Should yachting take you out of your comfort zone?
- Thread starter Wansworth
- Start date
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
March? What a wimp!
I delivered my 23 footer from Lymington to Levington, single-handed, in January.
Being a cautious skipper (= coward!) I waited for settled weather. Of course settled weather in winter equals cold weather, and boy was it cold! Ice on the decks in the mornings, etc. Character forming stuff!
johnalison
Well-Known Member
I entirely agree that smaller boats are less comfortable, often very much so. However, ‘comfort zone’ really implies its metaphorical meaning of what one can do without experiencing anxiety, let alone alarm. Apart from the odd halcyon day, I would say that most sailing involves anxiety, whether navigational uncertainty, concern about the engine, or just whether one’s approach to a berth will escape the attention of onlookers, and it is in how to manage this anxiety that we sailors have acquired an important skill.Of course the other way to get pushed out of your comfort zone is to get a smaller boat!
Much more affected by wind, waves and tide; much more difficult to move around on and in; much more tiring; much less able to cope with severe weather; much less able to make progress to windward or even just hold a course in rough conditions; far fewer creature comforts; much less capacity to take spares/tools/safety equipment, etc; significantly slower to reach safety if required.
(None of the above applies to the Anderson 22, of course!)
Still are more fun per £, though.
Fr J Hackett
Well-Known Member
Nowhere
westhinder
Well-Known Member
I can only speak for myself, obviously. Anything between 10 miles and transatlantic. But I take it that is not so different from you and most others on here.
And, as has been stressed by others, comfort zones aren’t static, they move with you. We know we shouldn’t become complacent, the sea can throw things at us that move us out of our comfort zone pretty quickly. Sailing is a never ending learning curve.
ylop
Well-Known Member
Does it matter? Comfort zones are a mental thing. As someone who has a strongly stated preference for pontoon berths can you not see that each individual has there own personal expectations and experiences which go to define that zone where they feel comfortable? Sometimes physical comfort may contribute to that but I can be cold, wet and miserable but perfectly confident or I can be anxious whilst warm and dry. Who else is with you can even contribute to amplify or calm your concerns.
ylop
Well-Known Member
You should try some winter sailing - with the right preparation it needn’t even push you outside your comfort zone!Who goes sailing in March?
I have been to foreign ports on the Channel coast in early May & they are still recovering from the winter.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
A large part of my winter (when I was fit) was polar series dinghy sailing then 18 years on safety boat duty for the club. I know all about being on the water when there is ice on the shore. (try sitting in an open RIB getting wet in the freezing cold for 4 hours at a time). I have absolutely no interest in getting my cruiser damp & mouldy just for a couple of uninteresting sails to ports that are basically shut for the winter.
Sailing rarely takes me anywhere near the limits of my comfort zone because I plan for it. Furthermore. I see little joy in being freezing cold for little reward. Safety boat duty for my friends excepted of course.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
The point of my post was to find out what people who worried about reaching the comfort zone were doing.
Some talk about sudden bad weather defining the limits. But if one is only going for a 3-4 hour sail up a river or along the coast & back the chances of excessive weather are pretty limited. The odd coastal or estuary gust or of course, but nothing to fear because we all know that they happen and any sensible person plans for that. Same with strong tides.
So what would be the the problem on short trips that pushes one beyond the comfort zone. Getting lost perhaps? Running aground? But that is just applying common sense at the start
Comfort zones need not start until passages get longer- 15 hours plus. Out of sight of land? Then weather can be an issue. A surprising amount of shipping might have one unsure. Sea state might be unexpected. Crew getting sea sick so tiredness setting in. Electrics breaking down. Bits of boat badly prepared. Reefs not working.
But these are longer passages. So keep the length of passage down to avoid crossing the zone would surely be the answer
Some talk about sudden bad weather defining the limits. But if one is only going for a 3-4 hour sail up a river or along the coast & back the chances of excessive weather are pretty limited. The odd coastal or estuary gust or of course, but nothing to fear because we all know that they happen and any sensible person plans for that. Same with strong tides.
