# I wasn't born a blow boater



## BillBadAss (Mar 31, 2016)

Hi everyone my name is Aiden and I'd like to start off by saying I'm very excited to become a part of this forum and begin this next chapter of my life. I am a powerboater born and raised, up until I was 2 my parents had a 37 sea ray we spent every summer weekend on. They shortly realized how small a boat gets with 2 babies, so they sold it and I spent the next 8 years in a boatless family of boaters. Many many hours were spent with my dad, showing me pictures of this boat, and that, watching old VHS recordings of them. Teaching me this brand and that, the difference in motors, and drives. So of course the inevitable happened when we took a vacation up to lake erie and my god father who is a center console dealer through the keys to a new 24 regulat or to my dad. We went out, and I think he fell back in love with it, and I finally got to experience what he was talking about, so at 10 they bought a house and a 28 sea ray which I spent hundreds of hours on learning to operate. At 13 with the help of my dad of course, I bought my first boat, a small center console, which I eventually upgraded from unto a 21 pro line. Along the way, for reasons unknown to me, at one point I decided boldly that I needed to go buy a 1973 AMF Sunfish, so I did. Long story short, hands down, most fun boat I've ever had the pleasure of operating in my life, I took it out as much as I could, often leaving the center console at the dock. One day, my little sunfish met it's maker sadly when I took it out in 6 footers, I flipped it over when I was tacting back in toward the beach trying to make my way along the shoreline, and it was far shallower than I had anticipated because when I righted it, I looked up for a split second to see that mast bent at a 30 degree angle before the boat came crashing down the other direction. After many failed attempts at righting it, I ended up untying the mast so I could get it right side up to tow it back in, I nevery saw that mast again, it disappeared into the lake almost instantly. After getting towed, we idled around for about an hour in the cwnter consolse unsuccessfully searching for it. I decided it was time to sell her after that so that was the end of my sailing experience... anyway, a few weeks back I watched a movie I stumbled across online, an Anarchist Yacht Club production, Hold Fast. Truly an amazing movie, about a guy and 3 friends, who set out on a mission to sail the carribean, living on the boat, fishing it, all the good stuff, and to do it on a budget one that's questionablly less than the average person's in fact! I think it has since sparked something inside me. I have a whole new burning desire to try sailing, real sailing, and actually live on the boat. I'm 18 and preparing to graduate this year, I use to think I had some idea of what I wanted to do when I grow up but here I am (legally speaking) grown up and more clueless than ever, so id like to try to use their journey as a bit of a mold for my own, take a few momths, maybe a year or 2 and just put my life on hold, br young, and explore the world. of course I'm not so arrogant as to believe I can buy a boat and just go sail, I'm looking to take some classes, and get some experience in thw familiar waters of lake erie before I'd ever go out on the open ocean. I also think I may have a good place to get a project, see I'd like to look at my godfathers marina, he has a small boat yard with many old abandon sailboats that have simply sat on trailers forgotten about for years, I feel like he'd practically give one away to me. So for the next few months I'm going to be scouring this forum, asking more stupid questions than I can even fathom. And hopefully I can make it out onto the lake by mid June and start my sailing, I want to take atleast this whole summer for practice, and maybe start my journew next summer sometime. If there is anyone with any links to more threads of people doing something like this, or people who have done it I'd love to get in touch. I am very anxious to see where this all takes me, it's like a new body of water I've never been down before, and i get to make the chart as I go. Sorry that got long, but I just wanted to make my goal on this forum apparent and thorough to those who care enough to read. Thank you for reading, im very excited to learn from everyone here!


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## Bob142 (May 27, 2012)

First welcome to Sailnet...Secondly I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up...I have decided that growing up is overrated...follow your dreams and at the end you won't have a bucket list...


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## Jim_W (Jul 27, 2014)

Bob142 said:


> First welcome to Sailnet...Secondly I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up...I have decided that growing up is overrated...follow your dreams and at the end you won't have a bucket list...


Best advice i heard in a long time.


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## Don L (Aug 8, 2008)

Bob142 said:


> ..Secondly I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up....


I want to be rich and retired. I'm going accomplish one of those :wink


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

That movie was a fun story and made me think of adventures I took as a young man hitchiking all over the US. I wish I had done it on a sailboat. The guy who produced that film has a website for people who salvage and rebuild derelict boats. It is:

Blueanarchy.org

That movie was filmed a number of years ago and things have gotten even a little harder for anarchist sailors. If you remember from the film, they couldn't find a boatyard that would install a mast for them because the boatyards all require that a boat have insurance and they didn't. So they had to break some guys davit on his motor yacht lifting their mast in place.

