What was the most important or most interesting ...

[Rakuflames]

What was the most important (to you) or most interesting thing you learned your first year sailing, cruising or living aboard?

Mine, hands down, was that if you don't live aboard you're likely to miss some of the most amazing events that can happen on the water -- such as being surrounded water thick as soup with bioluminescent algae, or packs of hunting dolphin so eager to get at the sheepshead in your slip that they bang one's boat with their tails to move it out of the way (kind of like living inside a very loud bell), or watching six - eight manatee swimming lazily past the stern of my boat on the way to the spring at the end of the fairway.

[zeehag]

first year sailing--age 7-- WATCH THE BOOM. dont have a race to raise gaff throat and peak. learned my first heavy weather sailing tips and how to read paper charts


first year cruising-learned this is awesome way of life. my boat is perfect for the job of cruising and can go anywhere i wish her to go ..... repairs dont have to be pricey. heavy weather is fun. sailing a sloop was not fun in heavy weather.

first year living aboard was 1990..learned is easier than folks make it out to being, but is like pioneering..must have the spirit and ability to think outside a box. must be flexible in thought and body.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by zeehag

first year sailing--age 7-- WATCH THE BOOM. dont have a race to raise gaff throat and peak. learned my first heavy weather sailing tips and how to read paper charts


first year cruising-learned this is awesome way of life. my boat is perfect for the job of cruising and can go anywhere i wish her to go ..... repairs dont have to be pricey. heavy weather is fun. sailing a sloop was not fun in heavy weather.

first year living aboard was 1990..learned is easier than folks make it out to being, but is like pioneering..must have the spirit and ability to think outside a box. must be flexible in thought and body.

+1

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

What was the most important (to you) or most interesting thing you learned your first year sailing, cruising or living aboard?

Stop trying to predict everything and just get on with it, get on with today and leave tomorrow alone.

That and don't listen to anyone on the internet.

Unless they say reef early.

[Tony B]

My first year sailing, I had a 25 MacGregor 25. Very small, very light, very overwhelmed by nature and most of my sailing was single handed. It was a great fun boat and been through a lot. I learned the value of making and using Lazy Jacks and a down haul for dropping the jib onto the deck while standing in the cockpit. Lazy Jacks are essential for single handling and the jib downhaul is essential if you dont have roller furling/reefing. The quicker you can drop your main and jib and under control from the cockpit and the less time you spend on the coach roof securing stuff, like sails, the safer and happier you will be.

[skipmac]

For me I could answer this question in so many ways in the context of seamanship, mechanical and maintenance skills, philosophically, etc.

Since the thread seems to be heading more towards the latter for me it was how little I missed so much of the superficial trappings of civilization. Living on the hook in the islands at times I had to think to remember where I had stored my wallet and how much money I might have (it wasn't much). I was always a news junkie but found out I could go months without reading a paper or watching the TV news and missed very little. I learned how much I appreciated a simpler, quieter life and was able to lose much of my attachment to the typical US lifestyle.

[MysticGringo]

Towing insurance is cheap peace of mind.

Everything breaks.

Women that don't like boats aren't for me. (in truth, I'm still learning this).

I'd rather spend all say working on the boat than mowing a lawn for an hour.

The project list grows, not shrinks.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by conachair

That and don't listen to anyone on the internet.

I disagree (hey, it's the internet ).

Same advice as I used to give to folks* hitting the bright lights of Thailand for the first time: take everything at face value , just don't beleive a word of it - until "You" have verified it personally, ideally from both multiple sources and personal experiance. and even then think carefully before putting hand in pocket. or staking life on it.

Internet same same .



*ok, fellas mostly

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

What was the most important (to you) or most interesting thing you learned your first year sailing, cruising or living aboard?

Mine, hands down, was that if you don't live aboard you're likely to miss some of the most amazing events that can happen on the water -- such as being surrounded water thick as soup with bioluminescent algae, or packs of hunting dolphin so eager to get at the sheepshead in your slip that they bang one's boat with their tails to move it out of the way (kind of like living inside a very loud bell), or watching six - eight manatee swimming lazily past the stern of my boat on the way to the spring at the end of the fairway.

I learnt that being cold, wet and bored is.......cold, wet and boring.

and that boats is for old people with no sense of adventure who seem to think that sitting still doing SFA is fun . whearas in fact the fun was obviously ashore rock scrambling, sand castles and mud. and stuff. Stuff rocks because stuff is only limited by imagination .

now that I am into double digits my views have changed a bit. but not fundamentally so. I have just coupled it with sitting still and doing SFA ......wayyyy too much of that in recent years (the price of too much stuff in prior years), but plans are afoot . Dreams hopefully to follow...........

[atoll]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I learnt that being cold, wet and bored is.......cold, wet and boring.

and that boats is for old people with no sense of adventure who seem to think that sitting still doing SFA is fun . whearas in fact the fun was obviously ashore rock scrambling, sand castles and mud. and stuff. Stuff rocks because stuff is only limited by imagination .

now that I am into double digits my views have changed a bit. but not fundamentally so. I have just coupled it with sitting still and doing SFA ......wayyyy too much of that in recent years (the price of too much stuff in prior years), but plans are afoot . Dreams hopefully to follow...........

david you have such a nice way of saying nothing

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by atoll

david you have such a nice way of saying nothing

6,788 posts can't be wrong .

[atoll]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

6,788 posts can't be wrong .

is it really that many! it is amazing how time flies when you are having fun!

just sitting here getting the remnants of ts nadine,how is the weather in jersey?

[Tony B]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

....people with no sense of adventure who seem to think that sitting still doing SFA is fun. ......I have just coupled it with sitting still and doing SFA ...........

So, what does the Scottish Football Association have to do with this?

Seriously, what is SFA and dont tell me the Scottish Football Association

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Tony B

So, what does the Scottish Football Association have to do with this?

Seriously, what is SFA and dont tell me the Scottish Football Association

i googled it for you
Sales force management system - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[David_Old_Jersey]

Weather here is pissing down with rain. Glad I am not stuck on the boat .

Originally Posted by Tony B

So, what does the Scottish Football Association have to do with this?

Seriously, what is SFA and dont tell me the Scottish Football Association

This question cropped up recently......

......Sweet Fanny Adams (a sick 19th Century joke by sailors based on a gruesome child murder!).

Fanny Adams - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

......that then morphed into the less polite (but more descriptive) Sweet Feck All.

Both mean the same. Not terribly impolite - more blunt.

Until CF informed me last week I didn't know the origin and just assumed that Sweet Fanny Adams was the polite version of the original rude one! I also assumed it was of American origin . Wrong on both counts - hey, it happens!