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Lu Abel asked:

> Do these folks count as mariners made of stern stuff or simply fools??
>
Well, they sailed all around the world over several decades in what would be
considered these days a rather primitive timber boat, and did it relying on
their own resources - no marinas, let alone GPS or Radar. In one of their
books ('The Misty Islands' by Miles Smeeton) Miles recounts wintering in a
northern island of Japan, little touched by the modern world, where with
some difficulty they had their boat hauled out so they could work on it. In
the Spring they sailed via the Aleutian Islands to Alaska. On a navigational
note, the Aleutians presented (among others) problems of abundant fog and
strong and unpredictable currents; all successfully negotiated. Not so
foolish. Towards the end of his life Miles could say that he had visited
every page of the Times atlas (after his sailing days were over he made a
North West Passage as a guest on an icebreaker). You are, of course, welcome
to your own opinion.

I will, however, take issue with:

> ... for $1K I could buy four high-quality GPS receivers and a whole lot of
> batteries.

As an engineer you might like to calculate the quantity, weight, cost, and
keeping quality issues of amassing enough batteries to power handheld GPS
receivers over the period needed for an extended passage, along with the
difficulties involved in replacing them regularly along the way, in what are
the charmingly undeveloped places we sail so far to find. It doesn't stack
up.

What I really question is the logic here, of addressing the shortcomings of
complex technology with more of the same.

The cruising lifestyle has been described as one of endlessly repairing
pretty well everything that can go wrong in the most inconvenient of places.
A couple arrived in Durban, South Africa, in a small and poorly equipped
boat. Because it had little to go wrong they soon had it shipshape again.
Among the people they met in port were another couple who had been there for
a while. This couple had a bigger boat with all sorts of wonderful features
- rather too many of which needed repair or replacement. So when the first
couple headed off to visit the wildlife parks they asked their new friends
to keep an eye on their boat. When they came back, weeks later, they stocked
their boat with provisions and water and were on their way. The other couple
were still waiting for parts to be forwarded from the United States.

Often these threads go places that render the subject lines redundant, but
this one is still apt. The answer is: they visit the elephants and giraffes
instead of being slaves to their technology.

   

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