Do boats have feelings...
- Thread starter NUTMEG
- Start date
Hipchick
New member
If you think that looks neglected, take a lood a Vliho Bay on Lefkada. Brighton Marina has a couple of floating scrapyards too. Poor things, I feel sorry for them, like a sad old dog.
dylanwinter
Active member
sorry lads
been a bit slow
saw the thread title and thought it would be wall to wall whimsy
then I had a look
this is what I think:
with boats, feelings are a one way street.
I certainly feel emotionally attached to the slug
hence the care and attention - rudder off - halyards tied off
and most importantly Max keeping an eye on the boat
the boat does not even know I exist
However, this is the longest I have been away from the boat
partly domestic - but mostly financial
in previous years I could afford a tank of petrol for one good day filming and sailing
now that the economy is suffereing and petrol prices have gone through the roof
a tank full needs carefull considerations
I did want the slug put ashore
but the yard at Wells is full
so I really miss my boat - and worry about the engine and batteries
incidentally there is a blog here about the slug in repose
http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/category/blogs/
8th story
so the duck punt is helping me to scratch the sailing itch
but my heart belongs to the slug
the slug, for its part, is a carefully shaped piece of GRP
the engine on the other hand.....
there are times when I think it hates me
Dylan
been a bit slow
saw the thread title and thought it would be wall to wall whimsy
then I had a look
this is what I think:
with boats, feelings are a one way street.
I certainly feel emotionally attached to the slug
hence the care and attention - rudder off - halyards tied off
and most importantly Max keeping an eye on the boat
the boat does not even know I exist
However, this is the longest I have been away from the boat
partly domestic - but mostly financial
in previous years I could afford a tank of petrol for one good day filming and sailing
now that the economy is suffereing and petrol prices have gone through the roof
a tank full needs carefull considerations
I did want the slug put ashore
but the yard at Wells is full
so I really miss my boat - and worry about the engine and batteries
incidentally there is a blog here about the slug in repose
http://www.keepturningleft.co.uk/category/blogs/
8th story
so the duck punt is helping me to scratch the sailing itch
but my heart belongs to the slug
the slug, for its part, is a carefully shaped piece of GRP
the engine on the other hand.....
there are times when I think it hates me
Dylan
Seajet
...
Of course boats have feelings, and like any relationship you get back what you put in; I pity people who don't catch on, and think sailing boats are just machines.
Dylan may or may not remember that I kiss my boat every time I leave her.
Neal B, I'm surprised at you, with an Oliver Lee boat !
Like any Mistress, mine sulks if I don't treat her just so, which includes not just sailing but expensive baubles & treats, also usually going to a lot of effort working on her ( 'boats and gods like to taste the salt of human endeavour' ) so after putting on a new rubbing strake today I have a gashed finger, all part of the human sacrifice system...
Dylan may or may not remember that I kiss my boat every time I leave her.
Neal B, I'm surprised at you, with an Oliver Lee boat !
Like any Mistress, mine sulks if I don't treat her just so, which includes not just sailing but expensive baubles & treats, also usually going to a lot of effort working on her ( 'boats and gods like to taste the salt of human endeavour' ) so after putting on a new rubbing strake today I have a gashed finger, all part of the human sacrifice system...
Hipchick
New member
Dylan
You're a poet.
Seajet, You're a poet
I embrace you.
x
You're a poet.
Seajet, You're a poet
I embrace you.
x
Seajet
...
HipChick,
Ta !
sj
Ta !
sj
Greenheart
Well-known member
Interesting...
It's very hard not to feel warm affection for whatever little ship brings you through nasty weather and adverse tides. The tougher the conditions that you survive together, the closer the human element inevitably feels.
Must be a little like riding. The horse does all the work, even over difficult country, and hopefully the rider later gratefully takes assiduous care of his steed; and that care must improve the horse's (or boat's) fitness and willingness to do it all again next time. But all the expressible feelings are on the human side.
Does anyone here reckon the vulnerability and nature of wooden construction, makes it more 'feeling' than chilly old GRP?
It's very hard not to feel warm affection for whatever little ship brings you through nasty weather and adverse tides. The tougher the conditions that you survive together, the closer the human element inevitably feels.
