Wifey B: Duh, first I'm not a guy. Hubby is. But not wifey.
Fort Lauderdale. Paradise.
Half the people here aren't trawler guys, we're just a bit the extreme. However, in many ways we are. We cruise, a lot. We go the places trawler guys go. We enjoy the same areas. We use our boats.
Example: We did the loop, same loop as all others. We did it in a boat we no longer have but cruised at around 26 knots. Did it faster than others but same loop, same places. OCDiver is the only other one here I know who included Lake Superior in his loop. We enjoyed his posts on his looping. We've read of so many who have done it from those who swore no other boat was as good as a Catamaran to those who used sailboats without their masts and sales.
In many ways then we have far more in common with people on TF than people with boats more like ours. We're both captains and love taking the helm. I took the first shift of the day. We're scheduled tonight from 6:00 till midnight.
Yacht owners often have their crew relocate the yacht and fly in and spend a few days or a couple of weeks on it, perhaps cruise a bit, then home. Riva owners take their boat out in the med and sunbathe and watch others and then back home. We know there have been many Riva's sold in the US but we very seldom ever see one cruising. We've been to Myrtle Beach in ours and to New Orleans in it. We got our initial training in it. First rough water was in the Gulf of Mexico and our training captain was excited for the opportunity. 6-8' and then 8-10' and he ran us through the paces for several hours in it. We were drained but smiling when we pulled in to Panama City and then spent several days there.
People here go places, use their boats, enjoy the water. These are the true cruisers. Other forums have a lot of professionals but fewer owners. It's like here there are many who work or did work on commercial ships, but that's not why they're here, they're here to discuss cruising on recreational boats.
Omg, I wanted to just stand up and scream and cheer when Wayfarer got his boat. He's a professional but now he's a cruiser too. He's got the same love of the water I feel.
There are many ways we don't fit here but one essential way we do, we share the love of boating, of cruising. We're lovers of boats, all boats. There's a tremendous range of boats represented on this forum and we're the extreme, but it's not about the boat, it's about the boating. Heck, no one can even define trawler. The other day I was told the Riva was one based on the size of it's cleats.
We'll go to Bermuda faster and from greater distance, but I'm sure there are others here who have gone from the NC coast at 7-10 knots. Fast is just in our makeup, in our lives in general. We think we're doing something slow and others think we're doing it too fast.