Why do cruisers quit cruising?

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by rognvald

I have two comments about Thomms post No, 315:
1.) I love the old Bristol boats and would have bought one when I was looking to
buy a bigger boat in '95 if a good one were for sale. A Classic.
2.) Did anyone notice that Thomm's entire video was focused on a computer screen
with a Tom Petty video as an alternate to the navigation chart? Did I miss a longer
shot of the boat under sail power as it moved through the water?
Sailing means different things to different people. Thomm's is just another way to enjoy a boat.
Rognvald

Good observation, and I see your point, but the video is from around 2020-2021.

I bought the boat in 2011 and used either visual aids or one old foldout chart and an old GPS from the late 1990's that came with the boat until that video.

Also used the PO's 20 lb CQR, rode, and chain for the first 10 years or so of owning that boat.

I had just built my own chart plotter and was testing it in that video. Learned about it here on CF as well as OpenCPN. Got the idea from Sean D's videos and articles..

You see this is the first boat I have owned that had a radio, compass, or charts. The other 12 or so boats I've owned I used visual only. Power boats and sailboats. Usually though I was no more than 15 miles offshore.

My chart plotter is as you see it in the video in the cabin. I have only moved it to the cockpit one time at 11pm to get into a very narrow and shallow creek.

I have two Suunto compasses in the cockpit.

https://www.amazon.com/Suunto-900168...KXYPD_BwE&th=1

Here is how I usually sail. Autopilot has the helm. In both videos I'm headed home on a Sunday morning after "cruising" all weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRzpei2hZf8

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

[rognvald]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Good observation, and I see your point, but the video is from around 2020-2021.

I bought the boat in 2011 and used either visual aids or one old foldout chart and an old GPS from the late 1990's that came with the boat until that video.

Also used the PO's 20 lb CQR, rode, and chain for the first 10 years or so of owning that boat.

I had just built my own chart plotter and was testing it in that video. Learned about it here on CF as well as OpenCPN. Got the idea from Sean D's videos and articles..

You see this is the first boat I have owned that had a radio, compass, or charts. The other 12 or so boats I've owned I used visual only. Power boats and sailboats. Usually though I was no more than 15 miles offshore.

My chart plotter is as you see it in the video in the cabin. I have only moved it to the cockpit one time at 11pm to get into a very narrow and shallow creek.

I have two Suunto compasses in the cockpit.

https://www.amazon.com/Suunto-900168...KXYPD_BwE&th=1

Here is how I usually sail. Autopilot has the helm. In both videos I'm headed home on a Sunday morning after "cruising" all weekend.

Well, that's more like it Thomm! I espcially liked the downwind video which reminded me of how much I loved sailing my 25 footer in the ubiquitous Lake Michigan chop in the 80's/90's. I've always loved small boat sailing. Simple is better!
Rognvald

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by rognvald

Well, that's more like it Thomm! I espcially liked the downwind video which reminded me of how much I loved sailing my 25 footer in the ubiquitous Lake Michigan chop in the 80's/90's. I've always loved small boat sailing. Simple is better!
Rognvald

Simple is better, but the older I get the more I'd like a little more room and waterline. More performance would be nice as well which is why that Cole Brauer video really impressed me being an old beach cat racer.

I was forced into the nerd world because I needed money to pay off my boat and car at the time which was 1975.

The Marines would give you a $2500 Bonus if you either became an infantryman or Radar Tech (electronics) if you could qualify for that job.

I qualified barely then passed the school a year or so later and got the money. It went from there. Started learning and using computers in 1981.

Had internet in 1991 and played chess with a coworker at night after work.

Most of the friends I grew up with are truck drivers, farmers, delivery guys etc.

Anyway another video I'm in my usual spot. Autopilot although a bit overloaded has the helm. From 2017 or so.

The other video is Cole Brauer finishing her RTW Race on her Rocketship of a 40' sailboat with it's 39.6' LWL First Light.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3I2zc0_7wY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TINZvhivD7w

[Mike OReilly]

OK, the recent posts have reminded me of another reason why people quit cruising: luck, or rather bad luck.

This is a privileged life, and one that requires a mix of determination, conscious choices, skill, and luck. I made some decisions early on in life that allowed me to move into the cruising lifestyle relatively early. And while I continue to work hard, and make 'the right' choices, I'm fully aware that the Fates are fickle. A bad blow could easily push me into the "quit" category.

