Certainly some very interesting and valid points made in this discussion. I agree that Camaraderie does exist and should be universal. But in reality it is not. There is some discrimination by boat size and type. This group may be an exception, but I doubt it. My reason for mentioning this is a plea against it. If you have a large boat, or power boat, engage the rag boater or the owner of the small boat. I have seen this from several aspects. In the 80's I cruised a 62 foot LOA motor sailor, which was larger than 95% of the boats which were cruising at that time. We noted that smaller boats often did not come by--we countered that by often rowing (although we had a large inflatable) over to the smaller boat and inviting them aboard. Currently we are cruising in a 25 foot pilot house outboard powered boat (and I suspect that we put as many miles under the keel each year as many of the expensive vessels which have been mentioned), and note that boats larger than 50 feet tend to not want to have much to do with a person in a small boat. (Doesn't hurt my feelings, since I engage them in conversation). However it is a reality. Also same with commercial vessels. We always go out of our way to interact with the fishermen, watermen and loggers we meet. I suspect that the point being made was that one does not need a $500,000 vessel to cruise as safely and have as much (maybe more) fun that the big boats. (Although I would agree that Radar and probably AIS is something I would not want to do without). Not so sure about all of the expensive "Gizmos". We had a $300 weather fax (had to do a bit of reworking) in 1982, and a ham radio ($500), which allowed both written and phone communication. Today we rely on Wi Fi--but if we were crossing an ocean would still use sail mail or Winlink for E-mail, and not a fancy satellite system. Why do I mention all of this? I have always believed that everyone--including the postal worker--needs to have the ability to cruise the oceans of the world. There are boats which can be obtained for a fraction of the cost of the expensive vessels which will make the voyages safely. In many cases if properly outfitted and routed these boats can be nearly as comfortable as the more expensive boats. On the other hand, if I was to cross an ocean today in a power vessel, I would probably buy a used Nordhavn 62 or 46. But I can easily afford either of these, and I feel that they are well built and designed vessels. If my budget was less--Probably an older Defever, Cheoy Lee, or steel trawler in the 45 foot range. Of course there remain the motor sailors--starting in the 50K range. Keep up the Camaraderie! Bob Austin