Why do you do it?

[Capt Phil]

Nothing too romantic about leaving home at 14 tired of getting the **** beat out of me by a drunken stepfather... Lied about my age, shipped out on a towboat pulling a float camp barge in the PNW up coast and stayed at sea either towing barges, logs, commercial fishing or beachcombing for about 20 years when a friend(?) of mine said if you want to meet women, go to college! I had to get my high school grad certificate to attain my mates ticket so I was good to go! After a 30 year career in the oil business, had a heart attack and went back to sea in the delivery business and spent about 15 years delivering boats from Panama to Alaska and back. Now finally retired and the best memories are those at sea... Not so much those being shot at in the Middle East! Phil

[akprb]

Phil! Call next time in Anchorage :-)


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[carstenb]

Someone up there said nothing else makes him feel the way he feels while helming the boat.

I can only agree. Funny though, the past year, I've managed to end up sailing is some really severe storms, including one where the wind chill facor was something like minus 15 C and the wind was going over 40 knots (and we were sailing upwind - how entertaining!).

I know that those expereinces become jsut good sailors stories while sitting in front of the fireplace with a good drink in your hand, But as Beth Leonard says in one of her books

When we live on land, we remove the lows, the danger. What we only begin to understand when we take to the sea, is that cutting away the lows trunciates the highs. (note that there are no quote marks - I've quoted from memory and her version is better)

She's right. We can only experience the true highs as they are if we are willing to take the lows as they come.

So sign me up for the rubber room - but I actually begun to enjoy sailing in heavy weather

[Reefmagnet]

Because if I didn't spend time and money on boating, I'd just waste both.

Sent from my SGP521 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[MarkJ]

I am a full time tourist for the rest of my life. My boat is my conveyance and accomodation. Nothing more.

If there was a cheaper, better way to see the world I would do so.


If I had more money it would be by plane in 1st class and 5 star hotels all the way...

[zeehag]

in love with ocean since birth, i was introduced to sailboats via eleanor, a 1903 gaff rigged raceabout designed by clinton crane. instant love.
we were able to sail this boat all our holiday vacations and summer. we did not allow mom or grandmother or any other nay sayer nor responsible female to see or know when we injured selves--self surgery on board at age 16, first concussion , BOOM at age 7, yeah...it was heaven.
so, 1955 until now, i been sailing and at one and peace with boats and water. go figger...
must be a gene hooked trait on my celt and viking genes....
with my formosa i have developed an appreciation for higher winds and sailing.... whooot.. it is FUN!!

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=MarkJ;2028254]I am a full time tourist for the rest of my life. My boat is my conveyance and accomodation. Nothing more.

If there was a cheaper, better way to see the world I would do so.


If I had more money it would be by plane in 1st class and 5 star hotels all the way...[/QUOTE]

Bugga that.. I'd use the banana boats and other freighters that carry a few passengers.. not sure I could hack the Cruise Ship Insanity and the wonderful days of affordable passenger liners is long gone..

[barnakiel]

I think, "why" only exists for those who are motivated. To say for those who 'went for' sailing (as a job, a hobby, an escape).

Then there is the other group too, where people do something because they have no choice. I will repeat someone else's words and say that it is not me that elected to sail, it is sailing that elected me.

Once sailing elects you, the 'whys' become non questions. They become answers.

Lady Gaga addressed the same issue with another take: 'I was born this way'. Hey, I was born to become blonde, tall, shy, skinny. I was born to sail, to ski, to climb and to love. How do I know? That's quite simple: I feel alive when I am out there. I feel dead at the desk.

I am not sure the above is very clear but I know it is very obvious to the elected ones.

b.

[Neo]

Originally Posted by akprb

On a recent solo delivery down the east coast the thought crossed my mind "why do I continue to do this?" Please don't get me wrong, there is no desire to stop, although at times sure is tempting :-)

My question to you is why do you do it? Sincerely, interested mostly in the philosophic side of the equation as opposed to the experiential.

Here's a recent piece where I thought about it a bit. I'm really curious of others thoughts on the same.

___________________

Just a few short weeks ago I took off to deliver Ohana from Daytona Beach down to Nassau in preparation for our family Christmas. Again solo and a lot of time to think over all the years of doing this "life", the "Why".

I've been at this since I was about ten years old and at 52 can look at my father's nautical library and see the hand the guided. They say the son lives out the unfulfilled dreams of the father. That seems to be the case for me.

My dad loved boats. He loved to read and he took those steps, a Catalina 22, joined the local club, took the Coast Guard course (with his 12 year old son in tow for the junior version), and read. We would go to the New York Boat show each year, I would be given the plastic bag with the task to collect every brochure possible. There are almost too many stories from that time in our lives. I still have on my desk today the little Panasonic RF-1060 that has a "public service band". I would play with that for hours.

