Come Fill thy cup and in the fire of spring

Dolph >You can't ever find out if you like it if you don't try. < >start out small. Do short, easy, good weather trips. Don't set yourself up to fail. < >The reality of cruising can be far different than the dream, < >Experience really is the best teacher.< All of these are good points and I agree with you. If you are going, take small steps. Neither of the people I referred to ever took time off from getting the boat ready to learn about seamanship and find out if they liked cruising. Consequentially they got a big surprise, and wasted a lot of money and time. Start small, but you don't have to own a boat, chartering is a good way to get the necessary skills and understanding. Also chartering a boat is considerable cheaper than owning a boat if you use it less than 6 weeks a year. You have a boat where ever you want it and you don't have to worry about the odd hurricane coming through. Like you I know people who are so afraid of dying that they quite living. I know one person who died when she was 32, she just didn't lay down. By the way, The name of my boat, Bird of Time, comes from the Rubaiyat. Come Fill thy cup and in the fire of spring Your winter garment of repentance fling For the Bird of Time has but a little way to flutter and the bird is on the wing. Omar and I saw eye to eye on many things. Don Dodds