Should yachting take you out of your comfort zone?

LittleSister said:
Has anyone else apart from johnalison noticed especially elevated morals and mental health among forum members? 😄
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I think that all of us sailors have achieved something that was to some extend hard, even challenging. That, Shirley, has to be better than those who have done no more than work their way through boxed sets of American films.
 
johnalison said:
I think that all of us sailors have achieved something that was to some extend hard, even challenging. That, Shirley, has to be better than those who have done no more than work their way through boxed sets of American films.
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'Twas a joke, John. I actually agree with you . . .

despite (or perhaps because of?) my own loose morals and mental infirmity! ;)
 
Wansworth said:
Probably all the memorable boating events in my life have been out of normal surburban comfort.Sheltering under trees in the rain eating a picnic in fathers 15 foot lugger,hovering too on a dark night in half a gale off Start Point ,surfing along with a quartering wind off Cerdeira after a gale,events and to some extent physical discomfort that you don’t get on land are part of the joy of sailing orboating
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No. But if it does, learn from it, imho
 
Lucky Duck said:
In a display of cowardice/apathy I am leaving the boat somewhere other than its home marina and will shortly be taking the train home
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I've long believed that, while heroes have their moment of glory, cowards tend to have a lot more moments.

My sailing comfort zone changed over the years, from ignorance is bliss, to adventure is fun, to sipping a cool rosé in a quiet anchorage is the best bit.

That hasn't stopped me doing the last couple of Round the Island races, though the last one was definitely well out of my comfort zone and, given the lack of experience of some of our crew, we didn't get as far as Hurst.
 
The trouble with expanding your comfort zone with experience, is you sail in worse conditions which means you are again more likely to exceed your new comfort zone.

Sometimes that may require modifications to the boat. e.g we were out the other day in wind that blew up stronger than forecast, sailing comfortably with reef 2 in the main sail (which years ago I would not have been happy with) while at the same time debating if it's time to get a third reefing point put in the sail.......
 
ProDave said:
The trouble with expanding your comfort zone with experience, is you sail in worse conditions which means you are again more likely to exceed your new comfort zone.

Sometimes that may require modifications to the boat. e.g we were out the other day in wind that blew up stronger than forecast, sailing comfortably with reef 2 in the main sail (which years ago I would not have been happy with) while at the same time debating if it's time to get a third reefing point put in the sail.......
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I think that what you are saying is that it never gets any easier, which is true. One way of getting pushed out of your comfort zone is to buy a bigger boat. When we changed from our Sadler 29 to an HR 34 we had to get used to the idea of sailing in much stronger winds, just because we could. The first few seasons were unusually windy anyway and our previous zone of F4-5 morphed into F5-6 and a bit of 7. The boat was equipped to deal with this of course but the loads on things like sheets had to be taken into account.
 
My out of comfort zone was anchored in a gale, in a loch, in the outer Hebrides, in a 17 ft boat. A very uncomfortable 36 hours in 1984..
Now I prefer to spend more time propping up the bar between, races / sailing events / during a gale.
 
johnalison said:
One way of getting pushed out of your comfort zone is to buy a bigger boat.
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Even on the same boat, the comfort zone changes with experience. FInding myself in 30+ knots off St Albans head in our Snapdragon 24 taught me that the boat could deal with a lot more than I expected. It was decidedly uncomfortable, but not out of the comfort zone.

There are, of course, other factors to consider. 20 knots on the nose, wind over tide, was definitely out of Madame's comfort zone last year. My comfort zone has been adjusted accordingly.
 
That varies according to needs, and what Madame is used to. We would rarely leave port if we couldn’t comfortably deal with 20kn of wind over a 3 knot tide. You get used to most things if you do them often enough. Not sure that any additional pleasure is taken from it though. It still rattles your teeth.
 
Chiara’s slave said:
That varies according to needs, and what Madame is used to. We would rarely leave port if we couldn’t comfortably deal with 20kn of wind over a 3 knot tide. You get used to most things if you do them often enough. Not sure that any additional pleasure is taken from it though. It still rattles your teeth.
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Dental fixatives are available and advertised.
 
Lucky Duck said:
In a display of cowardice/apathy I am leaving the boat somewhere other than its home marina and will shortly be taking the train home
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It’s just a different type of comfort zone - now you have the cost of paying for two marina berths for the same night and the shock of the train fare and unpredictability of public transport!
 
For me, when racing with the full crew I absolutely expect to be taken outside of my comfort zone from time to time. Last year's RTI was a prime example.

When cruising with the kids, if I'm outside of my comfort zone I have messed up big time.
 
I used to quip that you only have to be brave for three days on a
any tradewind passage. After that you ain't realistically going to beat back upwind to the start point
 
ylop said:
It’s just a different type of comfort zone - now you have the cost of paying for two marina berths for the same night and the shock of the train fare and unpredictability of public transport!
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It will be counted against my 300 night ‘cruising passport’ allowance for stays in the same marina group.

Due to the anomalies in how train fares are charged it was cheaper to choose a destination which will in part cover my work commute later this week

The calculations might have been different if faced with a £200 marina bill
 
Stemar said:
That works until your nearest and dearest take the next plane home from the Caribbean and refuse to set foot on the boat again.
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Which happens more than one might think.
Eg My last boat was set up to sail rtw with all the right intelligent add ons but the wife hated it. So floating Caribbean holibobs were the order of the year for a while . Hey ho, but sad too
 
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