In the midst of this commercialized and materialistic holiday season, I came across this great little story...
An investment banker was on a pier of a small coastal fishing village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. His boat was full of beautiful yellow tuna. The banker complimented the fisherman on his catch, asking how long it took to catch the fish. The fisherman replied "Only a short time."
The banker asked "Why not stay out and catch more?"
The fisherman replies "I've enough fish to feed my family."
The banker then asked the fisherman what he did with the rest of his time.
The fisherman replied "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, stroll into the village each evening, sip wine with my friends and play my guitar. I have a full and busy life."
The banker was not impresses. "I have a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat, and from those increased proceeds you could buy several boats and soon have a fleet. Instead of selling your fish to a middleman, you could control production, processing and distribution by building your own cannery. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to the city, then to New York where you could run your expanding enterprise."
The fisherman asked "How long will this take?"
The banker said "Ten to twenty years."
"But what then?" asked the fisherman.
"Next," said the banker, "you would announce an IPO and sell your stock to the public, making millions and millions. Then you could retire to a small coastal fishing village where you could sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, stroll into the village in the evenings, sip some wine with your friends and play your guitar."
Wishing our entire SailFar community a happy holiday season and a new year of peace and contentment!
Great story...grog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for posting that one, Bill. That's a story I tell my wife from time to time.
Grog to ya, mate.
I hope everyone has a safe holiday of whatever sort they choose to celebrate. :)
For me, that's Christmas - so here's my card to y'all. ;D
Mele Kalikimaka, sailFar'ers! May the New Year bring you abundance, prosperity, good health, and good wind. :D
(http://sailfar.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10001/card_sm.jpg)
Back at cha Captn!!
oh, and boww wow bow to the crew dawgs :D
Best wishes to All...have a great holiday(s) ...and let's be careful out there!! ;)
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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Sailfar captains and crews...
Warm family times,reflections of the past year with gratitude,great adventures in 08 with health and happiness to all.
Greetings from a frost-bitten Sweden-
A Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year filled with nice experiences and following winds to all of you...
...and a special thankx to our CptnK for providing us all with this friendly abd resourceful meeting ground.
All the Best//
Magnus
Röde Orm
(http://downloads.c-2.com/photos/1198504765.jpg)
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the two of you. I hope the new year finds you health and fair winds.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday season and may 2008 bring us all many pleasurable sailing adventures.
May this be a time of fun.
A time of Traditions.
Time spent with family and friends.
A time for reflection
There are big ships,
there are small ships,
but the best ship of all is friendship.
Thank you Kurt for giving us all the opportunity to share sailing experiences and develop friendships. Dan
Charlie,
What a great pic .... I love it!!
Hope you a Laura had a joyous Christmas and you get to do exactly what you want to do, when you want to do it in the coming year. :)
Rik
Welcome FlickaDood. I have seen more Flicka's in the Abacos than MacGregors.
Good luck.
May you put many miles under your keel in the new year.
Thanks Rik. Happy new year to you and Sandy. Glad to see you posting here again. And I hope all is really going well with you two.
Welcome aboard FlickaDood.
Welcome back. Keep us informed of your sailing plans.Fair winds in 08
All the best to the crew here at sailfar.May 08 bring health,happiness,great adventures and much love.Fairwinds to all.
Happy New Year Frank...
And to all the other Sailfar members... :) May you find fair winds and following seas on your voyages in the New Year.
I fully Second Franks proposal! :D :D :D
Happy New Year, everyone! ;D
Happy New Year to everyone!!
Merry Christmas and may you enjoy a
HEALTHY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR! The Horton's
Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to all. :)
May the New Year bring fair winds and following seas to you and your family. :)
Health,happiness and lots of time on the water in 09 for all 'the crew' here
PS...remember the reason for the season
Agreed,
Same wishes for a great new year, and a Merry Christmas / Happy Chanukah!
I find it interesting that the world continues to grow more consumed with consumerism.... and people become more and more enslaved to debt in the midst of these celebrations. As the world cycles into debt and despair I am thankful that there is another way.
I am thankful that others here share the same perspective.... KISS applies to more then sailing.
Blessings to all!
Fair winds, following seas, and may you SailFar!
What little shopping I had to do is done, so now I can sit back and enjoy the season.
Here's wishing the best for all my Sail-Far friends
Tim
(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c245/pyrat/Pirates/YoHoHoMerryChristmas2.jpg)
A Merry Christmas (God Jul) and a Happy New Year (Gott Nytt År)
to all of you virtual friends wherever you are, and may we once meet eachother in a Giant Happy Potluck Party on a Paradise Beach with an endless amount of newly caught lobsters and all the champagne we could ask for. :D
Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année.