Must be a little like riding. The horse does all the work, even over difficult country, and hopefully the rider later gratefully takes assiduous care of his steed; and that care must improve the horse's (or boat's) fitness and willingness to do it all again next time. But all the expressible feelings are on the human side.
Does anyone here reckon the vulnerability and nature of wooden construction, makes it more 'feeling' than chilly old GRP?
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Hipchick
New member
Chilly old GRP is performing the same function as wood, maybe less environonmentally friendly but dah di dah di dha. I feel in my heart that wooden boats have more soul but just maybe the wooden boats are 'old souls' and the GRP are 'new souls'. Give them a chance and we all have a love boat. We really don't know much and I don't want to get the reputation of being a bit whacky but, well, I'm a bit whacky. Plenty of people to argue that we don't have souls at all. Are all the expressible feelings on the human side? Who hasn't felt the 'feelings' of a beloved pet or 'feelings' walking in a wild wood or tended garden? I'm so in love with sailing because it fulfills my touchy feely side and my science head side. I dont have the answers, just the questions.
Seajet
...
Dancrane,
some boats 'really try for you' and some are like unwilling Donkeys; while I am all for the 'warmth' of wooden interiors, I'm just 21st Century enough not to fancy the myriad joins & fastenings of a true wooden cruiser.
My grp boat with an all wood interior has plenty of feeling, I think it's all down to the designer being empathic with nature - say Oliver Lee but there are plenty of others like David Sadler, S & S, Dick Carter, Alan Buchanan, the list goes on - rather than someone trying to fight against it to make water caravans - like the people who perpetrated Macgerors & Newbridges...
Boathook
Well-known member
+1
I do what I can to look after her and she seems to return it by looking after those on board.
Greenheart
Well-known member
With you 100%, Seajet.
I can appreciate that a well-cut set of sails atop an easily-driven hull, seems both to give its best when we ask, and almost to enjoy its own proficiency, like a lusty free-revving sportscar engine. And let's be honest: an old wood International Dragon seems to have lots more soul than a Catalac. Looks count.
If the interior is finished in gleaming hardwood, (ideally within a discreetly tough GRP hull) and if the electrical systems aren't too mystifyingly advanced for us, then we believe we detect a willing, welcoming, undaunting spirit of habitability and readiness for adventuring on the vessel...
...which has to beat the discouraging atmosphere inherent to damp bare GRP interiors, rotting or delaminating ply, monstrous top-heavy coachroofs, under-canvassed rigs and engines that seem deliberately defiant of our need for their output.
There's a fair amount of our own interpretation, in the 'feelings' we sense on board. But I'm happy to believe they feel a bit, too.
I can appreciate that a well-cut set of sails atop an easily-driven hull, seems both to give its best when we ask, and almost to enjoy its own proficiency, like a lusty free-revving sportscar engine. And let's be honest: an old wood International Dragon seems to have lots more soul than a Catalac. Looks count.
If the interior is finished in gleaming hardwood, (ideally within a discreetly tough GRP hull) and if the electrical systems aren't too mystifyingly advanced for us, then we believe we detect a willing, welcoming, undaunting spirit of habitability and readiness for adventuring on the vessel...
...which has to beat the discouraging atmosphere inherent to damp bare GRP interiors, rotting or delaminating ply, monstrous top-heavy coachroofs, under-canvassed rigs and engines that seem deliberately defiant of our need for their output.
There's a fair amount of our own interpretation, in the 'feelings' we sense on board. But I'm happy to believe they feel a bit, too.
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Blueboatman
Well-known member
Didn't even Clarkson reckon that some machines have soul?
I like the Karna approach. Be kind to your boat and with a bit of luck( huh, luck eh?) it/ she/ he will look after you aboard. It's all in the positive vibrations and the boats aura, man
I like the Karna approach. Be kind to your boat and with a bit of luck( huh, luck eh?) it/ she/ he will look after you aboard. It's all in the positive vibrations and the boats aura, man
Seajet
...
There are a lot of Spitfire pilots who I suspect would agree 'some machines have a soul' !
tonybannister
New member
I asked my boat today if she had feelings. I was met with a stony silience. This could indicate a complete absence of feeling. However it could also mean as she is female I am in deep do-do for being so insensitive to ask such a question. I think it may be the latter so I will have to do some serious sucking up if I ever expect to sleep aboard again.
