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Reasons NOT to go Cruising

24K views 98 replies 50 participants last post by  Netteypatch 
#1 ·
Laura and I have heard a lot of "I wish I could go cruising but..."

...the kids
...the grandkids
...my health
...my spouses health
...the mortgage
...my job
...my spouses job
...My dogs, horses, llamas etc.
...I am afraid of (Insert your phobia here - sharks, hurricanes, whatever)

My reason was that I didn't have enough money to buy the forty foot ketch that all the books and magazines had convinced me I needed...

...until a fellow we called "The Mad Scientist" called BS on me one day.
and made me see it for what it was: an excuse. Now I have been happily living aboard and cruising in my 27 foot sloop for 21 years.

So what other excuses have you heard, or made, and how would you overcome them?

What would you say is a legitimate reason to put it off, forgo cruising altogether, or swallow the anchor once one has gone for time.
 
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#3 ·
I'm afraid of not having an income, afraid that I won't be able to have an income while cruising, and afraid that I won't be able to start having an income again after the cruise is done.

My wife is not comfortable sailing on our current boat in the winter, and would not be comfortable for more than a few days at a time in the summer. So while we don't need a bigger boat, we need one with more stuff and stuff in better working order.

I guess those are my main reasons.
 
#6 · (Edited)
We have 4 greyhounds, our boat is not large enough and greyhounds overheat easily. While we do have dog sitters to allows us weekend and slightly longer trips, we have to wait at least 3-4 more years before we can move aboard. Of course we want a catamaran by then so it will be worth the wait. Income had been a concern Hopefully our rental property and our tree farm will provide enough to keep cruising, our plan 8 months out 4 months back for harvest and maintenance.
 
#7 ·
Just my opinion

I think it comes down to this:

People want other things more than they want to go cruising.

They want creature comforts, a certain perceived level of safety (As if cruising is less safe than commuting on the freeway). They want pets that do not do well on a boat, like horses. They want to maintain existing social relationships, the prestige that their job gives them; There is an amazing equality among cruisers, regardless of material wealth. They may want constant connection to media - a news feed, for example. They may even be unable to give up a favorite soap opera.

Or they may simply be unable to break out of their comfort zone.

Lack of money may sound like a legitimate reason but, in my experience at least, if one really wants to go cruising, money issues are the easiest to overcome.

Health issues are a legitimate concern. You have to be in reasonably good health to go to sea. Having said that, I myself am a 62 year old disabled veteran. You do not have to be young or an athlete.

But that is just my opinion and not to be taken too seriously:cool:
 
#94 ·
Well, you have solved the income part that stops most.

BTW, thanks for your service!

I think it comes down to this:

Health issues are a legitimate concern. You have to be in reasonably good health to go to sea. Having said that, I myself am a 62 year old disabled veteran. You do not have to be young or an athlete.

But that is just my opinion and not to be taken too seriously:cool:
 
#65 ·
LOL - too true! Worse, I rented a car whose speedometer was in metric - so I'd be doing "50" in town ... and it felt like I was just driving way too fast, as it would be if I were driving at 50 MPH in town ... until I realized 50 kph was really only 30 mph ...
 
#9 ·
I like what I do (can't call it a job - it's fun but doesn't pay much). I won't be able to do it while cruising. I couldn't even work successfully while living on land in a place that's only "slightly" remote and by all accounts still very much supplied with all features of civilization.

Plus - no one else in my family wants to, but that would not be a problem by itself :)
 
#11 ·
Well, for me, the money issue is there. I am a "brain labourer", in other words - I don't have a physical trade I can ply from port to port. It is hard to pick up the odd "electrical engineering" job or a quick "systems development" contract in ports up & down the Australian east coast let alone around the world. That said, it is not the decider.

The decider is that I have children, and frankly giving them every opportunity I can is far more important than my own freedom. They are learning to sail along with the wife & I, so should they choose to - they'll be able to pursue that. However, they are also being exposed to many other "land-locked" opportunities I could not provide them if we were cruising.

