Friends

The people that you meet, (as you might guess), are a large part of cruising. These ‘instant friends’ are a part of life on the water that is very different from the acquaintances that you would make while living back on land. It is much easier to make friendships and have them be closer when on a boat  than it is while living in a house. I believe this results from everyone being in the “same boat” so to speak. We all share a common interest as a starting point so, it is easier to strike up a conversation. We commonly share the same type of problems so doing a favor to help another comes naturally. Even inviting complete strangers over to your boat for an evening sundowner or a shared meal becomes normal . The hard part is not how fast these friendships form but how quickly they separate. For instants,

We first met Andy while I was rebuilding our main mast several years ago. (see Nov. 2010) He showed up out of nowhere and over the course of 2 weeks we got to know him well for in a former career he owned a wooden mast building company! (what a coincidence). He gave ma a lot of tips and after about 3 weeks we parted with a hearty hand shake and words to get together again. Now, 4 years later, there’s Andy and his significant other, Maggie, working on his small sailboat, getting ready to travel south. Anna and  Maggie hit it right off with a ‘instant friendship’ but, 5 days later they left us behind as they headed south. We hope to meet up with them again in Fl. 

Alex and Diane live on a catamaran that stopped a Deaton Marine for only a few days and we struck up a friendship with them. They are new to cruising (but not boating) and Alex (being a writer) asked to interview me! Then 2 days later, poof, they left, headed south. It would seem like a real lose in your life to have people that you meet leave so rapidly but, the cruising population is really a large community of individuals strung out over the waterways of America and like any community you end up bumping into each other as the weeks and years go by. This is one of the aspects of cruising is so different from life on land and yet, is so enjoyable to me. It’s the hearty “hello’s!”  the instant comradely and warm conversations of these ‘instant friendships’ that it brings me back to boating year after year.