Another 'Bluewater Boat' Poll to Really Tee You Off!!

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Give them a break. What is blue water to one isn't for another. If they are just getting into it maybe a mile off shore is blue water?

Give whom a break?

Friend, I believe you may have misinterpreted both the intent of my original post and the information contained therein.

To clarify: It's a poll and an invitation for people who feel like it to recount their experience.

The title is deliberately hyperbolic and meant in good fun. So is the text, really. Sorry about that.

I'm actually quite impressed by people who just go for it, and we've heard from a few of them here.

Hope that clears things up.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

I don't think sailing far from shore is necessarily more challenging than coastal sailing. The challenges are different, and being far from shore the skills you mostly need are not so much sailing, as they are logistical, and mechanical, because you have to be more autonomous, so have to be better prepared and supplied and equipped.


The sailing itself is much harder inshore. The dangerous stuff is where the land is. Toughest sailing I've ever done is around the English Channel and North Sea, with big tides, strong tidal currents, rocks, shoals, difficult harbour entrances, gnarly weather, plus intense ship traffic. That takes a really high level of skill and seamanship. Easiest sailing I've ever done, on the contrary, is in the middle of the ocean, in a benign tropical latitude, on a boat with plenty of supplies and spare parts and a high production watermaker.

Oh, I agree completely. Even when I don't need to be far offshore I sometimes "take the long way around." Not only do we have a ton of shoals and obstructions, but the lobster pots are off the charts

[hpeer]

A good BS thread for a cold February day.

[nortonscove]

I grew up in and around boats. Eventually bought our first sailboat but were the only sailors for many miles so we taught ourselves. A few years later we jumped from 28 to 40 feet and continue to learn.

It's not exactly rocket science and doesn't happen at breakneck speeds so we've been tracking in the right direction it seems for years now. Second year we had this boat we headed to Labrador. Didn't make it due to weather and work commitments but had a fantastic week on the Northern Peninsula. Eventually you get into bigger seas and things become a little bit more challenging but you trust yourself and your boat. This year we had seen the worse sea state in our boat and it was within a mile of shore while rounding a headland. Thrilling after it's done. Environment Canada said it had been 11 metres a couple days before and I'm guessing we had 8-9 metres. I've never learned to surf but did that day.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by Cadence

Give them a break. What is blue water to one isn't for another. If they are just getting into it maybe a mile off shore is blue water?

Uh, are the two boats that disappeared in the storm I survived off GBR considered by the owners to be blue water?

I’ve sailed a Catalina 30 a mile offshore. I’d not sail one across the Atlantic.

I guess it takes a bigger person to admit their boat isn’t blue water. Our current boat is not. Convincing new fools that any boat can do it may be a death sentence.

Anyway, back to the poll, I grew up sailing. No ASA. So I guess I’m DQ.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by nortonscove

I grew up in and around boats. Eventually bought our first sailboat but were the only sailors for many miles so we taught ourselves. A few years later we jumped from 28 to 40 feet and continue to learn.

It's not exactly rocket science and doesn't happen at breakneck speeds so we've been tracking in the right direction it seems for years now. Second year we had this boat we headed to Labrador. Didn't make it due to weather and work commitments but had a fantastic week on the Northern Peninsula. Eventually you get into bigger seas and things become a little bit more challenging but you trust yourself and your boat. This year we had seen the worse sea state in our boat and it was within a mile of shore while rounding a headland. Thrilling after it's done. Environment Canada said it had been 11 metres a couple days before and I'm guessing we had 8-9 metres. I've never learned to surf but did that day.

Love it!

Curious, because of a lot of other threads about AWBs and surfing, and because of my own experience in (lesser) following seas: What kind of Beneteau are you drivin?

[dlj]

I've been sailing since I was a kid.

For reasons I can't explain, the ocean simply captivated me. I had been sailing on fresh water for some time before I ever even saw the ocean and when I did see it, it was transformational. I was about 12 years old and it felt as though it was calling me through the very fiber of my being. The smell, sounds, surf, motion and more, all hypnotized me at the moment I saw it.

It took me until my late 20's to begin sailing in the ocean however, although I had continued sailing in fresh water. My introduction to ocean sailing was in the Bay of Biscay. Sailing out of the Basque region being taught by Basque fishermen the ways of the sea. It was a great place to start.

I'm now about to retire and will continue sailing oceans but now with the freedom of both time and an income. I quite look forward to where the winds will take me and my boat.

dj

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

I guess it takes a bigger person to admit their boat isn’t blue water. Our current boat is not.

No, but with that rig it looks like it's fun to sail.

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Anyway, back to the poll, I grew up sailing. No ASA. So I guess I’m DQ.

OK, No ASA ≠ DQ IMHO. YMMV.

The DMF sailing experience has no DQ. You are answer #8 is all.

