Why CF Wins

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by sabray

Im just going to put out the offer. Ill go up against any anarchy forumerrr and prove cruisers are better sailors.Im working on the rules. Pretty confident that I can out sail most challengers. So long as I get to set the rules.
Watch out Volvo were on the edge of the forum challenge.
I am proposing a race of sail boats around the world CF against anarchy. rules they have to sail around in boats. First one across the finish line wins. So far those are the rules. Anyone want to add?
I would like to leave from the Lizard for literary reasons. Cuttyhunk would also serve well for similar reason.
Draft:
The forum challenge will have some restrictions and will require an entry fee that directly goes to my checking account. All participants need something on board and are required to have something else on board as well. A waiver form must be signed before entry. If you activate an epirb forum members can poll to see f you really need help.

It'll never work.

We'll spend 2 years arguing about what boat is suitable. Then we'll spend 5 years on the refit. Then we'll spend 2 years building the cruising kitty. Then we'll spend another year downsizing our shore based prosessions...

OK - tell those bums we are on for March, 2022...

Are we racing a cat or a mono?

[Wotname]

This thread has got me thinking again...<sigh> and I think CF must be many different things to different members.
I realize that I probably have very little idea of the big picture as I could never read even half of what is posted so my concept of CF is based on perhaps 15 or 20 percent of the total posts. Is that a representative sample - I don't know; especially as what I read is biassed towards what I am interested in and what available time I have. For instance I would pass by threads like "Anyone have waypoints for Key Largo" or "Best ICW cruiser for first time sailor" - not saying anything wrong with suchlike as I note they have many posts in them.

There is also a certain cohort of members who I try to read everything they post. I either respect their opinions or their humour or their knowledge or the way they write or just because I feel an affinity to them over and above them being fellow watermen or sometimes because I almost always disagree with their POV and yet am willing to be challenged (by them). Surprisingly (to me), I have changed my own POV when they throw up a decent and defensible argument!

Apart from the many technical aspects of sailing or cruising (sails, engines, provisioning, maintenance, navigation etc), I have learned so much on CF about American culture that no amount of sailing RTW could achieve. It never ceases to amaze me how easily I understand posts (and folk) from say NZ, UK, Canada or even Europe and yet struggle with my US friends. This is not say I don't respect their input, I do, mostly! They express themselves in a way that I don't expect or even understand (sometimes) given the similarities of language and lifestyle. Perhaps they think we/I are/am weird! But I do always forgive their inability to spell simple words like humour or programme.

What would it be like to be washed up on a remote beach with the top 100 or so CF posters? I reckon it would be great except for maybe an age and/or gender imbalance.

Yes AVB3, CF wins; thanks members and moderators.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

It'll never work.

We'll spend 2 years arguing about what boat is suitable. Then we'll spend 5 years on the refit. Then we'll spend 2 years building the cruising kitty. Then we'll spend another year downsizing our shore based prosessions...

OK - tell those bums we are on for March, 2022...

Are we racing a cat or a mono?

Ahh... so true and just wait while we sort out the rules on anchors, pirates, guns, logs, gender balance.........
Oh and who will be the captain of the S/V CF let alone the admiral...

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Wotname

This thread has got me thinking again...<sigh> and I think CF must be many different things to different members.
I realize that I probably have very little idea of the big picture as I could never read even half of what is posted so my concept of CF is based on perhaps 15 or 20 percent of the total posts. Is that a representative sample - I don't know; especially as what I read is biassed towards what I am interested in and what available time I have. For instance I would pass by threads like "Anyone have waypoints for Key Largo" or "Best ICW cruiser for first time sailor" - not saying anything wrong with suchlike as I note they have many posts in them.

CF is like a big department store. It's not often I need to go to the spaceship repair department but when I do, I will be welcome. Two of the guys in there will argue like hell about whether Kirk or Picard is a better skipper but they both will be able to tell me how to purify dilithium crystals for the gas tank.

Aside from the play nice rule one of the big advantages here is the organization of the topics. You dont have to wade through stuff you are not interested in.

[sabray]

Originally Posted by Wotname

Ahh... so true and just wait while we sort out the rules on anchors, pirates, guns, logs, gender balance.........
Oh and who will be the captain of the S/V CF let alone the admiral...

Simple you can have a anchor. If your a pirate you have to wear a thong. Gun's are okay during photo shoots. No idea what you think a log is but we ask that you keep that to yourself. So no log displaying. I was hoping we could start 2014. Zee would be a great admiral.

[ardoin]

I visit both CF and sailnet. CF has a larger posting crowd and a nice configuration of topics.
In all cases you have to take comments on a topic with a grain (or two) of salt. Some folks, on both boards, are evangelical about their opinions. Such is life and society.

If you want to cause a fuss just talk about the best anchor or the difference between "blue water" and "coastal cruisers" on any board and watch what happens. Oh, don't do that NOW or on this thread!!! Please!!!

