peterandjeanette
Active member
Having just returned from an enjoyable week in Mallorca perhaps I'm feeling rather pi**ed off with this weather. But, I was staying within walking distance of Porto Portals and inevitably spent several days watching, walking and drinking around the marina.
One thought always kept returning. Who can afford the big 100+ footers that are parked on the one end, where even a Princess 22M looks as if it should be hanging in the davits? It's not only the one off purchase price of 5,6,7 or 8 million, but the berthing, crewing, fuelling, maintaining etc. of these monsters. Quite a large ongoing cost. A big win on the lottery may buy one, but how do you keep it running. I accept the fact that I do not have the feet of Rooney/Beckham, the voice of Robbie Williams/Will Young or the hands of Schumacher/Mansell, but surely they can't all belong to such famous people.
Perhaps its the fact that I pay income tax, national insurance, VAT, fuel tax, council tax, road tax etc. that I can't afford such vessels. Maybe they are company owned boats. But then my company pays corporation tax, national insurance, obeys minimum wage requirements/working time directives, pays SSP,SMP,SPP. Follows religiously the requirements of the factory inspector, lifting tackle inspector,VAT inspector,PAYE inspector, pollution control regulations, ISO 9000. ISO 14001 and every other demand from London/Brussels, like the good little boys that we are in the UK, to reduce any profit that we may make but are not allowed to keep.
Once the San Miguel takes effect I begin to mellow. Would I want a skipper and crew to play with my boat? Don't I want to be the guy at the helm all the time. Show my ability (or lack of it) when coming into port. To have the fun of passage planning, checking the weather, plotting waypoints into the GPS, drawing little lines on my chart and all the little jobs that make boating such fun. Even the cleaning down gives me pleasure. (By now I'm onto the champagne cocktails.)
No, you can keep the Ferretti, the Mochi, the Sunseeker 105 I'll stick to the small Sealine, Fairline, Princess that I'm comfortable with.
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One thought always kept returning. Who can afford the big 100+ footers that are parked on the one end, where even a Princess 22M looks as if it should be hanging in the davits? It's not only the one off purchase price of 5,6,7 or 8 million, but the berthing, crewing, fuelling, maintaining etc. of these monsters. Quite a large ongoing cost. A big win on the lottery may buy one, but how do you keep it running. I accept the fact that I do not have the feet of Rooney/Beckham, the voice of Robbie Williams/Will Young or the hands of Schumacher/Mansell, but surely they can't all belong to such famous people.
Perhaps its the fact that I pay income tax, national insurance, VAT, fuel tax, council tax, road tax etc. that I can't afford such vessels. Maybe they are company owned boats. But then my company pays corporation tax, national insurance, obeys minimum wage requirements/working time directives, pays SSP,SMP,SPP. Follows religiously the requirements of the factory inspector, lifting tackle inspector,VAT inspector,PAYE inspector, pollution control regulations, ISO 9000. ISO 14001 and every other demand from London/Brussels, like the good little boys that we are in the UK, to reduce any profit that we may make but are not allowed to keep.
Once the San Miguel takes effect I begin to mellow. Would I want a skipper and crew to play with my boat? Don't I want to be the guy at the helm all the time. Show my ability (or lack of it) when coming into port. To have the fun of passage planning, checking the weather, plotting waypoints into the GPS, drawing little lines on my chart and all the little jobs that make boating such fun. Even the cleaning down gives me pleasure. (By now I'm onto the champagne cocktails.)
No, you can keep the Ferretti, the Mochi, the Sunseeker 105 I'll stick to the small Sealine, Fairline, Princess that I'm comfortable with.
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