Why single-handed?

My wife says I have to sail on my own because nobody like me

Actually i find sailing with one other ( unless it is family) is hard work. In port i like to sit & read but cannot if they keep yapping
Or if they want to go up the pub or whatever, & I don't
i prefer 3 then 2 can chat & leave me to be miserable

But if it is son or daughter then that is quality time
Being in port with the wife is good & I love it, but actually sailing with her is a nightmare as i always end up planning for her & not for the boat, tide or weather
so i usually go somewhere & she flies out to meet me, This year she will be with me in St Peter Port for a week & then Middleburgh for a fortnight
The bits in between I do on my own & love it
 
parsifal said:
Sailing alone is OK but drinking alone or eating alone in a restaurant is pretty depressing. But Long Keeler's idea is good, sail individually and get together for meals/drinks ashore.
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When I was in Galicia I bumped into a chap that I had met in France the previous year who also sailed alone. We exchanged email and when we were at the same port, we were following pretty much the same route, we hit the town together. It rearly made a difference to the level of enjoyment.
 
I'm like others on here, enjoy both sailing solo and with friends. However, one time a friend at work asked if she could come out sailing with me at some point. What a nightmare, about an hour into the sail, she needed the toilet. On a 20 foot Hurley there is no toilet, only a bucket n chuckit job :D What a carry on that was, had to put in the washboards and turn my back while she was doing her business...She was not amused. A little later on the sea got slightly choppy, guess what? she started to feel sea sick FFS, I had to turn back to the marina telling her that I did not mind at all, it was no problem. After tying up the boat, she asked if I could take her home. Never again :D
 
For me,

I love the ocean for its sense of freedom and personal challenge and clear space for personal thought, it represents our social frontier.

Ergo, sailing offshore solo gives you space to remove yourself from civilization so that you can hear your own thoughts and ideas clearly. It give one a very good understanding of ones own psyche.

Bit deep, but there you go!
 
bikerbill said:
I'm like others on here, enjoy both sailing solo and with friends. However, one time a friend at work asked if she could come out sailing with me at some point. What a nightmare, about an hour into the sail, she needed the toilet. On a 20 foot Hurley there is no toilet, only a bucket n chuckit job :D What a carry on that was, had to put in the washboards and turn my back while she was doing her business...She was not amused.
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A female friend (and just a friend) with whom I sometimes went sailing used to go to the foredeck, drop her keks and undies, lie back into the pulpit with legs straddling the forestay and let go. Very easy and effective, I'm told, but not for the shy, or for crowded waters.
 
Just after I left the army I went for a job interview at what was to become Orange and did one of those personality tests. Two questions in particular still bug me:Do you prefer travelling alone, with friends or don't know and do you prefer to go on holiday alone, with friends, don't know.

Most of the questions were along these lines and the feedback was that I was all over the place, mainly because I could have said yes to both with friends and alone. I wasn't going to get the job but an old army boss stepped in and I had a great 4 years there.

I think that sums up my attitude to sailing. I like my own company and I like the challenge single handed sailing. I also enjoy sailing with family and friends. I really don't want to go sailing with a crew if by that it means just picking up any old bod, a boat is much too confined a space to find out you don't get on with someone. I had that on an RYA course and it was an interesting week.

Slightly off topic. I remember seeing a notice at the shower block on the town quay at Falmouth where someone was looking for crew who didn't smoke, or drink much and liked cooking. It struck me that that was going to be one fun boat to be on and maybe that skipper should take up single handed sailing.
 
birdseye said:
I never sail alone. I wonder why people sail alone. Anti social?
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Yesterday I read this thread, including Birdseye's contribution, and I prepared an outraged rebuke, wondering why people who don't spend much time alone, tend to suspect misanthropy in those who do...

...by some lucky chance I didn't post that furious riposte, and look what I found old Birdie saying elsewhere, today...

birdseye said:
After 30 years sailing, cruising, racing I still cannot summon the courage to single hand.
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Can we infer that singlehanders aren't in fact anti-social, they're just not nervous about being alone on board? ;)
 
Maybe it's because I'm from the country and used to being alone, but not lonely. I look forward to running the hills alone or sailing alone but have also done both in company and enjoyed it.

There is a great feeling of charting one's own journey, if only for a day.

Is it an outdoor version of Blaise Pascal's idea ?

"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone".
 
My wife doesn't like sailing - too cold, too wet. My children are bored on the boat. None of my friends are sailors. I single hand, as a rule.

I have taken friends out once or twice for day sails, and once a mate for a 4 day cruise. I have another mate who wants to sail with me - we did one overnighter together, and he wants to do it again, but his stars haven't aligned since to make it possible.

As a consequence, I single hand, as a rule.
 
Neil said:
My wife doesn't like sailing - too cold, too wet. My children are bored on the boat. None of my friends are sailors. I single hand, as a rule.
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In body you may be alone, but not in spirit, mate. Loads of us are exactly the same. :encouragement:

I tend to think it's vastly better to be alone, especially if I spot a chap who's taken his family out, and they're clearly loathing everything he loves about it. I see that often.

I do always take the camera though, because things often happen which it's possible to share with the folks at home in retrospect, if you have pictures, or ideally, video footage.
 
dancrane said:
I do always take the camera though, because things often happen which it's possible to share with the folks at home in retrospect, if you have pictures, or ideally, video footage.
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So happy with digital photography as I can delete the **** I shoot at no cost- with print I've got about 50 'amazing' photos of dolphin fins at a wonky horizon angle, a couple of dozen photos of 'massive' seas that just look like a slight chop and of course the old 'God' photos..epic sunrises / sunsets, dramatic clouds etc...so inspiring (yawn....)

Is it just me or is it impossible to capture being at sea in a still photo?
 
birdseye said:
Im the polar opposite - I never sail alone. But like the OP I wonder why people sail alone. Anti social?
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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?
 
Seashoreman said:
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?
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that is a bit unfair on Birdseye
He was only asking a question, not making a statement
You immediately jump down his throat, with statements that really are provocative
Or is it that he has touched on a bit of "conscience"?
 
sailorman said:
Birdseye has stated he doesnt single hand sail because he doesnt feel he is able to.
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Actually, unless my computer illiteracy has extended its boundaries, Birdseye's post seems to have gone missing
Is it just me or has his early post ( the one I read - did he do more) been removed????
I certainly cannot see his post that allegedly said he was unable to sail single handed
 
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