Things about the "cruising lifestyle"

Things about the "cruising lifestyle"

Okay, so here we are, old salts now that we have been sailing and cruising for a whole 4 months. We truly have a shit ton to learn but we have made some observations about this life and the people (us included) that live it.

Although the places that we have seen, the outstanding wildlife, and getting to spend every waking moment together have been great, the best part has been the people we have met. We have been asked, in person, e-mail, and on Facebook, what it's like, living on a sailboat sailing around from one place to the next.

If I were to describe it for us it would be this - our house is on the water, it's a lot like full time RV'ing, except for the fact that it's much more isolated. If you break down you can't just call a tow truck or a friend to come get you. This means the maintenance and project take on a new meaning. Like keeping water out of the boat, making sure all the navigation lights work, batteries are charged, do we have enough drinking water, fuel, propane, is the beer cold, do we have enough ice, etc. living on a sailboat is cool as shit! But it has been a HUGE change for us, but certainly for the better.

I don't think I have worn real shoes in 4 months, you can't just do laundry whenever so you wear the same clothes a lot or none at all. You can't or don't take a shower every day. We've seen and enjoyed more sunrises and sunsets then ever before. We sleep when we want or need, although, like I said, we see a lot of sunrises. We drink more, I know, for some of you, that is hard to believe. We choose to go North, or South, or East, or West and when. We fish for food. We walk almost everywhere. Our "car" is a little dingy with a 5hp motor. We talk, read, and learn music. We meet people that are just like us and at the same time completely different. It is a freedom that is hard to describe, except, I think, by telling you about the people we have met. Not by name or by boat but by who they are. I think you will get a taste of the cruising life style that way.

We have met couples and single guys but no single sailing women yet. Most are retirement age (60 plus) but some are younger then us, we seem to be an oddity. We've met lawyers, engineers (1 used to work in the space programs for NASA and has amazing stories), architects and every other professional type you can think of. Retired military and military contractors, welders, plumbers, and other tradesmen. We've met people that have only ever lived on a boat and people that were given the boat they are on. Old run down boats, new fancy boats, sailboats, motor sailors, trollers, monohulls, and mutil-hulls all with different types of people. Some people we have met are what I would call high end cruisers, docking their $300k+ boat every night in the best marinas and low end cruisers (that sounds bad, how about thrifty), searching for the free anchorage and cheap tacos and beer. The funny thing is, you wouldn't really be able to tell one from the other by their former vocation or "place in society". They each have chosen the way they want to live this life style just as we have chosen how we want to live it.

The cool part is, we all have cruising in common. We have literally sat around with all these types at once, passing a bottle one way and "Willie Nelson" the other. All probably, as stated above, in the same clothes they have worn for days and probably days from their last shower. All having fun, all getting along, all sharing stories of the worst storm, the longest passage, the worst mistake, the funniest mistake they saw "someone else" do, the best anchorage, place for cheap tacos. If you were wondering, there have been the occasional drum or guitar in the circle. All of this with no real agendas, politics, or bias towards each other outside of the rivalries between boat types or manufacturer and apart from the fact that when 2 or more sailboat are going in the same direction they ARE RACING no matter what anybody thinks.

Sound kind of hippyish? What with drum circles, barefoot people and all. Yes it does! But it's not really. It's diversity at its best. It has a community feel of what I think it must have been like post WW II, when people would sit on the stoop or porch, knew the people in the neighborhood and the names of all the kids. Helped each other when needed and even when not needed. Maybe that's a little too "Norman Rockwell" but that's what it's like, cruising. Professionals, tradesmen, vagabonds, and hippies all living this wanderlust way of life. It's a strange community, traveling the same direction or the opposite but it is the tightest most helpful and honest community I have ever been apart of. It has been written that to test this, pull into an anchorage or slip and look up at the mast or down in the engine bay with a scratch of the head and a confused look, 3 people will ask if they can help (with tools already in hand) and 2 of them will already be bringing cold beers as well.

Now that's a great way of life, don'tchya think?

 

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