The Boat as Idea

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

Yep, VV, my toast was burnt this morning, our plans were set back another day by the weather and I have wasted too much time here on CF.

How was your coffee today? Got you a little sensitive?

ROFL...
Something like that... and a bit of envy maybe.

Actually, I typed a stronger response first, then decided I'd can it because I usually agree with most of your stuff.
But I missed the last line about arrogant and dumb when I was deleting the first comments... so it stayed.... oh well.... some days a diamond

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Jimbo485

Jim, I could be wrong but my impression is that your magazine is written mostly for the dreamers, not for true cruisers. And from a circulation point of view, that makes absolute sense to me because there are a lot more dreamers than cruisers and you need to sell magazines.

But how about an article that puts a fire under the bums of these dreamers? No sweet, tear-jerking stuff like the above posts! Stir them up! Do a Nike!

Tell them, in no uncertain words, to:

Stop wasting their time and money in boatyards, when their boat is crying out to sail oceans.

Stop wasting their years in a cubicle, that only resembles a cell, when their soul requires a blue sky and empty horizon.

Basically, tell them, with righteous anger even, to piss or get off the pot!

Cheers,

Chill It's only a boat

For you that might be something important (or even a "lifestyle" ) but for others no more so than having a 4X4 (SUV) - most know they ain't ever going to be driving up Mt Everest.....and don't actually want to, but nonetheless..........

FWIW I have never been important enough to have my own cubicle

[engele]

Sure sailing is an idea. What isn't? There are lots of folks out there with a car in the garage undergoing "restoration" for many many years. Sometimes they drive out under their own power and often not. The same is true of sailboats. Everyone told us that we would never finish our refit. We had a long list, and while it didn't really ever get shorter, our boat became more seaworthy. Friends and family liked watching the project chug along, but after a while they lost interest and sort of forgot that we had an interest in boats at all. When we announced that we were leaving on an extended trip, very few people actually expected the announcement. I think that boats and sailing are ideas for many folks, but just as many a father has restored an old car in the barn with his grandson, so have many folks taken the idea and made it a reality. Maybe your story should be about the reality cases and not the dreamers. It'll give the dreamers a bit more to dream about and maybe make them go for it.

[Piney]

I happen to agree with Jimbo485 100%.

There are some of use who actually sail and are sick and tired of the dreamers clogging up the marinas and boat yards. If you want to dream.. go read a book.

[sailstoo]

Originally Posted by Piney

I happen to agree with Jimbo485 100%.

There are some of use who actually sail and are sick and tired of the dreamers clogging up the marinas and boat yards. If you want to dream.. go read a book.

I'm sorry, please help me understand how those "clogging up the marinas and boatyards" are interfering with your sailing? One would think if you were sailing you wouldn't be in either of those places. Just askin'.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Piney

I happen to agree with Jimbo485 100%.

There are some of use who actually sail and are sick and tired of the dreamers clogging up the marinas and boat yards. If you want to dream.. go read a book.

Why do the dreams of others disturb you so much? It's not as if anyone needs your permission - or gives a sh#t what you are doing ("living the dream" ).........let alone think.

I think it's sad. Get on with your life.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Piney

I happen to agree with Jimbo485 100%.

There are some of use who actually sail and are sick and tired of the dreamers clogging up the marinas and boat yards. If you want to dream.. go read a book.

... or a magazine, which is where this thread started.

I'd far rather they clog up the marinas than the anchorages!!!!!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

... or a magazine, which is where this thread started.

I see that OP is a typical lazy "Journalist" - not even bothered to re-visit CF (since posting), let alone contribute to the thread No doubt will be back to collect "his" info..........

I guess some people are just takers...........ashore or afloat, same same

[clsailor]

Welcome Jim. I have a story about an old boat partner I had many years ago. He called me one day and offered a half interest in his Catalina 27 as the marina was getting ready to sell it for past due monies owed. He had owned this boat for 10 years and had only sailed her twice. He liked to sit home and plan ocean voyages. So I guess you could say that this boat was only an idea to him. He never worked on the boat over the 10 years he owned her.

On a good note - I did buy that half interest and got the boat up to shape. Then I bought his half and my wife and I sailed her all over the Chesapeake Bay.

[MikeTurner]

Originally Posted by Piney

There are some of use who actually sail and are sick and tired of the dreamers clogging up the marinas and boat yards

Every marina I've ever had a slip in, had just a handful of boats that ever left the dock. I was one of the few who actually went out. The majority seemed to sit for years, you could tell by the bottom growth and slime on deck. Others sat off on the hard, some covered with dust.

There was another thread awhile back that covered this phenomenon in depth, so I won't repeat discussion of why this might be so - why owners would go to the expense of slipping a boat they didn't use.

But it occurs to me that if those owners weren't all paying their slip fees, a lot of marinas and boatyards would go under. I'm pretty sure the one I'm in would; of 50-some boats slipped, there are maybe five of us who ever actually sail. And I've been spending a lot of time tied up of late, working on upkeep and repair of an aging boat.

