Lifestyle or Community?
Published: Monday, August 10, 2020
By: Bob Bitchin
A bunch of cruisers had gathered in Biloxi for our Advanced Cruising seminar and, in a conversation during the reception, Jody was talking to a couple that was planning to set sail on a cruise. They were discussing if the group they were about to join wasn't more of a community rather than a lifestyle. Not that this is a real important distinction but it did give us something to talk about, and thus it gave me something to cogitate on. As I get bored easily, this was a good thing.
My take on it is that, once you set sail and are out cruising, there is no doubt that you will be joining a very select community: that of the cruising sailor. It is small, but very tightly-knit. As you go from port to port, you don't join new communities since all who are cruising belong to the same group.
The actual meaning of community, as found in Wikipedia, is: "A group of interacting people, living in some proximity (i.e., in space, time, or relationship). Community usually refers to a social unit larger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion."
Viola! We are a community. But, wait, for over thirty years, I’ve been thinking that I was living a lifestyle. Have I been mistaken? Have I been living in a fool’s paradise filled with misbelief? Does it matter? Not really. Whatever we call this style of living, it is what it is.
Once again, from Wikipedia: "Lifestyle is a term to describe the way a person lives. This is influenced by their culture, job, and family, which helps the topical individual understand the psychological, physical, social and economic environment. Behaviors and the senses of self and belonging which these behaviorism represent, are collectively used to define a given lifestyle. The term is defined more broadly when used in marketing and publishing."
Ah, a true definition made for idiots like me! As we are in publishing, then obviously we have been correct all these years. At last! Vindication! And, the further I delved into this, the more I realized that this is, truly, a lifestyle.
You see, us in this lifestyle, we also live in communities. The “Boating Lifestyle” is broken up into a lot of different communities, in fact.
The Liveaboard Community is a pretty large group when you consider the lifestyle, but not the world as a whole. Since those who cruise all live aboard, this makes them part of this community, as does those who live on their boats in a marina, those who live "on the hook," and those who live in houseboats. All are part of the Liveaboard Community.
Then we have the Regular Boating Community. No, I don't mean ‘regular’ as in ‘average’; I mean ‘regular’ as in folks who take their boats out on a regular basis. These are people who are down at the marina or the docks a few times a month (in season, where applicable) and who live the Boating Lifestyle. This is a community unto itself. The common ground for these folks is usually an anchorage nearby or the local watering hole where they discuss their mutual affliction—that of the love of boating.
But wait, there's more. What about the people who can't afford a boat, or those folks who make it possible for Regular Boaters to have crew? They are a community as well. Every race will find dozens of people who love the Boating Lifestyle who volunteer to help on boats all over the world. As they are also a part of our lifestyle, they are therefore a part of a boating community.
And then there is the Boating Industry Community. If you ever doubt that this is a true community, just go to a boat show. People from all over the world are tied together by the boating industry, and a boat show is a community unto itself. I know whenever Jody and I go to a boat show, we feel as if we are joining family. The days the show comes together is spent reacquainting ourselves with the rest of our little family, our community.
Who cares about all this? Probably no one… but I have to say, after over forty years of living the Boating Lifestyle, it does kind of feel good to be able to differentiate between the different communities.
So, the next time you are down at the docks or sail into a strange harbor, you can feel a little more at home. You have friends since you are part of that community, and as you are part of that community, you can live the Lifestyle to the fullest.
This article first appeared in the Summer Issue (Jul/Aug) 2020 of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt magazine.
tags: Boat Club, Lifestyle, Sailing
