What happens to all the wannabees?

[imago1420]

To reply to Atoll,I been learning from reading everything of interest for me to get ready for my crossing Victoria,canada to Mexico next August.I never reply to anyone since today,one year of listening to great advice from you all.I want to let you know that some of us only received not being able to share experience,being at the learning stage.I been sailing only for 5 years,got my offshore boat 8 months ago and sailed for the last 6 months all over Vancouver Island getting to know what myself and my baby (Colymbus) can do.I had to reply,you touch a cord,I am a liveboard since 4 years.Again thanks for all the good threads.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by imago1420

To reply to Atoll,I been learning from reading everything of interest for me to get ready for my crossing Victoria,canada to Mexico next August.I never reply to anyone since today,one year of listening to great advice from you all.I want to let you know that some of us only received not being able to share experience,being at the learning stage.I been sailing only for 5 years,got my offshore boat 8 months ago and sailed for the last 6 months all over Vancouver Island getting to know what myself and my baby (Colymbus) can do.I had to reply,you touch a cord,I am a liveboard since 4 years.Again thanks for all the good threads.

thanks for posting!
it is good to know this thread has touched a chord with even the lurkieiest of lurkers
let us know about your future adventures,hearing about the trials and tribulations of an adventure spurs on others to get out there and do it

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

Thanks Atoll!! That's exactly how I see it.

I second Atoll's comment . I think it is good reminder for people to just enjoy their boats and not always think that they will always enjoy it more a thousand miles away. There are others who have traveled thousands of miles and are enjoying local anchorages that you may take for granted.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by mbianka

.................and not always think that they will always enjoy it more a thousand miles away. There are others who have traveled thousands of miles and are enjoying local anchorages that you may take for granted.

Excellent thought! Your place is exotic for all those far away.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

My husband's family lives in Barbados. I can easily see myself just parked there for months at a time. (Does that qualify as cruising??) And we're not saying we're going to do it forever, we just want to say that we finally did it.

<snip>

So....are we still wannabes? I suppose when it comes to the complete severing of the docklines and sailing off into the sunset forever, we are. But I see how much we've experienced and what we've learned since we first picked up that book 31 years ago, how many beautiful nights we've spent at anchor, how many cockpit hours shared with friends, memories we've made with our kids and grandkids, landfalls in new places even if they weren't an ocean away. We've been sailors, and cruisers all along, in our own way. I sure do ho

<snip>

There are a lot of different ways to be cruisers. Is someone less of a cruiser because they only cruise the Great Lakes, or the Chesapeake Bay? Because their cruise only lasted a year instead of a whole lifetime? Or they only cruise part of each year?

This post reminds us that it is the individual that defines their own "wannabe" status.

You are not wannabes at all in my book. You have integrated sailing with you life. You don't "wannabe" sailing around the world.

You wannabe doing what you are doing, ergo not a wannabe...

A lot of people state they will do this or that when that magical retirement date arrives - to hell with that. Life is the journey and you have filled your journey so far with sailing. The antithesis of wannabe.

Enjoy the ride, no one knows how long it will last.

[oldragbaggers]

Thank you all for the kind replies to my post. So glad to have shared the journey here on this thread.

This is one of things that contributes to the appeal of the sailing life. Other sailors are just friends you haven't met yet, kindred spirits moving on (or with) the wind.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

Thank you all for the kind replies to my post. So glad to have shared the journey here on this thread.

This is one of things that contributes to the appeal of the sailing life. Other sailors are just friends you haven't met yet, kindred spirits moving on (or with) the wind.

+1

[woodymr]

Hey all, I have not read all the replies but enough to feel that I am one of the wanna bees, bumbling along this path taken by choice. I have been set back many times when so close to raising my first sail. Dec. will be three years into living aboard and restoring this '76 C 9.6 for sea duty and I am embarrassed sometimes asking for help like needing a dinghy when my old inflatable bit the dust. I am a loner so I suffer doing mostly by myself and have been waiting for two years now for probate court to free up small money coming to use for final out fitting for wind vane , radar other stuff need for safety at sea. The devil is in the details man when it comes to blocks, halyards, fittings needed. Money is certainly an issue.... it is expensive to out fit a boat! I like the question though, it makes me feel obligated to share and the venting I am sure is healthy also. Thanks for asking....../).......woody '76 C9.6 #42

[atoll]

