John and Steve: truer words were ne'er spoken!
John and Steve: truer words were ne'er spoken! I love John's description of the way his wife and sailing buddy selected the Hunters. That is exactly how we got our Legend 43 and would probably have upgraded to a newer Passage or DS model if I would not have had serious misgivings about the lack of toerails; smaller anchor lockers; missing seaberths and/or redesigned chainplates (no more rod backups through the cabin). Fortunately, my wife loves the Legend 43 galley and cabin layout so much that any thoughts of trading in or up always perish on the vine, thus saving me from another 2-3 year round of ocean upgrades, let alone the misery of trying to sell and buy vessels while outside of the USA. John's description of the insecure macho mentality is spot on. It would be especially interesting to know how many women are being refrained from daring to fall in love with sailing and sailboats because of the threatening environment created by dockside machoism. Although we greatly enjoyed our Santa Barbara years, while Rivendel was berthed in the local sailing school, some of the sailing instructors couldn't help but jeer a bit at Rivendel's little flower arrangements and other feminine touches here and there which helped make Rivendel a home-away-from-home for the admiral. Nonetheless, these same sailors were always quick to smell the coffee and drop in for a cuppa while remarking how it "just felt like home". I suspect, though, they never figured that cosy cabin would ever make any passages..... In fact, when we made our first Hawaii passage in 1994 we had been talking about it and preparing Rivendel for some time. Since I could maximally take 2 months off from my UofU job, we returned 8 weeks after we had left, logging about 6,000 NM. Some of the morning coffee visitors, who happened to have been away on other summer pursuits and dropped in asking "when are you guys leaving for Hawaii?" rewarded the admiral with an ape-like mouthdropping response. After that, there was no more jeering about the flower pieces. I must admit, though, I personally cursed the flowers a few times when they started flying around the cabin in bad weather. On one occasion I was able to adorn my dog watch logbook entry with a collage of plastic flower petals, buds and leaves gathered from the cabin floor. One final remark about the insecure macho behavior illustrated by so many dockside/website Huntebenelina bashers: OUT THERE, i.e. in the remote Pacific harbors and anchorages we have visited, NOBODY EVER TALKS ABOUT BOATS!! You simply sail what you sail and, just like you, the guys next to you in their wooden-hulled Colin Archers, hard-chined steel backyard designs or gold-plated Hinkleys are all busy planning their own routes, making repairs, collecting weather info, hanging out on the cuiser's net or attending potlucks. Aaaaah, the CRUISING LIFE..... In about 2 years we hope to pass the reigns of Project MARC to a younger generation and start doing some timeless, aimless, senseless sailing around ourselves before perhaps contemplating the next rung on the inevitable sailboat >> motorboat >> motorhome >> nursinghome ladder (discovered by posters on this board, I believe). Fair winds, Flying Dutchman Related link