It's questionable whether their boat would have passed an insurance survey to be granted insurance. There are some marinas and boat yards that won't let boats in without insurance. That guy was a phenomenal sailor and sailed into small bays under sail with no motor. 

Those young folks got their boat and outfitted it in Palm Beach Florida. They were lucky to have the previous owner willing to let them camp out in their backyard and work from his dock. 

I read on one of these forums that there are upscale neighborhoods in that area where they have enacted derelict boat ordinances where they have limits on how long somebody can anchor in that area. Those young people in their boat are just the type of people they are trying to keep out with such policies. They want wealthy yachting folks not hippies in derelict boats.

One of the things he doesn't mention in that film is how many places they couldn't go because of their lack of a motor and insurance.

I would guess that it has gotten harder to go sailing in the minimalist fashion as they did. But I have not tried it and have not sailed to the places they went. I would say that you probably can't do it exactly the way they did and would need to be a little better funded and have a boat that is insurable.

I am working on my plan to do much the thing same only in the old retired guy fashion: meaning that I am better funded and will have insurance and a fully documented boat. They did not.

The story he tells and that film was definitely a fun adventure but I think they also got lucky a lot. That old Pearson he had has a bolted on keel and they mentioned problems with it leaking a lot and having to pump a lot. They also tell the story about how the chain plate for their forestay broke in a storm. They we're lucky their boat wasn't dismasted. 

They also had minimal electronics. I believe they only had a VHF radio and compass but no AIS, GPS, radar or navigational plotter. He admits that they were off on their reckoning a number of times and realized later that they came close to rocks and shallows. They easily could have snapped their keel off and sank. 

My old man/retiree version will include quite a bit more navigational and communication equipment. But then I am better funded at this point in my life than I was when I was in my twenties. He also doesn't mention in his film anything about encounters with customs officials in the countries they visited. I think they may have entered some of those places illegally. He did mention, at one point, that he walked illegally across the border into the Dominican Republic. But he doesn't talk about the places they probably sailed into illegally.

So it probably isn't feasible these days to do it quite as cheaply as those three young people did. But if you adjust your expectations and work to have better funding and save more money, you should be able to do a modified version.

I hope you keep us posted on your plan and how the execution goes. I've been reading the blogs of several cruising sailors who have blogged about everything from the search for the perfect boat, the purchase, refitting and repairs, and then finally setting out to sea. I find them to be some pretty interesting stories. That would be interesting to follow your story.
Good luck


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## BillBadAss (Mar 31, 2016)

midwesterner said:


> That movie was a fun story and made me think of adventures I took as a young man hitchiking all over the US. I wish I had done it on a sailboat. The guy who produced that film has a website for people who salvage and rebuild derelict boats. It is:
> 
> Blueanarchy.org
> 
> ...


 Thank you for the insight! The part that really gets me was their lack of ability to get into certain places without insurance, I hadn't even thought of that! Also I really don't think I could do it without gps! Radar would be ideal, but it'd be more like icing on the cake to me, I could go with or without. Also, I'm really banking on my godfather helping out with something like a mast raising! He has a full service marina, debatably the best one in the harbor. He's let me store my passed boats free, and he gives me a lot of latitude that's probably not too warranted but I do appreciate it very much. I'm going to go next weekend and take a look at his selection see what he has that's been long forgotten, they are all up on trailers or on stands, so id have a solid place to work as well because there are other boats people actually use stored 100 yards away. Also many of them still have rigging, not saying much if anything would be salvageable, but there are some things still there. What I'm wondering was in that movie their boat was a 30, is that enough boat for something like that? Or do you need a bit more? I know sail boats can take a hell of a lot more water than anything of comparable size with a motor. But I just remember when he said 30 it jolted me a bit, made me cringe almost. :boat :


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## willyd (Feb 22, 2008)

One thing worth learning is that the term "blow boat" is meant to be insulting, derived from "blow job", if I'm not mistaken. The sailors' equivalent for motor-boaters is comparatively benign: "stink boat(er)" or "stink pot(ter)", even though, unlike motor-boats, few if any sailboats are capable of actually swamping or breaking equipment on motor-boats they pass near to. You'd think sailors would come up with a more damning term, but even if they did, the motor-boaters are out of earshot by the time it could be put to use, and they don't look back to observe gestures.