Summers racing on the Hudson River, the annual "sea scout cruise" to Long Island Sound, four years in the Coast Guard, yacht broker, captain, unlikely investor, cruising the Caribbean and eventually crossing the Pacific and living in New Zealand, ferry captain and then back to basics on a little basic Hunter, of all boats, bopping up and down the east coast with our daughters.

After all of it I sit in his library, he's gone now, and look over all the books he loved so much. I sit in the chair he would read in, recall the short wave receiver he would listen for us on. It's quiet and good.

Why? It's like anything else I guess, it's in me........a gift of adventure from a father to a son.

Enjoy yours as well and have a blessed day.

I can really relate to your story. Very touching.

[a64pilot]

The fulfilling the dreams of the Father is an interesting concept. My Father loved flying, did quite a lot of it actually, dreamed of one day of outfitting a PBY Catalina and touring the South Pacific with it.
I became a Professional pilot and will see the South Pacific in a sailboat.
I don't believe he really thought he would do the PBY thing, it was a dream he would like to have done.

My Son has always chased my hobbies, from flying model aircraft to Cave Diving and now Sailing.

[Olddave]

Originally Posted by akprb

On a recent solo delivery down the east coast the thought crossed my mind "why do I continue to do this?" Please don't get me wrong, there is no desire to stop, although at times sure is tempting :-)

My question to you is why do you do it? Sincerely, interested mostly in the philosophic side of the equation as opposed to the experiential.

Here's a recent piece where I thought about it a bit. I'm really curious of others thoughts on the same.

___________________


After all of it I sit in his library, he's gone now, and look over all the books he loved so much. I sit in the chair he would read in, recall the short wave receiver he would listen for us on. It's quiet and good.

Why? It's like anything else I guess, it's in me........a gift of adventure from a father to a son.

Enjoy yours as well and have a blessed day.

I am from a similar mould as yourself. I am sure your father would be very pleased by your following in his foot steps and I thank you for reminding me of my own father.
He is 91 and getting on, I know he enjoys hearing of my modest adventures afloat.
He started building sailing dinghies in his spare time and ended up with a 27 ft motor sailer that both my parents enjoyed until they were too old to take her out.
My upbringing saved my life, literally, when I became dissatisfied with my life working in an office at age 21. I quit, went back to the sea, surfing then sailing again and fishing.
Now at 56 I can look back at more than 20 years as a commercial skipper, and keen sailor. Thanks to my father I found a great life that has helped me raise 3 kids who all love the sea, in their own ways.
Great post thanks again for reminding us of the influence parents can have

[skipmac]

I grew up with zero boating background. Until my first sail the biggest boat I had ever been on was a 16' ski boat. Never even saw the ocean until I was in high school but I did grow up with a love of nature and the outdoors.

Then, when I was 23 I happened into a sailboat delivery from FL to the Bahamas with a couple of friends and I was immediately hooked. When we hoisted sails and turned off the engine for the first time it was magic. Nothing but wind, waves and the ocean all around. When we arrived in the Bahamas and I saw for the first time the clear blue tropical water the love affair was complete.

Like any love affair, over time it will change, hopefully to grow and mature. With sailing I grew to appreciate the all encompassing demands of boating and seamanship. To be a better sailor one needs to deal with meteorology, chemistry, astronomy, engineering, languages and culture, skills of all kinds: engines, electrics, plumbing, rigging, carpentry. The list is almost infinite.

To me sailing and cruising could never become old or monotonous. There is always more to learn, more skills to acquire and perfect, more people and places to see. Some day I may grow tired of cruising but I'll never become bored with it.

[reed1v]

We did long distance cruising to find out for ourselves if the world really is round. With the exception of some flat spots, it really is round.

[bailsout]

I think some of us have a strong affinity for vast horizons. I get this when I'm at sea, on a mountaintop or even looking over a city from a rooftop. Perceiving all this from a boat, and especially one that I have poured sweat, tears and green upon enhances the experience. Throw in a little sense of pride. And when the sea becomes more alive and nothing breaks it grows more.
What Anglais and Liam said or to borrow from Carlos Castaneda, "a separate reality".
And as I continue to work, not sail, my wooden boat, she appears to be more of a living thing than my old plastic boat. (Maybe the soul of your boat really has more to do with her experience and your time with her than the material.)
It doesn't really answer why but this by Grahame must be here: There is nothing- absolutely nothing- half so much worth doing, as messing about in boats.
I think he meant sailboats under sail.

[reed1v]

Pooh meant messing around in any boat, whether on land or in the water.