janisj

still fiction . . .

Sojourntraveller

Amusing, is a guide book spelling the only way you know how the name of a place is spelled?

Tell me, is it Bruges or Brugge? Is Toronto pronounced 'toe ron toe' or 'tron no'? Is it Rhodes, Rodos, Rhodos?

Is it Elat, Eilat, Elath, or Eloth? In fact, it is all of those. But then I guess your guidebook doesn't tell you that does it. Staying somewhere for a while does tend to allow you time to discover such things though.

annhig

Even if this is all true, SJ, it bears little relation to the sorts of trips that the majority of fodorites do. it is actually quite easy to sit in a few bars, accost a few locals and rent a flat for a month or two.

it's much harder to organise a trip for a couple of weeks that covers the highlights of your destinations, uses convenient transport connections, and has you sleeping in comfortable, affordable accommodation.

and if you've spent the summer at leisure on Rhodes and you're now in Elat/Eilat/Elath or Eloth, yacht skippering must be more lucrative than I thought.

Sojourntraveller

I've have travelled in various ways all my life annhig. That includes 2 week vacations etc. You are making assumptions again.

From age 18(before that I travelled but my parents called the shots)I had limited travel time like most people for the next 25 years. I would travel for periods from 1 week to 3 weeks an average of 2-3 times per year. Most of those trips were 'destination' trips. It could be a week on a beach in the Turks and Caicos or a week in Rome. If it were a one stop destination which most were, I would often book a hotel for the entire time, it was even a package vacation in some cases.

But if it was a multi-destination trip I would not pre-book. If I didn't know how long I would want to stay in a place, there is no way to pre-book. That is the difference in thinking some people seem to find it hard to grasp. I did not find it 'much harder' to organize those trips. I don't know why you think it would be. In fact, it is much easier. All I had/have to organize was getting to A. Everything after that just happens.

Since I no longer need to work for a living, when and for how long I travel is no longer constrained. I may spend longer in places but HOW I travel has not in fact changed. What I have never done is try to cover too much in too little time and that is where I think most people go wrong. The less you move, the easier it is and the MORE you see and do.

Let's suppose you want to visit an area of France just as an example. How will you decide how long you will spend in a place? You do some research and determine that the Ardeche has some appeal. So you fly in to somewhere and rent a car. From your online research you decide to rent a Gite in Pont-Saint-Esprit for a week.

I choose to not book and just arrive in the area. I find a room to rent in the Domaine de Lamartine easily enough for the night. The next day I drive around the area and discover the little village of Aigueze. You do the same driving around and also visit the village. I look at it and say, 'I want to stay here'. You look at it and say, 'I can't stay here.' We sit at tables next to each other having lunch. While doing so, I ask about a place to rent and the proprieter suggests the Residence Le Castelas around the corner. I walk around the corner and find they have a room available. You drive back to Pont-Saint-Esprit. I spend the rest of the week in Aigueze.

Now you may be perfectly happy in your chosen Gite for the week but I am perfectly happy having found a place 'on the ground' that appeals to me more than the first place I stopped, which was fine but not as appealing as Aigueze. I have that option from the get go, you really do not. What is there about what I did that was 'much harder' to organize than what you did? In fact, I'd say it was much easier my way.

As for yacht skippering and what it pays, I never said that is what I did for a living. Sailing is an interest which interested me enough to become proficient and qualified to do. No different than someone having a pilot's license without being a commercial pilot.

Dickie_Gr

SoJo

You really are unique.

I have sailed for 25 years, in 4 continents and 18 countries. On New Years Eve we drunk wine anchored off the Ritz Carlton in Thailand, watched the fireworks and Chinese lanterns, the experience of a lifetime. The anchor dragged, tne Chinese laterns started falling near the boat and hoards of fruit bats circled the boat. I've seen some things but........

I have never encountered anyone who would refer to themselves as a "sailboat skipper", we all sail and each boat needs a Yachtmaster (even legally).

