Not sloppy…. slow. I guess that would be us or specifically me. First: I don’t like to rush up to the next anchorage as if driving down a highway trying to be first at the next stoplight. Second: I don’t want to live in a mess preferring to not climb over stuff or constantly or needing to move things about the boat since I live in it. And third: I like to take things slow; quality vs quantity.
Yep I am a sloth.
We are after all on a sailboat. I know some people who like to brag how fast their boat goes, all in a sailboat. I find it quite funny when all cruising boat speeds are slower than an Olympic runner. Yeah some boats may go a knot faster, some a fraction thereof but so what. I arrive safe and for the most part as rested as possible. And for me safety comes first, comfort second and speed last.
I remember one trip to the Bahamas; it was our best crossing ever. We left W Palm at midnight and had beautiful sail with a lightening show N of us, S of us, E, and W of us. Yeah, the trip had a bit of “OMG” in it but we sailed the entire way and it was comfortable. We arrived and while waiting for customs and immigration I was talking to other sailors. Most everyone around us had an uncomfortable ride dealing with squalls the entire way. The moral of the story; luck more than speed is what traveling in a boat is about.
Messes. Every boat has them and when ever there is a project to do within minutes the boat becomes a workshop. And
most everyday there is some project to do. We try to limit projects to only the am. When afternoon arrives we pick up / put away and have lunch. The rest of the day is ours to do what we wish. Larger projects still follow the same pattern. It is just that they extend across several days. Some projects last longer well into the pm but for the most part our goal is to not live in a mess. Even while hauled out with the boat a mess we chose other accommodations. This allowes us to do more because daily we didn’t need to get tools out and put them away.
Finally we rarely rush. At least we try not to. When late afternoon arrives and we’re close to our destination; yes, we’ll rush then, preferring a calm anchorage vs another night out. Generally we plan our day trips to coincide with the wx and the travel time. We prefer an easy comfortable sail to a noisy motor or a blusterous sail. We find this time provides us greater freedom to meet people and explore an area. While there is most likely nothing new for mankind to discover on our planet anymore, there are many things W/ and I have never seen or experienced. Traveling slow gives us the time to experience a new place, new culture, meet new people, and try new foods. I watch those traveling on cruise ships come and go, always in a rush like those speeding to the next red light. Over the 8 years I’ve been traveling slowly across our globe I understand that if you want to just “see” and “do” things- take a cruise ship or a two week vacation. If you want to experience a culture and the place, bring your own boat and…
Go Slow,
Sail far,
Stay Long.