Is Sailing Fun?

[thomm225]

So I posted a few photos and a couple videos on another site and an old (girl) friend mentioned how "fun" it looked!

She used to race with me on beach cats.

I saw this a day or so after one of my weekend sails where I was still resting up/recuperating from my sailing trip which ended with a rainy sail home. I usually don't stay on the boat long enough to get used to sleeping on it so I'm usually beat after a few days.

So instead of saying how "fun" sailing is I just said things like:

it's different than my daily life of work and home

The views are nice.

Sailing/cruising forces me to do things even when I don't want to.
Like moving to a different anchorage when it's the middle of the night because the wind changes.

Making sail changes.

Fixing things that break at the wrong time.

Sailing in conditions you shouldn't be sailing in because you based everything on the forecast.

Dealing with possible seasickness.......when you feel it coming on at exactly the wrong time

Being wet for hours and dealing with wet clothes

Being forced to stay in one place even when you are ready to leave......

Is sailing fun? Maybe.

Pictures of drying out and recharging.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq1bSb7J8VE

[OneKoolCat]

Sounds like you are a little burnt out. You need to recharge your emotional batteries a little. I personally love being on the water and sailing. There are positives and negatives to everything. I get down during the winter while my boat is on the hard. This year during the summer when weather interfered with my carefully planed itinerary i was able to work from the boat. I made a point of having my camera on during video calls too! Obviously not can work from home but if you can, it helps.

I have a friend with a summer home. He has almost as much maintenance as I do on the boat. Also when was the last time you had something go wrong at the right time

You can move tons of home from place to place using just the wind and enjoy the ocean.

I hope you feel better after you dry out !

[Peregrine1983]

For us, I think cruising sailing is often about the "high" when we finally get to a new place. Similar to why people run marathons. It's the sense of accomplishment. The sense of having done something that most wouldn't and in a way most wouldn't dream of.

Occasionally there's that perfect day of sailing - 15 knots, smooth water, and warm sunshine. You really relax and enjoy yourself. Those days are few and far between, but we can always rely on that awesome feeling of accomplishment when we arrive somewhere new.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by OneKoolCat

Sounds like you are a little burnt out. You need to recharge your emotional batteries a little. I personally love being on the water and sailing. There are positives and negatives to everything. I get down during the winter while my boat is on the hard. This year during the summer when weather interfered with my carefully planed itinerary i was able to work from the boat. I made a point of having my camera on during video calls too! Obviously not can work from home but if you can, it helps.

I have a friend with a summer home. He has almost as much maintenance as I do on the boat. Also when was the last time you had something go wrong at the right time

You can move tons of home from place to place using just the wind and enjoy the ocean.

I hope you feel better after you dry out !

Actually, I'm not burnt out.

It's just that I never have long enough on the boat to totally adjust especially to sleeping.

And when I sail, I go none stop including hiking and kayaking........with little sleep.

It is totally different than my shore life though and is an adjustment every time.

My boat is between work and home so I am there a lot also which is good so I can finish putting things away from the sail the prior weekend and prep for the following weekend.

[HeinSdL]

I don't think I would describe sailing as fun. At least not in general. It might be fun occasionally doing something spectacular like planing in a dinghy, ideally down a wave, or surfing down a wave on something much bigger but on the whole it's more... rewarding.


Racing on the North Sea and out on the Atlantic I never found that much fun, but the personal satisfaction and comradery made it very worthwhile. Cruising in the Med isn't particularly fun, as in haha this is great, more a tremendously laid back way of spending some time.


Regardless, I always expect to arrive back from sailing quite exhausted, which is usually a good sign.

[Don C L]

Sailing is some kind of weird affliction. There are many times when it is definitely not fun. It is truly amazing how much money you can spend on being wet, cold, miserable and in a state of terror. But I'd still, usually, somewhat usually, rather be doing whatever the not-fun thing is than many other things. It is REALLY a good thing I am not afflicted with racing though... the money you can pour into trying to squeeze out an eighth of a knot makes a trip to Vegas seem downright thrifty.
...but when the wings are trimmed beautifully and she comes to life scudding along punching through that undulating topography of rolling blue hills... hard to beat that.

