First, let me apologize for what is going to be a rambling post....
to say that the last few weeks have been a whirlwind would be an understatement.
before I get to that let me tell a bit about us. We are mid 30s with a young daughter. Even before I met my wife we were both into being in, on or near water. For me it went father's boats, think ski boats and bass boats on a lake. Then on to jet skis, and run abouts of my own. When we started a family things were tight, we ended up with kayaks for a few years, but we were on the water and that's what matters!
finally, after a few years we were able to get back into something a little bigger scale than kayaking. We ended up with a fixer upper Albin27, you may have seen it in the classified sections, but I'll get to that in a moment.
Since saltwater/bay boating was totally new to us we decided to keep her at a yacht Club to try to gain knowledge from people who are more salty than us. We jumped on board with both feet. Spending every waking moment (and many sleeping) detecting ourselves (daughter including) to being on the water. Our club had become a second family, our small boat a second home. With things going great we listed our boat for sale in hopes of a bigger more comfortable second home.
Here is where things start to go wrong...around the same time a club member heard my wife and I taking, and thought what we were talking about applied to him...it didn't. Long story short is it set him off into a rage where, in front of my daughter, not only berated us but put his hands on my wife. Obviously, this didn't sit well and within the hour we and the boat were gone. The only thing anyone offered to do was `moderate` the situation...while the situation is water under the keel, his words ring out. Which was basically said that we were too young to be there and it wasn't a place for kids. Now I wouldn't let the words of one deter me but certainly his opinion was shared by other, as evident in lack of interest from the officers.
Last, for my question.
Is this a standing opinion? or just one of one club? Why don't we see more families on the water? Let's face a few facts, the days of people buying boats like they were in the 70s and 80s is over. What that means for us (young people) is the used inventory is getting smaller and older and will never improve. Until I convince my wife to move aboard we are on a budget that means we are looking at boats nearly as old as we are.
I have a buyer for my Albin and will shop for another, larger boat and a family friendly place to keep it. But as the boats and boaters age I may be doing with less company.
to say that the last few weeks have been a whirlwind would be an understatement.
before I get to that let me tell a bit about us. We are mid 30s with a young daughter. Even before I met my wife we were both into being in, on or near water. For me it went father's boats, think ski boats and bass boats on a lake. Then on to jet skis, and run abouts of my own. When we started a family things were tight, we ended up with kayaks for a few years, but we were on the water and that's what matters!
finally, after a few years we were able to get back into something a little bigger scale than kayaking. We ended up with a fixer upper Albin27, you may have seen it in the classified sections, but I'll get to that in a moment.
Since saltwater/bay boating was totally new to us we decided to keep her at a yacht Club to try to gain knowledge from people who are more salty than us. We jumped on board with both feet. Spending every waking moment (and many sleeping) detecting ourselves (daughter including) to being on the water. Our club had become a second family, our small boat a second home. With things going great we listed our boat for sale in hopes of a bigger more comfortable second home.
Here is where things start to go wrong...around the same time a club member heard my wife and I taking, and thought what we were talking about applied to him...it didn't. Long story short is it set him off into a rage where, in front of my daughter, not only berated us but put his hands on my wife. Obviously, this didn't sit well and within the hour we and the boat were gone. The only thing anyone offered to do was `moderate` the situation...while the situation is water under the keel, his words ring out. Which was basically said that we were too young to be there and it wasn't a place for kids. Now I wouldn't let the words of one deter me but certainly his opinion was shared by other, as evident in lack of interest from the officers.
Last, for my question.
Is this a standing opinion? or just one of one club? Why don't we see more families on the water? Let's face a few facts, the days of people buying boats like they were in the 70s and 80s is over. What that means for us (young people) is the used inventory is getting smaller and older and will never improve. Until I convince my wife to move aboard we are on a budget that means we are looking at boats nearly as old as we are.
I have a buyer for my Albin and will shop for another, larger boat and a family friendly place to keep it. But as the boats and boaters age I may be doing with less company.