Is it the Actual Sailing or the Adventure and Possibility?

[Bunnellr]

Lauralee,
Not either/or.
And "sailing" encompasses such a wide variety of valid endeavours. Narrow your desires. Running a laser around a course? Circumnavigating? Crewing on a major racing boat? Cruising? Living aboard? All very different forms of the verb.
Redhead had it right for one version. The best sound in the world, to me, is when the diesel goes off. Group9 had it right that the to- do list never ends. djousset should publish as a poet. DonCL was good. Some folks are on the wrong thread. Anna Biel seems a bit judgemental.
It is all of it, regardless of the form you choose. The boat, whatever the boat, moving to the wind and water is miraculous and inspiring and satisfying. Going places is too, whether it is a nearby place for dinghy racing, across an ocean, or around your locale.
Bob

[Mag3]

my .02 is that if it's about sailing, you eventually find yourself on a racing boat. that's the best way to really hone sailing skills... if it's about adventure, you go cruising.

YMMV.

at the end of the day, all that matters is that it puts a smile on your face even when it puts a dent in your wallet.

[gilgsn]

I asked myself that question recently...
It turns out that I never just go sailing if I don't have a specific goal in mind. My boat is an escape pod, a tool, a getaway to freedom. It is my bug-out vehicle. It will also in time become my traveling vehicle. So I guess it is for the adventure. I do enjoy sailing, but it is a byproduct of doing something else or going somewhere. I want to make it totally self-sufficient, or as close as I can get.
My choice of boat also denotes adventure. It's only a 20 footer but seaworthy, strongly built full-keel double-ender. If I was only interested in sailing I would have bought a day-sailer with more interior space and a fin keel. You can probably answer the original question by looking at someone's boat choice... My boat is small and slow, without modern amenities, but it can take a beating...
I do enjoy battling the elements out of sight of land though. It makes me feel alive and free, but I would not go out just to experience that. Maybe I invent the need to travel to justify it, I am not sure. The two are intertwined to some extent. Maybe it is the satisfaction of doing things most people don't dare to do.
One thing's for sure, sailing beats watching TV any day..


Gil.

[jbinbi]

Originally Posted by redhead

There is absolutely nothing in the world like that moment when you have everything trimmed just right and you turn the engine off and ...whoosh...silence, except for the windsounds - and you keep moving. How cool is that? I fell in love with that moment 30 years ago and have been chasing it ever since.

That being said, I also love being able to move around and take my "house" with me. No packing, unpacking, sleeping in strange beds, etc.
The down side of this is that I'm positive there are many excellent adventures waiting just inland, but I'm on the boat, so I just get to see coastal villages.

But mostly, it's that moment when the engine goes off and you go sailing.

We must have the same dna. The moment you turn the motor off, but keep moving in silence but for the sound of the boat moving through the water....

I have told people that so many times.

[jbinbi]

This thread is perfect for me. Due to some personal issues, I just sold my lagoon cat. After sailing monos for 50 years, I purchased this 5 years ago, and it was my best purchase.

My wife gets seasick, so on the monos, we really never went anywhere. She complained because we only day sailed. I said, we can't go far as you get ill. She didn't want to sail much as she doesn't love sailing.

However, I love to just sail. Just to be on the water with the wind moving you. For me, the journey is better than the destination. Not for her. FF to the cat, and without heeling, it was much better, and we did some cruising. We did lots of daysailing as well, and that was nicer as she didn't get sick and kept me company, though I do 95% of the work. (Sure it doesn't go to weather and point like a mono, you don't ever get that 'in the groove' feeling, but you sure get the same feeling going, and it also goes pretty darn fast at times. Anyway, not trying to make this a mono vs. multi discussion, each has its pros and cons. And both appeal to people different ways.)

But now without a boat, I am considering either
a. going to the dark side and getting a trawler. This will allow me to be on the water and cruise with much less effort. Not sailing, but on the water moving.

or

b. Just get a 20-30' boat that I can daysail and single hand. If I go sailing for 3 hours, life is all good again. Just can't single hand my 40' cat or even mono anymore.

[redhead]

Jbinbi -

We have lots of friends who've switched to trawlers (usually because of age issues) and they're happy. Honestly, we're under pure sail less than 50% of the time, usually because the winds or the currents are foul and just don't see the point.

I'm of the belief that most bad days on the water are better than most good days on land.

Good luck!

[sailorboy1]

One of the things about being a full time cruiser that I miss is, ........................... going out for just a sail.

