Makes you kind of wonder how fucked up things are when guys like this are protecting you, some notes on Greece to keep in mind, and something worth reading...
There seems to be a lot of talk of late about a distinction I've never
really been comfortable with... the whole Blue Water Cruiser thang
seriously gets up my nose.
You see, I'm all for seaworthy boats, capable boats, and, most importantly, safe boats but I find the distinction between a "Blue Water" and a "Coastal"
cruiser somewhat problematic because it somehow says that it's OK to go
to sea (as long as you're not going "Blue water") in a boat that is
less than safe or as seaworthy than it should/could be.
Let me put it like this... How far can you swim?
I don't know about you but sailing from Los Angeles to Hawaii (Blue
Water) is just like sailing from Los Angeles to Catalina (Coastal) as
soon as you're further off the beach than you can comfortably swim back, I don't see a lot of difference between drowning ten miles offshore
or a thousand. The whole being dead thing is a state-of-affairs I'm making a point to
avoid (so far so good).
By the way, I'm reliably informed that being dead sucks...
Anyway, the whole point of all this is whatever you plan to do with a
boat, your choice should really reflect seaworthiness and safety.
Truth is, making most so called "coastal" cruisers safer and more
seaworthy is pretty easy and I can't think of a better guide to doing it than Dan Spurr's "Spurr's Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat" which I find is still a very helpful and much used resource on my bookshelf.
Of course, whatever boat you have, the weak spot is always the crew. Not a bad idea to improve your own personal skills set "seamanship-wise" while you're upgrading the boat...
Listening to Dolapdere Big Gang
So it goes...
Bruce+
2 days ago
