27 February 2019

Many are Called but Few are Chosen

I was recently chatting to a voyaging friend about how few people actually get away for a long cruise, let alone extended voyaging.

In any boatyard or marina, you will always see a percentage of boats 'getting ready' to 'go off'.  Their enthusiastic owners will tell you all about their plans.  Some of the boats are being taken apart before being completely rebuilt as a 'world girdler'.  Some are in a semi-comatose state (the boats, that is) of having extensive 'upgrades'.  Some are perfectly fit to go off tomorrow, but the owner is still working on jobs that s/he feels essential before the boat can be taken to sea.  90% of these people are more than happy to put down their tools and talk.  Some will say how they are 'just' going to change the galley completely because at present no-one could use it at sea (not that they've ever tried); some are fitting more and more 'safety' equipment leaving less and less room for such essentials as food and water (but never mind, they have a water maker); some are installing a larger engine; the more ambitious have completely gutted a boat that was functioning quite adequately several months/years previously in order to turn it into the perfect 'offshore cruiser'. 

You will end up feeling like the Wedding Guest with the Ancient Mariner pinning your ears back.  They will tell you, in excruciating detail why these improvements are essential; they will give you a detailed itinerary of their proposed voyage; they will proudly show you their  fully-fitted deck awning'; their extra-large outboard motor for 'exploring reefs'; their mast steps for conning through the coral heads; their Jordan's Series Drogue, their additional trysail track, maybe even their on-deck reels of rope for Patagonia.  (Once they have sailed through the Caribbean or explored the South Seas, they will want to go further afield.)  They have read all the right books and spend their evenings watching sailing videos on You Tube.  They can quote you chapter and verse on what to do in what weather situation and how much you will be charged to enter different countries and where the pirates are at their worst.

What they will never do is leave.

Why is this? my friend and I pondered.  Why do all these people who are dying to go and anchor off a tropical island, loaf in the sunshine and become 'boat bums' never get out of the marina?

We talked about it, questioned how we had managed to break free, looked at the way we lived.  And the truth is that becoming a boat bum for the average person, is anything but easy.  Daddy didn't give us an allowance, we didn't win Lotto, no-one left us the family home worth zillions.  Instead we had to skimp and scrape, do without and use every bit of determination, self-discipline and resolve that we could dredge up to get there. 

The fact is that most voyaging 'boat bums' could have been extremely successful in the Real World had they wanted to.  And sadly, those in the boatyards and marinas who want to tell you all about their plans and how they are going to get away soon are never going to do it.  If they were going to succeed, I'm afraid they'd be too busy truly getting ready, to do more than pass the time of day with you.

Dreams are cheap: turning them into reality takes everything that you have - and then a bit more.