Where Has the Cruising Counter-Culture Gone - Is It Too Late?

[Stillraining]

Therapy:

What Im saying is where there is a will there is a way..

I responded to an offer made openly here at CF and was given a beautiful pair of winches for my boat by JamesS through this site..FREE...the bum would not even let me reimburse him for shipping!!!

I have seen many other items advertised here for free or dirt cheep...All it takes is patience and keeping your eye open for such items you may want or need and they will come eventually.

Maybe not exactly what your wanting or would like to have but functional and useful or repairable conveniences just the same.

I will be offering my two old A/C units for free here in a couple weeks...someone with good electrical and refrigeration knowledge can surly get one good working unit out of the two if not both working...

Insurance claim wise @ 100.00 per hour shop rates its not worth the effort to repair them verses replace them...This is just one example of many I could come up with.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

The problem is the Yachting press and the advertisers who's interest they serve, above that of cruisers, have done an excellent job of convincing people that only the most expensive new gear will work, and it would be suicidal to go to sea with out a brand new boat, over 40 feet minimum, with brand new gear , refridgeration , microwave oven , all the electronics, .ham radio, systems and more systems, etc etc. They have convinced many that to do anything resourceful would be suicidal and irresponsible.
Thankfully there are people out cruising who have escaped consumer "Groupthink" and are doing their own thinking on what they need. They are certainly, by far, the most interesting people out there, far more so than the "Groupthink" crowd.. It's sad to see someone who wasted a huge portion of their lives having been suckered into chasing all the "Necessities " then meeting people out there who got away at a much younger age, with only the real necessities, people who spent their limited lifetime cruising, rather than being conned into filling the pockets of merchants..
Sites which only allow, and thus encourage, posts made by the rich ridiculing , and deriding the poor, while deleting posts that encourage and try to help and support them, don't help.

just had a 3rd generation skipper,(bt challenge) compliment me on answering all their questions on an up coming delivery,telling me that is exactly what jimmy cornell in "cruising routes of the world" would have recomended for the up coming voyage.
my comment was that actually i was looking at "ocean passages of the world" published long before cornell plagarised it, and it is probably jimmy that we owe the demise of the yachting counter culture(or grotty yottie) in to check book sailor.

took me 12 years to work and sail around the world the first time,on a limited budget,2nd time around 3 years on a much larger budget.

did an assisted passage in ocober on a yacht with first time owners,jumping off from canaries for 1 year cruise of atlantic ,europe,carib azores,n europe.
asked me if 3000 euros a month was going to be enough!!!!!!!!!


any way would just like to thank jimmy and gwenda and gps for oppertunistically exploiting somthing that was almost free up untill 20 years ago .
but that is life,and it keeps skippers like my self in work,still gotta have common sense and guts to sail your caravan.

[daddle]

Originally Posted by atoll

any way would just like to thank jimmy and gwenda and gps for oppertunistically exploiting somthing that was almost free up untill 20 years ago. but that is life,and it keeps skippers like my self in work,still gotta have common sense and guts to sail your caravan.

Come on, show some humanity. That's like saying Webster exploited non-spellers

[atoll]

yeah and cnn loves a disaster,it sells news papers.

[boatman61]

My Ocean Passage Charts are 'Ships Boat Charts of the Oceans' by the Hydrographer of the Navy 1975... complete with bearings of sunrise and sunsets for both Hemispheres and a little sheet of magnifing plastic...
Winds, currents and old Sailing routes... some lovely descriptions..
Getting a bit worn now though, so have to get round to having them Photo Copied soon.. then seal em up till needed again...

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

Therapy:

What Im saying is where there is a will there is a way..

I responded to an offer made openly here at CF and was given a beautiful pair of winches for my boat by JamesS through this site..FREE...the bum would not even let me reimburse him for shipping!!!

I have seen many other items advertised here for free or dirt cheep...All it takes is patience and keeping your eye open for such items you may want or need and they will come eventually.

Maybe not exactly what your wanting or would like to have but functional and useful or repairable conveniences just the same.

I will be offering my two old A/C units for free here in a couple weeks...someone with good electrical and refrigeration knowledge can surly get one good working unit out of the two if not both working...

Insurance claim wise @ 100.00 per hour shop rates its not worth the effort to repair them verses replace them...This is just one example of many I could come up with.

