House vs Boat : rant or discussion?

Are houses less expensive than boats?  I don't know the answer and neither do you.  Sailing friend, Tim on Slick, went from Boston to Marmaris Turkey and then found out he needs to replace a lot of fiberglass lamination of the boat bottom.  Norm on Main Street finds he needs to remove a few trees that are threatening the house.  Tim also needs a new diesel.  Norm needs hardscaping  (that's rocks and bricks not shrubs and flowers) for Elizabeth's garden.  About the same cost.

Remove trees or buy anew mainsail, or refinish boat bottom or winter storage.  On the plus side, we have red breasted nuthatches in the shrubs.  They are cute and amusing.  No complaints.

New Idea for Blog

Very briefly:  we have moved from Boston where I worked in the sailing industry to Cape Cod where we have bought a house in the woods and sort of retired.

Not my first choice for retirement housing.  I was thinking cheap condo and a 35 footer with sea legs.  Anyway.  it is an opportunity to compare and contrast the differences between the land based life and the sea based life.

First up:  Cost.  Lots more on this later.  In general, houses are expensive and a lot of work.  Just like boats.  Houses don't take you anywhere.  See the blog of my web-friends:  the Waterhouse couple at kkmoorea.com.  We are doing a similar set of jobs at the same time on our house.  They will sail away.  Our house will not.  I bet we are spending way, way more.

More to follow....

Cape Cod Fog

Fog is a part of the Cape Cod waterfront experience.  Recently, I got a few pictures of the fog rolling in towards shore.

The top image looks a bit like distant mountains.  The water is Nantucket Sound and the view is towrds Chatham with the Atlantic beyond.  The lower image is of Pleasant Bay looking North towards Weequasett Inn and Orleans.  I grew up sailing on that water.

More Reading

Recent reading on the subject of long range cruising includes:
Tightwads on the Loose
Sailing the Waterhouse
Sieze the Day
Breaking Seas

it is interesting to me that no one sails the same type of boat.  Each couple is self-reliant and that makes it all possible.  So, why the question:  "what boat should I buy?"

Cape George Cutters

CAPE GEORGE CUTTERS:  Got a note about maybe getting to deliver one of these little numbers.  I have admired the work of John Atkin for decades and never sailed one of his designs.  It would be quite a treat to get an ocean delivery and see how they handle offshore.

One of the "big debates" in cruising/voyaging is long keel vs fin keel.  As a kid I knew, local Cape Cod designer, Spaulding Dunbar.  One day I got to speak with him at length.  He talked about all sorts of things and the two types of hull designs.  His argument was simple, long keels take the bottom more gracefully.  Anyone who has sailed the shallow waters of Cape Cod, the Chesapeake, or Bahamas knows about going aground.  A proper fin keel goes to windward like a freight train on rails.  A full keel won't do that at all.  However... would the cruisers who plan to cruise long distances upwind please raise their hands.  Hmmm... OK, that's settled.  I haven't sailed a full keel boat since maybe 1972.  I hope I can get the time to participate in the delivery.

Sailing Literature/Seize the Day

Reading the book, Seize the Day, by Shirley Billing, a Brit who sailed around the world in the mid-1980s.  More on the story as I progress with reading it.  But... it seems to me that voyaging is less about the boat than the desire to travel.

My sailing students over the years have all asked, "what's the perfect cruising boat?'  Books are written and sailing magazines spill barrels of ink on the subject.  I think the answer might be: "If you want to go exploring by sea, you'll need a boat.  It doesn't much matter which one."  I have, somewhere in the archivdes, a picture of cruising boats viewed in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.  My favorite is a 25 footer sporting a small hard dinghy hoisted out alongside in the fashion of much larger yachts.  A "shippy" little yacht being handled very professionally.  'nuff said...

Advanced Coastal Cruising, ASA 106

The American Sailing Association has a number of "standards" for sailing students to achieve.  The 106 standard is one of the higher ones.  Norm has taught to that standard for many years and is an ASA 206 Instructor Evaluator.  I will be adding lecture notes and drawings to this blog labeled as:  ASA 106, topic x.