When reading boards you also need to understand the some folks have never considered answering the question using a different set of base requirements or assumptions. We tend to assume everyone has the same basis and the same assumptions. If you keep that in mind (as many on this forum do) you are much better off in communicating.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by sabray

Simple you can have a anchor. If your a pirate you have to wear a thong. Gun's are okay during photo shoots. No idea what you think a log is but we ask that you keep that to yourself. So no log displaying. I was hoping we could start 2014. Zee would be a great admiral.

Cellestial nav or gps?

Sat phone or SSB weather?

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Only if by "better sailors" you mean being able to sail some very awkward vessel that is designed to some obscure rules around a course faster than a cruiser could sail said very uncomfortable and awkward vessel around said buoys. There is a lot more to being a good sailor than being able to eek out every tenth of a knot under arbitrary conditions that don't exist outside of the race course. I know some excellent racers who are also good cruisers and what I would consider good "sailors," but they are outnumbered by great racers who are terrible "sailors."

There are guys on here who say that for "safety" reasons they drop the sails and motor when the boat speed dips below 4 knots, and I'd say half the folks on here have never used a downhaul. There are exceptions all over the place but the best sailors I've met are the ones who don't have engines to back them up. The guys rocking engine-less J80's and the such.

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

There are guys on here who say that for "safety" reasons they drop the sails and motor when the boat speed dips below 4 knots, and I'd say half the folks on here have never used a downhaul. There are exceptions all over the place but the best sailors I've met are the ones who don't have engines to back them up. The guys rocking engine-less J80's and the such.

Jaws tend to drop on the very rare occasion that somebody wings their way into a crowded berth under sail alone - an awe-inspiring display of knowledge, experience and control: a feat which is a joy to watch and I only wish I had the insurance to practice such without recourse!
Enough of the emotional outpouring - engineless close quarters maneuvering is a dying art which should be practiced as often as possible, it represents a diminishing tenant of seamanship and is a sad loss.
cough...erm....IMHO

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Cavalier

Jaws tend to drop on the very rare occasion that somebody wings their way into a crowded berth under sail alone - an awe-inspiring display of knowledge, experience and control: a feat which is a joy to watch and I only wish I had the insurance to practice such without recourse!
Enough of the emotional outpouring - engineless close quarters maneuvering is a dying art which should be practiced as often as possible, it represents a diminishing tenant of seamanship and is a sad loss.
cough...erm....IMHO

Or you could fake it like I plan to, come in under sail with electric drives, thus you give the impression of rounding up to the mooring ball under sail, while you are fingering your remote throttles for those silent electric motors.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Cavalier

Jaws tend to drop on the very rare occasion that somebody wings their way into a crowded berth under sail alone - an awe-inspiring display of knowledge, experience and control: a feat which is a joy to watch and I only wish I had the insurance to practice such without recourse!
Enough of the emotional outpouring - engineless close quarters maneuvering is a dying art which should be practiced as often as possible, it represents a diminishing tenant of seamanship and is a sad loss.
cough...erm....IMHO

Ditto!
For a single hander I would not want someone coming at my boat under sail in tight quarters. In the good old daze crews were qualified to bring in ships under sail and there were always dock hands available to draw'm tight. That motor is my extra crew member who I pay and care for generously!

[Cavalier]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Or you could fake it like I plan to, come in under sail with electric drives, thus you give the impression of rounding up to the mooring ball under sail, while you are fingering your remote throttles for those silent electric motors.

I like your style!

[Kettlewell]

As I said, the point is that I think there is a lot more to "sailing" then tweaking the boat for maximum speed and often the cruiser can go faster by just hoisting a bigger sail which isn't allowed under some racing rule so the racers have to twiddle with everything in order to go faster while the cruiser actually gets there faster, under autopilot, eating lunch in the cockpit. This hit home to me early in my sailing career when I was slowly tacking out of Newport in company with the eventual winner of the America's Cup that year, Australia II. I was on an old full-keeled Seafarer 26 towing my dinghy as usual with my wife down below making lunch yet tack for tack we were pulling away from Australia II in the light air. Eventually, getting sick of this they really set to work tweaking stuff, pulling that, everyone onboard straining for every last ounce of speed in that light air and they did pull even and pass me, but not before I had to take an evasive maneuver in order not to be T-boned by them as they misjudged our passing distance on opposite tacks. Yes, the racers were better at sailing a 12-meter in very light air than I could ever be, but why bother when a J-24 could have been sailing rings around them? And don't get me started on how racers anchor!

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by sabray

I am proposing a race of sail boats around the world CF against anarchy. rules they have to sail around in boats. First one across the finish line wins. So far those are the rules. Anyone want to add?

We win...

All we gotta do is let our massive female contingency (which we have, since we're so nice to women here) to take our tits out when the anarchists open their mouths (since we know what those first words out of their mouths will be when they see our women), and the anarchists'll be too busy scraping their tongues off their decks to look where they're going, and they'll trash their lightweight plastic boats crashing into each other - whereas our properly rebuilt cruising boats won't even feel a bump if they hit us.

[Old Soul Wayne]

+ 10 to Wotname. I totally agree! Totally love the posts by the usual contenders! If I agree with their POV or not, it is still a great read.
Untill the weather changes and we are all outside.