Boating....

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Wansworth

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......the curious fact that each season many boat owners often spend fewer hours afloat or underway than they dofitting out or talking about their boats.Logic clearly does not come in to this and a lot of enjoyable”sailing” is done in armchairs,bars,trains,buses and the office......from “Ataste for Sailing by John Lewis
 
Yes agreed and many don't even talk about boating. We live in an affluent society where it is not so difficult to find the purchase price for a boat. Purchasing a boat is buying a dream which more often than not proves to be a hollow dream. The new owner (soon becomes old owner) might get a fright or just can't find the time to spend boating so leaves the boat or next time. Never wanting to sell the boat and admit the dream was hollow. So they leave it until they get a "roundtuit"
Boats however do not weather well and deteriorate over time especially if left in the water. So making use even more discouraged.
So in considering purchasing a boat the first most important question is "do I really ned one" the second question is what type. So I look out at my mooring area and see about 1% of boats that are used. A real pity. olewill
PS a guy I knew had on the wall of his workshop a framed picture of a decorated round circle. The caption said "This is a "roundtuit" now you have one there is no excuse get on with it"
 
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The boatyard where our boat is kept is always full of people working on their boats. There are probably fewer sailers actually sailing than people working towards a dream. As we all know there are many people whose dream of sailing around in the world never come to fruition. However there are also many people out there in ‘cruising land’ whose dreams did come true. Maybe many of the boats in the yards around the world will never get to sail over the horizon again. But some will and their owners may be ( like us) on a timetable which does not allow us to leave just yet ( kids, business and the opportunity to make money while The economy is still breathing). Those people stretch their days ( and nights) to make the time to work towards getting a boat ready to adventure without having the expense of professionals to come in and make everything perfect. Sure there are some jobs which may be beyond our abilities but with help and advice from other friendly folk they somehow get done anyway. Many people ( myself included ) would rather be challenged by a task ( or sanding) than sitting at home watching telly. The opportunity to work on and learn about ones boat over an extended period before actually sailing it is a pleasure to me and will no doubt prove valuable in the years to come. I think that enjoying whatever you are doing right now is as important as having dreams.
 
Wansworth said:
......the curious fact that each season many boat owners often spend fewer hours afloat or underway than they dofitting out or talking about their boats.Logic clearly does not come in to this and a lot of enjoyable”sailing” is done in armchairs,bars,trains,buses and the office......from “Ataste for Sailing by John Lewis
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What Mr Lewis failed to understand was the impact on the senses had while on the water. An hour on the water will give most people 100 hours of armchair sailing as they enjoy reliving the experience.
 
I know a woman who buys an old boat, and just enjoys the social side (and enjoys the fun & excercise) of "doing it up" in the boatyard, along with others there. Then she puts it up for sale and buys another in the yard. Doesn't make any money or indeed spends far more than she makes, but just enjoys the fun and bon homme in the yard, and is quite happy to pay the relatively cheap monthly fee to keep it in the yard. Never goes on them in the water. I expect the yard are very happy for her to do this, as she buys their old nails and spruces them up for them to sell again on her behalf. It's win win for them.
 
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When i was a kid a neighbour was building his own small version of a J-Boat in his garden "shed" (Barn) it was about 30ft, he started when i was about 5 and 30 years later he finished it, he was then 82 and couldn't actually use it, he reluctantly sold it having never set foot in the water.

it was a beautiful boat too

was it an unrealised dream, or was the dream just to build one? and all the armchair sailing and talk was what made him happy?
 
Our boat would be seen by many locals as sitting there all year without being sailed but to us we get a lot of sailing done in our 3-4 sailing visits a year (typically 3 individual weeks and one 3-5 week cruise). But we also go out to work on it at least twice more (much more if I'm between contracts).

What works best for us is doing the work during the cruises so if there is a lot to be done we aim for shortish sails to some nice bay and combine swimming and diy. After all the on the water jobs seem just as easy to do afloat at as afloat in a marina and with largely battery power tools and an inverter it seems to work.

What I could never do is buy a boat that couldn't motor and sail from the start, even if motor old and sails knackered. I'm fine with all domestic systems and cosmetic stuff being dodgy. Having a dream boat and never using it could easily end up with many of the jobs being done wrong as you only get to know a boat (and why weird things have been done to it) by using it.
 
RupertW said:
What works best for us is doing the work during the cruises .
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ha that's what i do, keeps me entertained in the evenings and out of Lidl's middle isle.... Rewire the fridge, repair a fender., clean the raw water strainer., take the speed log apart again!. you know exciting stuff...
 
John Lewis enjoyed messing about in the various craft he owned and was known for a book on lifeboat conversions which all seemed to sail marginally but his family got great pleasure from small local exploits in an age just on the cusp of the mass Yachting scene took off.I myself am tending towards short peaceful cruises where at an anchour and within a row to a pub many an hour can be whiled away doing essential fiddling about.
 
While it may not be everyone's idea of fun, a lot of people get a lot of pleasure from boat as weekend cottage.

We do go out in our Snapdragon, though it's mostly pottering around the Solent and our idea of an adventurous passage is heading for the uncharted wilds of Weymouth, but a couple of nights on our peaceful mooring goes a long way to recharging the mental batteries.
 
Talking about boats to on-sailors is a waste of breath. Their only view of sailors is either that we spend all our time lazing in the sun drinking gin, or dressed in sowesters and fighting against force tens.
 
johnalison said:
Talking about boats to on-sailors is a waste of breath. Their only view of sailors is either that we spend all our time lazing in the sun drinking gin, or dressed in sowesters and fighting against force tens.
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That's a great decription of Med sailing - too much or too little wind, but sometimes it's not Sowesters but underpants unless you are German
 
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