Honestly, I would probably tell someone where they could shove the idea that my kids are "an excuse" somewhere unpleasant. A 'choice' certainly, but an 'excuse'? No, I wouldn't say that.

That said, all my family knows (wife, kids, extended relations) that we plan to go cruising when the kids are old enough to look after themselves. I don't expect my kids to all go to university (hell, if none of them do and they're happy - I'm still pleased as punch). Yet, when they all get to that stage, we're off to enjoy the other half of our lives out on the ocean :)
 
#13 ·
I don't wish to limit myself. Right now I sail, canoe, go camping, snowmobile, snowshoe, work with a youth organization, and the list goes on. If I ever decide that cruising is what I want to do, then I will.
 
#15 ·
there was this day in the Grenadines

OK, here's a story.

I'm sailing for 2 weeks in the Grenadines. I need to (yea, I know beat me up on this:rolleyes: ) check some email for work, so I look in the cruising guide and find this "internet cafe" listed. I run the dingy in, tie up, and walk into the place at approximately 2PM (1400 for you extreme nautical types).

The tattooed bar tender looks at me disdainfully to ask what I'll have. The long term cruising regulars are sitting at the bar, Nth round of rum drinks in hand, they glance up quickly, then go back watching their regular soaps on satellite TV. It was like a scene from the bar in Star Wars. It would take a lot to rattle this gang from their positions. I believe a ray gun fight between aliens would have barely caused a raised eyebrow;) . Feeling the chill of the moment, and the contrast from the warm Caribbean sun outside, I downloaded mail and left quickly.

We've spent as much as a whole summer on the boat. By the end of the summer we're ready to get off. In a few weeks, we're ready to go back out. When the New England winter ends, we are really excited to go cruising.

There are many long term cruise who don't end up in the bar from Star Wars;) , and we salute you:D . YMMV.

Live and let live. To each their own:) . All sailing is good.
 
#17 ·
I do cruise, sometimes for weeks, but...

* There is more for me on dry land. Climbing, biking, snow skiing, hiking, and people.

* There is more for my kids on dry land. School (I have NEVER seen an individual that could home-school all classes effectively a the high school IB level--it would take a god and all of their time), stable friends, and my list too.

* There is nothing that we are trying to get away from. I am not stressed on dry land. My pace is what I want it to be. I have traveled extensively and this is where I want to live.

I make no excuses. I have what I believe are good reasons. Others can decide for themselves, but I do not see cruising as "living the dream." I am living my dream.
 
#20 ·
Just do it and quit whinging says he laughing

I agree that money issues are about the easiest to over come that hard ones are the social conditioning and ingrained paranoia implanted by the daily news telling people what they should be thinking. Once you cast off the lines and escape all that artificial muck things start changing quickly...well for most at least. There are always the ones on the "2 Years to do the World" tour. Who are not really there or here just in some limbo on a boat. Or the ones where he's along because she wants to and she's there because he wants to and both are wishing they were back with facebook or twitter or the latest soap opera. Then we see a lot who do nothing but complain about how bad things are here and how good they were "at home" ME I'm glad if those just go home and quite crying so I can get on enjoying paradise
 
#21 ·
Wow, theres a lot of angst out there on the high seas. I just cruise from the harbour as often and for as long as I can. Always planning but often delayed or postponed. Live and let live ain,t a bad moto.
Happy cruising
 