So what would be the the problem on short trips that pushes one beyond the comfort zone. Getting lost perhaps? Running aground? But that is just applying common sense at the start
Comfort zones need not start until passages get longer- 15 hours plus. Out of sight of land? Then weather can be an issue. A surprising amount of shipping might have one unsure. Sea state might be unexpected. Crew getting sea sick so tiredness setting in. Electrics breaking down. Bits of boat badly prepared. Reefs not working.
But these are longer passages. So keep the length of passage down to avoid crossing the zone would surely be the answer
ylop
Well-Known Member
You appear unable to empathise with others having different comfort zone boundaries from you.
I think your entire hypothesis is wrong - a pleasant 2 hr sail from one harbour to another could become outside comfort zone with a bad bar crossing to get in, or even a huge squally blowing through for just 5 minutes. It can be planned for and mitigated, the crew can be briefed and reassured but it’s like you don’t understand what a comfort zone is if you think planning can avoid it entirely - without simply never leaving harbour, in which case you never build the experience to broaden your comfort zone. I don’t know whether you are a heroic sailer or a very dull one but if neither you nor your crew have ever been in a situation which felt psychologically uncomfortable that is probably exceptional. Being outside your comfort zone and actually being in danger are entirely different.
Weather can be an issue anywhere - out of sight of land at least you don’t have overalls or rocks to worry about being blown on to.
Certainly if I went out in the solent, something many do with little thought, I’d be outside my comfort zone. I expect they might be feeling little jittery for their first few times through the Cuan sound, Dorus Mor or even the entrance to Loch Spelve.
Give someone a new mooring “technique” like med mooring or dutch box mooring and a strong crosswind and you are definitely out your comfort zone, especially in a strange boat. In fact given the shouting I hear marinas in general seem to remove relaxation!
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
That is wierd
I never felt any problems with my "comfort zone" going through the Cuan sound SH (no chart plotter) & actually enjoyed the trip. Albeit fog in the sound restricted visbility a bit. But I was able to see the rocks 40 ft away.
I have done box mooring in Holland a few times & can do that SH as well. If it is windy I often apreciate a hand from someone on the pontoon because that can be hard if the posts are further from the pontoon than my boat is long.
The first time I did a box mooring SH I took a trip to Middleburg to do a page for my website on how it went for our cruise members.
It all went well. "Comfort zone" did not come in to it" I wanted to try it.
So I suppose it depends what is meant by "comfort zone" A month later one of our boats - a 40fter- managed to get 45 deg to the posts & a bit of shouting could be heard.
But is that classed as "Beyond their comfort zone" If it was then I would describe them as bunch of whimps.
More like a cock up & beers all round in the bar
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johnalison
Well-Known Member
There are people for whom the very act of stepping into an open boat, even a substantial one that we wouldn’t think twice about, is a significant challenge akin to what I would feel at the prospect of rounding the Horn. Some of these people may well be wimps, but for others it is merely something completely outside their previous experience. I have watched people go through this sort of experience and it certainly seems that they have enjoyed facing adversity and overcoming it, just as I just might (possibly) take satisfaction from my never-to-be undertaken trip round the Horn.That is wierd
I never felt any problems with my "comfort zone" going through the Cuan sound SH (no chart plotter) & actually enjoyed the trip. Albeit fog in the sound restricted visbility a bit. But I was able to see the rocks 40 ft away.
I have done box mooring in Holland a few times & can do that SH as well. If it is windy I often apreciate a hand from someone on the pontoon because that can be hard if the posts are further from the pontoon than my boat is long.
The first time I did a box mooring SH I took a trip to Middleburg to do a page for my website on how it went for our cruise members.
It all went well. "Comfort zone" did not come in to it" I wanted to try it.
So I suppose it depends what is meant by "comfort zone" A month later one of our boats - a 40fter- managed to get 45 deg to the posts & a bit of shouting could be heard.