Seajet
...
Tony,
this probably comes under the female 'don't you know why I'm sulking' category; all I can suggest is an offering of new fenders, sheets and maybe name decals or even sails, a pat and a kiss; then hastily beat a retreat to the pub while she thinks about it.
this probably comes under the female 'don't you know why I'm sulking' category; all I can suggest is an offering of new fenders, sheets and maybe name decals or even sails, a pat and a kiss; then hastily beat a retreat to the pub while she thinks about it.
KellysEye
Active member
I don't know about feelings but they certainly talk you by the different noises they make. If we heard a noise we hadn't heard before it was generally something had broken/gone wrong, normally at 02.00 and you have to shoot out of bed.
NealB
Well-known member
Hehe......Andy...forgive me....but what absolute nonsense!
I have feelings for my boats (I used to have an old, wooden, gaff cutter, and my feelings for her were very real and very strong..and, yes, I am full of affection for the the Oliver Lee Hunter 490: a boat with great character and a distinctive personality).
But the OP asked, "do boats have feelings"......to which, even you know, there is only one true answer......and it begins with the letter 'N'.
As for kissing your boat goodnight, well, in the words of Shania Twain, "C'mon baby tell me-you must be joking, right?......That don't impress me much"!
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Twister_Ken
Well-known member
Seajet
...
Neal B,
and please excuse me to anyone who read my story a while ago -
In an unusual situation, I as a boy taught my Dad to sail, and he took to it.
After a fair bit of dinghy sailing, we were looking for a cruiser, and were thinking of buying a chum's Mystic; then we saw it beating out of Langstone harbour making laborious tacks, while a sleek blue shape went past in one go...
"What was that ?! " asked Dad, and as I was the type of young snotty teenager who went around boat shows climbing on everything,no doubt annoying salesmen & gathering brochures I was able to say " Anderson 22 ".
Dad replied " Right we're having one ! " and within a fortnight we did, a kit to fit out which was usual in those days.
As time went on I bought her from Dad, and sailed her a lot across the Channel and to the West Country, with my then fiancee.
Then after 5 years she dumped me for a good looking rich guy, and as the Anderson was full of memories I sold her, to buy a Carter 30.
I instantly regretted it, and left messages to the yard where the Anderson was left on shore, asking if she was for sale, left ashore unused.
No answer, soI gave up and bought a flat in Southsea with a sea view, and an Osprey dinghy.
Just when that went **** up and I was penniless, I had a call " do you still want to buy your old boat back ? "
Somehow within 2 days she was mine again, and subject to the first of several major refits.
I know a good thing when I see one, and yes I give her a quick kiss when I leave her, she has plenty of feelings !
and please excuse me to anyone who read my story a while ago -
In an unusual situation, I as a boy taught my Dad to sail, and he took to it.
After a fair bit of dinghy sailing, we were looking for a cruiser, and were thinking of buying a chum's Mystic; then we saw it beating out of Langstone harbour making laborious tacks, while a sleek blue shape went past in one go...
"What was that ?! " asked Dad, and as I was the type of young snotty teenager who went around boat shows climbing on everything,no doubt annoying salesmen & gathering brochures I was able to say " Anderson 22 ".
Dad replied " Right we're having one ! " and within a fortnight we did, a kit to fit out which was usual in those days.
As time went on I bought her from Dad, and sailed her a lot across the Channel and to the West Country, with my then fiancee.
Then after 5 years she dumped me for a good looking rich guy, and as the Anderson was full of memories I sold her, to buy a Carter 30.
I instantly regretted it, and left messages to the yard where the Anderson was left on shore, asking if she was for sale, left ashore unused.
No answer, soI gave up and bought a flat in Southsea with a sea view, and an Osprey dinghy.
Just when that went **** up and I was penniless, I had a call " do you still want to buy your old boat back ? "
Somehow within 2 days she was mine again, and subject to the first of several major refits.
I know a good thing when I see one, and yes I give her a quick kiss when I leave her, she has plenty of feelings !
Hipchick
New member
Seajet, Ooh you have poetry in your soul. I am thinking of doing a little research into how men treat their boats and how men treat their women, although I really don't think I have to..