#22 ·
Cruising? Are we talking about forgoing all ties to the land and sailing off to horizons unknown. Yes, too expensive. I am not independently wealthy. I work hard for a living and enjoy the weekend and occasional week cruises up and down the Maine Coast. Does this make me less of a sailor, or simply more responsible? To cast off for a year of two to simply live out a fantasy? If I didn't have half a million in stocks and my house paid off, the only word to describe that is ludicrous. Some make the choice to buy a 40 footer and become live-aboards, marina allowing. Sure, I can see that. Live on the boat, work a couple of towns over? Sure sounds great. But to simply sail off? Irresponsible . . . unless you have the means. If you do, by all means, sail off. But keep in mind there are us poor cousins to the "real" sailors that must maintain a job, that can't go a year or two unemployed, that can't simply tie back and expect a job to be waiting for us, especially in todays economy. Maybe, just maybe, our dream is simply to sail . . . own a small sailboat and sail. To kick off all sense of reason and plunk down $5000 that we couldn't afford and sail. NO high tech trappings straight from Skippy's Yacht Service, no carbon fiber anything, simply a fiberglass hull, a few cushions and a love for sailing. Who has the greater love for sailing, the one who sails with little and sails as often as possible or the one with the floating house and all the conveniences?

This thread smack of a little of "Let them eat cake."
 
#24 ·
This thread smack of a little of "Let them eat cake."
More like "Let them drink beer" :chaser

Seriously though. It is about priorities.

If your priorities list something like:

1. House
2. Car
3. Flatscreen TV
4. Another Car
5. Another Flatscreen
6. Latest high tech cell phone.
7. Latest fashionable clothes
8. Ski Vacation
...
42. Cruising in a boat someday

That is fine and you should allocate your resources accordingly.

Here are our priorities:
1. Each other
2. Good Health
3. Cruising
...
42. Horse farm in Vermont someday :cool:

And we have allocated our resources according to plan.

As for the money involved, # 1 and 2 cost virtually nothing and we find that cruising over the past four years has cost a tiny fraction of what it cost to stay in one place and work. Even while living aboard, working costs more than cruising by a significant margin.

Because we have a plan, #42 will happen in due course. We are not wishing for it, we are working toward achieving the goal.

YMMV
 
#23 ·
We gotta feed the wild life in Fall and Winter. Lots of deer. In Summer we '
must eat much to fatten up for winter so we can have energy to feed the wild life in F and W.
Sprintime...'tis a myth. Other than this we go sailing from late April till the ice starts forming n Nov.
 
#26 ·
Well, as I said earlier, my priorities actually go:
1. My children (and their future opportunities)
2. My wife
...
21-ish. Pulling up anchor when the kids don't need us, for some time on the water alone with my wife.

Like yourself, we're working toward our future goals in ways that, we hope, don't impinge on the current ones.

For example, we take the kids out sailing every weekend - giving them the opportunity to take to the water should they desire without preventing them from access to other opportunities unavailable to the cruising lifestyle. At the same time, the wife/admiral and I are also getting more experience reading the wind, handling a sailboat, and talking like a pirate (cos that amuses me :p).

The issue that seems to be ignored by the "pro-cruising" comments is that there is a false dichotomy involved. The people not drawing up anchor and sailing off into the wide blue yonder are characterised as having their priorities as
1. House
2. Car
3. Flatscreen TV...
whereas the people cruising are characterised by:
1. Each other
2. Good Health
3. Cruising...
The only reason I am not out on the water living my cruising dream is because my "each other" includes children that I wish to give every opportunity I can for their future. If I keep one foot onshore (with the job that entails), I can give my kids access to carpentry classes, computer graphics education, horse-riding lessons, drama/dance classes, etc as well as sailing experiences, camping, archery, fishing, etc.

The world isn't as black & white as some are implying, it is not an "excuse" to believe your kids might not want to follow your dreams (and so not giving them other opportunities hinders theirs), and it is insulting to characterise cruisers as being family people and non-cruisers as being materialistic.
 
#57 ·
.....
The only reason I am not out on the water living my cruising dream is because my "each other" includes children that I wish to give every opportunity I can for their future. If I keep one foot onshore (with the job that entails), I can give my kids access to carpentry classes, computer graphics education, horse-riding lessons, drama/dance classes, etc as well as sailing experiences, camping, archery, fishing, etc.
I could NOT disagree more.

Many, many of the families I've met that have decided to take their kids cruising have ended up with some of the most well-rounded, creative, sociable, fun-loving kids I have ever seen.