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## BillBadAss (Mar 31, 2016)

willyd said:


> One thing worth learning is that the term "blow boat" is meant to be insulting, derived from "blow job", if I'm not mistaken. The sailors' equivalent for motor-boaters is comparatively benign: "stink boat(er)" or "stink pot(ter)".


 That's funny, I was wondering what sailors called motor boaters, hey no offense was meant to anyone, that was kinda my point in saying it because it's the different environment I grew up with. I was aware sailors don't proudly call themselves a blow boater lol


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## SHNOOL (Jun 7, 2007)

willyd said:


> One thing worth learning is that the term "blow boat" is meant to be insulting, derived from "blow job", if I'm not mistaken. The sailors' equivalent for motor-boaters is comparatively benign: "stink boat(er)" or "stink pot(ter)", even though, unlike motor-boats, few if any sailboats are capable of actually swamping or breaking equipment on motor-boats they pass near to. You'd think sailors would come up with a more damning term, but even if they did, the motor-boaters are out of earshot by the time it could be put to use, and they don't look back to observe gestures.


Just as a point of getting even, I take every chance I can get to buzz past stink-potters who "drift," our lake. You see I call it drift because they don't bother to anchor (that would take effort, and would also keep them out of the way). They motor out into the middle of the lake... shut the engines off, and drift with the wind (you know if they even knew why they were drifting). This makes them a moveable hazard to navigation... of course MOSTLY if they drift too close to land, they fire up the stinker and motor back to the center of the lake again to get in everyones way again.

This is usually when I sneak up on them, while they are bathing in the sun, or drunk and passed out on a bench... you see sailboats don't make much noise under sail... and you know with 10 knots of wind or better I can bear down on them at 5+ knots, as silent as a wave. Can't tell you the number of spilled beers I created with a 10 foot away sail-by... OK, so a beer isn't much damage... but the ego destruction, is PRICELESS.

Nearly split a drifter pontoon in half (this time by accident) while racing. Tacked the big genoa and little beknownst to me, a drifter slid behind the big jenny, and I was coming down on them pretty fast (upwind leg of our race, and wind was tooling 15-18 knots)... so I wasn't just overpowered, I was SEVERELY overpowered... I swear there were new wet spots on the astro-turf that day! Love it when they fire up the motor and get MORE in the way when you are obviously at LEAST 10 feet in the clear  Man I'm racing here.. you're a moving obstruction... don't make yourself MORE of a problem!

Anyway, we're glad to have a new sailor, especially if it means stealing them from the dark side. Young new sailor is a bonus, we need more of them. Welcome to the insanity.

Welcome here Aiden.


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## BillBadAss (Mar 31, 2016)

willyd said:


> One thing worth learning is that the term "blow boat" is meant to be insulting, derived from "blow job", if I'm not mistaken. The sailors' equivalent for motor-boaters is comparatively benign: "stink boat(er)" or "stink pot(ter)", even though, unlike motor-boats, few if any sailboats are capable of actually swamping or breaking equipment on motor-boats they pass near to. You'd think sailors would come up with a more damning term, but even if they did, the motor-boaters are out of earshot by the time it could be put to use, and they don't look back to observe gestures.


 I do have to say, too many power boaters have a lack of respect for sailors, I always make a big arch around anyone sailing, to give as much room as possible , ive always had a level of respect for those who were willing to apply that much extra effort on the water.


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## BillBadAss (Mar 31, 2016)

SHNOOL said:


> Just as a point of getting even, I take every chance I can get to buzz past stink-potters who "drift," our lake. You see I call it drift because they don't bother to anchor (that would take effort, and would also keep them out of the way). They motor out into the middle of the lake... shut the engines off, and drift with the wind (you know if they even knew why they were drifting). This makes them a moveable hazard to navigation... of course MOSTLY if they drift too close to land, they fire up the stinker and motor back to the center of the lake again to get in everyones way again.
> 
> This is usually when I sneak up on them, while they are bathing in the sun, or drunk and passed out on a bench... you see sailboats don't make much noise under sail... and you know with 10 knots of wind or better I can bear down on them at 5+ knots, as silent as a wave. Can't tell you the number of spilled beers I created with a 10 foot away sail-by... OK, so a beer isn't much damage... but the ego destruction, is PRICELESS.
> 
> ...


