Date: Fri, 9 Sep 2011 18:58:45 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Westy Now, Boat Soon? (Friday)
In-Reply-To: <201109092320.p89NKFp16193@sbw.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 4:20 PM, Steve Williams <sbw@sbw.org> wrote:
> For some time now, I've been obsessed with learning enough about
> sailboats to acquire one and outfit it for living more independently.
>
>
> So I've started reading about sailboats and the people who use them
> to lead more independent, adventurous lives. I don't know whether or
> when I will buy my first boat, but I'm enjoying the learning process.
>
> If you're curious, here's a good place to start: Nomadness, the ship
> being outfitted by Steven K. Roberts, who has a long history of
> adventures on recumbent home-built bikes and boats.
>
> http://nomadness.com/
>
I, too have had the sailing dream....but I did more, much more than read
about it. I worked in a full service yacht yard, learned to build
traditional wooden boats, delivered yachts for pay, was a 'rock jock' (paid
amateur crew member on very high tech race boats) I built a few boats for
myself and many for clients of that yard and others...as well as working the
yard for 3 years and watching all the 'Yachties' who came through having
work done. I worked as a rigger in La Paz, BCS Mexico, too and saw the
'cruising life' first hand over about 10 winters down there.
Most who have the "sailing dream"....they never carry through.....95% at
least give up after spending lots of time and money trying....There are
literally dozens of semi-abandoned sailboats hanging neglected on anchors in
La Paz harbor at the tip of Baja....People have started their 'world cruise'
and got that far....then decided they really didn't like sailing....or they
got scared offshore...or their "dream boat' that they'd worked on for years
and years.....turned out to be a POS and didn't work very well, except tied
up in a marina slip.
Sailing...living aboard and traveling....it is a tough life, actually.
You are always 'on watch'...even when anchored, things are being used,
wearing out, you are at risk... If something goes wrong...you don't just
pull over and fix it....sometimes you sink and die or lose the whole
boat...If you find something that interests you ashore, you have to figure
out what to do with the boat while you go investigate....you can't just shut
off the engine and park it somewhere....
I still will go sailing when I am ready for that life....but I'll go
knowing exactly what I am getting myself in for and I will go without making
some of the really glaring mistakes I saw as I worked in boatyards...
One of my close friends, who's parents were weekend sailors and owned
boats all their lives...He called me at the boatyard and asked if I could
cut loose for a week and help Jack and Shirley (I knew them well from other
sailing trips) on their shake down cruise from Ventura California to Cabo
San Lucas....They flew me down and I went aboard the 'world cruiser' that
Jack and Shirley had been living aboard in the Oxnard marina....It was
awful! A death trap! Jack must have been in the early stages of
Alzheimer's to think that fero cement tub was a world cruiser.....The son,
John, talked me into going along anyhow...as far as San Diego or maybe
Ensenada, so the two of us could keep Jack from killing the two of
them...they were determined to go anyway...alone if we refused....So we went
and made it to Ensenada....Jack finally realized his boat was not anywhere
near sea worthy and we powered it back to San Diego where I got them into a
friend's yacht yard to have the boat put right....They finally went as far
as La Paz and back....their world cruise....
Read up on it..talk to people who've actually done some real cruising..Go
visit a harbor like La Paz, Hawaii, the Canal Zone, the Caribbean. Check it
out closely and do go on a few sails OFFSHORE. It is a really big bad
ocean....
Good luck with it though....When I am ready to devote 100% of my life to a
boat, I shall be off somewhere on the Sailing Life...
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