Why single-handed?

[sailorman]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?422127-First-single-handed-sail

#24

 

[Daydream believer]

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?422127-First-single-handed-sail

#24

Thanks, but i have enough trouble following one thread let alone going " cross threaded"

 

[Seashoreman]

deleted

My comments regarding birdseyes comment about being 'anti-social' did touch a nerve. I am sure he is just trying to be humorous, but I object to this attitude which is all too common. Does he go around provoking all single people? Do joggers, cyclists, motorcyclists and any other solo pursuits equate to anti social or unfriendly behaviour? I can get out of the house, underway on the boat within an hour. Life and time is too short to be making long term arrangements just to ensure I have company or assistance.
Might seem a petty point to make but I feel I have to make a stand for the single people who are certainly mostly quite happy and satisfied with life.

 

[dancrane]

Quite right, Seashoreman. And a pursuit as complicated and variable in experience as sailing is equally likely to horrify the sociable boat-owner's non-sailing friends, as thrill them. That's why going solo is most often a richer experience than trying to share it.

Even if one plans a trip with thoroughly experienced sailors, there's every opportunity for the limited space aboard a small yacht to make the experience uncomfortable. Which of us hasn't been afloat with passengers or crew who we discover we'd rather have left ashore?

It's a significant question for me, because I hope to take my oldest friend, a resolute petrol-head, sailing this year...and I'll be so sorry if he's bored silly, or just doesn't get what's rewarding about sailing...but I won't be surprised, or depressed about it.

Everything that's pleasurable about sailing is more accessible without social complications added. I really pity chaps whose default plans for sailing days necessarily include catering for their family's non-sail-related requirements and interests. A darned hindrance! :encouragement:

 

[BrianH]

My comments regarding birdseyes comment about being 'anti-social' did touch a nerve. I am sure he is just trying to be humorous, but I object to this attitude which is all too common. Does he go around provoking all single people? Do joggers, cyclists, motorcyclists and any other solo pursuits equate to anti social or unfriendly behaviour? I can get out of the house, underway on the boat within an hour. Life and time is too short to be making long term arrangements just to ensure I have company or assistance.
Might seem a petty point to make but I feel I have to make a stand for the single people who are certainly mostly quite happy and satisfied with life.

As someone who normally sails single-handed I absolutely understand your pique and reaction. You are right, we are not weirdos with whom no one wants to associate or that we ourselves cannot interface socially. Circumstances, not necessarily of our own choosing, can dictate that we set off alone, the alternative being to not going out at all. I know I would sooner be at sea alone than back in the marina looking or waiting for a crew.

I also have to admit that single-handed cruising suits me very well and is what I normally plan for and enjoy, both my own company and the challenge, with not having to consider anyone else's timetable, dietary aversions, needs and foibles - the greatest of which is often the need for shoreside restaurants and bars, when the board kitty needs too frequent replenishment for my modest income.

Perhaps the best compromise is something I have participated in sometimes, to be single-handed but in company with a non-binding series of planned destinations - no problem if we miss one or two, we'll meet up somewhere - with a working VHF channel and SMS messages, it has worked well. But that is because we are a group of retirees living aboard with the whole summer before us.

 

[mainsail1]

It's refreshing for me to see that so many other people like being single handed and their reasons resonate with me. Like so many others, I have done the "crew thing" for most of my life and it always leads to a feeling that my boat is being run for their convenience and not mine. It took me a long time to go off on my own, not least because those around me frowned on the idea, but what a joy it was when I went off alone for the first time.
This summer I hope to sail to Scotland from the Solent and having organised crew for the last two long trips I have a deep desire to cut all the hassle and do the trip on my own.

 

[charles_reed]

Far, far, less trouble and strife.

