Hobbies

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Mrs Sail Away

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Hello Liveaboards

We are some five months in to cruising full time aboard a Westerly Storm. The transition from working too many hours to none at all is going slowly (possibly not brilliantly). So I was wondering, what do folk do (in the way of hobbies) to keep the grey matter going once all the boat work has been completed?

Ideas/comments much appreciated

Mrs Sail Away
 
Welcome to YBW .
Now Hobbies , I wish we had times for hobbies , we have a list of jobs to be done before we off cruising , no sooner one gets ticked off another one added ,

The problem with living full time on the boat , it tend to get much more used so things wear out quicker .

But when we do have a bit of spare time , we walk , explore , read , well my co skipper do , visit friends and socialise .
 
Take the decision to learn a language well and go and spend a year or two in the country in which it is spoken. The rest is patience and determination,
 
Mrs Sail Away said:
Hello Liveaboards

We are some five months in to cruising full time aboard a Westerly Storm. The transition from working too many hours to none at all is going slowly (possibly not brilliantly). So I was wondering, what do folk do (in the way of hobbies) to keep the grey matter going once all the boat work has been completed?

Ideas/comments much appreciated

Mrs Sail Away
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All the boat work completed?

That's like saying I've finished the garden ;)

But loads to do otherwise, photography can make going for walks much more purposeful, learn local recipes, researching the next cruising area, learn the local language, learn astro navigation, just read - it will sort itself out, don't worry.
Normal for cruisers to say something like - "Not sure exactly what I do but it always takes all day"
 
Find time for hobbies? You have to make time! Remember that living on a boat and cruising around is a full time occupation! Boat jobs are never finished, SWMBO paints and I play music for our hobbies. Exploring ashore, swimming, SCUBA diving, snorkelling, shopping, learning to speak the local language are not hobbies just part of everyday cruising life. Have fun we have been living the dream for nearly 6 years and loving almost every minute.
 
Dungeons and Dragons.

Don't knock it till you've tried it, very social, great for the brain and a great fun way to spend many hours!
 
What you will find that everything except electronics will fail more than once because they are made for weekend and holiday sailors. So the best hobby is to learn how to fix thing. Long distance sailing I spent two days a weeks servicing or fixing something. We carried two spares for everything, appropriate tools, and exploded diagrams. When taking something apart lay the bits in a line so you know how to put the spares back. The best book for repairs is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boatowners...nigel+calder+mechanical+and+electrical+manual
 
KellysEye said:
What you will find that everything except electronics will fail more than once because they are made for weekend and holiday sailors. So the best hobby is to learn how to fix thing. Long distance sailing I spent two days a weeks servicing or fixing something. We carried two spares for everything, appropriate tools, and exploded diagrams. When taking something apart lay the bits in a line so you know how to put the spares back. The best book for repairs is: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Boatowners...nigel+calder+mechanical+and+electrical+manual
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Thank you KellysEye for your advice - as the female member of our boating partnership I am lucky to have a have a skipper who is very experienced in all aspects of boat maintenance and whilst these jobs are a necessary part of cruising life, it was the fun part I was more interested in with my post.

Where did you long distance cruise to and in what?
 
We left bricks and mortar 18 mths ago, prior to that our hobby was getting the boat ready, i thought before we set sail that I would paint, take long walks do lots of sailing, well this is how it's really gone, sailed lot less than planned haven't taken out any paint brush but what I have found that I don't need a hobby (in the old way when I was working) to get away from the day to day stuff as the day to day stuff is what I want to do not necessarily to get away from things. The thing that I have really enjoyed is getting the free meal "foraging", when we walk one eye is on the free meal, when I get up in the morning whats in the lobster pot, then the challenge, what new for dinner tonight (due to such a good year I am looking to write a new cook book "100 different recipes for Lobster cooked on a boat". Righting a blog also helps especially when you read it back after a year, brings a smile to my face.
 
Shearmyste said:
We left bricks and mortar 18 mths ago, prior to that our hobby was getting the boat ready, i thought before we set sail that I would paint, take long walks do lots of sailing, well this is how it's really gone, sailed lot less than planned haven't taken out any paint brush but what I have found that I don't need a hobby (in the old way when I was working) to get away from the day to day stuff as the day to day stuff is what I want to do not necessarily to get away from things. The thing that I have really enjoyed is getting the free meal "foraging", when we walk one eye is on the free meal, when I get up in the morning whats in the lobster pot, then the challenge, what new for dinner tonight (due to such a good year I am looking to write a new cook book "100 different recipes for Lobster cooked on a boat". Righting a blog also helps especially when you read it back after a year, brings a smile to my face.
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We are on the market for such a cook book. On terra firm lobster, or crayfish here, are extortionate and seldom hit our menu (I cannot recall the last one). When we sail south lobsters are the menu and become increasingly tedious!

Extend the hobby of become an accomplished knots smith and make soft shackles (and learn how to use them). They make excellent gifts when you are invited for dinner, even if its only lobster!

Jonathan
 
Mrs Sail Away said:
Hello Liveaboards

We are some five months in to cruising full time aboard a Westerly Storm. The transition from working too many hours to none at all is going slowly (possibly not brilliantly). So I was wondering, what do folk do (in the way of hobbies) to keep the grey matter going once all the boat work has been completed?

Ideas/comments much appreciated

Mrs Sail Away
Click to expand...

I think you have identified a problem of retirement, not sailing. As others have pointed out, cruising - the getting places, maintaining your home/transport, and simply doing the daily chores, will occupy much more of your time than it would in many alternative lifestyles. And the sheer inherent interest in constantly changing locations, cultures, languages, types of beer will also do more to keep the brain cells ticking over. But none of this can answer the big ‘what’s the point’ question. Filling the time between now and dying with ‘hobbies’ doesn’t, it seems to me, make that time any more worthwhile, it just makes the time pass quicker (although not sure if that holds true for dungeons and dragons!). Pursuing passions is different - but I am referring to hobbies which are pursued primarily to waste time, like I-spy on a long car journey (in this regard, the traditional cruisers’ bored game of pickle the liver seems no better or worse than the others to me).

We each have to find our own answers. My wife and I haven’t completely yet. But I suspect that merely filling our time will be ultimately, well, unfulfilling.
 
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