Originally Posted by woodymr

Hey all, I have not read all the replies but enough to feel that I am one of the wanna bees, bumbling along this path taken by choice. I have been set back many times when so close to raising my first sail. Dec. will be three years into living aboard and restoring this '76 C 9.6 for sea duty and I am embarrassed sometimes asking for help like needing a dinghy when my old inflatable bit the dust. I am a loner so I suffer doing mostly by myself and have been waiting for two years now for probate court to free up small money coming to use for final out fitting for wind vane , radar other stuff need for safety at sea. The devil is in the details man when it comes to blocks, halyards, fittings needed. Money is certainly an issue.... it is expensive to out fit a boat! I like the question though, it makes me feel obligated to share and the venting I am sure is healthy also. Thanks for asking....../).......woody '76 C9.6 #42

small victories,refitting a boat yourself is a great education,one you can't put a price on,not having a radar or wind pilot should not stop you from leaving if this is your intention,many times i have accuired good equipment on the way from boats that have fallen by the wayside for one reason or another.

thanks for posting

[SmartMove]

Originally Posted by atoll

great post!
thanks for sharing

being a cruiser is more an attitude to life than the masochism of crossing oceans or the related Schadenfreude

Great reply/support!

[SmartMove]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

This is one of things that contributes to the appeal of the sailing life. Other sailors are just friends you haven't met yet, kindred spirits moving on (or with) the wind.

I am just beginning my dream and that is what I am counting on! Well said.

[woodymr]

Atoll, I commend your question on this post. It obviously has folks turn on to reply! I must be safe at sea and also sleep! Therefore the wind vane and the radar for guard zone alarm. I am after all single handed. I like this game of life and death at sea, the fear, the intelligence needed and used to out fit the boat for the conditions expected, the years and I mean years of arm chair sailing! I am fortunate to have 13yrs. of working tugs under my belt but new to sailing and minimal offshore work. I think that if you can feel it all the way to your toes then you are living life to the fullest. WARNING.....I have left the work force and the monetary religion as much as possible and hope my money comes in before it is truly worthless., time is at hand for the false Gods of fear and money to fall hard and a lot of folks will be left Godless...../)......

[atoll]

Originally Posted by woodymr

Atoll, I commend your question on this post. It obviously has folks turn on to reply! I must be safe at sea and also sleep! Therefore the wind vane and the radar for guard zone alarm. I am after all single handed. I like this game of life and death at sea, the fear, the intelligence needed and used to out fit the boat for the conditions expected, the years and I mean years of arm chair sailing! I am fortunate to have 13yrs. of working tugs under my belt but new to sailing and minimal offshore work. I think that if you can feel it all the way to your toes then you are living life to the fullest. WARNING.....I have left the work force and the monetary religion as much as possible and hope my money comes in before it is truly worthless., time is at hand for the false Gods of fear and money to fall hard and a lot of folks will be left Godless...../)......

no inference that you are not making the correct decision on waiting to buy a windvane and radar in the usa before you leave,but the last 2 aries units i have had over the years were aquired for virtually nothing,one i got for $150 dollars in st lucia that was"siezed" and left in the boat yard as surplus equipment,another i got for nothing from a yacht i salvaged in the comores islands.
my last 2 radars i got in return for a few hours work helping the owners install their new more modern radars.
these type of opportunities tend to appear if you are looking out for them when on the journey

[Enrique100]

I'm both a wannabe and a noob when it comes to sailing. I was bitten by the bug over 10 years ago when my wife and I first set sail on a little Hobie cat, and we did some self-taught sailing of small cats for a few years on and off in Chicago on Lake Michigan and anytime we were on vacation. Lack of opportunity and other interests prevailed for a few years and sailing took a backseat for a while until I ran across this forum and started reading all the posts earlier this year. It got me wanting to sail again - and this time on larger boats.

I guess in my long term plan I have an idea for my wife and I to buy a catamaran and cruise the caribbean - but that's years if not decades away. First step we did was sign up with a local school in Chicago and get as much training and seatime as possible. I'm fortunate that my school doesn't just stop with a quick 1 week course that makes you think you can sail, but you really can't. Rather my tuition pays for a whole season of sailing whenever I can and encourages me to keep coming back. In 4 months I've had the opportunity to sail in both light winds and a 46 knot gale. I've now sailed on 5 different vessels ranging in size from 27' to 36'. And I'm hooked for another year already... too bad this year's sailing is coming to an end here.

Once I get enough experience, my next step will probably be to buy our own boat and do some daysailing and short-term cruising of the Great Lakes with my family in a couple years or so when my daughter is older. Then after a few years of that we may have larger and grander plans to cruise more exotic locations.

But thanks in no small part to this forum, it got me back into sailing in a big way, even by just lurking here (this is my first post in the few months since I started reading these forums). So from this wannabe, thanks to everyone here and hopefully in time I will move up the ranks and I will keep enjoying and looking forward to the next thing.

[mbianka]

Pulled into Port Washington LI to wait out some nasty weather last week. Had a nice little gam with a young fellow (38) who quit his job in September and was heading south in a 24 foot sailboat with a surfboard and a porta boat. He decided that now was the time. No kids, no wife and had the freedom to do it now. Saw others he knew wait to long and wanted to make sure it did not happen to him. I wished him well on his journey.