 Thank you very much! And thank you for that story, that was one of the best ways I could have started my day, I was literally laughing imagining the situation. I already am liking the online community far more than I ever did powerboaters, see previously I had to hide my age and experience because many know it all fisherman believe the entire ocean and every lake is reserved solely for them and their race to be "first to the fish", (Ive always thought they looked like a bunch of horny monkeys personally) and they arent good at welcoming new comers so I would constantly be met with opposition at any point I tried to post something.


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Other commenters will soon come on here and present you with the debate on the pros and cons of larger versus smaller boats. Larger boats can be more stable on the sea and smaller boats can be easier to handle. Some small boats (26 to 30 foot) have been successfully sailed across oceans and around the world. A smaller boat is easier for one person to sail singlehanded. 

The famous British Royal Yacht Club's Singlehanded Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR or OSTAR) started in 1960 and had a class for boats in the 27 to 30 foot size. Over the years they moved toward 40 and 60 foot boats and the race eventually became a race that was mostly only available to rich people or corporate funded sailors. In 2013 they decided to get back to their simple roots and re-opened the 27 to 30 foot class. It is a very popular and successful class. There is a good book about one.*

Tania Aiebe and her cat of New York, sailed a 26 foot Contessa around the world, with stops, when she was 19. Her book, Maiden Voyage is an interesting read. She did her voyage in the mid 80's before GPS was available to citizens. She only had moderate sailing experience and hadn't figured out how to use her sextant until a fourth of the way through her voyage. 

Brian Caldwell also sailed a Contessa 26 around the world, with stops, when he was 20. 

Jessica Watson, a 16 year old Australian girl, did it non-stop in a S&S 34. Her book is True Spirit, which is her blog/log basically. She has many video blogs on YouTube. 

David Dicks and Jesse Martin, both sailed 34 foot boats when they were 18. Jesse Martin had a bit of a breakdown during his trip and set his boat on fire to end his trip and force rescue. He changed his mind and was able to put the fire out and sailed on. There has been a movie made dramatizing his trip called Lionheart. 

Some good books to read:

Maiden Voyage, by Tania Aeibe
Fastnet, Force 10: The Deadliest Storm in the History of Modern Sailing, by John Rousmaniere 
*Blue Water, Green Sailor, by Stuart Woods (Sailed the 1976 OSTAR in a 30 foot as a first timer)
True Spirit by Jesse Watson


Laura Dekker's movie, Maiden Trip is on Netflix. 

I've been following a blog by a young couple, Matt and Jessica, who is living the cruising dream. MJSailing.com
They bought, repaired and sailed a 34 foot Sabre Targa from the north to the Caribbean and back to Florida and then across the Atlantic and back. Then they decided they wanted a bigger boat and have now purchased a 37 foot French designed steel hull Trisalu. They wanted to have a bigger boat because they live on it as their only home and they sail with two of them, both accomplished sailors now. They have completely stripped the boat inside and out and are rebuilding it mostly themselves. 

One reason that I am looking at smaller boats (29 to 32) is for economic reasons. Once you buy a boat, that is when you actually begin to pay for it. Everything you are charged for with a boat, is charged based on it's length. Renting a slip, having it hauled out, having the hull refinished, repainting, cleaning barnacles and mold off, storage on the hard, towing and taxes, are all priced per foot. If a marina charges guests $2 a foot per day for a slip that would be $60 a day for a 30 foot and $70 a day for a 35 footer. If you stay a week, that's $420 versus $490. Having a 30 foot boat hauled out can cost $220 to $260 and a 35 foot boat can cost $255 to $300. Even pulling or re-stepping your mast is often charged by the height of the mast.

You are lucky to have a marina owner in the family but once you set out to sea, you will incur greater costs everywhere you go to park it or fix it.


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Yes Aiden, I'm finding the same thing about sailors. I can laugh at the BlowBoat comment. That doesn't offend me. I live in the heart of Harley land and I ride a Honda. I've ridden Hondas for 40 years and I've endured the "riceburner" comments. 

I've dabbled in a bunch of hobbies my whole life and I've noticed that the more personal effort it takes to learn and master a certain hobby, the more decent and humble the people are. Anybody can rent a speed boat for the day and tear up the lake with little knowledge or experience. So it attracts some lazy thrill seekers who may not appreciate real expertise at something like the skill it takes to learn to sail. 

I've noticed the difference between weekend dirtbike riders and mountain bicycle riders. I've seen four wheelers ride to a beautiful spot in the woods tearing up the trail and then throw beer cans and cigarette butts in the creek. The mountain bicyclists put forth a lot more effort to get there and they appreciate the beauty of the place they have reached. They will often clean up the trash left behind by the motor heads. 

