Is is normal to get so emotional when selling a boat?

Seajet said:
I have a stiff upper lip when I see aircraft bite the dust, less so when they contain people I have known - while one can become fond of aircraft, sailing boats have souls; to miss that means missing a huge point about sailing itself.
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Well, I wouldn't subscribe to a boat having a soul, but I do understand the sadness at selling a boat because of what it has enabled and the amount of TLC lavished on it. It's just that at every twist and turn someone is telling us how emotional something is, or there's a TV or radio interviewers asking "How do you feel?" and telling us that some situation is emotional - it's bo***cks.
 
Yes, very emotional.

When I sold my first and so far only boat, I spent a weekend with the new owner, going through the inventory and sailing a bit, literally "showing him the ropes". After a sail in January in which I got a wave over the head and an instant ice-cream headache, and the next day going through the maintenance and upgrade list for what he'll need to go across the pond again, I walked away.

I looked back once, saw him alone on the boat with a list of things to do and a longer list of things to buy and I was reminded that there were a lot of those lonely cold and wwt weekends, and I got a bit emotional.

I smiled, and walked away with a spring in my step.
 
Seajet said:
Old Harry,

people have been known to buy Big Guns to sort out lesser crimes !

I hope your old boat is saved, or at the very least you don't have to see her; I couldn't stand that.

Andy
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Thanks Andy. Sadly i fear she is probably too far gone now to save her. Old story, rainwater on unprotected ply has much the same effect as battery acid, just a bit slower!

Trouble is she is in a mud berth only a few hundred yards from my winter berth, and I only have to go round the corner to see her.

Sometimes I can almost hear her pleading with me to rescue her...... but she really is too far gone for me to have time, skill or money to help now.

Yes, yes, I know, its only a wooden structure. But its NOT. Each boat has its own personality, its own smell, its own little ways. The hours of loving care lavished on maintenance and repair. The many shared moments at sea, good and bad, high and low, ranging from the greatest thrills, to the most trouser staining moments. And all shared with, and made possible by the boat.


No, the OP is entirely right changing boats is a deeply stressful event.
 
Wait till you see the boat you have cherished so much be neglected, or worse, mistreated, eg damaged and subsequently repaired without respect for the original. That was the moment I felt really sorry I had let her go.
 
A boat is just a machine, a mass of plastic, metal and wood. We give it a name and kid ourselves that it has soul and then spend years fretting about its welfare.

What it represents is months or years of toil earning the means to pay for it and our hopes of freedom in the future. I have never shed so much as a virtual tear for the boats I have disposed of since I always had the pleasure of anticipation for my next one. This will undoubtably change when I am forced to hang up my oilies (not "lilies" as this damned pad would have me write) and I can foresee something of a crisis ahead of me in a few years time.
 
Blueboatman said:
Man and machine in perfect harmony....
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Or woman and machine at loggerheads in DIY face-off?;)

oldharry said:
No, the OP is entirely right changing boats is a deeply stressful event.
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And she's not just changing boats but defecting, er, waving goodbye to all that faffing about with ropes, leaning over, and being at one with the elements, to the much more rational, efficient, yawn (sorry!) shiny world of motorbobobobobobobobobobobobobobooboboboating.;)
 
LittleSister said:
Or woman and machine at loggerheads in DIY face-off?;)



And she's not just changing boats but defecting, er, waving goodbye to all that faffing about with ropes, leaning over, and being at one with the elements, to the much more rational, efficient, yawn (sorry!) shiny world of motorbobobobobobobobobobobobobobooboboboating.;)
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I:(waaah! You've started me off again! Honestly...its giving me insomnia.

Btw...i am not defecting entirely...have accepted an achilles 24 in px...

To other posters re "emotional ". I used this word with meaning because i really dont know which emotions i am feeling. I know there is an element of sadness and sorrow butvthere is slso excitment . Can confusement and doubt be classed as an emotion...cos i have that too. This little boat has given me genuine happiness and comfort and ive learned so much on her and know her really well...the prospect of taking on another unknown is a bit scary. I suppose that im surprised at how hard im finding it to leave behind what i know. Never experienced that feeling before. Quick! Call my therapist!

(Sorry for typo s . Am on board using phone in middle of night!
)
 
Seajet said:
I sold my A22 after being dumped by a fiancee, instantly regretted selling the boat and didn't take to the larger cruiser racer I bought in her ( the Andersons' ! :) ) place.

After a few years thinking ' what have I done ? ' and leaving messages at the yard where she was left ashore I managed to buy her back, now I kiss her goodbye every time I row away.
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You sound like a boating Richard Burton :p . Next thing you know you'll sell her again, but her back and so on :D.
 
I still mourn my old Eventide that i sold years ago, i loved that boat, i didnt want to sell her but in a moment of madness in midwinter a young lady offered me a fistfull of £50 notes and she was so keen that i agreed.

I can remember sitting infront of the fire in the saloon when she counted out the 50s thinking "what am i doing" then she was gone....

She was only berthed a mile away and i used to nip over after work to take a peek at her through the fence. now the boat lies in a boat yard rotting away onloved and uncared for, i still go and take a look at her at least once a month.

I now have a moody which is a nice boat but somehow not the same.
 
chrishelen said:
I still mourn my old Eventide that i sold years ago, i loved that boat, i didnt want to sell her but in a moment of madness in midwinter a young lady offered me a fistfull of £50 notes and she was so keen that i agreed.

I can remember sitting infront of the fire in the saloon when she counted out the 50s thinking "what am i doing" then she was gone....

She was only berthed a mile away and i used to nip over after work to take a peek at her through the fence. now the boat lies in a boat yard rotting away onloved and uncared for, i still go and take a look at her at least once a month.

I now have a moody which is a nice boat but somehow not the same.
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That's almost exactly my same situation. Glad I'm not alone then. Thanks.:)
 
I remember when I bought my first boat a Leisure 23. The chap who sold it to me was getting a bit choked as I drove the boat away on the trailer. He came with me a fair few miles to see all was ok with the trailer.

We pulled over at the services wished each other farewell at which point he had tears streaming down his face as he walked away.

:(
 
Focus on the future - this is part of a yet undivulged plan. Getting from where you are to where you want to be was always going to involve hellos and goodbyes. Get there and be happy.

Always some sailing on offer X
 
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