The reason?

Cruising kids get used to devising their OWN forms of entertainment. I knew one family who's kids made their own barbie dolls and GI-Joes. The outside world becomes their fort....not some computer screen. This adds to their creativity. They take the time to do artwork and writing aboard.

Far from being social outcasts, I think cruising kids are actually MORE sociable than their landed peers. Most cruising families tend to anchor or travel with other cruising families. This becomes a social network far more REAL than Facebook. Boat gets to a new anchorage, what's the first thing the kids do? Get in the dinghy to scope out if there are any other kids their age. Most kids are naturally sociable (far more than most adults), it's when they sit in front of a computer or TV 6 and 7 hours a day, "socializing" w/ kids they've never even met, that they become less sociable.

And Home-schooled (or boat-schooled) kids are some of the brightest, most educated kids I've met. Often boats with kids will share their educational times with other boat-kids, to become a sort of floating classroom.

I know of cruising families who stay a month or two in certain ports so that their kids CAN take dancing classes and horse-riding lessons.

Sure...there will always be the kids who feel they are being "dragged along against their will". They're called TEENS. You have to deal with those creatures whether you're in a house OR on a boat.

Far from your strange view of thinking that kids will somehow be 'losing out' by being taken cruising.....from what I've seen...the kids would be losing out by NOT going cruising.

Everyone's got different opinions, though....those are just my own.
 
#27 ·
I've done the kids thing (been there done that), so I did my duty. I worked for over 35 years building a career that's no longer needed (construction), and I'm not about to start over again or welcome people to Walmart. I've done the nose to the gind stone gig long enough, and now it's time to do for me...to see what's on the other side of the mountain. There's no promise that if we do what's right there will be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but there is a promise that will be kept that one day there will be no more. I'm old enough now to be seriously thinking about my bucket list, because I know the longer I live the less time I have to live.
 
#28 ·
Nice to see someone mentioned how much cheaper it is to live cruising than working. It's a little secret us old school boating people have known for years. The social economic traps are well constructed but they must allow escape vents. There are two types of cruising: the one where you try and continue living the same as before on the water and the one where you go I've had it to here and Im off to enjoy the world. If your in the second bunch it will not take long to realise how bad you had it when you thought you had it good. As for schools ... considering The US standing in global education you can plonk the kids in school in Portugal and they will be in a better system. Or go for class and try one of the French countries.. they have some very high standards. What it comes down to is you do it or you don't and all the whys etc really do not matter. Me? I hope you don't so I can continue to have all these great peaceful anchorages all to myself while you slave away to pay for Iraq and the Afghan fiascos.
 
#30 ·
As for schools ... considering The US standing in global education you can plonk the kids in school in Portugal and they will be in a better system. Or go for class and try one of the French countries.. they have some very high standards.
Well, being Aussie, that doesn't really apply to me. Our schools are actually pretty damned good. We're by no means the best in the world (or if we are, I despair for global education in general); but we are pretty good all things considered.

But it is not just schools I was talking about. It is not easy to continue lessons in horse-riding, carpentry, etc whilst travelling port-to-port. Possible, probably, but not easy. Not everything we teach our kids is "book learning", and there are some practical skills & sports not possible whilst out on the ocean blue.

What it comes down to is you do it or you don't and all the whys etc really do not matter.
I agree with this, but one need not characterise those that don't as materialistic simply because they don't drop everything to pursue their dream. Being a parent is about giving your dreams a little time off so you can raise your kids to be able to fulfil their own.

I know, for example, at least one of my boys is not interested in being a sailor, at least not in the predictable future. Should I squash his dreams to pursue my own? Is not squashing a kids dreams "materialistic"?

