How many failed ocean wanderers?

[Wansworth]

I count myself amongst them after a passage across the Biscayto Vigo one summer and Autumn I realized solo ocean sailing was not for me after all the dreaming fueled by yachting monthy and tomes by Eric Hiscock I think apart from not being a solo sailor I really wasn’t brave enough,still under new ownership maybe my Dufour 24 will find distant shores across the ria!

 

[veshengro]

Not sure you should really count it as failure, Wansey. You just decided it wasn't for you that's all. Crossing Oceans alone is not for everyone, I expect there are countless reasons why some are comfortable with it and others decide it's not for them.
Perhaps like attracts like, I don't know, but a couple of single handers that I met on my travels were as daft as brushes..and they probably thought the same of me.
Here's an example..Anchored in La Linea about to sail for the Canaries I got chatting to a Frenchman. Ex Legion 2nd Rep, nice bloke. I was ashore for a run early one morning and met him doing the same. Usual questions, " Where are you bound "...He replied "The Congo, I want to sail up the river " ...I told him he was mad, with war on one bank and famine on the other. He said " Zen I will sail up ze middle "..
True yarn.
The only time I knew him to be upset was when I offered him some coffee and gave him instant Nescafe. He said I was trying to poison him..

 

[LittleSister]

I don't think that is a failure at all. You've got off your backside, got a boat together and sailed further than most, snagged yourself a comely young señorita, raised a family (with all the joy and heartache that necessarily involves), entertained yourself and us for years on here, and yet still get to waft around the rias that myself and others can only dream of.

You tried ocean sailing and felt it wasn't for you. That in is itself a success. It would have been a failure if you'd pressed on when your heart wasn't in it, unable to admit it to yourself. It would have been a failure if you'd never tried it, and spent your life wishing you had.

I can't help but suspect that some inveterate ocean sailors keep at it because they can't hack it ashore (at least not for long). That's OK in a way - they've got to do what suits them - but eventually one (almost always) has to come ashore eventually, and you did it early enough to do something else with your life.

Anyway, you can try a different tack next time you're reincarnated. (You never know, that might be as a teredo worm, and you might get to do more ocean sailing then. )

 

[Wansworth]

I don't think that is a failure at all. You've got off your backside, got a boat together and sailed further than most, snagged yourself a comely young señorita, raised a family (with all the joy and heartache that necessarily involves), entertained yourself and us for years on here, and yet still get to waft around the rias that myself and others can only dream of.

You tried ocean sailing and felt it wasn't for you. That in is itself a success. It would have been a failure if you'd pressed on when your heart wasn't in it, unable to admit it to yourself. It would have been a failure if you'd never tried it, and spent your life wishing you had.

I can't help but suspect that some inveterate ocean sailors keep at it because they can't hack it ashore (at least not for long). That's OK in a way - they've got to do what suits them - but eventually one (almost always) has to come ashore eventually, and you did it early enough to do something else with your life.

Anyway, you can try a different tack next time you're reincarnated. (You never know, that might be as a teredo worm, and you might get to do more ocean sailing then. )

My then newly found girlfriend said I should continue across the Atlantic and she would meet me in the Caribbean,she had more faith in me than I did but to me it was a non starter,why sail away from something that had only started

 

[LittleSister]

My then newly found girlfriend said I should continue across the Atlantic and she would meet me in the Caribbean,she had more faith in me than I did but to me it was a non starter,why sail away from something that had only started

Sounds like you made the right choice!

(On the other hand, you might have got to a Caribbean island, found buried treasure, assembled yourself a harem, and be regularly taunting us on here about it all. )

 

[LittleSister]

My then newly found girlfriend said I should continue across the Atlantic . . .

I've occasionally had not dissimilar advice from women I was courting.

 

[Wansworth]

Sounds like you made the right choice!

(On the other hand, you might have got to a Caribbean island, found buried treasure, assembled yourself a harem, and be regularly taunting us on here about it all. )

You mean my infinity pool

 

[steve yates]

Sounds like you rather succesfully played life's lottery really, people are more important than sailing ( though not by much, granted )
By next year I should have the time to go off sailing round the world if I so choose. But I have no idea if I will love sailing an ocean or be bored off my tits!
I definitely like the idea of an atlantic circuit, chasing the sun for a bit, seems quite a good idea to loop around every couple of years
But first I have a ton of coastal exploring I want to do first, Brittany, Atlantic spain/portugal, the baltic, norway, faroes/iceland, thats going to take a few years! . If I enjoy some of the longer passages on these then I’ll do an atlantic circuit, but what I really want to do is the northwest passage & then cruise the BC coast, thats kimda like my ultimate idea of sailing fun. So I hope I enjoy ocean crossings when it comes to it as its the only way to reach my possible cruising heaven

 

[Sea Change]

It's not a failure if you've enjoyed it.

When we were getting ready to set off, I deliberately didn't tell anybody that we were committing to getting any further than the Algarve. Financially, we could only quit our jobs if we rented out our house and lived off the income from that. Which meant living on the boat full time. Which meant being somewhere that it made sense to do that. Neither of us is quite hair shirt enough to genuinely enjoy spending twelve months of the year at anchor anywhere in Northern or Atlantic Europe. The Algarve sounded pretty decent as a first place to aim for. After that, we'd just wing it.

Secretly I did hope to get to the Caribbean, but I had no idea if I'd like ocean sailing. After getting a bit beaten up in Biscay, I was still unsure. It was only during the passage to the Canaries that we managed to get our act together enough to really enjoy a long offshore passage.

We're now preparing for our final season on the other side of the pond, and next year aim to sail home. It all feels a bit weird. I never set out with the goal of getting any further than the Caribbean, but I won't deny that a part of me feels like we should have kept the momentum up and gone through the canal. But with a school age kid to think about, we've almost run out of time, so our liveaboard lifestyle will take a hiatus for a few years until he's flown the nest.

The Pacific will still be there, waiting for us...

 

[potentillaCO32]

Sailing is a fun hobby. It is not a competition. Whatever you enjoy is fine. I have a friend who bought a southerly 110 3 years ago, lovely boat, and the furthest he has sailed it is 5 miles up the river. But he loves it and spends many a weekend fettling it.