Sailing and Camping
While there are still some places in Africa and Asia where sail-powered fishing or transport vessels are used, these craft have become rarer, as outboard and modified car engines have become available even in the poorest and most remote areas. In most countries people enjoy sailing as a recreational activity. Recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Use of sailboats can be further divided into long-distance sailing (such as blue-water or offshore sailing) and daysailing.
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants, known as campers, leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights, usually at a campsite, which may have cabins. Camping may involve the use of a tent, a primitive structure, or no shelter at all.
Camping as a recreational activity became popular in the early 20th century. Campers frequent national parks, other publicly owned natural areas, and privately owned campgrounds.
Camping is also used as a cheap form of accommodation for people attending large open air events such as sporting meetings and music festivals. Organizers will provide a field and basic amenities.
Camping describes a range of activities. Survivalist campers set off with little more than their boots, whereas recreational vehicle travelers arrive equipped with their own electricity, heat, and patio furniture. Camping is often enjoyed in conjunction with activities, such as: hiking, hill walking, climbing, canoeing, mountain biking, swimming, and fishing. Camping may be combined with hiking either as backpacking or as a series of day hikes from a central location.
Some people vacation in permanent camps with cabins and other facilities (such as hunting camps or children's summer camps), but a stay at such a camp is usually not considered 'camping'. The term camping (or camping out) may also be applied to those who live outdoors, out of necessity (as in the case of the homeless), or for people waiting overnight in queues. It does not, however, apply to cultures whose technology does not include sophisticated dwellings. Camping may be referred to colloquially as roughing it.
Camping Tents - Camping Tent Checklist
The kinds of things you want to consider bringing on your next camping trip will vary depending on when and where you are going camping. For example, if you are going camping in the winter, you will want to bring gloves and boots, a warm jacket and a hat. If you are going hiking or mountain climbing, you will need to bring lots of lightweight things to put in your backpack. However, if you are planning to go camping in the woods or at a campground, you will find the camping trip checklist below very useful.
Print a copy of this checklist and store a copy with your camping tent. Put the list in the bag with the tent stakes so you never forget where the list is. You will need the list before you leave home to go camping and again when you finish packing your camping tent and other items at the site and you are ready to go home.
How to make the checklist work for you:
a. As you pack the items you are going to bring camping, place a checkmark above that item below. If the item is not listed, add it.
b. Place a scratch through items you choose not to bring
c. When you are finished camping and as you pack items to bring home, place a checkmark under those items below.
Camping Trip Checklist
Consider bringing the items below with you on your next camping trip.
1. Camping tents, tent stakes, rope or clothes line, tape, tarp
2. Fan, chairs, lantern, matches, propane, newspaper for starting fires, campfire logs, plastic baggies (big and small)
3. Charcoal, charcoal lighter,
4. Towels for wiping dew off chairs in morning, bath towels, dish towels, beach towels, washcloth, soap
5. Inflatable mattress bed, cot, sleeping bags, blanket, pillows
6. Paper/plastic plates, paper towels & napkins, plastic spoons, forks, knives, pots, pans, spatula & tongs, table
cloth, can opener, table cover, cups, salt n pepper/shaker
7. Clothes in luggage, swim suit
8. First aid kit, mosquito repellant (raid), sunscreen
9. Tin foil, knife & scissors
10. Hatchet, hammer, garbage bags small shovel
11. Radio, binoculars, compass and/or GPS. dustpan and broom, backpack, air pump, portable heater, coolers, extension cords
12. Games to play i.e. bocce ball, badminton, bean toss, sudoku, cards, tubes for swimming, books to read
13. Ponchos/jackets/coat
14. Cooking grill, oven mitts, pie makers, marshmallows
15. Fishing poles, tackle box, water shoes, life jackets, boots
16. Pot scrubber, toilet paper, folding table
Festival Camping Tips
When going to a festival (if you're going for the full festival experience) you'll invariably be camping there. Since most camping bags are only so big (and there's only so much you can carry) you'll want to make sure that you get the most of every inch, and that you don't bring things that are too heavy and unmanageable.
The best tip that I can give you is to bring lots of packets of tissues (you can get a large multi-pack with lots of little packets inside fairly cheaply from most drug stores). These can be used for the obvious things (such as blowing your nose and cleaning yourself), but also as makeshift toilet paper, which notoriously takes up a lot of space.
In addition to that, if you're going to a summer festival than sun cream is a must. The fact that you'll be outside for 12+ hours a day (easily) should be a big enough warning. I've seen a lot of people getting back and suffering the consequences of ignoring the sun - don't let yourself become one of them! This may seem rather contradictory but I would also recommend taking a pair of 'wellies' (i.e. wellington boots or galoshes) in case of rain. The fact that most festivals and most campsites are effectively giant fields with tens of thousands of people (sometimes hundreds of thousands) walking over the same spots means that the dirt can easily turn to mud (if there has been any kind of precipitation) and this can be really nasty if you have to walk through it in your nice new sneakers.