> The trick is stay where you are comfortable. Working on a boat is as much > fun as cruising. Cruising is just a life style like any other life style, it > has good and bad. Not everybody should go. It is considerable different > than how it is painted in boating books. Don, What you say is true. My point is that if you want to cruise, do it. You can't ever find out if you like it if you don't try. That is also why I made the point that you should start out small. Do short, easy, good weather trips. Don't set yourself up to fail. It is supposed to be fun! The reality of cruising can be far different than the dream, that is why all potential cruisers need a reality check. The best reality check is to get the boat away from the dock. Start the motor and go. Even if it is for a couple of hours at a time, then build perhaps to an over nighter at a marina and then anchor out. Experience really is the best teacher. For me personally, getting out of my "comfort zone" is important, otherwise I might as well sit in front of the TV with a beer. For others a trip to the dock is enough. After all as the water rat said in Wind in the Willows, "there is nothing better than messing about in boats". Some one else said, "be not so afraid of dying as of not living". -- Dolph and Beverly McCranie M/V The Right Whale (KK 48 Whaleback)