get to somewhere where I could get gas for fridge & cooking. Food you caught or baked yourself, or traded with the villages.


I carried only 10 gallons of diesel, & a little more outboard & generator fuel. Perhaps you can guess I don't like motoring in a yacht, if they sail well, they are usually lousy motor boats.



After 6 years I became homesick, silly boy, & sailed home. It was a great time, & I would go back tomorrow, if I was young enough to handle it.

What size and type boat?

[Mauruuru]

Why would anybody care?

[dcstrng]

Originally Posted by thomm225

The boat I have now is still small but my son convinced me that painting the interior white or a lighter color over the old paneling would help...

It's not perfect but it's much more "livable" than before so i could possibly spend more time down there than just sleeping or cooking maybe if necessary...

Nice -- really makes me miss my B24.