Airplanes to sailboats

[meatservo]

[QUOTE=Guy;2203413]

Originally Posted by Prairie Chicken

decided I liked my odds better flying the a/c.



I never saw a jump plane that wasn't a POS. They need to cut costs somewhere and the plane is the obvious place.

Well the C-130's C-141's, Hueys, Chinooks, and Blackhawks ran pretty well. But I get your point, looking at the caution panel on many civilian dropzone aircraft made me uncomfortable to the point that after 2,000+ jumps, I said ***** it. I'm done. The head down **** and the rave parties didn't help. Canopy collisions because of yardbird dip dunks not paying attention has taken out some of my friends. Watching a tandem bounce is quite sobering. New generation, I am now a belly flying dinosaur. Golf, sailing, precision long range shooting, and flying are still fun. Sailing is my new passion and every time I get on the water I know I am blessed.


meatservo

[J Clark H356]

I am an ex Air Force Pilot. Flew KC-97's from 71-75. I've owned 5 airplanes since. Had a Cessna 172, then owned a Cessna Turbo 210, then had 2 P-210's, a partner crashed one, then I bought a King Air 90 and flew it until 1986. Used it for my business and for pleasure, but it was expensive to operate- burned 75 gallons of JP-4 per hour. My wife and I were on final at New Orleans going to the Sugar Bowl when we had a little cockpit electrical short and a fire. After returning home later, she said she would never get back in the plane. After 18 months, I sold it.

Was scuba diving in the Bahamas and we were spending the night in a marina in Nassau before flying home the next day. I ran into a couple in their 60's and started talking to them. They were living the cruising life, on a boat about the size of mine now, and it sounded like fun. I particularly thought it would replace that thrill I had lost by not flying anymore.

I found a sailing school at Lighthouse Landing at Kentucky Lake in 1998, took the basic first two courses and bought a new Hunter 260. It was a basic boat with very little added on. I had a bad heartattack in 1999 and that ended my ability to fly anymore, so sailing became my replacement. We sailed the Hunter 260 for five years as day sailers. After we were sure we liked sailing, we decided what we wanted on a sailboat. We settled on the Hunter 356 which had just been named Boat of the Year. We equipped it with all the amenities either of us wanted. Generator so we could keep the saloon cool or hot while sailing, tracking sat TV so we could watch Tennessee football, all the electronics, radar, sonar, Chartplotter, in-mast furling, roller furling, Bimini, dodger and full enclosure - all the state of the art stuff. We were the first sailboat in our marina with radar and nobody with a sailboat on Kentucky Lake had a KVH antenna and Dish network! Sailing was supposed to be roughing it and we didn't fit that mould! Well, it didn't take long until what we had became the norm for cruisers. We were not only equipped for all weather comfort, but we used our boat more than anyone else there too. I am sitting on it now, just watched Tennessee beat Appalachia State in football, and today is our 993rd night on the boat since new in 2003.

We are 69 now and sailing is our speed now. We've cruised to Florida and back and plan on doing it again. I don't miss flying because I know I'm past my prime. I don't move as fast as I did in the 70's. I still enjoy forecasting the weather, the planning and logistics of sailing as it has some parallels to flying. It's just not as fast and running out of fuel is not a big deal with sails! With the furling, a windlass and autopilot, I am still able to sail and think I'll be able to for many more years.



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[Dr. Strangelove]

Non-pilot here, if y'all don't mind me posting.

It is interesting that a large number of my boat-owning sailing friends are current/former GA or commercial pilots.

Maybe off-topic, but if some of the GA pilots don't mind responding, many of my GA pilot friends are leaving the hobby due to costs/regulations.

Several good friends that have owned aircraft have said that onerous regulations and costs in general have made the decision for them to sell - that while enjoyable, they want to get out while they can still sell their aircraft. Apparently dual-engine aircraft are going for fire-sale prices right now.

Thoughts?

[Panope]

Often, people who use money as an excuse for exiting a hobby are lying to themselves. The reality is that many are just not "into it" anymore and they won't admit it.

They may also just be the complaining type.

Steve

[barnakiel]

I am not sure how ex pilots can stand the low speeds in boats. Except maybe balloon pilots in power jet boats. ;-)

Yes. Many pilots are sailors. Must be seeing the clouds and playing with the elements.

b.

[model 10]

What I hate is the stupid engine in a boat. You can go a long time between engine failures in a single engine aircraft. If you have ever had one you are tainted for life and will always be expecting one again sometime.
I can't count the engine problems I've had with the boat engine. It leaves me a nervous wreck during a motor fest.

[laika]

I've been living aboard boats for 8 years and just getting back into flying. Come january will have finished a little experimental sportsman 2+2 as a factory-assisted build.

It's hard to beat the raw freedom of cruising, but it's also limiting in some ways. Flying appeals to me for the flexibility in terms of time and geography.. Can drop into the backcountry with friends, go see family, and head back to the boat all in the span of a week or two. Then fold the wings and store it for a few months while out cruising.

