What ever happen to the REAL cruisers?

[IdoraKeeper]

I would guess it would take a very long time to change your oil using the GPS. If you tried it once or twice, I guess you might hire someone to do it.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

I would guess it would take a very long time to change your oil using the GPS. If you tried it once or twice, I guess you might hire someone to do it.

I'd sure hope that the mech would bring his own GPS, for the poster's obviously isn't working right.

Jim

[capnmatt]

I'm sure at one time a "real sailor" didn't have an engine in his boat at all - or autopilot, or electric water pumps, or refrigeration, or a host of other items that many "real sailors" of today take for granted. I'm not going to try to define who a real sailor is or who a fake sailor is, as I think it's all relative. I will say though that I would rather be out on the water even if I had to rely on GPS and pay someone else to do my oil changes, rather than sitting in my office or on the couch watching TV. Unless of course it's the couch and tv in my boat. I guess if you want to be the ultimate real sailor you should build your own boat out of wood and only other natural elements you can find. No electrical or other systems other than what you can fashion on your own, and by all means, no GPS.

[Rustic Charm]

The only people I'd describe as 'not real sailors' are passengers who do nothing but spectate on a boat.. I'm friends (sort off, never met them, but we chat a bit via FB and email ) who live and crew one of them fang dangle big American super yachts, for a family that travel twice a year during school holidays. Neither the owners do anything to operate the boat. Not even the tenders. They are purely passengers of their own boat.

Now, that ain't a real sailor to me.

[Rustic Charm]

And I'm really really struggling to work out this changing oil with a GPS thingy

Does GPS stand for the usual 'global positioning system' or is it also an acronym for I don't know,

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by bcripps

I'm sitting here in Wendy's Bar in Luperon and a guy here is complaining because he can't find someone to change his engine oil!

Damn. I started cruising, thirty years ago, because I longed to be self-sufficient.

What happened?

I'll tell you: GPS!

Bry

I don't disagree...But the good of the GPS has saved many a life. It has also falsely inflated ($) the cruising life. But while marinas around the world are filled to the brim with Norhavens, Hylas's and the sort, there is always the sailors on their 60s, 70's plastic classics anchored out of the way.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Gadagirl

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The younger of us are not lazy and stupid! I'm not sure why we like to blame the young for our troubles when all throughout history there is solid evidence of our offspring being inventive, creative, and carrying us forward. In spite of us! You should be more fearful of crotchety old people that are afraid of change.

The op certainly didn't mention young people. Some posters quoted Socrates but that was about it. You defend a (young) group of people at the cost of degradation of another group (old). Look in the mirror...are you that young as you slip down the greased pole to maturity?

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I think people are missing the OP's point. It's not about engine maintenance. It's that REAL cruisers supposedly don't use GPS.

I don't think that was his point at all....I think the point was GPS took the fear out of cruising so the affluent could buy what they always wanted to buy and go cruising. With it brought people with no need to do maintenance which is beneath them.
While in Mexico, I was in La Paz having some dental surgery done. While in a Marina there recuperating, I had the wealthiest woman (at the time) on one side of me with a cat and a cell phone mogul just ahead of me with a 180' and his son's 150' power-beast. It was a little surrealistic.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

And I'm really really struggling to work out this changing oil with a GPS thingy

Does GPS stand for the usual 'global positioning system' or is it also an acronym for I don't know,

Uuuh? Gooey Petroleum Substance?

Oh, I know, Great Petroleum Subtractor!


Cheers, RC,

Ann

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

Uuuh? Gooey Petroleum Substance?

Oh, I know, Great Petroleum Subtractor!


Cheers, RC,

Ann

Oh very clever

I was trying for ages to think of something

[reed1v]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

I would guess it would take a very long time to change your oil using the GPS. If you tried it once or twice, I guess you might hire someone to do it.

No, no, no: You change the oil in your GPS. That is why the guy is lost. Low oil.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by reed1v

No, no, no: You change the oil in your GPS. That is why the guy is lost. Low oil.

Ahh must be one of those early models

[PirateBarnabus]

Originally Posted by four winds

Hey bry, you got a gps?

Lol. ROFL!

[robert sailor]

Well with all seriousness I don't think there is any question without GPS 90% of the boats cruising and voyaging would not be out here. Prior to GPS there was lots to learn about navigation and even then you only got close, most of the time. This had the effect of keeping the numbers very low for those folks crossing oceans. Yes the Med/Mexico and Caribbean were still popular because navigation wasn't such a big issue as you could see where you were going in most cases and even if you couldn't the distances were short. The coastal folks also had Loran which was cheap and worked well. GPS was the main driver to the huge expansion we have seen in cruising.

[bcripps]

Well, kicked the hornet's nest.

First let me answer Four Winds' rather pointed question: Yes, of course I have GPS on my boat. Why wouldn't I? I'm not an idiot. Got it on sale for $300. Press the button and it tells me where I am. Do I rely on it? Well sure. But if I'm 800 miles off shore and the electrics hit the bed, do I need it?

No! Instead of calling Mayday, I can, at any time, go down to the chart table, (that's CHART, as in paper), and look at my last fix. It will be less than an hour old because that's the way you do it. I keep track, hourly. From that fix, I can navigate (let me spell that for you: N-A-V-I-G-A-T-E. It's in the dictionary), to anywhere in the world.

But that's not really my point here, so don't get yourself into a snit.

My real beef: Twenty or thirty years ago I would enter a far-flung anchorage and be greeted by two or three boats; folks who had worked hard to get there. Going ashore, the immigration man was happy to see me, welcomed me to his country. I was a bright spot in his otherwise humdrum workday. He shook my hand, stamped my passport, and offered to show me around his village. Fees? There were no fees. I was supporting his community with purchases of food, gas and diesel. That was enough.

Today, that same anchorage is bumper to bumper with eighty white elephants; everyone jostling for a mooring ball. (Thank you GPS!)

And eighty boats can't help but attract the attention of the government officials. So now I'm considered an open wallet; being charged for everything, including courtesy flags and photocopies.

Okay. I've heard all the arguments about us rich Americans supporting third world countries. But that's for governments to figure out, not visiting yachtsmen. Things change when you realize the locals are being friendly only because of the color of your skin.

So let the arguments rage on. It little matters to me because I've seen cruising at it's best and am happy to let things slide. But please, you people hopping from resort island to resort island, proudly flying the Skull and Crossbones from your spreader and wearing funny tee-shirts; watching your fifteen-inch chart plotter mounted in front of your wheel, (or wheels, as seems the fashion these days), don't fool yourself into thinking you're a cruiser. You're just another dumb tourist; no different from the ones that fly in on the plane.

Enjoy your stay. Spend your money. And don't forget the mortgage payment on the ranch-style. It's due on the 21st.

Bry