Ten Myths About Cruising

So, one of the gifts of this year has been to meet other sailors and to share stories and resources and to help each other as we’re able.   We’ve been fortunate to meet a few other “cruisers”,   folks like us, who have recently sailed a boat into the BVI or returned to one they had moored or dry stored over the summer. 

Among the folks we’ve been fortunate to meet are Griff and Carol, Jim and Deanne, and Ray and Sandy.  They all own monohulls in the fifty foot range and have been coming here for at least a dozen years.   Whatever they may truly think about our catamaran (many monohull owners don’t consider a cat a real boat!  J), they have been encouraging to us newbies.

Griff and Carol hail from upstate New York, the finger lakes region.  Griff owned a truck management business as I understand it.  He and his team would schedule the independent truck drivers on their pickups and deliveries around the country.  Griff and Carol have been involved in boating nearly all of their adult lives.  Their boat, “Be As You Are”, reflects their retirement posture.  Griff teaches basic sailing and safety courses which is an added gift.  And besides, he likes single malt whiskey almost as much as I do.

Jim and Deanne are from eastern North Carolina.  Jim grew up there and Deanne made her way south from the Boston area.  Their boat, “My Deere”, is appropriately named in that Jim now owns a family business of several John Deere dealerships around the region.  I met Jim in early November and he’s patiently trying to teach me about the Caribbean life:  “Relax, if you get one thing done today, smile, be glad, and chill out!”

Ray and Sandy hail from Pittsburgh.  Ray is a retired high school biology teacher and Sandy a retired nurse.  Their boat “Megerin” is named after their two children:  MEGan and ERIN.  We met them last June when we were getting acquainted with Azure Wind and stayed in touch through the summer by email.  Again, lots of questions on our part and a gracious, patient response on theirs.

We’re learning much from these and other new friends.  We listen, ask questions, search for help  at the first sign of something unusual.  We look for these fellow travelers at each anchorage.  Occasionally we “buddy sail”, putting together a 3-4 day trip to different anchorages.  And, we share resources, including articles and commentaries from the internet.  Ray and Sandy shared the following list from another sailing blog: Windtraveler, about a young couple who are sailing full-time.  Here’s their version (and my comments) on the top ten myths about cruising: 

It’s an endless vacation.  No it’s not.   There are too many chores just to keep a boat in Bristol fashion and ship shape.  And it’s not easy doing anything (groceries, laundry, internet) ashore when you have to take your dinghy just to get there!   It is a vacation when we host friends or family.

The more gadgets, the better.  No. Some sailors are gadget hungry.  They want and have the resources to purchase the latest “stuff”.  But that doesn’t make their life better, or safer, or more enjoyable.  Simple has a great value on the water.  Besides the more gadgets you have, the more likely you will be taking care of something that has just quit on you.

It’s a dangerous, risky lifestyle.  Wrong again.  Boating is no different than landlubbering.  Don’t act arrogant with your neighbors and you’ll live with fewer hassles.  The risks of sinking are about as low as the risks of crashing your car.  We hear about the accidents and tragedies but the odds are pretty slim of one happening to you.  And if you pay attention (drive with two hands on the wheel and don’t text, or keep an eye out for other boat traffic and those coral reefs), you minimize the risk.  Being prepared is good advice in most settings.

To be a real cruiser you have to be hardcore.   Well, some probably think this is true.  Our being the newbies after all of our years of sailing (twenty-five plus) is a testimony to how little we know and – hey – we are cruising… and learning… and enjoying the water… and having fun… and working hard… and meeting new friends… and trying to keep the old ones too!

We’re all rich.  Yes, compared to the rest of the world, anyone who owns a sailboat and lives on it is rich.  But most of the sailors we’ve met are far from being filthy rich, which is what this myth suggests.  If you’re young and sailing fulltime you’re probably stretching every penny.  If you’re older/retired, you may have more resources to use.  Rich are those who never do any of their own boat work, pay for others to fix it, clean it, keep it ready for you and even sail it for you!  Yes there are folks who are that kind of rich, but most are not.

You need to have offshore experience. You don’t have to have been offshore before you start cruising.  And if you stay in one general area, you can cruise for years and never go “off shore”.    However, it’s a good idea to gain a little offshore experience in order to develop a deeper respect for the sea.   I have had a little bit of offshore passage-making (about fourteen days and a thousand miles) and there might be more of that.  We’ll see.

You must stock up for months and months at a time.   I don’t know anyone who has a boat big enough to do this. When you cruise in the islands, you learn to live with what’s available, which is far less and more costly than back in the old US of A.  And you pick and choose what you stock.  For example, it’s wise to have a complete set of engine parts (in our case, two sets).  It’s wise to have an extra spare of each pump on your boat (fresh water pump, salt water engine pumps, hand pumps for the toilets, etc.)  And, with some things you really want, you stock up.  I look for McCormick’s Crushed Red Pepper in the spice racks because, I season most of my meals with it.  I wish I could afford to stock up with enough single malt to go for months and months!  Oh, well.

The cruising community is one, big, happy family.  As with any community of humans, one-big-and-happy seldom describes these folks.  Cruisers divide themselves up along lines, mostly based on their reasons for sailing to begin with.  And cruisers are so opinionated about one thing or another that common agreement isn’t going to happen, or last long if it did.

Sharks are everywhere.   Yes.  Sharks are everywhere.  Be careful, as Jimmy Buffet sings, of the sharks on the land.  But yes, there are sharks.  Most of them are quite harmless and small.  Reef sharks like to hang out around boats, but when I jump in the water, they take one whiff of me and head off.  Those big, dangerous great sharks are not everywhere.  And the cruising community is a good a group to keep an eye on them.  Cruisers nets are there for many reasons – weather, dangers, helping one another, even shark sightings.

People with more experience know more than you.  Well that’s generally true I think.  More experience in something usually means more knowledge.  But is it knowledge you can use? Another person’s greater experience doesn’t necessarily translate into more knowledge for you, your boat, your reasons for being on the water.  That’s why its good to meet people, listen to their stories, and see what you can learn about life, God’s good world and the opportunities in front of you.

Oh,

There’s an eleventh myth, too:  All cruisers must be paddleboarders.  It’s not true, but I’m learning.  We inherited one of these things in our purchase.  And here’s proof that you can teach even this old dog a new trick!

In a previous book, I reflected on the nature of the cruising community.  It's as human, fallible, and can be as “real” as any other, including the church.  But I must confess that I’ve felt more welcomed by cruising people than I experienced in my years in the church.  It’s been so nice to be asked to share Marney’s and my story(ies), to be invited to buddy sail, to quickly identify people willing to listen, answer questions, give counsel and encouragement.  Even though a lot of cruisers don’t do the institutional church thing, there are gifts to be shared.

Fair Winds and Calm Seas

Dave

PS.  I like Ray and Sandy’s boat name.  I thought about our three children, Matt, Nick and Kate.  We could have named our boat  MaNiKa,  or… NiKaMa, or… KaMaNi.  Sounds a little island-ish!  But I’ll stick with Azure Wind.