So add bad luck to the list of reasons why people quit.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

.

So add bad luck to the list of reasons why people quit.

Good point. We've been buddy boating the last 2 months with a couple who started cruising in the mid 1990s. All was good until they realized the hard way they they had a lousy financial advisor and they were over-exposed to Enron. It was too late when they realized - their net worth halved almost overnight. So after 7 years, they sold their boat and went back to work. Coupled with hard work over almost 20 years, they had some decent luck and sold their small construction company and house a few years ago and are now back cruising full time.

BTW - we met them by knocking on their hull at an anchorage in Tenacatita north of Banderas Bay (Puerto Vallarta area). Maybe we are a bit old school. We're old so it comes naturally I suppose.

[mako]

@Fore_and_Aft, your statement got me thinking (a bit off-topic)

"but often now I feel I am talking a foreign language when doing a survey. Forget port and starboard its left or right, everything's a rope and we use maps no idea what a chart is. It's not just one or two people I see like this either. For lots of people the boat is just a floatingRV/Caravan and a box to be ticked from the bucket list."

I've noticed that also the last few years. Sometimes I feel sorta weird when viewing a boat and I start saying starboard instead of right, even with the brokers. Possibly it's because during the Covid economy people were pouring into the boating realm, lots of newbies who have never taken a CGAux course. However nowadays it's certainly a buyer's market again so perhaps the pendulum will swing back.

[senormechanico]

Unless some tectonic upheaval has happened since I was in Tenacatita almost 30 years ago, that bay is noticeably SOUTH of Banderas Bay.

[rognvald]

"Simple is better, but the older I get the more I'd like a little more room and waterline."
Thomm225
Hi, T,
Not if you still do your own maintenance. How much time do you want to spend at the dock vs. sailing? Marinas are loaded with big boats getting ready to depart and they never leave . . . K.I.S.S.
Rognvald

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Unless some tectonic upheaval has happened since I was in Tenacatita almost 30 years ago, that bay is noticeably SOUTH of Banderas Bay.

Could be. We stopped so many places along the way I've lost count and the names blend. Places are all unique, but the names seem to blend. My wife is much better at keeping track. You wouldn't believe how badly I screwed up the towns around Oaxaca when we visited. I now just say "the place with the women weaving in the town square" or " the town where we stopped for mezcal.".

Regardless. We had a good time there. We should have stayed longer. Pretty strong cruiser outpost.

Apologies for the mis-location. I can assure you it's neither my first nor my last.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by rognvald

"Simple is better, but the older I get the more I'd like a little more room and waterline."
Thomm225
Hi, T,
Not if you still do your own maintenance. How much time do you want to spend at the dock vs. sailing? Marinas are loaded with big boats getting ready to depart and they never leave . . . K.I.S.S.
Rognvald

Yeah, that's a good point.

I have been doing my own maintenance but had a bad sciatica problem last year which took months to fix. First using regular doctors and their drugs which did nothing but rip up my stomach.

Note here for old folks. Be careful taking too many NSAIDS. (non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drugs)

After 3 months or so of that, I tried a chiropractor before regular doctor recommended surgery and he fixed the problem in a couple months.

But I have to get adjusted every few weeks, and probably shouldn't do my weekly 3 mile runs any more. Now I walk the distance and do light weights and pull ups. Pull ups to reduce pressure on my discs.

So I just completed doing the bottom with 3 coats of ACT Interlux Ablative, also painted the topside hull, deck, cockpit sole, and cabin sole and am sick of painting.

My chiropractor got me through the bottom job!

I still wouldn't mind maybe a 30'-32' fin keel boat with a bit more room and maybe a table down below.

A friend of mine was basically going to give me his Westsail 32 for $15,000 a couple years back, but as a single hander, I was worried about docking the beast without destroying a few boats and docks.

It had a table below like a booth in a diner, very nice, but it did need all new dodger, main sail cover, and sails. They were green and I didn't like that. It also came with a monitor windvane and a spare Perkins diesel and good electronics.

He later sold it for $29,000 or so.

I also passed on an Alberg 30 in great condition with a Hydrovane! My friend that had the Westsail got it for under $5,000 and it was easily worth $15,000 to the right person. It was in excellent condition.

This all goes back to how long and far will I actually cruise after retirement.

