"I'm more than happy to help, it's what cruisers do!"

[mvweebles]

Recently, I posted a "HELP!" post on TF to get a pair of 12-foot Forespar Flopper Stopper poles from San Diego to Ensenada. I had planned on simply driving them across, but when Hurricane Ian was forming, my wife and I made the decision to leave Ensenada early and head back to Florida (Ian veered well south of us). So I needed a way to get the poles from San Diego Marine Exchange to Ensenada.

A guy (who shall remain nameless) was headed to Ensenada for a bottom job and was happy to transport the poles. He was overnighting at San Diego Yacht Club and the good folks at SDMX (San Diego Marine Exchange - and old-school chandlery) were happy to deliver the poles to the guest dock at SDYC.

To be brutally transparent, I was a bit jammed-up on this one - install of the poles will take some time so getting them to Ensenada soon was a real help. This random act of kindness by a TF'er with barely an avatar really, really helped me out. He brushed-off my repetitive 'thank-yous' by simply saying "I'm more than happy to help, it's what cruisers do!".

My sense is TF is predominantly comprised of folks who keep a positive balance in their goodwill account. I hope I have, and I sure as heck know of one person who just made a significant positive balance to his. I look forward to paying-it-forward someday soon.

Many, many thanks -

Peter

 

[Peter B]

Glad our forum was able to help facilitate this random act of kindness. I'm sure you will pay it on Peter

 

[Bacchus]

Great story with happy ending!
I'm sure there are other similar ones that don't get published.
I have always found (most) boater helpful, especially when others are cruising and away from normal network of help.

 

[Hippocampus]

Hopefully not that random. It so many places find the sail v power dynamic is absent to the point that I think many of those who foster it dont do much cruising. Rather find cruisers are a close knit community that bend over backwards to help each other.
Find where’s there’s a cruisers net on the VHF morning conversations frequently include asks like
I’m doing a pump replacement. Never did it before. Anyone want to come and walk me through it. Or my forward AC isn’t working. Anyone want to come over and help troubleshoot. Or anyone have such and such a tool.
Or I’m getting a car to go to the market, hardware store and post office. Anyone need a ride.
In anchorages you see someone having trouble. You drop what you’re doing and dinghy over. Doesn’t matter type of boat or home port on the stern.
An us and them mentality in most places.
Miss that in the US vhf nets are less common. They exist just about everywhere in the eastern Caribbean. Port captains and internet interactions are a poor substitute in my view. In many places there’s a daily social schedule and treasures of the bilge sections to the daily chat. There’s always weather, security, who’s come in and who is leaving.
Would love it if folks here who are willing would host such nets. Generally hosts are usually in that harbor and may have set up repeaters for nearby harbors.

 

[mvweebles]

Hopefully not that random. It so many places find the sail v power dynamic is absent to the point that I think many of those who foster it dont do much cruising. Rather find cruisers are a close knit community that bend over backwards to help each other.

Funny you should mention this - the fellow who came to my rescue is a sailor who is quite happy sailing, but can foresee a trawler in his distant future.

Cruisers seem to enthusiastically adopt the mariner's code of rendering assistance. While cruisers are generally an agreeable lot, my hunch is there is more than a small dollop of Karma that influences their thinking: While every cruiser knows they need to be self-sufficient and independent, they also know there will come a time where something will happen and they will need help of some sort.

I cannot express my appreciation for those folks who give so much more than they receive - several contributors to this Forum are great examples; as are industry experts such as Peggy Hall, Steve D'Antonio and Bob Senter (Northern Lights). Incredibly generous with their time. Great role models - give as much as you can, not as little as you have to.

Peter

 

[Hippocampus]

+1 Peter. Totally agree

 

[KnotYet]

I've found that boat owners in general are pre-selected into a group of
like-minded folks that share enough experiences to allow a degree of trust.
This makes it easier to express the altruism that many people already have.

 

[rpackard]

I don't think that helping hands are more concentrated amongst boaters than in the general public. Nor are they concentrated in the USA. Helping others gives pleasure to most humans. The rest are sociopaths.

 

[psneeld]

I forget where they all are. There are several VHF cruisers nets along the ACIW. The one that sticks out/most memorable is in St Augustine, Fl

Other places like Ft Pierce City Marina, Fl used to have an informal evening happy hour (most of the old timers have moved on) that was made up of transient cruisers and the ones that home ported out of there. But weather briefs, local car rides, shopping tips, maintenance issues, etc, etc all were the main topics during the snowbird transits as the questions never ceased. The old free beer/wine nights at Brunswick Landing had a similar flavor but I was never there long enough to get a good dose of it.

 

[Hippocampus]

P anywhere I can look to find a list of the east coast cruiser nets? Frequency and time. Have it for SSB but this boat doesn’t have one.