Fun Thread - Best Sailing Quotes

[HopCar]

Sailors Prayer
Oh Lord forgive me!
I went out on a powerboat, and liked it!

[dlj]

“For the truth is that I already know as much about my fate as I need to know. The day will come when I will die. So the only matter of consequence before me is what I will do with my allotted time. I can remain on shore, paralyzed with fear, or I can raise my sails and dip and soar in the breeze.”
― Richard Bode, First You Have to Row a Little Boat: Reflections on Life & Living

dj

[CaptTom]

The exceptional skipper...
uses his/her exceptional judgement...
to avoid having to use his/her exceptional skill.

Or, if you prefer:

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of that, comes from bad judgement.

[Danm1]

Alfred "Centennial" Johnson*(1846–1927) was a*Danish-born fisherman from*Gloucester, Massachusetts. In 1876, in a 20-foot (6.1*m)*sailing*dory, he made the first recorded*single-handed*crossing of the*Atlantic Ocean, landing at*Abercastle*in west*Wales*as a celebration of the first*centennial*of the*United States.
When asked late in life why he had done it, he said "I made that trip because I was a damned fool, just as they said I was."

[JPA Cate]

Experience is what you get just after you needed it.

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by CaptTom

The exceptional skipper...
uses his/her exceptional judgement...
to avoid having to use his/her exceptional skill.

Or, if you prefer:

Good judgement comes from experience.
A lot of that, comes from bad judgement.

not exactly a sailing quote but

"Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others."
otto von bismark

cheers,

[GordMay]

"Never anthropomorphize boats.
They hate that."
~ Gord May

[GordMay]

A cruising sailboat is the most expensive way, to travel, third class.

Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.
Give a man a boat, he cannot, ever, afford to eat, again.

A small boat, and a suitcase full of money, beats a 40 footer, tied to the bank, every time.

In the long run, all solutions are temporary; so go ahead, and use duct tape.

Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.


“The chance for mistakes, is about equal to, the number of crew, squared.”
~ Ted Turner

"There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black." ~ Nathanael G. Herreshoff

[Tupaia]

A sail boat is a wonderful way to travel but a lousy form of transport.

[Captbarryw]

Never been lost at sea, but I have been blown ashore.

[ggray]

I don't think I've seen these posted:

My grandfather frequently said "Any port in a storm".

My uncle used to repeat this quote on "more than breezy" days "I'd rather in here (on shore) wishing I was out there than out there wishing I was in here".

And for that time relaxing at anchor after a long sail is a quote I read on a tee shirt (certainly a reliable source) attributed to Benjamin Franklin, "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy".

[slippy]

Every sailor starts out with two buckets: a full one labeled "LUCK" and an empty one labeled "SKILL". The trick is to fill the second bucket before the first runs dry.

[Enfant Du Vent]

A man I worked for, on his 45' research boat, had previously taken his family--wife, and 4 children under 12, and a 19 year old "deck hand south from New England for the Bahamas. On their way to Bermuda they got caught in a very bad storm and after he had spent hours at the helm shouted down the companionway, "If someone doesn't help me we're going to sink!"


His very sea sick wife's cheerful response, "Soon?"

[HopCar]

How about a flying quote?
The most useless things to a pilot are runway behind him, altitude above him and fuel on the ground.