The boat I have now is fine for what I'm doing. It even handled 35 knots once doing a mouth of the Bay crossing. Sean D sailed his old Bristol 27 basically RTW and my boat is in much better shape.

Plus I do like my old boat and know it quite well after sailing it these last 12 years of so. I never the owned the same boat so long before.

It's very tough, can handle grounds, crashing into docks when I was learning to dock the thing, and it's quite easy to maintain for the most part.

I'd like to add a windvane but my stern is pretty crowded as it is.

Sean D's Bristol 27. He paid $1,000 for it. I paid $2,000 for mine but bought new sails, motor, etc. He scrounged his stuff and beached the boat to do the bottom.

https://towndock.net/shippingnews/se...-and-alexandra

https://svcrystalblues.blogspot.com/...ne-around.html

[dougweibel]

Reading through this thread I can't help thinking there are a lot of people who have it in their head that they really want to be cruisers but who are not cut out for it at all. That is not a derogatory statement. I'm not cut out to travel by motorcycle. Some people love that acivity/lifestyle. Some motorcycling enthusiasts might see it as a failing that motorcycling is not my thing. Its not. There are lots of lifestyles and activities and different people enjoy different things. There is no reasonable reason to expect that any one person will enjoy cruising. When you have a couple, or a family, the odds of everyone being in to it are less.

To the OP, sorry about your bad experiences. If someone wants to assign blame maybe they are your own fault, maybe not. In any case they were a result of your choices. One definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing and expecting different results. Change your cruising style (substantially) or do something else.

[Breaking Waves]

When we quit people were a bit surprised and wanted to know why - was a combination of several things - health issues, having to come home to look after elderly parents, having seen pretty much every part of the world we wanted to, getting tired of fixing the boat (edit: actually not specifically that but the so often **** quality of materials or parts or 3rd party workmanship when I went to fix something ). . . .

[GordMay]

They say ageing is all in the mind, and according to a recent study [1], that might just be true.

A new study [1], published by the American Psychological Association, has revealed, that middle-aged and older adults, believe that old age begins later in life, than their peers did, decades ago.
On average, the perceived start of old age increased by about one year, for every four to five years, of actual ageing.
For example, at age 64, the average participant said old age started at 74.7; but, at 74, they said old age started at 76.8.
When participants, who were born in 1911, were 65 years old, they said the beginning of old age was 71.
However, participants born in 1956, were 65, they said old age begins at 74, on average.

[1] “Postponing Old Age: Evidence for Historical Change Toward a Later Perceived Onset of Old Age” ~ by Markus Wettstein et al
➥ https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/re...pag0000812.pdf


BTW:
There are two kinds of people, who care a lot, about their exact age. Small children, and 39 year old's.
For those who think: "Age is just a number!" "Age" is actually a word.

[thomm225]

Ageing is all in your mind unless you have a health problem.

If you are lucky enough that your body holds out until you are say mid 80's, you are lucky.

I had to stop running due to Sciatica but everything else seems to be working pretty well.

I can switch to cycling, sailing, walking, and gym workouts to stay in shape.

Another thing for older folks is do not attempt certain things as if you are 40. Warm up first.

Mast climbing can also tell you a bit about your age and fitness as well especially if using a webbing ladder.

Climbing up and down the mast a few times and working up there puts ageing to the forefront, and it is no longer in your mind but right there for you to feel and see.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by thomm225

Ageing is all in your mind unless you have a health problem.

If you are lucky enough that your body holds out until you are say mid 80's, you are lucky.

I had to stop running due to Sciatica but everything else seems to be working pretty well.

I can switch to cycling, sailing, walking, and gym workouts to stay in shape.

Another thing for older folks is do not attempt certain things as if you are 40. Warm up first.

Mast climbing can also tell you a bit about your age and fitness as well especially if using a webbing ladder.

Climbing up and down the mast a few times and working up there puts ageing to the forefront, and it is no longer in your mind but right there for you to feel and see.

An old man walking down the street saw a little boy sitting on the curb, crying. He went over and said, "What's wrong, sonny?"

"I (sniffle) can't do what the big boys do!"

The old man sat down and cried, too.

One of the greater ironies of my life is that when I was working on my degree in Psychology, we were warned that loss of physical capacity was a cause of depression in old men. They never said it was a problem for women, too, but it is. Of course.

Ann