Thoughts of an Interview on Engineless Sailing

I have been listening to Furled Sails podcasts every day for a week. I have soaked in all the interesting people and ideas and experiences I have been hearing. But some that I downloaded didn't appeal to me so I skipped over them. Till today. I ran out of new ones so I scrolled back through and found one that I avoided like the plague. It was a two part interview with Jay Fitzgerald and his devotion to engineless sailing. This guy is adamant that sailors don't have motors, his opinions very strong.I believe that there is a medium with using a motor vs sailing.

I learned to sail a Hobicat without a motor (duh) and I also sailed our 20ft folding trimaran without a motor. But it seemed pretty logical to have a motor on our 37 foot, 8 ton mononull for pulling in and out of ports throughout the world. So I didn't want to hear his ranting about how only true sailors had no engines in their sailboats. But I listened anyway, desperate for some sail food while typing away at my monotonous job. I disagreed with most of what he said, rolling my eyes at his devout absurdity at not using an engine, ever. But I also learned a lot.

One thing I did hear in his interview was that engines take up at LEAST a year of cruising expense. Our trip down the ICW was extreme, as we had to motor all the way down the narrow canal but I started to envision the financial spreadsheet in our logbook that I kept while we were underway. And about 80% of our expense was.... fuel and engine parts. Huh.

Though Brett shares many of Jay's opinions about sailing without a motor, I also know that he would never part with his 40hp Westerbeke on our current boat.

I did find the interview very interesting and not abrasive as I thought he would be. He had a good sense of humor and listened to Noel's rationalizations for having a motor on some boats while not others. I learned to be open to people, even if you don't agree wholeheartedly. There are ALWAYS things to learn, even if you don't always agree. The world doesn't revolve around you so be open to others beliefs and opinions and you'll learn a lot and grow in yourself and your own opinions, whatever they may be.