As someone who spent several years being an on and off resident of Camp 4 in Yosemite, I have a very different view of what the word “Dirtbag” actually means…
dirtbag /dûrt′băg″/
noun
- A filthy or vile person.
- A dirty, grimy, sleazy, or disreputable person.
- A poor climber, alpinist, skier or other outdoorsman who lives cheaply, without normal employment, and with few amenities in order to spend as much time on their sport as possible. Used praisingly.
Which has a lot to do with my approach to the whole VolksCruiser thing and why I admire folks cruising with less, more than those with apparently unlimited cash in hand following in the footsteps of people who did it all with less resources, painfully tight budgets, or electronics who told you where you are at any given moment. Fact is, I just don’t see anything impressive with someone sailing across an ocean in a fifty-footer with all modern conveniences, no expense spared voyage that someone did single-handed fifty years ago in a Westerly Centaur. Or, in other words…
“You just can’t buy bragging rights”.
But, hey, it’s 2024 and while we still don’t have jet packs there has been all sorts of progress. Even folks on a dirtbag budget can afford to cruise in something approaching luxury that was never even dreamed about in my early days climbing, skiing, and sailing. Life, as they say is good (If you factor out the whole sliding to hell in a wicker basket state of the world) and it’s a great time to go, as the late great Frankie Ford suggested, on a Sea Cruise.
Oohee, oohee baby!