My point is that, to the extent any of these "stationary" boats are owned by dreamers - those just getting started, those fixing up to get ready to go, those whose cruising is now behind them but the boat sustains memories, those for whom boat "ownership" is a thing different than "sailing" - they're helping to keep some of our marinas and boatyards open. And for that, I for one am grateful - they're helping to make my sailing and dreaming possible.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by Piney

There are some of use who actually sail and are sick and tired of the dreamers clogging up the marinas and boat yards. If you want to dream.. go read a book.

Kind of short-sighted, if you don't mind me saying so. First off, all those boats sitting in the marina, paying fees, create an economy of scale that keeps YOUR marina fees far lower than they would be otherwise. That's just basic economics. Second, If they were all actually out there sailing then every waterway, every anchorage, every port would be crowded to over-flowing.

Once again, it is actually a very good thing--for those who use their boats to go places--that most boat owners are only dreamers.

[Hud3]

Good grief, Piney! What a strange thing to say.

Did you suddenly wake up one morning from a dreamless sleep and somehow transport yourself to a boat fully equipped and ready to shove of? Of course not! You had to have thought and dreamed about what you wanted to do before you actually accomplished it.

I'd argue that every single person who is or has been actually cruising was a dreamer at first. How could you not have been? I remember the first time I actually "had the dream" of cruising. I was sitting on the verandah of a small hotel in Anse L'Ane, Martinique, on a family vacation in 1985. There were several cruising yachts anchored in the cove, and I said to myself, "Wouldn't I love to do that! But we probably won't ever be able to afford it." 17 years later, we bought a sailboat, outfitted it, worked on our offshore skills with a trip to Bermuda, and then sailed off to the Caribbean. If I had not had my "dream", it would never have happened.

Everybody dreams!

[hpeer]

It is not just us but a large portion of the population. Look at any magazine that deals with retirement, there are sailboats in the ads.

Some psychoanalyst believe that water or the ocean is a metaphor for sex. A sailboat becomes a way to engage with the erotic.

For me boats have always been friendly items. As a little kid my Dad was a bayman, and I spent a lot of time on a garvey. Our recreation frequently involved water; fishing, canoeing, whatever. When I didn't have a boat I would know where the local boat yards are and would go out of my way to walk through. I always felt as though I was communing with some friends, just looking at the hulls. I still do like to walk the boat yard, it gives me a good calm feeling, as among friends.

We now have two boats, which is nuts, but that is another matter. We spend most weekends on our local boat even if we are not doing much. Just getting out of the city and into a more sane environment is restorative.

[hpeer]

Piney,

Off topic....your name have any relation to this?

Piney (Pine Barrens resident)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Piney (disambiguation).
Piney is a derogatory term that refers to native inhabitants of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. The Pine Barrens have sandy, acidic soil considered unsuitable for traditional farming by early settlers, who called the land "barren". The area is forested mainly with pitch pine and scrub oak. Many areas are swampy with cedar forests that grow along brownish-red, fresh water called "cedar water". The red color is actually created by the high level of iron-ore in the soil.
Living conditions in the "Barrens" were considered inhospitable, and those that lived there were considered to be the dregs of society, fugitives, poachers, moonshiners, runaway slaves or deserting soldiers. Often poor, Pineys were forced to make a living in any way possible. They collected and sold sphagnum moss or pine cones, hunted, fished, and lived off of the land. Some of the pineys included notorious bandits known as the Pine Robbers.
Pineys were further demonized after two eugenics studies in the early 20th century, which depicted them as congenital idiots and criminals, most notably the research performed on "The Kallikak Family" by Henry H. Goddard.[1] Pineys often fostered stories of how terrible the Pine Barrens are or how violent they were in order to discourage outsiders and law enforcement from entering the Barrens. The Jersey Devil stories often had this effect.
Today, pineys tend to wear the label as a badge of honor[2], much like the term "redneck" has become in the Appalachian Mountains and the Southern United States.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piney_%...ns_resident%29

[s/v 'Faith']

I have an accute sense for just how short this life really is.

Partly from the debt I feel to my brothers who did not come home, and partly from my own experience of nearly dieing from leukemia.. I have chosen to live deliberately.

Even taking that stance, I savor the essence of my little ship... at the dock or underway. Last night, having trouble sleeping, knowing she was waiting for me was in my thoughts... a great comfort.

I remember once when I was really sick... had not slept in a few days, my wife took me down to my little ship and I climbed aboard. She rocked me to a deep and peacful sleep even though I was not able to free her from her dock lines that held her fast.

Now I sail her, and other boats (I make deliveries).... I love those boats, but Faith is always the one I dream about. I have a (delivery) trip planned in a month or so... one in March, another (charter Capt.) in May.
The time I spend planning these trips, the mental exercise of figuring out where I will go, what I will need, what weather I will likely encounter... they are all part of the experience for me.

I savor every part. Even the part I like least (leaving a boat at the end) makes me just that much more of the significance of every moment.

My life is better for the fact that I sail, and my little ship has more value then ANY insurance policy will ever reflect.