"For most, cruising IS unsustainable both monetarily and psychologically."
As it happens, I have to admit that he's right but the proviso "For most" means there are exceptions and, if you're reading VolksCruiser, there's a goodly chance that you may be just such an exception.
Exceptional, some might say.
Anyone can buy a cheap boat, fix it up, and sail off into the sunset and prosper until the boat starts needing repairs, you run into unexpected expenses, and the money runs out. Fact of the matter is, that's pretty much the whole standard cruising plan most folk seem to run with and, if you're only interested in cruising short-term, it's not a bad plan at all. On the other hand, it's a pretty piss-poor plan for the long-term.
Cruising as a sustainable lifestyle, at best, is problematic...
Which, I suspect is why so very few people actually talk or write about it in any depth because it's a difficult subject and oh-so-much-easier to talk or write about boat designs, cunning plans to fix up a boat on a budget, and other interesting but needful nautical minutiae. Truth be told, I think most writers of a nautical bent (myself included) tend to leave the details of how to go about cruising on a low budget in a sustainable manner for the cruiser to sort out for themselves.
Not unlike the old problem solving technique favored by certain designers of boats where they just leave out the parts they can't figure out hoping the builder will sort it out once they arrive at that stage of construction.
So, yeah, sustainability is problematic but we really do need to deal with it in a better way than most of us do as a rule.
We need to talk about it more...
We need to share information...
We need to do something about the negative social stigma that results in trying to live a sustainable non-consumerist life on a planet with finite resources and too frelling many people...
And...
We need to do it sooner rather than later.
Which, if you will, is a sorta/kinda manifesto regarding what a lot of VolksCruiser is going to be about in this 2016 thingy and it might not be for the faint of heart.
More soon come.
You forgot to mention the "window of opportunity" when people have the health and fitness to continue. Most don't even start until they are getting older and may not have an exit plan for when they can't do it anymore. A friend of mine was talking about giving his boat to his son as he just didn't have the energy and comfort to go up the mast, raise sails and anchor.
ReplyDeletePlease drop my Anarchist Watermen blog off your recommended blogs list. I deleted all posts and it is gone-zo. Will still enjoy yours though. Keep up the great work and content! Very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteGather ye rosebuds while ye may...
ReplyDeleteLIFE isn't sustainable, so seems to me, we'd better get busy living it.
Thanks, Bob, for keeping the fire lit!