adding interest to your sailing

[Bosun Higgs]

Learning a new skill is always interesting - IMO stopping learning is the start of dying. But you do get to the stage with cruising when you have done all the usual haunts numerous times, you have acquired the basic skills, and its becoming a bit routine. Some bits, helming on passage for example, are quite boring.

So developing this thesis, it seems to me that what you need is another learning experience you can do on a boat. In my case there have been three - learning to fish ( far more difficult than I thought) , learning to race the boat successfully ( again very difficult) and diving which I have not carried through.

So what else are you learning to do as you cruise? Watching the cliffs as I sail past I have often wanted to study some geology, at least enough to know what I'm looking at. A pal has learned the banjo aged mid 60s

 

[Woodlouse]

Learn to successfully navigate and sail a yacht whilst inebriated. When you've mastered that you can get even more drunk and start again.

 

[lustyd]

Learn to successfully navigate and sail a yacht whilst inebriated. When you've mastered that you can get even more drunk and start again.

done and done

 

[Donheist]

Learning to speak (and read) Greek. So few make the effort that a little goes a long way. Next is to get my sextant out and put the theory into practice.

 

[Seajet]

I find learning the history of marks and places in the Solent is absorbing, say the wreck of the earlier HMS Invincible, the ' Palmerstone's Folly ' forts and the recovery of the wrecked battleship off Lymington / Yarmouth - I forget her name but there's still a huge bollard just West of Yarmouth, used to pull her back upright after collision with a liner.

There are also some really good walks, Bembridge is pure history including MTB / MGB's used as houseboats, and the development of the harbour including the Oyster beds which were very important formative commercial features all over the Solent, Falmouth and East England Coasts up to the early 20th Century.

There's a really good walk to the West just inland from Yarmouth, including the ponds used to give horses a drink on the old trail.

East Cowes has a good museum, including a display about the Polish destroyer Blystawica which during WW2 was in for refit having been built there at Whites; the skipper sensed trouble so quietly refused to unload ammunition, there was a massive air raid ( which my Dad saw from Bembridge on his volunteer RN training ) and the ship played an important part in defending the town, the surviving crew are still welcomed back.

In Langstone harbour there were the ' Starfish SF 16 ' decoys to lure the luftwaffe bombers from Portsmouth, worked well but a bit rough if one lived at Hayling, Langstone or Havant !

At Emsworth Marina there used to be a car slot with a sign ' The Admiral ' with a Rolls Royce, I thought ' some stuffed shirt ' and only discovered on reading his obituary that Admiral Percy Gick torpedoed the Bismarks' rudder, got the only speeding ticket on the Suez Canal - 36 knots in his destroyer, then used his aircraft carrier to tow a blazing oil tanker to safety, gaining a world record salvage claim which he shared equally among the carrier crew.

He then went on to build Emsworth Marina literally with his own bare hands.

Thanks to his indomitable assistant Jenny for that info, the full obituary was published in the Telegraph.

With places like these - and there will be similar around anyones' base - one never stops learning, just like sailing.

 

[SAWDOC]

I went to inquire from a yacht close to a reef on a light airs day if he was ok or if he needed assistance - perhaps not having an engine at his disposal. He replied to my hail that he was "learning to move slowly". I was impressed!

 

[SAWDOC]

How about taking a leaf out of Moitessier's book and shutting down your instrumentation and sailing by instinct while doing your yoga on the foredeck? Are we all over dependent on the magic numbers popping up on our gizmos?

 

[chrisbitz]

I like taking different people out who haven't been sailing before.

It's a nice environment for a conversation with an interesting acquaintance - you're doing something, but not so much that you can't concentrate on chatting, so it's not awkward if nobody says anything.

 

[Koeketiene]

Adding interest to your sailing

Summertime afloat is an opportunity to catch up on my reading -novels - which I love.
Most of my reading during the year tends to be work related. (not as much fun)

 

[dylanwinter]

finding out what is around the next corner

the essence of my current enterprise

D

 

[Blueboatman]

An interesting thread, remarkable for so little useful input.
Of course as you spend more time onboard, you are inevitably putting more 'in' and thus will open yourself up to getti g more 'out'.
Perhaps the Liveaboard section would contain more clues?
But here's a couple .
Writing
Painting
Photog incl underwater
Get a wet suit and snorkel
Botany ( Scillies )
History of yer sailing area and the coast. With forays ashore
Local literature
DIY as you spend time aboard.. Hmm racing tho , at odd with addi g weight and comfort
Maintenance haha
Add bicycles and mountain boots
Culinary incl foraging and fishing
Make music, play music
Sewing machine becomes part of the crew for wet day improvements

It's all a far cry from instant weekend highly structured agendas tho...

Carry a sailing dingy and venture into the shallow bits

Carry a library .

Cruise in company with foreign boats, a def win win

Wine beer spirit tours and tastings hic hic

Using yer phone, make a better version of Coast..

And so on and so forth perhaps

 

[SamanthaTabs]

I'd love to learn how to put the spinnaker up without feeling the need to hit the Boss repeatedly with a blunt implement...

Joking aside, exploring new places; picking up, at the least, a smattering of the language; trying to make decent pasta; working out how to keep training up (got a TRX suspension system, strap to the mast and endless possibilities!); reading; remembering that whilst a permanent liveaboard life isn't always fun we are living many people's dreams (in other words when I'm fed up give myself a slap..)

 

[Seatrout]

Learning to play the harmonica (now at the stage of being confident enough to keep it in the pocket for impromptu pub performances).

 

[pmagowan]

I was trying to learn signal flags without actually having a set (no chandlery in the Western Isles seems to carry them). There was no particular reason other than we spent a lot of time storm bound and I was reading through my cockpit guide. I want to fly NE14W

 

[johnalison]

I'll go with the OP's suggestion of geology. I love the way the experts can just read a landscape where I see nothing of note.

I always enjoy seeing a new bird and although my list this cruise is up to sixty, I've not added any new ones yet.

 

[DJE]

I'll go with the OP's suggestion of geology. I love the way the experts can just read a landscape where I see nothing of note.

Beware of geology. I was warned by my tutor on my first field trip that "once you've done a couple of these you can never simply enjoy a walk in the country again!" He was right.

 

[DJE]

Admiral Percy Gick torpedoed the Bismarks' rudder, got the only speeding ticket on the Suez Canal - 36 knots in his destroyer, then used his aircraft carrier to tow a blazing oil tanker to safety, gaining a world record salvage claim which he shared equally among the carrier crew.

Any relation to Alan Gick who now runs the sailing barge Alice?

 

[npf1]

On passage: Trying to understand more about the weather in the next 24/36/48 etc from observing cloud patterns etc rather than internet/shipping forecast etc. Where there'll be a sea/land breeze effect etc?

When arrived: Someone else mentioned culinary/foraging. Yep, sourcing some local food, visiting markets, cheesmakers, market gardens fishing etc then making a cracking feast from it all, has got to be one of our favourites.

 

[Seatrout]

I always enjoy seeing a new bird and although my list this cruise is up to sixty, I've not added any new ones yet.

As far as I am aware, there are only two types of seabird; 'Wibbles' and 'Oooh Dears'.... the species are determined by the noise they make.

 

[ffiill]

Just sail the old fashioned way and take a few short cuts through narrow tidal rock strewn channels.Plenty of those up here in NW Highlands and when you follow Lawrences or Clyde Cruising clubs directions and get it right its a great feeling and often a very scenic short cut.Usually with plenty of seals and comorants etc.