Me? I hope you don't so I can continue to have all these great peaceful anchorages all to myself while you slave away to pay for Iraq and the Afghan fiascos.
Whilst I would love to engage you on that subject (and I'm not a war-loving guy); this is not the forum for that. We have a political forum on SailNet where this kind of thing gets bashed around plenty. Join us sometime ;)
 
#29 ·
I think the important thing is the quality of life you start living when you are on the move. You stock up at the tax free ports on all the best imported goodies at less than the local generic stuff was costing in your old "Supersavercheapo" super market. You get veggies that were actually grown in dirt not a factory. Oh boy can I go on about that one. No idea what you pay for DVD movies but I pay $1.65. And smokes cost $1.12 a pack. Beers? Try $10.20 a case of 24 for Carlsberg or any of the better brands.We buy real Dutch cheese for cheaper than I bet you pay for those processed slices from Kraft.
 
#32 ·
Get out there and have some fun before its too late

Hay I like you mate I have a feeling with enough tinies you and I could solves all the worlds problems - says he laughing. Good stuff if you do or if you don't is really up to you and what you want and never let an old muck sturer side track you
 
#33 ·
Wow, we have all types here. I promise I won't be pompous/arrogant enough to tell others that they are "irresponsible" if they decide to cut ties and cruise full-time because it might point out my own inadequacies for not doing so.

That said, here are my two cents:

Money is the main issue. I am a semi-retired EE that now runs my wife's law practice. It would be difficult for either of us to be able to put into port and get a job for additional money. That and the fact that my wife's youngest is 14, so we have to wait a bit longer. We have already gotten rid of the home, furnishings and the storage with years of memorabilia, so we’re almost ready.

With how the economy has plummeted, we dissolved our retirement several years back when the things went south. The boat market was starting to soften then, and so we invested in our first starter boat. We're on our third and probably final now, and will be crossing off the balance of our excuses soon. We then plan to toss the lines off for the last time and, although visit frequently to the home port, will live aboard and cruise.

Also if this $600 billion dilution of our currency fouls things up even worse, as the experts seem to agree it will, the sailboat is a great refuge. About how many pounds of food do most of you cruisers keep aboard? Including rice, beans, canned goods, and other essentials, we probably have around 300 pounds aboard.

As for putting in to check emails; I agree that is something we would want to do. Also update blogs, etc. As far as the rustic bar that was described, when we sold our first boat and upgraded, we found a five-year waiting list for the size that we bought. It was only when we looked around Long Beach/San Pedro that we found some slips available. Now THAT is a rustic area. Lots of freighters and the lower-end live boards. The types I'm talking about live aboard more out of necessity than choice. You also have the old, gruff, sailor types that are generally a joy to chat with. They are usually very intent on teaching and telling stories and are not judgmental towards the noobs. There are also the fishermen, both commercial and private, that are great to get along with. I guess that with all this, we have been able to get along with just about anyone and would feel comfortable anywhere. You can find good and bad everywhere, but you can usually make things work in your favor.

Vega: Glad you started this thread. I also subscribe to you on YouTube and enjoy watching your progress and the daily routines.
 
#34 ·
As for putting in to check emails; I agree that is something we would want to do. Also update blogs, etc.
This is, after all, the 21st century :cool:

Vega: Glad you started this thread. I also subscribe to you on YouTube and enjoy watching your progress and the daily routines.
Glad you are enjoying the vids.
 
#35 ·
Ha Ha too many Vega's in here Just goes to show the smart ones think alike, says he laughing. For the email we use Sailmail and it works great for us even on the most isolated islands where we work. As Vega commented "This is the 21st " and all that. Economy? Yeah it is in the dumps and likely to stay that way unless you were in the gang that robbed us all. In that case you're laughing. Just as a note we once did a set of lists - one side had "Land costs" and the other said "Boat. We listed everything we could think of that were expenses for both and then added them up. Amazingly enough the Boat was about 80% cheaper than the Land. Mind you we do not spend our lives in expensive country club marinas etc. But we do have a great life style and would not trade it for anything we have seen on land. In any case what counts is having fun on the water. For some of us it is our lives. For others it is a week-end pass time.
 
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