Cruising

Friendship

By February 5, 2012 One Comment

I spent the last week hanging out with the boat Sabbaticus (whom I met in Annapolis, MD) and the other boats moving with them.  We had such a great time playing volleyball on the beach and billiards at the bars that it got me thinking about friendships while cruising.

In the cruising community friendship takes a slightly different route than it does on
land.  For one you meet people all the time on the beach, at sundowners, pot lucks, and multiple other opportunities.  Although you do not mesh with everyone (this is no different than on land) you do have a common bond in your love to cruise and travel.  I have been amazed at how quickly deep friendships form on boats.  It is not uncommon to hang out with someone you just met for a week or two or a year or more.  Part of this is the
connection you have with that person and part is the less rigid lifestyle.  If you find a boat you enjoy and both of you are heading in the same general direction then you might buddy boat for a while with a little give and take on the route by both boats.

Once you leave the company of another boat, whether after one day or one year, you can now keep up via e-mail, Facebook, and blogs and who know when you will run into each other again.  Sabbaticus is just one of several boats I have been planning for a while to run into and even with all of our communication options it can still be difficult to find each other.  I cannot imagine what it was like before the internet and cell phones, because the mountains are so high a VHF call can be blocked.  You and your friends could be in coves right next to each other and you would not know it.  That must have been tough.

I am thankful for each of the friends in my life, whether they are based on land, moving around on a boat, or have moved from boat life to dirt dwelling.  If I don’t talk to you enough that does not mean you are not appreciated!!!

That is why I have started allowing comments on each post moving forward.  I wish I did this a long time ago and I hope to hear from each of you when a post moves you to comment.

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