I've been researching boats to figure out the best boat to fit my plans. I've had a few people on these sites message me and say, "If you're ever near us, let us know and we'll show you our boat and take you and your wife out so you can see what this type of boat is like". Sailing self selects a group of people who naturally have more patience. Sailors, I have found, appreciate the trip. Motor heads are just interested in getting to the destination.


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## BillBadAss (Mar 31, 2016)

midwesterner said:


> Yes Aiden, I'm finding the same thing about sailors. I can laugh at the BlowBoat comment. That doesn't offend me. I live in the heart of Harley land and I ride a Honda. I've ridden Hondas for 40 years and I've endured the "riceburner" comments.
> 
> I've dabbled in a bunch of hobbies my whole life and I've noticed that the more personal effort it takes to learn and master a certain hobby, the more decent and humble the people are. Anybody can rent a speed boat for the day and tear up the lake with little knowledge or experience. So it attracts some lazy thrill seekers who may not appreciate real expertise at something like the skill it takes to learn to sail.
> 
> ...


 Wow, my jaw dropped reading that one. Maybe I've been a sailor since day one, my dad and I have always butted heads about going out when it's rough, countless times I'd take my 20 center console out in 5-6s with no destination in mind, just for the ride, to feel the waves pounding against the hull, the slamming down, the spray in my face, waves higher than the bow, that's what I've always loved. I've always owned boats for the sake of the driving them, operating them, not so much to hang out around a dock and tell everyone how pretty it is. You've given some great advice in the last 2 posts! I will surely be checking out those books and the Netflix movie. You spoke too much truth. Seriously thank you for that, that was beautiful and hit home for me in a lot of ways. I'm really excited to start this its been consuming my thoughts for the passed few weeks. Sailors really are the crazy ones, aren't they? And I say that in the absolute best way, I like crazy. When I was about 14 or 15 I had plans to go to college in florida and live on a big sea ray express cruiser because it could be done equally if not cheaper than a house. Realistically speaking I realize that couldn't be done now, maybe I should've looked at sailing the whole time...


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Well Aiden, I'm excited about your plan. Check out Matt and Jessica's blog at MJSailing.com
They are a young couple who have devoted everything to buying, gutting and completely refitting a dream boat. It's just the two of them and they don't have kids yet. I fantasized about such things as a young man but didn't do so much of them. I admire your dream and hope you get it.

I'm doing it the other way around. I went to college, earned a couple of degrees, created a rewarding career for myself, got married and raised two kids. That was my dream to be a dad and family man. I did that, now I'm eligible and able to do a partial retirement and I want to sail. The only downside to doing it this way, is that I'm not as able bodied as I was when I was in my twenties. I don't have the time and energy to do a complete rebuild of a boat but I earn more money than I did in my twenties so I will look for a boat that is more "turnkey ready". And I'm not as able bodied to do things like dive my own boat and climb a mast as your are. My kids have said, "But Dad, you're going to leave us to go sailing?" And I say, "No, I'm not leaving you. I'll just be moving a little farther away. I'll be spending my summers on a boat in Texas or Georgia or Virginia and I'd love for you to come visit me anytime you can get time off work and join me on my boat. I'll take you sailing."

There are a lot of advantages to doing this at your age. 

Oh, and you mentioned radar on your boat. Some people are skipping radar and equipping their boats with AIS and DSC linked to their VHF marine radio. Read about those. Up until recently AIS units were separate from the VHF radio. Check out the StandardHorizon Matrix AIS/DSC/GPS GX2200 VHF marine radio. It has AIS integrated and DSC with GPS.
AIS sends out a digital signal that includes your vessel's MMIS registry number and can be read by other boats and ships that are equipped. USCG regulations are expanding all the time to require more and more ships and boats to have AIS. If you equip your boat with an AIS transceiver, it lets ships and other similarly equipped boats "see" your boat and estimate it's projected path. The Digital Selective Calling (DSC) feature allows another boat to enter your MMIS vessel identifying number into their DSC equipped radio and call you. The transmission of your digital MMIS code triggers the DSC circuit in your radio and you and only you can hear that radio transmission. It turns your VHF radio into a radiotelephone. It also has an emergency feature where you can hit a button and it sends out a distress call and your location and keeps doing it until your boat sinks.

A lot of pleasure boaters are equipping their boats with AIS and foregoing radar.


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