Sensible Small Boat Cruising

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Comment by Orvil Newton on April 16, 2009 at 1:04pm

You are welcome johnny. I hope you find the videos and our logs helpful. I added another video to YouTube today and have begun posting them here in chronological order. I have only completed 15, so far, of over 50 video logs of the Pacific Crossing plus a couple of our Pacific Northwest hops. After I complete the Across the Pacific series I will start on the preparation and refit videos.

Comment by johnny on April 16, 2009 at 12:40pm

orville, thanks a lot for your response. i've since watched most if not all of of your sailing videos with a great admiration for you and your wife. i have also purchased the coastal pilot volume 2 and like you advised am finding even more info than expected. i will of course continue to ask questions in hope that i can someday find my way through some off to some great off the coast voyages. johnny

Comment by Orvil Newton on April 14, 2009 at 10:04am

Hi Johnny.

The world is a big place. It depends on where you are. Major population centers typically have strict regulations on shoreline use. Some places have free anchorages or inexpensive moorings available, other places you will have to tie up in a marina. Some places have time or seasonal restrictions. Get charts and pilot books for the area you will be in and ask local mariners.

Comment by johnny on April 14, 2009 at 9:30am

hello all, if you dont mind i would like to start with a question. i have never sailed the ocean and wondered this: 1. i pay to crane my boat in the water,2. i board the boat , ready her for sail and sail away............now......where can i stop and anchor for the night before i sail on? anywhere i feel safe? do i need someones permission? or does the ocean belong to us sailors? thanks in advance for any and all aswers. johnny

Comment by Orvil Newton on April 13, 2009 at 7:14pm

sailorgirlca, As I said, Hawaii is a nice place to visit, has wonderful weather and great sailing conditions but facts are facts. It is not a great place to live, especially for a boater. Hawaii changed over time, as most places do, for economic and political reasons and not for the better. It has been a long time since agriculture has been economically profitable in Hawaii. The change from an agrarian economic base to tourism and military plus the population growth has had a severe negative impact on quality of life in the islands. I saw the changes first hand and no amount of community involvement could have held back the hands of time. I submit that, as an occasional visitor, you could not possibly know what it is like to live and work in Hawaii.

As for my involvement in the community, I served on the US Navy Morale Welfare and Recreation's Hydrofest Board five times, the State of Hawaii Motor Vehicle Repair Board, the Governor's Task Force for Motorcycle Safety, the Hawaii March of Dimes Board and three terms as president and fifteen terms as a voting member of the Hawaii Motorcycle Dealer's Association board of directors. I met frequently with both state legislators and congressman Neil Abercrombie and Senator Dan Inouye and testified numerous times at state legislative hearings on many issues ranging from highway safety to boating and shoreline access.

I enjoyed the time I spent living and working in Honolulu but it was quite different from an extended two-week vacation. The plain fact is there are much more pleasant places to live and to visit and Hawaii is just not the place it was in 1967 when I first visited and decided to move there. Judged solely by it's climate and natural beauty, Hawaii is hard to beat but that, sailorgirlca, is only skin deep.

Comment by sailorgirlca on April 13, 2009 at 2:58pm

seems to me there is much disinformation here about visiting the Hawaiian Islands.........I have visited by plane & look forward to having the opportunity to visiting by boat!!!

Comment by zeehag on April 13, 2009 at 2:43pm

i have heard many folks cruising there complain of the un friendliness to boaters....it was harsh enopugh for me to not want to visit that place ever---i have also heard pleasant things about the place---there seems to be few places to place a boat there---some friendliness to boats and some unfriendliness----i really donot know if i would ever really want to visit there in a private boat......

Comment by sailorgirlca on April 13, 2009 at 2:33pm

Orville,you lived there for 30 yrs & you are an American citizen.....Hawaii is an American state. I hear your disappointment for your living situation in Hawaii and why you decided to leave. My question to you is simply this......you lived there for 30 yrs......you complained about the fact that things have changed but I haven't heard you say one word about what you did to help make things better or how after 30 yrs of living there you did anything to get involved to help make things better.......pardon me but if you have enjoyed 30 yrs of living in paradise....it is your duty to give something back......

Comment by Orvil Newton on April 13, 2009 at 2:05pm

I lived on Oahu for thirty years, two thirds of that time aboard my boat. People often ask why we left. The answer is that Hawaii no longer has what I went there for (Except the weather and great sailing conditions). The population has doubled, the pineapple and sugar cane plantations are gone - replaced by housing and resort developments, traffic is insane, the government is corrupt and notoriously anti-boating. Surprisingly for a state composed entirely of islands, boating facilities, mostly state run, are few and in appalling condition.

Per capita income is among the lowest in the US while the cost of living is among the highest. The education system is a joke. It is common for local people to work two jobs and for families to live in multi-generational homes on what is called "Ohana zoned" properties because of the high cost of housing.

Aside from the shrinking military presence, Hawaii's economy is entirely dependent on tourism so of course every effort is made to ensure a positive experience for visitors. In short, it is a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there.

To my admittedly somewhat jaded eyes the islands have become a cheap plastic imitation of what they once were.

Comment by sailorgirlca on April 13, 2009 at 1:28pm

I have only visited Hawaii a few times, both for business. Overall, I really did enjoy my experience both in Ohahu and Maui. You mentioned that you were unhappy with your experience there.......care to enlarge on that so the rest of us can understand? Otherwise, your blatant statement has no credibility.....

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