[jbinbi]

Interesting you say that. I have met a few cruising sailboats that have sailing dinghies on them. Assuming if you are staying for a few days in a harbor and there is a nice wind, in 10 min you can be sailing around with a grin on for an hour or 2 without doing very much work.

[Cheechako]

Although there are some great days sailing, it's more just a vehicle to get from point A to Point B for me, and to be there on a more than "tourist" basis.

[wolfgal]

is anyone else simply uncomfortable on the hard?

there is the movement, the bouyancy, the rocking, the leeeeaning, and sometimes the pitching.... water-rules change no matter when one is vertical or horizontal, and we adapt

and does anyone else feel the need to reduce the number of people encountered to some olden-day standard?
or fantasize about people-less destinations?
as far as dictators go, i prefer the air, the water, the sky, the elements.
to rediscover the amazing experience in disconnect, from tech

and has anyone noticed how hard work, longer work for those things that can be simply had on land feels so good? like when you have the perfect hand tool for the job or adapt another? like when it takes five times longer, cause the work goes backwards before it can move forwards?

i think the bottom line for me is this: to be both a hermit and a wanderer would likely make me a kind of oxymoron if it were not for a sailboat

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Although there are some great days sailing, it's more just a vehicle to get from point A to Point B for me, and to be there on a more than "tourist" basis.

100%, it's not the journey it's the destination.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by daletournier

100%, it's not the journey it's the destination.

And for me it's option 3: Lifestyle.

I like sailing, but that's definitely not why I own a sailboat. I do like sailing, and thoroughly enjoy the journey -- unless it's one of those days when it's not so fun, and I'm wonder, "why am I doing this?" But those days are fewer than the good ones. Sailing is just an entirely desirable way for me to move my home around. But sailing is pretty much the slowest way to go anywhere, so the journey has to be enjoyable.

And while I do go places, it's not the destination, per se, it's the act of living and exploring that is the draw or motivation. Mostly it's about the freedom. I don't really need to go anywhere in particular. There is wonder and joy everywhere, so I see no need to chase around the planet to find it. But I do like poking into that unknown (to me) cove, or heading off the beaten path a bit to places few choose to go.

So, for me, it's neither the journey, nor the destination. It's the lifestyle my boat enables.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

One of the things about being a full time cruiser that I miss is, ........................... going out for just a sail.

Sailorboy1, You don't have to miss that. Your liveaboard cruiser can be untied and gotten out of the slip. If you keep everything on board well put away and your awnings and other on deck falderal easy to clear away, you can get out for a sail in fairly short order.

Of course, during racing season we are sailing once or twice a week so to get our sailing fix day sails are not necessary. But if a visitor or guest is in town we will almost always take them for a day sail on a non-race day. In other times of the year we keep the boat ready to go and do go out often. Always have. 30 minutes from getting the impulse to pulling out of the slip. Even in the hottest, most humid times of the year we go out once a month or more often, just for a sail.

Once out of the slip the sails go up at the earliest possible moment; as soon as we clear the marina entrance. No waiting for perfect sail trim. Just the main up and kill the motor. Glorious silence! Then a jib, then get everything trimmed and sailing perfectly. We go to weather first. Close hauled in 15 knots of wind, that is what I live for.

In the early days of owning this boat, which has always been our liveaboard home, we sailed around 95 times a year. Now it is more like 40-50 times.

Of course we live in one of the world's most wonderful sailing locations, flat water, deep water, steady winds, gorgeous mountainous scenery and very few boats. Why wouldn't we go sailing?

My wife often asks me rhetorically, "Why live on a boat if you don't sail it?"

[LauraleeG]

Originally Posted by wolfgal

is anyone else simply uncomfortable on the hard?

there is the movement, the bouyancy, the rocking, the leeeeaning, and sometimes the pitching.... water-rules change no matter when one is vertical or horizontal, and we adapt

and does anyone else feel the need to reduce the number of people encountered to some olden-day standard?
or fantasize about people-less destinations?
as far as dictators go, i prefer the air, the water, the sky, the elements.
to rediscover the amazing experience in disconnect, from tech

and has anyone noticed how hard work, longer work for those things that can be simply had on land feels so good? like when you have the perfect hand tool for the job or adapt another? like when it takes five times longer, cause the work goes backwards before it can move forwards?

i think the bottom line for me is this: to be both a hermit and a wanderer would likely make me a kind of oxymoron if it were not for a sailboat

Yes to all of those! A lotta times- people suck! But then- there are the lovely folk who help you when you need a tow... so on some cosmic wheel it balances out maybe?
But really—Who hasn’t encountered the quietest anchorage , only to have it be disrupted by some yahoo in a huge power boat blasting his music at midnight!!