WHAT DOES URGE YOU TO SET SAILS ?

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Robert Tilbury

No phones
No Internet
No people

Here's an interesting angle that comes up often.
Part of the peaceful feeling is the absence of cell towers.

On land, sure you could just turn off your phone on that stroll through the park. However, other people EXPECT to be able to reach you instantly. Even with the phone off, there is this modern nagging question- was someone trying to reach me? Maybe this is a self-inflicted injury, but it seems almost universal this century, especially among younger people.

On the open sea, a sat phone is just too expensive to chat. (yay) SSB and satellite email comes closer to the modern electronic dog leash- but the sailor is not really under this evil spell. Check in once per day? Sure, kids- we are alive today and here are our coordinates.

I have this looming dread to which any Luddite would toast... One day soon we may see inexpensive worldwide data coverage. (many systems already proposed) Cheers to the developing world- now everyone can enjoy the riches of technology! But- what about cruisers? Sure- instant elaborate weather information would be awesome. Yet, would we then suffer from the same anxiety that comes with that walk in the park with the cell phone off? We don't WANT to talk to anyone else for 3 weeks until the Bay of Virgins in Fatu Hiva appears... but if it was too EASY... one day...hmmm.

Happily, there are still (off-the-grid) hiking locations that I really enjoy for the solitude. How far into the future will I have to find the one corner of the globe that is out of reach of this inevitable future global data net? Oh, sure, the problem is only in my head. Tell that to the millennials who will no doubt come along for the journey, noses buried on touch screens.

[Rhwins]

My urge is to return to what was familiar cruising grounds
when I was a teenager; Ontario Canada's North Channel. It's the closest I feel to nature and I am awed by the natural beauty and the great people up there. Been back 4 times in past 12 years.

[Mike Banks]

Why set sail? Buggered if I know--it is a kind of compulsion--

[Robert Tilbury]

Part of the peaceful feeling is the absence of cell towers.

I was thinking the CELL DOOR at my house ,,,,
We are all prisinors at home ,
I know i can turn off the modern world but i still love the fact that on the blue i know a mate wont want his car fixed bike rebuilt and the soft floor of his fishing boat re glassed ,,,
I love the nothingness ,, i have my AIS on and my HF radio on , food on the stove fishing rod out the back drift anchore out ,, the only thing that brings me home nowadays is doctor visits and running out my pain meds ,,


stay safe everyone and have a great christmas ,,,, fair winds .

[Jim Cate]

No phones
No Internet
No people

I LOVE IT .

So, what are you doing on CF then? Internet and people... that's the crux of CF!

Jim

[picklesandjesse]

Originally Posted by cyan

For me, it's the memory of the smile from within that always appears with the view of a new shore. There is a comfortable familiarity that develops with these new surroundings... and then, no matter how perfect, there is a longing to experience that smile again. Wanderlust? I suppose.

Side Note-
I think I was a sailor in a previous life. As a land-locked boy, my recurring nightmare was floating on a calm ocean, FAR from any shore, then noticing a barely-submerged rock formation. This oddly horrifying sight was finally realized one day with the sight of Bishop Rock on Cortes Bank. WHAT are those waves doing there?? We're in the middle of the ocean! Spooky as hell.
I digress.

Cortes Bank also has that effect on surfers. There's something out there that people can feel within. Not been there myself but we surfed some offshore reefs in South Australia when I was younger and you get a certain feeling of horror, we really did not belong out there.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

Cyan, you nailed it in your first sentence.

I just love being at sea. Day sailing does nothing for me; I need a destination. And then another. I do not like returning.

[ras1544]

LMAO SV Sailfish. That was good.

[carstenb]

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;




from Sea Fever by John Masefield

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...-56d235e0d871e

[carstenb]

here's the entire poem - answers your question quite neatly I think


I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

[TheThunderbird]

I am liveaboard.
And l love Masefield so much!

Sure, l do appreciate the time at sea. But, most of the time, and mainly so in winter, we all stop wandering and look for a safe place, though not a home port by necessity.
I am on the hook


Thus, l ask myself. Shall l move on, today? Where to, and why?

For occasional sailors and guests, l see everyone wants to sail, to make good advantage of a short time at sea.
But almost full time floating people have different considerations and needs, l do believe.

I appreciate it, that a well-done repair/upgrade suits much my mindset, in the decision to test it and the self...yet, l think all waves alike, and any safe place is ok for me.

Therefore, l keep asking myself about the threshold for the recurrent decision .. "Shall l stay or shall l go" !?

[arsenelupiga]

as they say truth is never pretty.

however, the truth is that our lives are maybe slightly better than slaves. You not controlled by chain but there are other ways of control that you experience.

So, sail is escape out of all that.

One works whole life, buys large boat and sails into areas where live 'primitive people' and is the ultimate experience. So, yeah, we just little slaves that adore lives of free people.

pretty mediocre, really.

[Robert Tilbury]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

So, what are you doing on CF then? Internet and people... that's the crux of CF!

Jim

because when im home i look for stuff i need ,, then i see coments and think ,,,,i could be back on the water in an hour ,,,,

So thanks ,,im out of here for a few days ,,,,,,

[paulajayne]

Originally Posted by carstenb

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

Or the Spike Milligan version. :-

I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

I've left my shoes and socks there and wonder if they are dry.

[markpierce]

The romance of a cruiser appeals to many, but cruisers are a very tiny minority of the population. Reality/practicality almost always rules, and real cruisers are the exception.