Everything about Cruising Maritime totally explained
This article is about Yacht Cruising, for cruising on Cruise Liners see the article Cruise ship.
Cruising by boat is a lifestyle that involves living for extended time on a boat while traveling from place to place for pleasure. Cruising generally refers to trips of a few days or more, and can extend to round-the-world voyages. Cruising is done on both
sail and
power boats, although sail predominates over longer distances, as ocean-worthy power boats are considerably more expensive. Many cruisers are "long term" and travel for many years, the most adventurous circling the globe over a period of three to ten years. Many others take a year or two off from work and school for short trips and the chance to experience the cruising lifestyle.
History
Prior to the Nineteenth Century origin of the concept of voyaging as a lifestyle, boats were almost exclusively used for work. In 1857, the philosopher
Henry David Thoreau, with his book
Canoeing in Wilderness chronicling his canoe voyaging in the wilderness of Maine, was the first to convey the enjoyment of spiritual and lifestyle aspects of cruising. The concept of cruising for pleasure was popularized in the Nineteenth Century, by several widely read authors and books:
John MacGregor, 1866,
A Thousand Miles in a Rob Roy Canoe;
Robert Lewis Stevenson, 1877,
An Inland Voyage and
Nathaniel H. Bishop, 1879,
Four Months in a Sneakbox.
One of the first people to carry out a long-distance voyage for pleasure, and who inspired many others to follow in his path, was
Joshua Slocum, who
circumnavigated the world between
1895 and
1898. Despite widespread opinion that such a voyage was impossible and despite being a retired sea captain, Slocum rebuilt a derelict 37-foot sloop
Spray and sailed her
single-handed around the world. His book
Sailing Alone Around the World is still considered a classic adventure, and inspired many others to take to the seas.
Other cruising authors have provided both inspiration and useful instruction to would-be cruisers. Key among these during the post war period are Miles and Beryl Smeeton,
Bernard Moitessier, and Eric & Susan Hiscock. During the 1970's - 80's,
Robin Lee Graham,
Lin and Larry Pardey,
Annie Hill, Herb Payson, Linda &
Steve Dashew and Hal & Margaret Roth have provided inspiration for people to set off voyaging. Most recently, have been writing both inspirational and technical books about voyaging.
Equipment
As well as normal sailing and seamanship skills, cruisers use a variety of equipment and techniques to make their voyages possible, or simply more comfortable.
The use of wind vane
self steering is common on long distance cruising yachts.
Though in the past many cruisers had no means of generating electricity on board and depended on kerosene and dry cell batteries, today most have some sort of electrical devices on board. Thus, one of the key areas is providing the electrical power to keep the boat's systems (lights, communications gear, etc.) running. Although most boats can generate power from their inboard engines, and some carry generators, carrying sufficient fuel for these over a long voyage can be a problem, so many cruising boats are equipped with generating devices such as
solar panels,
wind turbines and towed turbines.
While it's quite possible to cruise without long-distance communications equipment, satellite communications are becoming more common on cruising boats. Many boats are now equipped with
satellite telephone systems; however, these systems can be expensive to use, and may operate only in restricted areas. Many cruisers still use
short wave maritime
SSB and
Amateur radio radio, which has no running costs. These radios provide two-way voice communications, can receive weather fax graphics via a laptop computer and with a compatible modem (for example
PACTOR), can send and receive email at very slow speed. Such emails are ususally limited to basic communication using plain text, without
HTML formatting or attachments.
Watermakers which turn seawater into potable water are increasingly common on ocean crossing yachts.
Radar,
GPS are usually present and electronic charting systems are also regularly found on cruising yachts.
Safety
Travel by water brings hazards: collision, weather, and equipment failure can lead to dangerous situations such as a sinking or severely disabled and dangerous vessel. For this reason many long distance cruising yachts carry with them sophisticated emergency equipment such as
EPIRBs and
liferafts.
Medical emergencies are also of concern, as a medical emergency can occur on a long passage when the closest port is over a week away. For this reason before going cruising many people go through first aid training and carry extensive medical kits.
Other kinds of maritime cruising
- Camp cruising, also known as beach cruising or gunkhole cruising, is a form of cruising in which sailors sail from point to point in an open or semi-enclosed boat, generally remaining within sight of land. Camp cruisers either camp ashore ("camp cruising" or "beach cruising"), or aboard the boat at anchor. The boats used may be specialized cruising dinghies, small keelboats, trailer sailers or general purpose daysailing or racing boats pressed into service for the purpose.
Daysailing is recreational sailing that doesn't involve racing or cruising. Many racers refer to all non-racers as "cruisers," including dinghy and small keelboat sailors who primarily focus on daysailing.
Travel on cruise ships may be referred to as cruising. Those who take frequent cruise ship vacations (multiple times per year) may be called cruisers.Further Information
Get more info on 'Cruising Maritime'.
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