Why do you sail?

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by crankysailor

Well.. I don’t know actually. It is just a pull coming from the ocean. You just want to go. Then I get often scared (and not just of the ocean but our finances, etc) , but when it is over, you just want to go again.

You give up comfort in so many ways BUT that's also part of the freedom, comfort often comes with shackles.

[Divevac]

After working and racing for 40 years, I want to continue to sail in retirement. Cutting grass and maintaining a property is growing very thin. We have the itch to travel extensively and sailing is the most economical and enjoyable means we can think of to see parts of the world at our own pace taking our home with us.

Sailing is also a very leisurely and occasionally challenging form of transportation. But it offers considerable freedom. The only schedule to follow is our own. Love a spot...we'll stick around. When the lustre wears thin, we'll move on to yet another adventure.

That's why we'll continue to sail.

[Tetepare]

With sailing, I'm on the outside looking in.

The tourists dining on the hotel deck- they're looking out, at me.

The megamillions lakefront homes- they're looking out, at me.

The lakeshore hikers and picnickers- they're looking out.

The lovers watching the submarine races.

Those driving over the Golden Gate or Tappan Zee.

Mountain climbers take photos of a distant sea.

So why not be out there, on that sea?

[Pelagic]

The ultimate ZEN moments for me have been when becalmed in the middle of the ocean, just drifting, waiting for wind.

The ocean is still, except for that slight heaving of a sleeping giant.

Where else can you pee into an endless horizon and watch your ripples expand into insignificance?

[canyonbat]

Because every time we leave the boat we almost immediately wish we were back aboard.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

The ultimate ZEN moments for me have been when becalmed in the middle of the ocean, just drifting, waiting for wind.

The ocean is still, except for that slight heaving of a sleeping giant.

Where else can you pee into an endless horizon and watch your ripples expand into insignificance?

Well, I haven't experienced peeing into an endless horizon , but I have personally felt totally insignificant in the scheme of things. I have a strong sense that I am just one of a long line of sailors over literally several millennia that have taken to the sea. When I pass there will be countless others to follow.

The sense of insignificance has not felt distressing, nor (as possibly expected) humbling. It just comfortingly makes me feel one small link of a long chain .

SWL

[zboss]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Where else can you pee into an endless horizon and watch your ripples expand into insignificance?

Or maybe they caused a tsunami in Japan!

[mawtty]

I first found that I could catch Spanish Mackarel trolling a silver spoon behind a home built catamaran.
As I got more experienced I found that I could use the wind and the wind vane and in five days be in a Stone Age culture in a remote part of the world.
My question is, "Why would I want to return to the 21 st century?".
Tulku Tim.

[Don C L]

They pushed me out in a soggy little wooden boat with a handkerchief on a pole and a shoestring to pull on it. There was a stick on a hinged blade hanging off the back end that they said would steer it. As I drifted out with the breeze, the faded wrinkled white flag flapping carelessly, I pulled on the string and suddenly the cloth flopped into a beautiful silent arc that pulled my tiny boat over onto its side and I started to zip over the water, ripples slapping at the sides, the blade dangling behind leaving a trail of burble. Sure enough when I pulled on the stick one way and then the other, I turned the boat! So I turned. Then my beautiful wing collapsed into a flapping flag again, the boat righting itself. Then it swung to the other side, I ducked my head, the rag swept over me and snapped into its sculpted arc and away I went in another direction, wavelets slapping at the front of the boat again as I slid over the mottled mirror of the brackish pond. "I can go anywhere I want with just a breeze.. and fast!" So began the remorseless conspiracy of wind and water to hold me close, enchanted, and I am grateful...
now why do I cruise? You'll have to ask the islands and the sea about that.

[Pelagic]

Beautiful Don! [emoji106]

[Seaworthy Lass]

Just to provide some balance .
This is the reality for some:

Cruising Blues and Their Cure by Robert M Pirsig

[Ocean Phoenix]

WOW...We really enjoyed reading all the replies to this thread (55 so far) Some really made us stop and think and others were quite funny. Thank you all for taking the time to share with us!
Cheers

[barnakiel]

Why not?

Why do you breathe?

Because IT is there?

;-)

I do not sail. I am being sailed.

The itch comes and I must abandon my lovers and my lawyers. Gone sailing. A call. A mission. A vice.

I am a lazy bum and sailing is a great excuse to avoid having kids, bank accounts and all the land side 'responsibilities'.

Because the wind is blowing.

...

In my case all these explanations are true.

Cheers,
b.

[jkindredpdx]

The wind blows the worries from my mind.
The never-ending tasks and projects keep my mind and body active.
Balancing wind, current, and boat keeps me balanced.
Peace and quiet. Chaos and terror. Laughs and smiles.
Wind is cheaper and more sustainable than diesel.

[weavis]

Well....