OOHHH.

OK.

Like that old Yamaha prop I sent off last year.

[nigheandonn]

Originally Posted by DPMatty

I first took to boats bumming around the caribean almost twenty years ago and have been looking to head back and may over the next year or so. While I'm not a complete misanthrope, one of the things that appealed to me was the counter culture that existed in the cruising community. These were folks who, like me, perhaps more so, left to drop out of the standard keep up with the jonses society.

I loved that. I came back started a business which I've been running almost by accident and dealing with people who I have loathed for twenty years. But I had some family obligations that I had to attend to.

Now in reading these boards and others I find the yuppies have taken to the sea... I know they've always been there a bit, but not like it appears today.

Am I wrong? Can one still get away and find adventure or must a new cruising ground be pursued? Are there really any left? The questions are sort of rhetorical, but not entirely...

I wish I had been born to a time of wooden ships and no electronic navigation...

Very interesting question.
We sail the west coast of Ireland - no marinas for 100 miles north or south so hidden anchorages are our daily port of call! You can cruise for ages without seeing other sail boats and when we do, we are quite glad to see 'em! call them up often on the VHF for a chin wag. Everyone friendly courteous and helpful. I reckon the uncrowded waters in which we sail has a lot got to do with that, which is maybe what the OP experienced on his caribbean oddyssey (just "maybe " - we haven't got as far as the caribbean yet!)

[boatman61]

Its still there.. just go to the old French and Spanish Islands that don't have the swank marinas and abound with tales of villainy.. much like you hear Dutch side about French side St Martin...
The good thing about yuppie yotties is they run scared real easy...

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by atoll

yeah and cnn loves a disaster,it sells news papers.

Luckily for CNN, it isn't in the newspaper business - it seems no one reads the newspaper these days, no matter the contents. Sad, really, and a bit pathetic, as well.

TaoJones

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Luckily for CNN, it isn't in the newspaper business - it seems no one reads the newspaper these days, no matter the contents. Sad, really, and a bit pathetic, as well.

TaoJones

The good thing about CNN is that during live coverage of wars you can watch exploding stuff killing folks and keep an eye on how it is affecting stock prices ........ Sometimes I wonder why "they" don't respect our values

[Brent Swain]

Originally Posted by GordMay

I can't recall ever coming accross such as site. Care to name one?

This one . Cruisers Forums. Your insult to Tyler still stands ,while ones defending him get deleted. Your ridiculing and derision of Tyler's question was anything but "Nice" but it is still on the site.

[John A]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

This one . Cruisers Forums. Your insult to Tyler still stands ,while ones defending him get deleted. Your ridiculing and derision of Tyler's question was anything but "Nice" but it is still on the site.

The judgemential comments do become boring after awhile. But then, after 13,000 posts, its become a mod supported function of this forum.

[John A]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Its still there.. just go to the old French and Spanish Islands that don't have the swank marinas and abound with tales of villainy.. much like you hear Dutch side about French side St Martin...
The good thing about yuppie yotties is they run scared real easy...

On the Dutch side , one doesn't lock their dinghy when going ashore. On the French side, if you don't lock your dinghy, it's gone before you've stepped off the dock. I've seen more than one cruisier screaming at their disappearing dinghy, while those around them give the classic shrug.

[idpnd]

Originally Posted by Brent Swain

This one . Cruisers Forums. Your insult to Tyler still stands ,while ones defending him get deleted. Your ridiculing and derision of Tyler's question was anything but "Nice" but it is still on the site.

Could you link to the post please

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by John A

On the Dutch side , one doesn't lock their dinghy when going ashore. On the French side, if you don't lock your dinghy, it's gone before you've stepped off the dock. I've seen more than one cruisier screaming at their disappearing dinghy, while those around them give the classic shrug.

On the Dutch side most Dinghy docks are at dedicated spots like Marinas, and bars like Shrimpy's/Soggy Dollar etc... French side its wide open... I always lock my dinghy.... not just to deter locals, some boaters aren't beyond 'acquiring' a second dinghy
Dinghy's get stolen all over the World.. if your STUPID & LAZY enough to leave it unsecured anywhere your asking for trouble... it only takes a minute..
Never had one stolen.. there or anywhere else..