Intrepid Sailors

Marathon, Florida
No LL

I'm afraid that I may have left the wrong impression in my recent blog discussing boat designs. Nobody complained, but I want to correct it anyhow.

in·trep·id \in-ˈtre-pəd\ adjective, Latin intrepidus, from in- + trepidus alarmed; date 1680, characterized by resolute fearlessness, fortitude, and endurance

There are numerous cruisers who get along fine in boats smaller than Tarwathie; some very much smaller. I remarked the other day that Libby and I would not feel safe cruising in one of them. However, I didn't say that there are other cruising strategies than our own.

It is perfectly possible to cruise the USA's East Coast, Gulf Coast and inland rivers, and The Bahamas, without little or no exposure to the open sea. Indeed, we could have gone almost every place Libby and I have been in the past 4 years without a single overnight passage or even without sailing after dark. Even the Bahamas can be reached in a day sail or a day cruise from Florida. If one chooses that style of cruising, then the risks of cruising on boats not seaworthy for blue water are much reduced.

I realize that sudden and very violent storms can come up without warning, but that can happen even on an inland lake. The point is that, not everybody needs a blue water boat to feel safe.

What does this say?

1. The East Coast of North America, including inland waters, Eastern Canada, and The Bahamas are a paradise for cruisers. There are on the order of 1000 to 2000 interesting destinations, plus on the order of 20,000 miles of shore, and all environments from sub-arctic to sub-tropical. All can be reached with little or no offshore sailing. Those numbers are rather close to the number of ports and the distances of a circumnavigation by equatorial routes. WOW! That is a hard to believe statistic; yet true.
   
   Libby and I didn't appreciate that when we started. Learning how much the East Coast has to offer really dulled the edge of our desire to circumnavigate.
   
   
2. There are multiple cruising styles and cruising strategies. We meet people of all ages, all backgrounds, all levels of wealth, with varied sailing backgrounds, and with wildly varied vessels who cruise.
   
   
3. The things I said the other day about living with less stuff apply to vessels very much smaller than Tarwathie. Libby and I on Tarwathie are far from the low end of that scale. Could we have been happy with 1/2 or 1/4 of the stuff and the comforts we have now? Possibly yes.
   

There are some very cool yet very small cruising boats here in Boot Key Harbor. We don't look down on them. Rather, we admire their intrepidity. I'll try to get some pictures and post them.