Never come across anyone sitting at the bar, claiming to be a skipper.

NewbE

But didn't he admit he was (white) lying when he called himself that?

<Never come across anyone sitting at the bar, claiming to be a skipper.>
Here in Florida, happens all the time

Anyway, fiction or not, I'm enjoying the trip, and isn't that really the point?

Sojourntraveller

What's with you people? Are you really so petty you have to look for things to pick on?

Dickie, you wrote it was Eilat and tried to suggest that Elat wasn't good enough. Well you got that one wrong didn't you but I don't see you now saying, 'oops, I was wrong about that'.

Now you try to suggest that referring to yourself as a 'sailboat skipper' is somehow something that no one qualified would say. Well, again you are wrong Dickie. Don't you ever get tired of putting your foot in your mouth.

A 'Yachtmaster' is NOT a universal term to denote someone who is qualified, nor does everyone who is qualified refer to themself as a yachtmaster. Yachtmaster is a term derived in the UK although also used in some other countries but not in ALL countries dickie. Maybe you need to get out more.

In N. America, the terms Captain or Skipper are interchangeable. As is the term 'Six Pack' which refers to a SKIPPER qualified by the USCG to CAPTAIN a boat of under 100 Tonnes carrying up to SIX paying passengers.

I have a Canadian certification in Offshore Sailing and a USCG OUPV six pack certification.
http://www.sailing.ca/keelboats-cruising-s15686

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...'s_license

Referring to myself as a sailboat skipper is a very clear way to communicate something to a reader. Referring to yourself as a 'yachtmaster' conveys what? That you're a Rolex watch? That's the first thing that comes into my mind anyway when someone says Yachtmaster. It's a watch.

NewbE, I clarified on another thread that the 'white lie' was not about my qualifications but about 'being between sailing jobs'. But thanks for clarifying for Dickie boy that the term 'skipper' is used elsewhere in the world whether by someone who isn't qualified (as I assume you are implying) or by someone who IS qualified. I can just see someone in a Florida bar referring to themselves as a yachtmaster. That would elicit a few real laughs.

Also note that Dickie boy does NOT say he is Yachtmaster qualified. He was more likely just a paying passenger on a boat.

As for your 'experience of a lifetime' Dickie, that isn't much of an experience, you must lead a dull life. Why would anyone want to be sitting on a boat anchored off a hotel in Thailand?

THE New Year's Eve party for sailors is at Foxy's. It is THE acknowledged best for sailors in the world and yes I have been several times on MY boat. I bought my first boat (Butterfly) when I was 18 and have owned 3 other boats since then. The last being a Hunter Passage 42 which I currently own. What boat if any do you own Dickie?

Fra_Diavolo

Oh, we're not petty. We just don't like liars, and we think you are a liar. We think that because you have not been careful with your lies. Now, why don't you toddle along to a fiction forum and submit your work there? It will be much better received.

janisj

>>What's with you people? Are you really so petty you have to look for things to pick on?
<<

THAT is a laugh. You pick on every single person who voices any sort of opinion that is not yours. And take several hundred words to do it. You posted this same 'trip report' under your previous screen name and it was just as silly the first time around.

>>He was more likely just a paying passenger on a boat.<<

Uh -- nope. You know nothing.

Sojourntraveller

You know NewbE, one of the things I dislike about the internet is that you can no longer figure out if someone knows about something or simply 'Googled' an answer.

If you meet someone face to face and discuss a subject it isn't hard to figure out if they know what they are talking about or not (assuming you yourself are familiar with the topic). But if I ask Dickie boy here to answer half a dozen questions about sailing, all he has to do is look up the answers and will probably find them.

1. What is the board keel on a sailing dinghy usually called that also refers to a type of knife?
2. What knot would normally be used to tie a sheet to a sail?
3. What does 'sheet' refer to on a sailboat vs. a halyard?
4. When does a rope become a 'line'?
5. Why in tropical climates when loading supplies, should you never bring a cardboard box aboard a boat?
6. What does it signify when someone says a boat is a 'dry' boat vs. a 'wet' boat?

