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From: Ken James (no email)
Date: Tue Feb 06 2007 - 05:52:20 EST
One reason I go out on the water is to avoid phones, email and people.
My idea of sailing is turning all the damn electronic crap off... except the
GMDS/ VHF radio, bilge pumps, nav lights :-)
More and more people seem to have generators onboard to run everything from
pressurized water systems.... to... UGH..... TV sets and Sony playstations.
You want all that junk ? Get a condo, not a boat.
I think it depends on HOW LONG you are on your boat underway. I remember
how we liked the MARS phone calls on a Destroyer at Christmas or an
Anniversary. And if you stay onboard a small boat for a few years you
definitely develop the idea that one thing that is important is creature
comforts. (I bet you have hot and cold running water, refrigeration,
heating and AC, electric lighting, indoors flush toilets, and phones in
your house, right?, how would you like to have NO neighbors and none of
the above for a year or so in your house?) Well, if you live very
long aboard, your boat IS your house.
Of course, my boat being very small (25ft LOA), I had to compromise a
lot toward either having more comfort or more performance/ability, and
choose the latter then made the most of it. Do you have standing
headroom on your boat? Guess what? You can live without it.
My curmudgeon side says that all that crap should be banned.. yes...even
GPS.
Want peaceful and quiet anchorages ? Simple....
Remove the people who can't use traditional navigation techniques
and those who insist on having a washer and dryer on board, by banning
all the
crap.
GPS is a wonderful thing. Maybe we should ban all boats except those
that were built by the folks sailing them, and if the boat is not wooden
they must have also made the resin and alloyed and forged the
metal...then those who sail will be forced to learn much more about
their boats. Heck, lets do that for cars, too! And if you have a
kerosene lamp, you must have killed the whale to get the oil! ;-)
This idea may even lower the amount of bad sailors out there,
by raising the skillset needed for offshore sailing back to where it used to
be.
I came from those times, and would not like to go back. I do keep a
sextant aboard, and my trusty chronometer still keeps precise time after
having run almost contentiously for 30 years, but I would not want to
go back. Just as I like the relatively maintenance free aspect of modern
materials. GPS gives faster better answers, and time and accuracy are
both precious. I would not want to give up my solar panel, wind genny,
wind vane, etc either as they all make things easier and faster, and
improve the quality of life aboard. However, I do have full redundant
back up systems (except if I lost the wind vane it would be really bad,
my boat would then need to be steered by hand, she will not steer long
by any other method I have tried other than the wind vane unless an
electric system is used) , so I could survive with the loss of most of
the above, but would not want to have to do it that way.
BTW, I do not have AC, refrigeration, fancy radios (although I would
like a backstay SSB), and many of the other things some find necessary,
for the simple reason I do not find them so on my small boat with just
me and the dogs. But, I do have what makes my life comfortable either
underway or on the hook, and I do insist on it. Fresh ground coffee, for
example, is a must. So is a hot shower whenever I want one. So is good
ventilation, good low power lights, and so on and so on. Otherwise, I
could live in a cave and what would be the diff?
Right now, my boat has no working engine. It is not that much of a
problem as she sails very well, but I will get it fixed (rusted oilpan
must pull engine to fix). I agree shutting off the engine is the way to
go, but then I don't start it when there is no wind for two days,
either, I just put some Wagner on, glad I can have the time to listen to it.
I wish I could afford a sat phone. Then I could call on my brothers 65th
birthday or whatever and let him know I will be late...no wind.
Oh Oh... now I'm on a roll....
This would also be a benefit for the overworked rescue crews...
Those who run into trouble... would HAVE to handle the problem like they
would
50 years ago or go down with the ship.
Many more, even good sailors, would be lost as the ocean is always a
gamble and does not care how many miles you have aboard.
Can't jury rig a mast after being rolled ?
You can't call for help, and risk someone else's life, if you don't have a
EPRIB or a SSB radio.
To heck with New Zealand making sure you have an EPRIB and radio...
They should just confiscate them.
....since they won't get a mayday call... they won't have to rescue anyone.
What do ya think about the ever increasing crap people put onboard ?
Do you subscribe to the "minimal boat" way of thinking ?
Sure! That way many folks who do not understand that sailing is all
about mans inventiveness and technology being able to get the sea to
let you pass will be lost and out of the way! <G> A counterpoint, that,
no flames please!
I always say one way to tell a true live aboard from a weekender/dreamer
or maybe an eccentric is if the person who offers you a cup of coffee on
his/her boat washed the cup in the same sink he/she brushes his/her
teeth in. If not, he/she has evolved into a civilized live aboard at
home in his boat.
Just my two cents. -Ken
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