Ok maxiSwede, if you provide the lobsters, I will provide the Champagne, and all of you providing the friendship (and the ice to keep the champagne cool) that should be a h... of a party. That of course if some of you survive the Vendée Globe. ;D
Hoping that Santa will be good to us all and wishing you all the best in the New Year!
Mele Kalikimaka and Happy Holidays to alla da sailFar hui! ;D Here's hoping that your stockings get stuffed with warm, favorable winds and good holding all throughout the next year! :)
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanuka, Good Kwanza and, for any Magyars out there: "Boldog uj evet!"
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r194/Doryman25D/th_Close-Cropped_3.jpg) (http://s144.photobucket.com/albums/r194/Doryman25D/?action=view¤t=Close-Cropped_3.jpg)
--Joe
Tonight is long night - and the days begin waxing as of dawn tomorrow!
Wishing all the best of the holiday season.
the 21, at 12.03 pm, universal time, summer is at the horizon. Since it is pitch black at 4 pm here, any minutes per day will count. Happy Solstice to all.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!
Heres wishing every one a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year.
Peace on earth...
...yes we can
Best wishes for happy holidays and good health to everyone from Oklahoma, and best wishes for your sailing plans for the new year. May they all come true!
Merry Christmas to all!
This year has brought many changes to our lives, and we have been giving a WHOLE lot of "Thank-you's" lately. The blessings are all around us...when we choose to see them.
Yesterday, I finally set up the Christmas tree on the foredeck of Gaelic Sea.
Well said, Craig...a sentiment I ponder almost daily. In the holiday vain, I'll share a story. A lady here at the marina, Kathy cut my son's and my hair. When I asked how my we owed her, she said, "pay me by giving to Toys for Tots." We complied.
In the spirit of Christmas, remember the kindness of new friends (formerly known as strangers).
Peace.
Merry Christmas everyone and I just want thank you all for the biggest Christmas present ever which is allowing me to pick you're brains about sailing and navigation and all. LOL ;D
Thanks
Chris
Capn-
you gotta post a photo of your Christmas tree. :)
Quote from: Captain Smollett on December 23, 2008, 09:27:33 PM
Merry Christmas to all!
This year has brought many changes to our lives, and we have been giving a WHOLE lot of "Thank-you's" lately. The blessings are all around us...when we choose to see them.
Yesterday, I finally set up the Christmas tree on the foredeck of Gaelic Sea.
Well said, Craig...a sentiment I ponder almost daily. In the holiday vain, I'll share a story. A lady here at the marina, Kathy cut my son's and my hair. When I asked how my we owed her, she said, "pay me by giving to Toys for Tots." We complied.
In the spirit of Christmas, remember the kindness of new friends (formerly known as strangers).
Peace.
Happy Holidays to everyone; may you know peace, good health and contentment in the coming new year. Hope everyone has some time to spend with those who matter most to you.
Happy Holidays and fair winds
R
:) I'm wishing all of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS ! Let's all try to remember the reason we celebrate this special day ,or at least the reason we should be celebrating !!!
Oops, gotta go I understand NORAD has tracked Santa arriving in Florida so.......
Jerry
To everyone; Now that it is Christmas, Merry Christmas to everyone out there! This day has become too commercialized and I think alot of us have forgotten why this day came to be. Have fun today and love one another. Marc
Quote from: Gerald A. Gotts on December 25, 2008, 12:18:34 AM
Oops, gotta go I understand NORAD has tracked Santa arriving in Florida so.......
YEP, he's here, on the beach with all the elves for a well need vacation. rented a big house on the beach. ;D
Quote from: Bill NH on December 24, 2008, 12:41:21 PM
Happy Holidays to everyone; may you know peace, good health and contentment in the coming new year. Hope everyone has some time to spend with those who matter most to you.
Well Bill I waited till Christmas to slip into my new and awesome offshore boots, thanks again.
Tim
Just wanted to say.....
Happy Christmas!!!
And I hope everyone dreams of sailing tonight! :D
Merry Christmas to one and all and may me not forget what this day is all about. Let us go and share the love and joy of a new year with all people...friend or foe.
Warm winds and fair sails,
Pappy Jack
I just found this freshly posted on TSBB. I don't think I've ever seen it before, but very nice.
Christmas at Sea
by Robert Louis Stevenson
The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand/hr>
The decks were like a slide, where a seamen scarce could stand/hr>
The wind was a nor'wester, blowing squally off the sea/hr>
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.
They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;
But 'twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops'l, and stood by to go about.
All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.
We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made brought the North Head close aboard:
So's we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.
The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;
The good red fires were burning bright in every 'long-shore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.