But is that classed as "Beyond their comfort zone" If it was then I would describe them as bunch of whimps.
More like a cock up & beers all round in the bar
Box moorings are civilised and relatively easy with a modicum of forethought, and with much less risk of causing damage than fingers.
Blueboatman
Well-Known Member
To each their own I say
flaming
Well-Known Member
Yeah... You're starting to sound like a bit of an arrogant know-it-all at this point mate...
In sailing, almost by definition, anything you've not done before is outside your comfort zone.
The first time you head out as skipper, you're out of your comfort zone. You might be competent, but it's new to you, so it's definitely outside of your comfort zone.
The first time you put to sea in big winds, same. First time you come in through a river mouth etc that has especially nasty bar conditions, same. First time you sail at night, same. First time you go through overfalls, same. First race you enter, same. First time you hoist a spinnaker, same. First time you try and get off a pontoon when being pinned on by 30 knots, same. First time you med moor, same. And that one is one I fairly recently experienced. I'd never sailed in the med before we did a charter on a 50 footer with a group of friends. Sure, with a yachtmaster and a whole heap of experience I was confident that I would be able to work it out, but it certainly wasn't in my comfort zone in the way parking my boat on a pontoon in tide is.
And everyone's comfort zone is a different shape... I'm very comfortable racing in the solent in almost all breezes. Flying kites, gybing, dropping at marks etc. Also night sailing in crowded waters, passage making in the channel, short tacking up a river, etc etc.
Ocean crossing - not done that so yes, would be outside my comfort zone. Sure I'd be absolutely fine, but I've never done it, so it cannot, by definition, be in my comfort zone. Others who have done a dozen Ocean crossings would be outside their comfort zone arriving at a mark 3 abreast with kites up.
ylop
Well-Known Member
It seems that understanding modern English as well as empathy might be outside your comfort zone. The very fact you wanted to try something different and write about it for a website so others could understand what it involves suggests it was very much not in your, or your "reader's" comfort zone!
It is not mutually exclusive to be outside your comfort zone and enjoy yourself (certainly on reflection).
Rob81
New Member
These kinds of topics are hard to discuss without egos getting in the way. As others have said, going outside one's comfort zone can be a good way to develop skill and competence. Personally speaking, as a relative novice when it comes to handling boats larger than a dinghy, my comfort zone would put me firmly in the "wimp" category described by previous posters. However, me achieving a safe and successful single handed departure from a pontoon, motoring a couple of miles down river and picking up my mooring last week was outside my comfort zone, exciting, fun and great for my confidence. Doing the same again a couple of times will make it something I do without any stress.
The knack for me is to gently extend my level of comfort and competence without hurting or scaring myself or anybody around me. It is meant to be fun, after all.
The knack for me is to gently extend my level of comfort and competence without hurting or scaring myself or anybody around me. It is meant to be fun, after all.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
I am beginning to think that this thread is not so much about "comfort zone", or whether one is a confident person with a "can do" attitude.
if one starts with the attitude - yes I reckon I can do that- then one might ask if comfort zone comes in to it
if one starts with the attitude - yes I reckon I can do that- then one might ask if comfort zone comes in to it
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
Not really.
There are lots of things that others on this forum do that I would avoid. Particularly in my current situation
flaming
Well-Known Member
Not at all.
I'm a confident, experienced sailor. I went into the med charter sure that I would be able to med moor.
But before that charter it wasn't in my comfort zone. Because I'd never done it before, so I had to think about it, and plan it in a way that I simply don't have to do for things that I have done many hundreds of times before - like a conventional pontoon mooring for example.
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
No it was not. They just wanted some ideas on what toexpect. Not knowing something does not mean that it is "out of the comfort zone". Once we had a chat everyone tied up OK (apart from one boat that had a bit of a mess on just one of the tight approaches). It was more a competition to see who was best at it..(as always) That does not suggest something is out of the comfort zone.
Would have been different med mooring though