Of a pretty lucky generation in that remote based IT work makes such a vagrant lifestyle sustainable.

[Prairie Chicken]

Dr. Stangelove, I've been out of the GA world for long I wouldn't attempt to comment. I know the ultra-light a/c & licences have opened up a lot of doors, but that was quite a time back now.

I find a sailboat forces one to slow down; whereas an a/c, especially the more high performance ones, keep you thinking. I used to like high & fast; now I'm happy with slow and not too much excitement.

Guy, I concur regarding marine engine failures. I do thank goodness a/c are not so unreliable--we had three water pump failures on our last boat, spread over 21 years--but that's still three failures more than I had in 33 years of flying.

On the other hand, I am (usually) thankful for the looser legislation in the marine environment. The regs and enforcement for private yachting is pretty lax. You're allowed to be foolish. One vivid example of the differences stands out in my mind: A friend holds a yachtmaster certificate and has a yacht care company. One of his clients bought a new 85' San Lorenzo which he would be skippering from time to time. I asked what training he got on the yacht when they went to the factory to pick it up. He told me they gave him six big manuals. I said yes, but what training did he get from the factory--this was a brand new yacht--was there a simulator, classroom instruction, instructors who took him out a few times? He patiently explained that he got six big manuals. That was it. No training. Nada. Rather different than if you took possession of a new corporate jet I would think.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Guy

What I hate is the stupid engine in a boat. You can go a long time between engine failures in a single engine aircraft. If you have ever had one you are tainted for life and will always be expecting one again sometime.
I can't count the engine problems I've had with the boat engine. It leaves me a nervous wreck during a motor fest.

I've had three, all turbines, one in a single engine, that gave no warning whatsoever, I am pretty sure the gas generator turbine let go.
I don't mine the motor in the boat, it will still float without a motor


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[bvisailing32]

Alaska


No worries mate, it seems to happen to us all. I have flown professionally for lots of years, started flying in 1967. I loved it. Flight Instructor, charter pilot, corporate pilot, and I.P. for Air Combat USA ( righter pilot for day progeam ) for the last 17 years. Before we moved to Kauai for 9 years.


On mainland visits I was able to get in an hour or so of aerobatics, but no dogfights. Well the hearing was fading, eyes would not longer pass a 2nd class medical, G- tolerance fading, and too high of costs to rent and fly on a fixed income.


However, I have been sailing and skippering motor vessels for nearly has long as I had been flying, and love the sailing. Still active, no longer own our own boat, nor our own plane, but we get our fix by belonging to a sailing club, and sailing the calif. coastal area, as well as once a year, our special international bare boat sailing vacations, Caribbean, Australia, Tahiti, Greece, and a motor vessel up the river Shannon in Ireland. Both Erica and I are still able to sail. May the day never come that you see me wheeling a walker up the gangway of a cruise ship.


Pilots and Sailors / boaters just kind of meld into together. I love em both. But sailing now I can still have a great time with, 32 footers on up. 36i's in the BVI. Life is good, do what every hikes your kilt. Either or both.....the only one you have to please is you.


Never stop enjoying life.......as Life is truly an Adventure.

[meatservo]

You guys have really laid out the differences pretty well. You put the coals to a modern jet aircraft on take off and stuff happens really fast. Training, automation, and redundancy pretty much make it a non-event.

Trying to dock in a crowded marina when the wind is howling is probably much more stressful. 5 knots or 500 knots, there are relative stress levels on both sides.

The difference between maritime rules and regs as opposed to ICAO/FAA are quite significant.

There is a freedom to sailing that does not compare to flying...



meatservo

[model 10]

[QUOTE=a64pilot;2204099
I don't mind the motor in the boat, it will still float without a motor



Ah but it is a seductress. You head out across the Gulf of Tehuantepec with a 3 day wx window. You shut down to check the oil at 8 hours on day one and the engine will not start again. The only wind here is an ill wind...

[Prairie Chicken]

As it is Christmas Eve, may I suggest all my aviation friends take 30 minutes with a nice cuppa, and listen to a recording of The Shepherd, as read by Alan Maitland (Fireside Al).

I'd gladly upload mine but at 30 mb it's too big; a quick google search should find you a free copy.

Merry Christmas to all!

[30yearslater]

Started with boats then John Q. Public payed for my nautical education. Then he went on to pay for a stint at Embry-Riddle, Daytona Beach Campus. Back to boats during the Eighties. Learned to fly on my dime in the early Nineties. Bought boat 2010 and gave up flying. Champagne tastes with a beer budget coupled with rationality will cause this.

[senormechanico]

I lotorve reading this thread.
I've always been a boater and have wished I'd been an aviator.

If presented with the necessity of landing a single engine small plane, I think I could do it, but all I've ever really flown were these: