What is something that really surprised you about sailing/boating/cruising?

[thesaltytar]

For me it's seeing how different the world is by water compared to any other means of conveyance.

Boating is such a vast topic of interest that it can take a lifetime to become truly competent in all of the sub-disciplines, and this is what makes it endlessly fascinating to me, but it is how the world around you feels so different when experienced from the water as opposed to driving past or even walking the same streets when arrived at by vehicle. Everything feels a little larger.

I would love to hear some realizations that the community has had.

[sailormed]

Are you a writer fishing for nice stories?

[Rumrace]

Isn’t fishing another forum?
Write stories on the boats in clubs which never move. Or couch potato’s on forums competing for smartest guy in the room and is handy with insults. (Fun guys at parties)

[tkeithlu]

Every other form of transport includes continuous links to the rest of the world. Once out of sight of land, the world contracts to the horizon around you, and is empty save waves and clouds.

[chris mac]

What surprised me was the sense of community among cruisers.
I grew up in a small town, and rode motorcycle for years. Both have strong bonds, but nothing compared to cruisers.

[thesaltytar]

Originally Posted by sailormed

Are you a writer fishing for nice stories?

Nope. I'm an engineer, not a writer. I just wanted to start a conversation about a topic I love and meet people with simar interests and get their take on things. Care to share yours?

[thesaltytar]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Every other form of transport includes continuous links to the rest of the world. Once out of sight of land, the world contracts to the horizon around you, and is empty save waves and clouds.

Good point. I agree that we're very isolated at sea, it's one of the things I like about it. The irony of me typing this on my phone on a fishing trawler in Alaska. What a fascinating modern age we live in!

Originally Posted by chris mac

What surprised me was the sense of community among cruisers.
I grew up in a small town, and rode motorcycle for years. Both have strong bonds, but nothing compared to cruisers.

It is impressive how quickly friendships are formed amongst cruisers. Do you think part of that may come from the lack of continuous links to the rest of the world that tkeithlu notes? It does seem to affect cruisers more than your typical "interest group."

[mojoman2]

My biggest surprise is how much we value internet connectivity and the amount of time spent trying to maintain it. I have routers and antennas and cellular hotspots. Trying to get connectivity in a new location can be a real time consumer. I have a wifi booster, but finding an open network can be challenging and they are frequently quite slow. If you stay in US waters, you can get a cellular plan that allows you to hot spot your computer almost anywhere. This can be expensive if you use a lot of data (ex. video streaming). When traveling overseas, it gets a lot more complicated. As you need to have an unlocked phone and buy SIM cards in each country. Sometimes you can get plans that bundle multiple countries (ex. EU). You need to become your own network administrator and spend a lot more time than you expect working through all these details.

[thesaltytar]

Originally Posted by mojoman2

My biggest surprise is how much we value internet connectivity and the amount of time spent trying to maintain it. I have routers and antennas and cellular hotspots. Trying to get connectivity in a new location can be a real time consumer. I have a wifi booster, but finding an open network can be challenging and they are frequently quite slow. If you stay in US waters, you can get a cellular plan that allows you to hot spot your computer almost anywhere. This can be expensive if you use a lot of data (ex. video streaming). When traveling overseas, it gets a lot more complicated. As you need to have an unlocked phone and buy SIM cards in each country. Sometimes you can get plans that bundle multiple countries (ex. EU). You need to become your own network administrator and spend a lot more time than you expect working through all these details.

That's actually really good information! I hadn't considered that. Any recommendations for information resources I should look into, or is it really a case-by-case, destination dependant problem? Do you think things like Star Link will make all of this a problem of the past?

I would like to go sailing the Caribbean and have some plans on central and south America.

[hpeer]

What surprised me the most is how my Wife has taken to it. It is not that she is an avid sailor, she is not. But she has taken to the life style of living aboard. She has transformed from a city girl to a country girl. Her appreciation of the natural world has increased. It is a hard thing to describe, but we have grown together. Which is very nice. And it is the sea/sailing experience that has facilitated the change.

[SailSB]

For me it is how often stuff breaks. I had read that cruising is learning to fix things in exotic places, but after 3 years full time cruising the east coast of the US and the Bahamas and now through the Caribbean to Grenada where we are spending hurricane season it has really hit home. I am still surprised with how often something breaks. Sometimes big, more often small.

Granted, we are on a semi complicated boat, a 46 foot cruising cat, with lots of refrigeration, air conditioning, water making, 2 motors, generator, solar, dingy with outboard, as well as sails, lines, anchors and windlass, toilets and showers. You get the picture. Life is comfortable and I'm happy with our boat, but something is always broken no matter how diligent I am with preventative maintance and repair. And getting parts can be extremally difficult. I'm currently trying to source a refrigerator hinge that was made in Italy, but seems to be out of production for the last 7 years. I'll sort it out, but there is always something to keep you busy.

With that said, the lifestyle is well worth it. We have met tons of wonderful people and seen some awesome things.

Ken

[Chotu]

I was surprised that it was just a life. Like any other. It's just an ordinary life once you adjust. I was surprised that I'dyearn for vacations away from my normal life to exotic places like the mountains to hike and snowboard or a fancy weekend in the city.

I was also surprised it was so damp. Lately, I've been more surprised at all the freedoms being peeled away.

Not a very positive post, but I've been surprised by the negatives. The positives were always obvious to me.

[mojoman2]

Originally Posted by thesaltytar

That's actually really good information! I hadn't considered that. Any recommendations for information resources I should look into, or is it really a case-by-case, destination dependant problem? Do you think things like Star Link will make all of this a problem of the past?

I would like to go sailing the Caribbean and have some plans on central and south America.

Starlink is still a future prospect for cruising sailors. They are just now applying to the FCC for the licensing in the US. They plan to market an RV model at competitive rates that you might be able to use in US waters. However, I read that the pricing for international offshore usage was going to be something like $1,000/mth. The best solution for universal compatibility is to get a cellular router with global cellular bands. I use the Teltonika RUT240 global router. Then you have to find local SIM cards to use in it. In the US this is kind of expensive. In Europe it is amazingly cheap. Every country is different.

[George_SD]

The sense of an authentic adventure the way it was done centuries ago. Just like in books I read as a kid.

Yes, we have some modern conveniences, but you still have to setup and trim sails, keep watch day and night, relying only on yourself and your skills, manage provisions carefully, sit and ponder about the world during long passages, excitement and even fear of losing sight of shore, going into unknown.

I love it

[Don C L]

After over 45 years, I am surprised how I still see something new, that I have never seen before, each time I go out. It helps to have kids who are always finding and spotting new creatures. But just the other day I woke in the anchorage in the middle of the night to find us surrounded by dolphins feeding on a huge school of fish. I'd never seen common dolphins in so close to shore, let alone feeding around an anchorage! The following day my son found some kind of big jelly creature that we were unable to identify. It's always fun.