Bemused

[psteele235]

I am becoming increasingly bemused by some of the technical and other threads on CF such as 'open CPM' whatever that means.

When I was growing up (admittedly Queen Victoria was on the throne) we sailed from the UK to Europe (many times), the Baltic, and around Britain with a B&G depth sounder (thing that showed circles going around and was impossible to decipher), VHF for getting the weather forecast and not much more (no ship to shore), hard dinghy lashed to the coach roof with oars and a Seagull that would start if it was calm, bulky lifejackets filled with kapok, paper charts etc etc.

Reading some of these threads I feel that if I don't have a Masters in Computer Sciences, laptop, desktop, refrigerator, AC, MC, DSC, EPIRB, 6 person liferaft for 4 people, windvane, drogue, etc etc I shouldn't leave my mooring!

Where are all the old salts who learned to sail and navigate without all of today's toys? Or have we all quietly drifted away?!

[gettinthere]

to each his own

[GordMay]

We’ve all moved to Summerberry, Saskatchewan.
➥ CBC.ca | This Is That | Kevin Nealon Buys Canadian Town

[Astrid]

To each his own

Truer words have scarcely been uttered. Still, reflecting upon the issue, one tends to be comfortable with what one grew up with. Some people see no reason to go beyond the technology of their youth, and if that works for them, then who are the rest of us to argue. Younger sailors, who have grown up with all the electronic aids to navigation, the fantastic new boat designs,, auto helms, auto pilots, electronic plotting and charts, etc., are infinitely more comfortable with those technologies than the older generations who look at them and shake their heads--yet it is probable that some of the younger ones of today, may indeed roll their eyes and cast dubious glances at their children and grand children in the future and think, "we had none of the stuff you have to sail around with, and we didn't need it." I should imagine that similar sentiments were voiced, or at least mentally marked down and stowed away in memory, by those old salts who found themselves transitioning from clipper ship to steam ship.

[Dockhead]

Do you feel the same way about halyards, boom vangs, mainsheet travellers, backstays, P-brackets, stuffing boxes? Or are there different categories -- Technical Things Which I Understand, and Technical Things Which Are Mysterious To Me?

Certainly, you don't absolutely have to have refrigeration, depth sounders, chart plotters, sat phones, life rafts, and so forth to sail the seven seas. But neither do you need halyards, or stuffing boxes, necessarily:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...oe_Rennell.jpg

It's all up to how you like to sail, and what are the limits of your budget and technical ability. As the man said, to each his own.

[John A]

Growing old is not to bad, but the ageing process sucks!

If you really want to become concerned, consider the following:
People born in 1992 will enter college this fall, indeed, they will be allowed to vote on our future in the upcoming elections!
As a 70 year old I gotta ask, "what the heck do they know"?

Sailing is a personnel experience, go with what you're comfortable with. This is why so many questions on the forum must begin with the words 'it depends'.
Forget the spreadsheet, don't sit at your kitchen table and stress about all the things that might happen, just go.

[zeehag]

when i was groeing uo , we sailed in a national historic treasure with a compass and lead line for depth and knotted line for measuring boat speed.
yes i have a gps. yes i have charts. yes i have radar. yes i have simrad autopilot. yes i have weather fax. i will not use my lappy to control the boat--lappies get hackers. lappies get viruses. i can use mine for plotting my course and i can use mine to talk with friends but i do not plan on controlling my boat via laptop. first of all--is too hard to see in the cockpit and i will not spend that much time below if i am single handing. much if this techie mumbo jumbo is , i believe, stuff to make non sailors think they are sailors. just my humble opinion. hasnt been the salty ones i have seen thinking laptop controlling boat--has been the newer folk with less sailing and more techie experience. how does one say yuppie without saying it???/ lol isnt any other description for the situation. isnt a bad thing, isnt a good thing--is just observation.

in sailing i grew up in gaff rigging wooden sloopville. i OWN a fiberglass with wood cabin ketch with heavy displacement and slow forward mobility as compared to the gaff rigged sloop. we had no cleats, no winches--we used block and tackle and purely sailed. i am not staying so close to what i learned on...

[sabray]

Bud Macintosh was my child hood hero. My 7th grade art project was a scaled set of offsets fir "Annie". I've caulked planked and be t things with steam. Now I'm sailing a Frp. Actually auto is sailingon trimming the chRtplotter is on solar panes Re dumping 8 Amos the refer is cold. Things are a little different today this is pretty good

[sarafina]

Don't feel bad, once upon a time some old salt was just as perplexed by the modern fad of sextants!

[anjou]

Originally Posted by psteele235

bulky lifejackets filled with kapok, paper charts etc etc.

My first lifejacket was made from hard stiff PVC and stuffed with kapok. It had cotton tapes to fasten it with and when I sat down, it pushed up and chafed my face

Does this mean im old too?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by psteele235

with a B&G depth sounder (thing that showed circles going around and was impossible to decipher), VHF for getting the weather forecast and not much more (no ship to shore), hard dinghy lashed to the coach roof with oars and a Seagull that would start if it was calm, bulky lifejackets filled with kapok, paper charts etc etc.

A depth sounder and a VHF? that were luxury............

Originally Posted by anjou

My first lifejacket was made from hard stiff PVC and stuffed with kapok. It had cotton tapes to fasten it with and when I sat down, it pushed up and chafed my face

Does this mean im old too?

Yes

But join the club

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by anjou

My first lifejacket was made from hard stiff PVC and stuffed with kapok. It had cotton tapes to fasten it with and when I sat down, it pushed up and chafed my face

Does this mean im old too?

.....ayuh, but not as old as i am.....

[sabray]

Currently doing 6.5 knots first reef still in . Single handed looking at trAde wind clouds on the chessie. Oops we just went rails down. 8 knots yahoo.haven't liftedthe dividers all day. So nice when everything is working. Video to follow when iget a reL Internet connection. Aint technology great.I'm wearing a self inflating tie cited with spf50 ihave synthetic oil but it's the same old wind

[Pau Hana Daz]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Another one of those newfangled color pictures I see...

[Get-a-Life]

Can also remember hanging off the shrouds trying to steady oneself for that perfect sunshot.

Middle of the night raining and a howling wind trying to get a bearing with the radio direction finder.

Haven't had a sun sight for 48+ hours, where the hell are we? Damn, missed Tasmania's Hunter Island group, Antartica here we come.

Don't laugh, it happened.

Now we have every available new fangled electronic aid I can lay the hands on, in fact, just updated every single item this year.

Still mark the paper chart with position every hour on passage, just in case, also have a back up hand held GPS feeding into a laptop for good measure.

Grab bag contains those new fangled gadgets too. GPS, EPIRB, LED Torch, Strobe, etc.

Sailing! The only hobby/sport that one buys a heap of gear which one hopes never to use?

Ken