Certainly the idea of “getting away” to some distant or exotic locale is appealing. I’ve noticed that the idea of it appears to be the motivation behind interest in sailboat purchases among first-time buyers especially. It leads to many questions about “blue-water” capability, and the kind of boat that could safely go here or there, and so forth. By contrast, we see little apparent interest in learning much about local cruising areas. Here in CA folks dream about cruising in Mexico on their first boat; on the east coast it’s the Bahamas or the Caribbean. These notions arise, apparently, before new owners, or future new owners, have spent even one night at anchor in a local site on their own boat. Is there no time anymore for systematic learning and acquisition of experience? Has cruising been so formalized that it’s no big deal to buy one’s first boat then take off on an long cruise to a distant locale within a few months? How many of these attempts actually succeed?