Solo Sailing

[roly_voya]

Hi

Just reading someone taking about most people 'out there' being over 50 - Ok I join them next year - but also made me realise that they also seem to all be couples. Just wondering how many other people are solo liveaboards (or aspiring livaaboards) and how you find it.

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[snowleopard]

you are right, the majority of long-term cruisers are couples over 50, us included. we met a few singles, mostly young men on a shoestring, especially french. as in all walks of life people tend to socialise with others in the same life situation so a singlehander can find himself pretty isolated even in port.

one could speculate for ever on why there are so few singlehanders cruising - the attractiveness of a single boat owner perhaps. long term solo wouldn't suit many people, racing with a set objective is one thing but just cruising most people would find too lonely.

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[Sea_Sense]

First posting and I am not a liveaboard yet but spent 6 weeks last summer sailing a steel 40ft van de stadt from the Solent to Falmouth and back and loved it.

Had a few friends drop by for some day trips but generally I was on my own or rather I was not on my own because every place I visited I met some really nice people. Age difference did not seem to be a problem (only 37 and most people I met were in their late 40s ) or the fact I was single and sailing on my own. Most of the time I was treated with a bit of admiration ( which I did not deserve and normally was by people who had a lot more sailing experience than me) or alternatively was treated to your mad attitude! (which may be true but you only live once). However the most common theme from the people I met was kindness and helpfulness. However there were some well meaning skippers who insisted on giving me the 3rd degree about my sailing experience and what would I do if ......... Which felt like I taking my yachtmaster exam again which after a hard day sail was some times tiring.

Benefits - got really fit - tremedous sense of accomplishment - met great people - sailing learning curve went through the roof
Downside - cannot really think of any - apart from it is very diffciult to raft up in strong winds without assisstance at night but that is another story ................


Stephen

<hr width=100% size=1><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by Sea_Sense on 06/04/2004 13:34 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[davidbains]

I launched my boat at the age of thirty and was initially surprised that most other cruisers were twenty years older. So we didn't socialise that much with the others. Also having a 25ft wide tri left me at anchor which I prefer anyway.
Now I am 58 I do make the effort to talk to other skippers but usually only for short periods.
I also find myself singlehanding more than I expected. I don't mind my own company and find almost anything can be accomplished if taken slowly. I suppose the main fear is falling overboard and having no-one to turn back for you, but I still don't wear a harness. They get in the way when reefing and with a multi I suppopse in the back of one's mind is the fear of being trapped under the boat. I do not hesitate to do delivery trips singlehanded when aiming to pick up family and friends. For me the main problem is watch keeping at night so I do not sail at night if I can avoid it, which is usually possible in the med.
Plenty of reading material and music, and HF radio now keep me occupied as well as the non stop maintenance. How long can I do it? Mike Richey carried on until 83!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[AndrewB]

I've met any number of long-distance cruising couples where the man started out on his own and found partner en route. So there's always hope. Take a big enough boat for two.



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[Mike2822425]

Andrew,
You must know the pick up points for the "water gypsies".

If anyone goes that way, at least make sure that she can cook without being sick at sea!!!

Try Puerto Mogan in Gran Canaria, lots of "cooks" looking for passage to the Caribean.

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[scarlett]

I was solo for the first five years but met my wife elswhere.

It depends entirely on your own personality. Experiment Try living on a boat for days on end without any human contact to see if you can do it and like it.

To try it I moored in the Orwell for a couple of days to avoid human contact. [ until someone ran into me!]



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[AndrewB]

\'Water gypsies\'

The Canaries are good. I'd distinguish "water gypsies" who are bumming around, from "locals" who may be attracted by the romance of the adventurer - not to mention the wealth a yacht represents. Those long-standing sailing relationships I know of all fall into the latter category (except my own!) - single girls hitching rides are not necessarily good long-term relationship material.

Yes, Puerto Mogan, though perhaps not the main group of footloose 'locals' there who seem to be transient Senegalese scratching a living by selling trinkets and other "personal services" in a rough camp just outside the marina complex - doubless willing enough but not everyone's idea of an ideal companion. I don't recall meeting available water-gypsies there, but I've been approached in several places in the Canaries when in a harbour near to one of the dreadful package holiday villages, by couples or women looking to extend their holidays with a pier-head jump. San Sebastian (Gomera) is also good for the reasonably experienced water-gypsy type.

A decent looking yacht is a pretty good draw to locals in many less well off countries. There has to be some way to get out to meet them. This is not very difficult, but busking in local bars seemed to provide a ready entree for several men. Mooring in a marina rather than an anchorage makes for ease of invitations, as promising acquaintainships can easily fall at the first hurdle of a proposed dinghy ride out through the shorebreak.

Some men seem to have set out cruising specifically in order to find a woman elsewhere, taking the view that there were no decent and willing sailing women left in their own countries. (Echos of that here from time to time!) An Englishman told us that English women hate the motion; a Frenchman that French women can't cope with the sanitary arrangements; an American that American women can't bear to be parted from their kitchen equipment and grandchildren (probably in that order). If it's a cook you want, on that basis try the US but make sure you have a deep-freeze, microwave and satellite phone aboard as a lure.

 

[roly_voya]

Re: \'Water gypsies\'

Why assume that any woman is going to cook! On a small boat the gear is light enough for anyone with the possible exeption of hauling the ground takle (which on my boat ideally take two sharing a big winlass handle) and nav, whatch-keeping, helming etc are things women are just as good as men at. My excperience is that if women like sailing they are usually good at it, but also attached to someone as very few women seem to sail independently of a partner.

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[roly_voya]

Interesting... Agree that the only problem of solo sailing is docking and watch keeping. Docking is a knack that is aquired with practice, lots of people recomend systems of catching cleats with lines from midships etc which is great given space and fair conditions but often the safest bet is a couple of long warps and a dingy or anchor off.
In fact I rarely miss having company when sailing and would definatly prefer being solo to taking 'reluctant passengers'. My first long solo trip was out of nessesity but I loved it. I'm not an habitual loner (nore do I have sever BO) but the sense of freedon and achievement I get is great plus not having to worry about anyone ele. I do, however find exploring on shore would often be better with two, I still feel out of place standing at a bar on my own! and sometimes its nice to have company just like in the rest of life. I supose cruising on your own is the same as holidaying on your own both tend to make you a minority in a world of couples.

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