What's A Cruiser?

[StuM]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

no it's not!!!!

That's not an argument, it's just contradiction.

Monty Python: The Argument Sketch

[barnakiel]

I think those that find something boring simply quit, NO? Cruising or musing, one does not like something one does something else.

Getting bored is a property of one's mind. Not something that depends on stimulants like e.g. cruising.

I have seen many bored people ashore but truly many fewer bored cruisers.

Last time I can remember I got bored is back when I still went to work. I was a jet test pilot, you know ;-)

b.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

I love to spend the day sailing and finish the day where we started.
I enjoy motoring all day.
I enjoy breaking an inlet an setting anchor without the engine.
I enjoy sailing and motoring for three months to make only 1,800 miles.
I enjoy taking the boat downtown to a restaurant dock.
I enjoy months at the marina dock.
I enjoy months anchored out.
I enjoy a night watch.
I enjoy DIY maintenance.
I enjoy having my boat as my only home.
I enjoy leaving my boat and spending a couple weeks on a cruise ship.
I enjoy wind surfing and kayaking.
I enjoy bicycling for supplies.

I am a cruiser and a sailor and a liveaboard

Very nice post, Hudson! One that captures the essence of a happy life, whether as a cruising sailor or not.

And I echo all of your examples, save one: cruise ships just don't work for me!

Cheers,

Jim

[daw_two]

Interesting thread to me. Subscribing.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

Got it no problem, my lifestyle doesn't suit you so I will stay home.
Exactly who has the closed mind here, I don't like sitting around so I'm wrong?
I never once said anything about not staying long enough for a weather window, repairs or re-provisioning, who says I have to sit around for anything else? You?
I am a doer, I enjoy being active, but I have no issues waiting if there is a valid reason to.
Hell I've spent 3 weeks in a tent on a glacier waiting for an weather window to do a climb. Only thing to do was melt drinking water!
I'll be honest if I waited as long as you to leave I'd probably be happy enough doing nothing as well! Hard to be bored when taking a dump is an accomplishment!

Spoken like a younger person. Just you wait, Sonny!

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

Interesting, I'm a sailor who is going live aboard/cruiser in a couple years.
My biggest fear is what to do when I'm not sailing.
I honestly come to a big mental block about what to do at anchor in paradise, to be honest it kind of sounds boring as hell!
I think I'm more into the challenge of getting to these places, could see me doing some repairs, re-stocking the boat and leaving in a few days.
My idea of a winter vacation is going ice climbing in the Rockies, not sitting on a beach.
Guess I'm planning on continuing being a sailor, just going to farther away places.
Oh ya this will all be done solo.

Lots of cruising types and no right or wrong. For us, sitting in a cove off a quite beach sounds great...for a day or two...after that it sounds boring.

At one time, the idea of cruising the Caribbean for a few years sounded great, the more we think about it the more we are concerned the next sandy beach will be a lot like the last. Going to the Bahamas for a month or two still sounds fun but years not so much.

Instead we have switched to Europe and the Med so we can visit cities and historic sites to keep it more interesting.

Sailing and Cruising are two separate things. You may sail while cruising and you may cruise while sailing but you can do either completely independent of the other.

[chuckr]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

Got it no problem, my lifestyle doesn't suit you so I will stay home.
Exactly who has the closed mind here, I don't like sitting around so I'm wrong?
I never once said anything about not staying long enough for a weather window, repairs or re-provisioning, who says I have to sit around for anything else? You?
I am a doer, I enjoy being active, but I have no issues waiting if there is a valid reason to.
Hell I've spent 3 weeks in a tent on a glacier waiting for an weather window to do a climb. Only thing to do was melt drinking water!
I'll be honest if I waited as long as you to leave I'd probably be happy enough doing nothing as well! Hard to be bored when taking a dump is an accomplishment!

You see we have seen a few of the isolated sailors out here and usually they are a bit antisocial and real loners. And we have met the "bragging doers" out here - a number of them and most don't last long as when reality meets dreams things really change

As for waiting as long as I did -- you see young man I never stepped onto a sailboat until I was 56. Took a lesson on a lark and liked it - then took a couple more and bought a new 40' boat when I was 58. Took off at age 62 and sailed the east coast of the usa and Bahamas twice, western Caribbean and then eastern Caribbean before doing a 2 person crossing of the atlantic and now starting year 4 in the Med. Sailed a lot of places people don't go and push the envelope a lot. Since we left we have probably over 30knm and probably well over a thousand ports of call. And we are still going and headed to a place almost no goes -
Right now we are sitting in Istanbul waiting on a weather window and we have already met and made a few friends here and not cruisers as there are not any here but there are people who have helped us, given us thoughts and just wanted to talk with us. And we share with everyone - it is what makes cruising great.

As for my past -- I took up climbing when i was in my late 30s. I became a technical rescue member of Mountain Search and Rescue. I taught high rock rescue. I have spent a bit of time in a snow cave and done a couple of the volcanos in Mexico - and my last climb was a 2 person ascent of Rainier at age 50.

And i have never been a "doer" nor bragged about it -- i just do it.

[barnakiel]

That's one of the fine things about this pastime: no entry barriers, no age limits no need to meet any criteria nor sign into any club.

Out there it is just you and the other cruisers, fighting for the dock, for potable water and for the best table in the best waterfront restaurant, every night.

And cannons, many high gauge cannons. To impress the other cruisers.

; -)
b.

[Schooner Chandlery]

I always think of my husband and I as wanderers, adventurers, or seafarers. Definitely not cruisers. The main reason for this is because of the Sterling Hayden quote that makes it seem that cruisers are off on a relatively secure little vacation from their day to day life and I see what our life aboard as an endless adventure with unknown outcome:

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? ”


― Sterling Hayden, Wanderer

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Schooner Chandlery

I always think of my husband and I as wanderers, adventurers, or seafarers. Definitely not cruisers. The main reason for this is because of the Sterling Hayden quote that makes it seem that cruisers are off on a relatively secure little vacation from their day to day life and I see what our life aboard as an endless adventure with unknown outcome:

Yes, it's beautiful prose. I've always loved it. I'm never really sure what to call what my partner are I are doing; cruising, travelling, goofing off, dropping out, exploring, learning ... I dunno.

All I know is we're not day sailors, b/c we don't.

[Cap Erict3]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

I love to spend the day sailing and finish the day where we started.
I enjoy motoring all day.
I enjoy breaking an inlet an setting anchor without the engine.
I enjoy sailing and motoring for three months to make only 1,800 miles.
I enjoy taking the boat downtown to a restaurant dock.
I enjoy months at the marina dock.
I enjoy months anchored out.
I enjoy a night watch.
I enjoy DIY maintenance.
I enjoy having my boat as my only home.
I enjoy leaving my boat and spending a couple weeks on a cruise ship.
I enjoy wind surfing and kayaking.
I enjoy bicycling for supplies.

I am a cruiser and a sailor and a liveaboard

What he said.

[Cap Erict3]

I consider a cruiser to be a transient sailor on his/her own boat.