Sail vs Power

When we first made our decision to start our eventual transition to the cruising world, we were sure that some kind of engine powered boat would be the way to go. A trawler - this would be the ticket. Some kind of pilothouse perhaps? Yes! Large cockpit up with the helm perfect for dining and hanging out together. Down and inside the other helm would be great for staying warm and dry if the weather we not to cooperate. And even underneath we might be be fortunate enough to have standing engine rooms - very convenient when the need for maintenance rears it's head. Oh but wait, the draft, and the fuel consumption. Hmmm...

Then we saw how much more economical catamarans by design would be, and the newer designs of the interiors on a lot of them show the cabins and berths to be a lot less tomb or coffin-like than before. Maybe we won't have a bath tub, but many designs are really quite cozy looking and with a dodger or even better, and enclosable cockpit, this would be great! Oh, but yeah, the fuel costs. It still takes a lot to fill those tanks. Hmmm...

No. Sailing would not be an option. Who wants to be out in the rain and wind should we happen upon a squall messing with a tangle of ropes, huge swinging sheets? Yeah, I didn't know anything about sailing, but by god it looked complicated - too much work I tell you!

Evan was not quite as deterred. He is the researcher. He continued to do his magic and after a while was able to point out the pros and cons of each method. Now granted we've been doing our monthly date night for a year at Barnes and Noble. Sitting in the cafe with lattes and a huge warm cookie, pouring over the latest issue of Latitudes and Attitudes and Passage Maker. Eventually we added Cruising World, and our time has been both enjoyable and educational. 

Well, we were finally - though I don't remember the exact moment - convinced that perhaps sailing was something that should at least be investigated before ruling it out. I determined that I was telling Mom that I didn't like broccoli because it looked gross when in truth I had never even tasted it. I was judging without a real trial. 12 Angry Men, anyone? Ok - fine. Time to do some more research. We added Blue Water Sailing to our pile.

Cruising forums, cruising mags, endless Yacht World searches had given us a wealth of information. We both have had a lot of experience on boats. "Cruising" we realize is a different animal and is still new to us, so we still don't know what some of this information we have means - but by George, we have it! We have found ourselves discovering something "new" only to remember some ad or article or blog post about this subject and go running back to re-read and say, "AH!! So THAT'S what they were talking about!" or "Oh wow! I knew that important, but this really puts it into better perspective!"

We are also now following several blogs as well. They are all sailing blogs. Go figure.

We even took sailing lessons, y'all! And you know what? It wasn't NEARLY as complicated as I thought it would be! More on that in another post, but for now, I'm curious as to your opinions. Toss in your two cents, we are curious!