Please Explain What a CRUISER is in Your Book..

[Polux]

A cruiser is someone that loves cruising and that actually does it, at least from time to time.

To cruise for me is to travel about without a particular purpose or destination, excepting enjoying life by meeting new cultures and discovering new beautiful places.

Long before I cruised on a sailboat, I cruised on a car and on a motorcycle.

[oldragbaggers]

I think at least some people will adjust the definition of cruiser so that whatever it is they are doing qualifies them as one.

There is another thread/poll running right now http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ou-124884.html where people are also kicking around the definition. Most people agree that cruising is when the boat moves from location to location as opposed to just living in a slip or going out for daysails only.

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

No home address? (Mail service) ???
Home is where the boat is. Maybe, but perhaps only temporarily. There could also be a permanent home somewhere else (with mail service, or a relative taking care of same). Not all cruisers do it full time. Does being a part-time cruiser make you less of a cruiser while you're out there?
No slip waiting for you. Why is this part of the criteria? Does the fact that there is a slip waiting for you while you travel mean that the travel is no longer considered cruising?
Mostly anchor out? Why?? There are people who cruise the ICW or the Great Loop Route year after year, have no permanent home, live full time on their boats, change location constantly, but some have the resources to spend considerable time in marinas. Does this disqualify them as cruisers?

That's all I got

Originally Posted by tuffr2

My definition of 'crusing' is moving the boat often over a long distance. How long a distance do you have to go before it qualifies as cruising? 50 miles? 500?

Crusing = moving. AGREED!!!

My point with these questions is just that I think people try too hard to make cruising into some kind of elitist endeavor by "upping the ante" and creating arbitrary conditions that must be met in order to keep the group as "exclusive" as possible.

I know people who cruise who live full time on their boat and do move it, occassionally, then sit for months and move again. They have no permanent ties anywhere and go when the spirit moves them. I would say they are cruisers. I also know people who go out every single weekend and anchor in different places and spend every vacation (often extended ones) traveling to various locations away from their home dock. Some of them spend more days underway per year and visit a greater variety of anchorages than the person who moves occasionally and sits in one place for months. Hmmm... which one of them is the real cruiser?? I say both of them.

What about the person who has that open daysailer who loads up tents, cooler and sleeping bags and travels for a period of days or weeks, landing on a different beach and pitching camp each night. Is that a cruise? I believe it is.

All kinds of people do all kinds of cruising on all kinds of boats for all kinds of time periods over all kinds of distances with all kinds of budgets that give them access to a wide range of lifestyles. Some can afford to keep permanent homes that they only visit occasionally. Some own their own slip at the marina and only return there occasionally. In my view if they use a boat (power, sail, row, or whatever) to move from one place to another, regardless of distance or duration, while they are out there doing it they are cruising.

You can break it down into other subsets, people who are full time cruisers, part time cruisers, power boat cruisers, circumnavigators, island hoppers, Great Loopers, whatever, but cruisers they all are. A person who only cruises on vacations or long weekends may not have much to contribute to a thread devoted to circumnavigating or living aboard full time, just as a person who cruises a power boat probably couldn't contribute much to a discussion about the best way to set up your sail reefing system, but I personally would like to see a more inclusive attitude for the basic concept of "cruiser."

[valhalla360]

I think the only inclusive definition would be that you travel to other destinations by boat.

How often, how far, boat type, anchor vs marina, etc... defines the type of cruiser that you are.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

I think the only inclusive definition would be that you travel to other destinations by boat.

How often, how far, boat type, anchor vs marina, etc... defines the type of cruiser that you are.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

You have stumbled into a difficult question to really answer...maybe it's like the definition of Pornography....you can't define it...but you know it when you see it...

er no.

Thats..... um... er........... Art!

[bob_77903]

There are as many definitions of a word as there are people!

[FSMike]

LOL.
A cruiser is someone who moves around in a boat and doesn't care what the definition of "cruiser" is.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by FSMike

LOL.
A cruiser is someone who moves around in a boat and doesn't care what the definition of "cruiser" is.