The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it's just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard's was the house where I was born.
O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,
My mother's silver spectacles, my father's silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves.
And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.
They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
"All hands to loose topgallant sails," I heard the captain call.
"By the Lord, she'll never stand it," our first mate Jackson, cried.
..."It's one way or the other, Mr. Jackson," he replied.
She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter's day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.
And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.
Outstanding!!! Grog for sharing!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Hope you days are filled with fair winds, dry bilges & ice in the cooler
Wishing everyone here a great Christmas. Pick up the phone and call someone you haven't spoken to for a while....an older friend or relative. You'll both feel better for it. Hope we all get more water time in during the new year. Have fun!!
On a mooring off caneel bay, St. John. Hoping to get some Christmas dinner here tomorrow. 78f, hoping to swim in a min to celebrate the sunset....
Merry Christmas to all, go LIVE your dreams!
Though most I have never met in person, I am forever grateful for all my friends here, and wishing all a most Joyful Holiday Season.
A Merry Christmas and a warm breeze to all my fellow SailFarers.
Here in the mid-South, we're looking at a white Christmas with a big snowstorm on the way.
May the season bring good cheer to all... have always wondered if it would be possible to make a passable egg nog with coconut water??
Merry Christmas to everyone here!!! In snowbound Iowa we are really hitting the "grog" (blue yummies) wishinf that we were on my boat in the carribean. Again, Merry Christmas and God Bless to All. Marc
Merry Christmas and best wishes to all, enjoying time with family in (a not snowbound area of) Illinois.
Merry Christmas from Houston, where it was a sunny 78 today.
But that's gonna change tomorrow!!!
Merry Christmas from Clifton Tx. It is thundering and lighting now and looking at it changing to snow later to day.
We are wishing we were in the south sea's some where that's warm.
Don't have to go to the South Seas- here's SW Florida's Charlotte Harbor's forecast
http://bbs.trailersailor.com/forums/trailersailor/index.cgi/read/855292
Of course, I HAVE been there when it was 23 degrees too :D
I know that in this day and time that the words Merry Christmas is incorrect, but I still want to wish each and everyone on the site a Merry Christmas and I hope that it is a joyous time for you and your family.
Moored in Man-O-War Harbour, Abacos. The sun is shineing, it is 74f here in the cabin... Just stopped in the middle of the sea of Abaco, and drifted for 2 hours... Water was warm and the dolphins joined in....
May your Christmas be as peaceful, and may your gift be that your dreams will come true.
Fair Winds!
Sitting here with Bing Crosby singing 'Rum ba bum bum', fire on, Sadie our golden retriever curled up next to me, Vicky reading......"the world is good".
Best wishs to everyone!!!
Quote from: jotruk on December 24, 2013, 08:57:57 AM
I know that in this day and time that the words Merry Christmas is incorrect,
Not in my world it isn't.
Merry Christmas to you also. And to all the others on here.
Sitting here at my sisters house in Houston, listening to she and my Mother "discussing" cooking cranberries :D It isn't always peaceful!! :D
From Roatan Hondorus after an evening with family (18 strong) going out sailing tomorrow, my best wishes for all....Feliz Navidad!
Sounds like a great Christmas Tim......best wishs to your family. Enjoy your sail!
Wood stove going, 16 outside, sun coming over the mountain, life's good, Merry Christmas to all
13F below -- 2 feet of snow -- the old wooden boat stored for the long winter in Northern Michigan.
We'll always have a white Christmas here!
Merry Christmas to all!!
John
Merry Christmas All!
I would never say anything considered political, as the initial post seemed, so:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or explicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2014, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
Sincerely wishing all--this diverse international group brought together in a love of sailboats and sailing--peaceful and happy holidays.
Belated Merry Christmas from Barque and I to those who celebrate it, and/or Merry/Happy/Joyful holiday or just regular old day to those of you who don't or might not. ;D
I've had a crazy busy past couple of weeks - looking forward to a little break here soon! :)
As I will be off in the morning to share the holiday with family, I want to wish
all SailFarers
Happy Holidays! :)
Yep- heading out myself in a few to spend Christmas with Mom and sister
Fair winds to SailFar folks. Merry Christmas all
Merry Christmas and my each and everyone have fair winds and following seas
Quote from: jotruk on December 24, 2013, 08:57:57 AM
I know that in this day and time that the words Merry Christmas is incorrect,
With a screen name like Misfits, I don't pay much attention to what's politically correct anyway.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Merry Christmas to all !! Hope 2015 has dreams fullfilled and adventures unfolding. Enjoy the day!!
It got frantic for me there in the last bit of time before heading over the river and thru the woods, so here's my belated Good Wishes for All. :D