.....a continuation,why do we go sailing?

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Wansworth

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From the heavingtoo thread it seems the majority go sailing to actually get somewhere.Having been in the MN and sailingwith my wife I quite like just small little trips with majority of the time at anchour or moored up fiddling about with the boat or reading.At the same time a sail out to sea and back for the day is pleantyof actual sea time sailing.
 
Wansworth said:
From the heavingtoo thread it seems the majority go sailing to actually get somewhere.Having been in the MN and sailingwith my wife I quite like just small little trips with majority of the time at anchour or moored up fiddling about with the boat or reading.At the same time a sail out to sea and back for the day is pleantyof actual sea time sailing.
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As I said in another thread, for me its arriving at a new port, and then setting off again that really does it for me, rather than the long watches at sea although they too have their moments and achievements even with sophisticated modern electronics taking most of the guesswork out of it.
 
For me it’s the bays and harbours, the restaurants and swimming as well as the mental and physical exercise of gettting the best out of the boat when sailing. So if I’m having fun tweaking this and that for a few hours I don’t like to let that go completely - but happy to sleep soundly under way and not mind if the crew has a more relaxed attitude.

A moonlit night, driving through the waves with foam and white water around is thrilling, and remembering the huge waterspout forming behind us with nearest land a hundred miles away is a lovely memory from this Summer (but not necessarily lovely at the time), and just motoring all day in a sunny flat calm, eating, drinking and reading works too.
 
I've never really been able to just "go for a sail" in the same way that I was never able to just take my motorcycle for a ride. I need to be going somewhere. Where doesn't really matter and if it turns out there's no wind or the wrong wind I am totally happy to change the goal. The sailing is what counts but I have to have a destination in mind. Maybe it's because navigation is one of my better skills and sail trim one of my worst, but I *think* it's related to the notion that boats represent freedom because with a properly provisioned boat you always have the option on a rainy saturday afternoon to say "sod this, let's go to Antigua". Or Gosport.
 
laika said:
I've never really been able to just "go for a sail" in the same way that I was never able to just take my motorcycle for a ride. I need to be going somewhere. Where doesn't really matter and if it turns out there's no wind or the wrong wind I am totally happy to change the goal. The sailing is what counts but I have to have a destination in mind. Maybe it's because navigation is one of my better skills and sail trim one of my worst, but I *think* it's related to the notion that boats represent freedom because with a properly provisioned boat you always have the option on a rainy saturday afternoon to say "sod this, let's go to Antigua". Or Gosport.
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I like that - over all the decades we've rarely gone on a day sail back to the same place, except perhaps when we want to test out the boat at the beginning of the season. There's something about that Tolkien quote that the longest journey starts with the first step from your front door. The idea that the entrance to the marina leads to the entrance to the estuary that leads to the entrance to the sea that leads to the ocean...
 
Lao Tzi might just have got in there before Tolkien by around 2500 years! ;)

Anyway, personally Im just as happy to nip out and sail around for a few hours as I am going long distance. But each to their own.
 
God knows. Its either too windy or not enough wind and its always on the nose. Plus it rains and its cold. I dont know why I do it, I really dont.

SWMBO being more rational than me has put her barrow down. No more bashing to windward round Lands End. Very little cruising in fact and mostly under engine. So now my sailing is racing in the main and not a lot of that.

Coming to the end but I've been saying that for 5 years so far.
 
birdseye said:
God knows. Its either too windy or not enough wind and its always on the nose. Plus it rains and its cold. I dont know why I do it, I really dont.

SWMBO being more rational than me has put her barrow down. No more bashing to windward round Lands End. Very little cruising in fact and mostly under engine. So now my sailing is racing in the main and not a lot of that.

Coming to the end but I've been saying that for 5 years so far.
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Mine had a similar reaction after decades of sailing but her solution was that we buy a boat with at least 2 guest bedrooms and two bathrooms and to only sail it somewhere warm. Well that meant a huge amount of spending has had to be on sailing things since. I’m delighted but still occasionally crew on a friends racing boat in the North Sea to remind myself how wise my wife is.
 
Because I can. Now (I spent many years not doing what I wanted, because I did what I needed to, to provide for the family I always wanted ). My MAB represents a challenge, freedom, adventure and love of life.
 
It's always my preference to sail to somewhere, even if it's only Cowes for lunch or Yarmouth for an overnighter. A simple cross channel trip is always special as I'm landing in a foreign port. Longer trips are great as it gives me an opportunity to visit strange harbours.

That said, if the wind and tide don't co-operate, I'm happy to pop out for a couple of hours drifting between the forts in the Solent.
 
My take on boating is it offers two distinct ideals:
6 hour(ish), preferably downhill, jaunts with a night of revelry ashore or else sustained passages of 3 days plus when boat life* prevails.
*Fishing, sleeping, cooking, sleeping, fixing, sleeping, reading...ad nauseum.
 
Whether it is going out for a couple of tranquil hours on my own, or crossing an ocean with a very experienced crew, and most of the possibilities in between, I thoroughly enjoy them all. But reaching a new destination after a good trip well made and enjoying the place that we have reached, and doing that in good company, is what does it for me.
Being able to do that means that I have stretched some of my limitations and that is not a small satisfaction.
 
Always had to have a destination , racing or going in circles was not for me , love the feeling of getting somewhere , can’t wait for the Pacific this year and also addicted to living on a boat now , bit of hardship at times but would really struggle with suburban life again ....
 
westhinder said:
................ reaching a new destination after a good trip well made and enjoying the place that we have reached, and doing that in good company, is what does it for me.
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I can relate to that, nicely said.

Over winter, I quite like to get out an old log book, either the boats or my personal log, and thumb through the pages. I’ve been lucky enough to have sailed to quite a few different ports, harbours and anchorages. Reading log extracts never ceases to bring back fond memories of cruising, exploring and sharing good times with friends.
 
The sense of Adventure and Escape. My working life is all about "Destination", the Journey is an inconvenience. However, sailing for me is the opposite; it is all about the "Journey", the Destination is less important.
 
John Masefield said it for me - it's a kind of compulsion. I enjoy the "timelessness" of it, and working with nature instead of trying to tame it.

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and star to steer her by;
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And the grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day and the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.

John Masefield, 1913
 
These sort of threads often remind me of an old Leonard Cohen poem, where if you substitute boat for kite:

A KITE IS A VICTIM

By Leonard Cohen
From: The Spice-Box of Earth
March 1965

A kite is a victim you are sure of.
You love it because it pulls
gentle enough to call you master,
strong enough to call you fool;
because it lives
like a desperate trained falcon
in the high sweet air,
and you can always haul it down
to tame it in your drawer.

A kite is a fish you have already caught
in a pool where no fish come,
so you play him carefully and long,
and hope he won’t give up,
or the wind die down.

A kite is the last poem you’ve written,
so you give it to the wind,
but you don’t let it go
until someone finds you
something else to do.

A kite is a contract of glory
that must be made with the sun,
so make friends with the field
the river and the wind,
then you pray the whole cold night before,
under the travelling cordless moon,
to make you worthy and lyric and pure.
 
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