+100!

My definition of "cruising" is whatever I want it to be. Don't give a rats arse about anyone else's definition.

Although, I am a bit bemused sometimes to listen to cruisers who go on about "real cruisers" don't do this or that. Fortunately, membership in their little "club" is not on my radar.

Last year, I heard one such snotty nosed cruiser going on about..."well we NEVER go into marinas". Life happens I guess and I noticed them full time in a marina this year. I just grinned as I passed them on the dock. I didn't say a word, but I hope they could read my mind.

[IslandHopper]

Originally Posted by FSMike

LOL.
A cruiser is someone who moves around in a boat and doesn't care what the definition of "cruiser" is.

Exactly...! the problem is though some always feel the need to pigeonhole everything......

[Coops]

By Oldragbaggers

''What about the person who has that open daysailer who loads up tents, cooler and sleeping bags and travels for a period of days or weeks, landing on a different beach and pitching camp each night. Is that a cruise? I believe it is.''

I will say it is, and also, it's bloody good fun. I have done all kinds of cruising, but at 65, this one still pleases me.

Coops.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by FSMike

LOL.
A cruiser is someone who moves around in a boat and doesn't care what the definition of "cruiser" is.

Best Answer!

[Stu Jackson]

1. anyone who doesn't daysail

2. anyone who doesn't have to answer: "Don't you need a bluewater boat to go cruising."

[weavis]

If a fan of Star Trek is a "trekkie", it matters not what his profession or occupation is or whether he is occupied in Star Trek business 100% of the time. It is his or her primary interest or hobby or passion of choice.

The term and definition of being a "cruiser" is the same as being a pilot. It cant be taken away from you by absence of flying a plane to do other things.

I hate labels.

On the other hand, I freely admit to not being a live aboard world sailing cruiser. I have no interest in sailing the world. Similarly, I have no interest in spending all my time flying the world for the sake of it. (although I have but not as P.I.C.)

I do however, spend time day cruising or several days/nights of cruising, both locally or in non local waters when it suits me, and I enjoy life on board whether static or in transit.

I most definitely am NOT as experienced a sailor as I would like to be, and this affect my choice of cruising venue and interest in sailing areas. I have less than no interest in sailing the Atlantic for the sake of it or to arrive at destinations I dont want to go to. Similarly, I have no interest in living on board for living on boards sake to neglect other interests or obligations in my life.

That said, I absolutely would live onboard a boat in the right area when it suited me and for extended periods of time and would go sailing in that locale when it suited me and would enjoy it. Im attempting to make plans along that line for next year for a period of time.

Boating is a deep and abiding interest. It is part of my life but is not my life. It is a major preference of interest and enjoyment. It is what I spend a lot of time thinking about and planning for and being associated with.

I dont want to be a boat delivery skipper as an occupation. I do want to do the occasional delivery working for someone else for the experience. I dont want to captain a luxury liner but have no moral objection to spending time onboard.

I dont have an overpowering need to be on the sea no matter what. There have been times when the most dedicated sailor wishes they were anywhere BUT on the sea.

I most certainly have been on the water when sickness and weather have made it the least desirable place to be.

I do think about sailing a lot. letting go of mooring lines, setting the sail and just heading out. I enjoy getting into the rythmn and groove of the water and weather and working with it. I enjoy the convenience of time alone and going somewhere under my own transportation and efforts. I dont like being awake as a singled handed sailor for 30 hours at a time. I do like sharing longer passages with other people for that reason.

Messing about in boats is what I do. Im a boater. A kid at heart.

[oldragbaggers]

Very nice post, Weavis. We share a lot of the same sentiments.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

1. anyone who doesn't daysail

2. anyone who doesn't have to answer: "Don't you need a bluewater boat to go cruising."

Hmmm, I day sail, even have a boat just for that purpose (a H33...yeeha!)....OMG I'm not a cruiser....what am I doing anchored in the San Blas? I'm so confused...identity crisis! :O ???