Anyone, any good on a boat will own their own and won't want to sail as crew. The rest are a burden to amuse and an hindrance to safe working of the boat.
35 years ago my spec for my boat was that, first and foremost, it would be designed for single-handing - lots of friends and relatives join me - but not for the sailing, more for a week or two of seeing new places and meeting new folk.
My wife, for example, who used to sleep in her lifejacket when first I knew her, has a list of 83 European sights which she only accessed thanks to the boat. This May the two of us will meet up on Thassos with the whole Finn Family.
There is quite a difference btween boats which it is possible to single-hand and those which are ideal for single handing. The latter are, IMHO, few and far between.

 

[basic]

As someone who normally sails single-handed I absolutely understand your pique and reaction. You are right, we are not weirdos with whom no one wants to associate or that we ourselves cannot interface socially. Circumstances, not necessarily of our own choosing, can dictate that we set off alone, the alternative being to not going out at all. I know I would sooner be at sea alone than back in the marina looking or waiting for a crew.

I also have to admit that single-handed cruising suits me very well and is what I normally plan for and enjoy, both my own company and the challenge, with not having to consider anyone else's timetable, dietary aversions, needs and foibles - the greatest of which is often the need for shoreside restaurants and bars, when the board kitty needs too frequent replenishment for my modest income.

Perhaps the best compromise is something I have participated in sometimes, to be single-handed but in company with a non-binding series of planned destinations - no problem if we miss one or two, we'll meet up somewhere - with a working VHF channel and SMS messages, it has worked well. But that is because we are a group of retirees living aboard with the whole summer before us.

Totally agree. A+

 

[ClaireDuet]

#1 Absolute Freedom
#2 There is a different vibrancy of experience alone: I find it all so much more vivid.
#3 The sense of achievement, and self actualisation.
#4 I just don't have the responsibility of anyone else's safety (see #1)
#5 I just don't have the automatic confines of other peoples deadlines and schedules (see #1)
#6 My friends tell me I have commitment issues... Ahem.

In my experience however, single handers tend to be the most sociable in harbour.
Go figure.

 

[jbweston]

This is my second attempt in this thread at saying what's great about it.

Have you noticed that single handers are more reflective, poetic and just plain interesting than the rest?

 

[exMNSailor]

Yes I like sailing myself gets me away from the hoi polloi

 

[Babylon]

I know you like to be provocative but it is really necessary to be personal and judgemental? I, like a good proportion of other people live alone and work alone. I didn't put myself in this position on purpose, just how life has panned out.
I have been married, had children, had family, had friends etc but as time has passed I find myself doing most things in life alone. I can cope with that but I don't like being stigmatised by self-centred attitudes such as yours Birdseye.
How do you know what goes on behind the vision of a lone sailor? Or perhaps I should stop sailing and stay indoors hidden away from 'normal' people like you?

This is my second attempt in this thread at saying what's great about it.

Have you noticed that single handers are more reflective, poetic and just plain interesting than the rest?

I'm not saying anything - I just wanted to put these two posts together.

 

[GHA]

Who knows why, but I just keep going back for more. So must like something about it.

Though saying that, coastal is actually a bit on the stressy side, with tides and fishing boats and ferries. Way offshore, well that really is a special place alone.

 

[eddystone]

It's simple really. I haven't singlehanded yet but if I want to sail more than a couple of weekends a year I'm going to have to, from necessity not preference. Quite a few fears to conquer though - apart from usual mooring issues I don't know how I'd cope with an engine failure - probably very badly. The only bit I've practised is the sailing and that's the easy part.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Have you noticed that single handers are more reflective, poetic and just plain interesting than the rest?

Not really, no.

 

[30boat]

Not really, no.

They usually talk endlessly to the first victim they come accross.

 

[JumbleDuck]

They usually talk endlessly to the first victim they come accross.

Glittering eyes and skinny hands are traditionally involved.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Yes I like sailing myself gets me away from the hoi polloi

I do it to get away from people who don't know what "hoi" means.

 

[dancrane]

The Old Man Of...?

 

[jbweston]

Have you noticed that single handers are more reflective, poetic and just plain interesting than the rest?

Not really, no.

Which tends to prove you can't be a singlehander. Because if you were, using the superior powers of observation and finer sensibilties of us singelhanders, you'd have noticed