[capn_billl]

I find island hopping in the Bahamas very fun. (not the last few months, but usually).

if it's not fun, you aren't doing it right.

[thomm225]

I still have trouble with the fun label.

I do it for the Sun high and the change from daily life among other reasons but not necessarily because it's "fun."

Doing it all the time could get quite boring but maybe not.

I plan to find out when I get a little older.

I'm mid-60's now.

[rslifkin]

To me, sailing for the sake of sailing is fun. Sailing to get somewhere can be fun, but in general is much less appealing. Which leads to me owning a powerboat and sailing on other people's boats.

[psk125]

You might have more fun in a faster boat. It would be able to take you further, get you back sooner, and let you have more time relaxing at anchor than bashing upwind trying to get to wherever you're going.

[Lodesman]

Is mountain-climbing fun? Maybe certain aspects, but if someone thinks they're going to have a ripping good time all the way up to the top of Everest, they're going to be in for a rude awakening. Likewise, sailing is a pursuit/sport/pastime/avocation/etc/etc. where the objective is not always going to be fun. We do it because it is challenging, exhilarating, maybe even a little dangerous. And sure, sometimes it's fun. But it wouldn't be half as much fun, if we didn't have to work for it.

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by psk125

You might have more fun in a faster boat. It would be able to take you further, get you back sooner, and let you have more time relaxing at anchor than bashing upwind trying to get to wherever you're going.

(Spoken like a true high-octane racer, you speed-demon, you!)

LittleWing77

[LittleWing77]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Sailing is some kind of weird affliction...

Haha! Don

I dunno, maybe I'm way off-base, but I would equate fun = fully ALIVE.

Sailing makes you feel that way - regardless of the conditions, how saturated you might be, or what repair/prep has yet to be done.

LittleWing77

[tradrockrat]

In my younger days I lived aboard a Cal 25 for three years. It was wet, cold /hot, miserable, cramped and nothing but camping on water. I loved it.

I loved the environment. loved the good weather and bad. I loved sailing on good days, having minor emergencies on bad, and motoring when the wind was MIA. But that doesn't mean I enjoyed it or that rain in the face for 4 hours was fun. No sir, not fun.

But living aboard is just that - living. I worked. I did all the things we all do. Is life fun? Not always, and for many people (sadly) not often. On the boat is a "more fun" life IMHO, than not being on the boat.

I left the boat and moved back on land years ago. Life got in the way. But I have always longed to get back on a boat to live again. So happy I'm almost back there. I guess it's never actually been about sailing for me, but rather being on the boat.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by psk125

You might have more fun in a faster boat. It would be able to take you further, get you back sooner, and let you have more time relaxing at anchor than bashing upwind trying to get to wherever you're going.

Maybe you are right but your boat is much slower than the sailboats I'm used to racing

I raced beach cats for 15 years and had 2 Hobie 16's (they can hit 26 knots on a reach/broard reach) a Nacra 6.0, and my last one was the rev 1 (2001 version) of todays F-17 that back then was a singlehanded boat with a spinnaker that you could run downwind on trapped out in the mid 20 knot range

Several times crossing Pensacola bay large fast monohull racing boats would attempt cause me to tack for no real reason (they being on starboard) so I'd clear their bow by a foot or two singlehanding my Nacra 6.0. I was 40 then and fairly aggressive.

Here's the latest rev of the F-17 which is now a two man boat although I used the same three sails on distances races and took the mod penalty then prayed for the winds to stay under 12 knots or so since I was singlehanding. But we didn't have the lifting boards back then.......which would have been nice to have. Also the wave piercing bows.

I have been looking at a C&C 29 Mk II with PHRF of 171. Not as fast as your boat but quite a bit faster than my Bristol with it's 240 rating although I believe I can sail it faster than it's rating especially in light air

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSYCz7gePBU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO0LkUDALNk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1rZUMkisjA