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by dlj

I've been sailing since I was a kid.

For reasons I can't explain, the ocean simply captivated me. I had been sailing on fresh water for some time before I ever even saw the ocean and when I did see it, it was transformational. I was about 12 years old and it felt as though it was calling me through the very fiber of my being. The smell, sounds, surf, motion and more, all hypnotized me at the moment I saw it.

It took me until my late 20's to begin sailing in the ocean however, although I had continued sailing in fresh water. My introduction to ocean sailing was in the Bay of Biscay. Sailing out of the Basque region being taught by Basque fishermen the ways of the sea. It was a great place to start.

I'm now about to retire and will continue sailing oceans but now with the freedom of both time and an income. I quite look forward to where the winds will take me and my boat.

dj

You've got a great boat for it. "My introduction to ocean sailing was in the Bay of Biscay" is poetry to my ears. I ever find you, I'm going to want to hear stories. I'll bring the Txakoli Txomin Extaniz.

[dlj]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

You've got a great boat for it. "My introduction to ocean sailing was in the Bay of Biscay" is poetry to my ears. I ever find you, I'm going to want to hear stories. I'll bring the Txakoli Txomin Extaniz.

Eskerrik asko! Bai, belauntxi ederra da!

dj

[goboatingnow]

I grew up where the Atlantic relentlessly pounds the coast line , a whole Lee shore of 300 miles against the prevailing SW winds and virtually continuous arrival of deep low pressures , summer is the few days between such weather systems

There’s no “ Bluewater “ anywhere as James Joyce memorably put it it’s a “ snot green scrotum tightening sea “ as it repeatedly breaks over the boat and runs down your neck as you navigate tidal rips , huge tides and waves that started near Boston ! Welcome to costal cruising ,” jack reacher “ style, the offshore tropical ocean is a doodle in comparison

[DMF Sailing]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

I grew up where the Atlantic relentlessly pounds the coast line , a whole Lee shore of 300 miles against the prevailing SW winds and virtually continuous arrival of deep low pressures , summer is the few days between such weather systems

There’s no “ Bluewater “ anywhere as James Joyce memorably put it it’s a “ snot green scrotum tightening sea “ as it repeatedly breaks over the boat and runs down your neck as you navigate tidal rips , huge tides and waves that started near Boston ! Welcome to costal cruising ,” jack reacher “ style, the offshore tropical ocean is a doodle in comparison

I love your posts, and this one is no exception. That second paragraph is a tad inscrutable.... but in a lovable way.

Your prevailing southwest started somewhere on the East Coast, true, though Jack Reacher, whose excellent Amazon series I am currently mainlining, has little to do with it... and they usually originate further south, but whatever...

My scrotum only tightens when we get nor'easters, which are not caused by you, but definitely produce green water!! And properly sailed, and reefed, a Bavaria 37 can handle them... kinda... Skol

Pictured: A Bavaria 37, double-reefed, coastally enjoying a 27-knot southwest wind... where Goboatingnow sails, this will be a Force 9 kicking up 30-foot waves. For real.

[double u]

selfbuilt a 34' Wharram (never having been on saltwater) 77 to 81 close to a "forest city" (GPOAT), trucked it to the Adriatic 7/81, Transat 1/82, continuing rtw, finishing 1/88 Seville
so definitely option "1"

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by DMF Sailing

I love your posts, and this one is no exception. That second paragraph is a tad inscrutable.... but in a lovable way.

Your prevailing southwest started somewhere on the East Coast, true, though Jack Reacher, whose excellent Amazon series I am currently mainlining, has little to do with it... and they usually originate further south, but whatever...

My scrotum only tightens when we get nor'easters, which are not caused by you, but definitely produce green water!! And properly sailed, and reefed, a Bavaria 37 can handle them... kinda... Skol

Pictured: A Bavaria 37, double-reefed, coastally enjoying a 27-knot southwest wind... where Goboatingnow sails, this will be a Force 9 kicking up 30-foot waves. For real.

Nice “ snot green “ water too

I’ve exchanged all that for the crystal blue waters of the Ionian , back there next month

My jack reacher reference was more to do with the books , he keeps getting beaten up but stands up and keeps fighting back. Kind of like sailing in the northern Atlantic

[OldManMirage]

I'll jump in, because even though I've sailed on the ocean - including a 3 day passage up the east coast of Florida - I still don't consider myself a "bluewater" sailor.

My wife and I have been sailing on and off with boats we have owned for almost 30 years now. We lived aboard one when we were young for a couple of years. We - mostly me - have wanted to "sail Away" all that time. But you know, for some of us life and kids and jobs get in the way.

Well the kids are grown and jobs are becoming less important, and we just got our biggest boat ever so...is bluewater a possibility ?

I'd say the odds are better than even !