Asking those face to face, I'd soon know what Dickie boy knows or doesn't know.


Simple questions easily answered by any reasonably experienced sailor, all of the top of their head. But you know, knowing which questions to ask also tells the listener whether the person asking them knows about a subject or not don't you think?

Sojourntraveller

I have posted no trip report under any other name here Janisj but I will be happy to look at any such report you care to link.

mlgb

The sock puppet is having a hard time keeping his ID straight

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-in-greece.cfm

Peter_S_Aus

Dagger
Bowline
Sheet controls the leach (or is it leech) of the sail, attached to the clew or boom.
A rope becomes a line when used for mooring. Also, when used with a Walker log.
Cardboard will mould, attract vermin, will fail if damp.
Alcohol vs no alcohol. We always raced "wet".

annhig

Bored now.

Fra_Diavolo

I thought that, with one exception, all ropes on a boat were lines.

NewbE

All these attacks are making the attackers look worse than their victim. "Petty" seems about the right word.

baladeuse

Agree with NewbE.

Typical of Fodor's forum in recent years though. "If you don't travel as I do, you're an idiot, a troll or a liar."

Sojourntraveller

What was your point mlgb? That was a post (not a trip report) on which I asked for suggestions it is the same 'ID' as every other post I have made here.

Some right, some wrong or subject to interpretation Peter_S but it looks like you answered of the top of your head rather than doing a Google search. So points for that.

1. Dagger is correct
2. Bowline is correct
3. All lines that control the sail are sheets while halyards are what are used to raise sails. Halyards can be cables rather than lines sometimes. Good simple explanation found here: http://knotalotsailing.wordpress.com...d-spars-oh-my/

Leech has two 'e's Peter. While some larger mainsails do have a leech line but it is only one of the sheets on a boat. The mainsail sheet(1) and jib sheets(2) are the most used. They control the movement of the boom and sails from one side of the boat to the other.

4. The simple explanation of when a rope becomes a line is when it is brought aboard a boat. All ropes used on a boat are referred to as lines. See descriptions on link above. If you want to get picky, a rope remains a rope until it is assigned a use on a boat. So you can have a coil of rope on a boat but as soon as you attach it to something it is a line. That includes a mooring line.

I've never seen anyone using a Walker Log, most are now collectible antiques although I realize they were still manufactured until quite recently by Walker in the UK. I would call the tow line a line.
5. You got it right. The worst problem in tropical climates is that very often bringing a cardboard box aboard from the local grocery store often results in a cockroach infestation on your boat.
6. Some people do refer to wet and dry in terms of alcohol. However, that is a more recent use of the terms. It refers to the people on board however, not to the boat if you see what I mean. In terms of the boat itself, wet and dry refer to how she sails. Is she a wet or dry boat? Does she plunge the bow through the waves or plane over them? The wet vs. dry characteristics of semi-displacement vs. planing hull is a constant debate among bluewater sailors.

Annhig, surely you are used to boys and their toys discussions.

Fra_Diavolo, what would the one exception be?

Sojourntraveller

Oops, correction Peter. Should read, "While some larger mainsails do have a leech line but it is only one of the LINES on a boat." A leech line is not a sheet, just a line.

NewbE, it is common in all forums for people to turn to personal attacks when they cannot argue the point/issue. Water off a duck's back. Now I'm waiting to hear what Fra_Diavolo still thinks I'm lying about and for Janisj to back up her comment that I posted the 'same trip report' under another name.

What I find amusing is how people who make negative remarks, fail to back them up with any evidence. Suddenly they go quiet and often come back making no reference to their previous remarks but trying to find something else to attack. Quite amusing really.

annhig

You must lack for amusement in your life, SJ to be bothering with this.

surely Elat offers more than these sterile arguments.