How a boat pays its entire self back in one day

klee wyck · Apr 22, 2019

Easter is such a time of promise on the church, farming, and boating calendar.
Yesterday, three generations of us gathered on the boat for Easter.
First pic is gramma and the kids in the saloon.
Second pic is a galley abuzz with multiple galley wenches preparing a brunch centered around crepes with homemade butter syrup, fruits, meats, an unbelievable egg scramble with vegetables and of course all topped up with cheese made by this family.

Third pic is a highly competitive, adult kid, boat only based Easter egg hunt. Quite the scurry to find that golden egg with the Starbucks gift card.

Fourth pic is a sunny afternoon cruise of the Seattle waterfront while the kids, now scattered, do some catching up on the foredeck.

Fifth pic is for you flybridge aficionados. Here the captain is foot steering with his head thru the moon roof in the clouds. Flybridge Klee Wyck style....

Freaking priceless......

Pcpete · Apr 22, 2019

You are so correct!

JohnEasley · Apr 23, 2019

What an awesome day! Thanks for sharing.

RT Firefly · Apr 23, 2019

Greetings,
Mr. kw. To paraphrase the ad. "Being on your boat with family...Priceless! Thanks

w8n4sun · Apr 23, 2019

Fantastic, what a neat way to spend Easter. We call that our Argosy cruise route when taking friends and family out for a spin in the Bay.

Pack Mule · Apr 23, 2019

Looks like an awesome way to spend Easter. Thanks for posting.

GFC · Apr 23, 2019

Darn, it's a shame nobody was having any fun! Just kidding, of course. Looks like a great time was had by all.

menzies · Apr 25, 2019

Nice, buying memories, no better way to spend time and coin!

FlyWright · Apr 25, 2019

Great post, Bill.

Love the "poor man's flying bridge"!

Group9 · Apr 25, 2019

That’s what we are buying with our money. Fun times and the memories of the fun times.

klee wyck · May 13, 2019

This time Rosario

Since Easter went so well on the boat, we decided to do Mother's Day as well with a different crew, different boat, and different port. Same great outcome.
My youngest has run a trail half marathon on Orcas the last two years so brings his gang of runners for this and then the kids cook his mother breakfast the next day on Mother's Day.
First pic is the kids in the saloon and second is the big breakfast on deck.

klee wyck · May 13, 2019

The cruising was good too!

The cruise to and from Rosario was good as well, leaving Bellingham for good, visiting Rosario on Orcas Island, and then back to our new home port in Blaine again.

Pics are pilot view, starboard view (Mt. Baker), and port view (Boundary Pass toward the San Juans and Gulf Islands.

FlyWright · May 13, 2019

With that many friends and family aboard, you need two boats! Good thing y'all know how to have fun.

schrater · Jun 21, 2019

Love this! So true!

Imp · Jun 21, 2019

Late skipper, Rocket Man, & I took two of the grandkids, one a teen & the other in elementary school, through the Panama Canal on our sailboat with us in 1993. They spent a month with us in Panama & in the San Blas Islands before flying home & back to school, & needless to say, a grand time was had by all. Their visit livened up the permanent crew for sure & for the rest of our days the memories of our day-long double-12 dominoes tournament was a surefire conversation starter. I'm sure their mom still has many memories of times with us on on different boats, too, as part of her childhood decades before. Boats & kids go together, no matter their ages. My current skipper, Fly Boy, & I are boat shopping, & are definitely planning for plenty of room for visiting great-grandchildren.

BandB · Jun 21, 2019

Wifey B: Some get it and some don't. You do.

It's like when one sees someone trying to financially justify a boat or boat decision. Can't ever do it. It's not a financial decision. It's a lifestyle, a pleasure choice. If you have to be told, then you just don't get it. We had 12 aboard on our cruise yesterday. To some people I guess it would be a boring boat ride in the ocean. Had anyone heard all the fun and laughter and we were ages 5 years 10 months (she gets very upset if you just say 5 and prefers "almost 6") to 65 and you would have thought we were all teenagers. So beautiful out, waves breaking and very nice chop of 4' at 5 seconds so had to stay around 20-22 knots to skim across and the breeze and salt air. It was like when we left the dock we entered another world, a paradise, and we all felt the joy. :dance:

All the time we're asked, wouldn't it be cheaper to just go by car or van or motorhome or fly?

They miss the point. They've clearly never felt it.

First time my hubby to be took me out on the lake in his boat I said, "Now this is the life." I knew instantly why he loved it, I felt what he felt. I screamed in joy as we blasted out. When he asked if I wanted to drive, I said yeah (well preceded with the f word for exclamation). I took the wheel and it was omg I want to learn how to do this. I couldn't get enough of it. He'd tried to describe his love of boating but it was far beyond any of his descriptions. It's not something you just see or hear or smell or touch. It's something you feel and it's wonderful.

klee wyck · Jun 21, 2019

BandB said:
Wifey B: Some get it and some don't. You do.

Yeah, I get it most days as do most of the forum members I am sure. Still, good to remind myself once in awhile. Like many I suspect, I did not come into this world with material largesse so I am a saver down in my DNA. Boats do not suit that natural instinct well so I remind myself in a post like this why it might be okay anyway.
I agree that the boat/marine environment changes people. Anxiety, bravado and other things that degrade the quality and length of life fade like magic on a boat or near water. Perhaps it is some primordial residual effect of the environment we all came from immediately prior to our first breath and likely the last time we all had no cares or worries!

We were at it again this weekend and it was a prime example. My youngest graduates from UW College of Engineering in two separate ceremonies. One for the whole undergraduate group and one for the mechanical/mechatronics engineers. We gathered some family on each of three nights on the boat but also groups of folks that we had never met from many ages and many walks of life. Classmates of Luke, their parents and godparents and siblings from places as far as Massachusetts to the Bay Area. Likely significant differences in backgrounds, politics, careers, means, etc.

That should have been awkward and uncomfortable for an introvert like me and for them. But....because we were on the water and on a boat, it wasn't. We made new friends of interesting people in a relaxing environment that kept us close together. Everyone had just a grand time and are talking about it still.
It would not have been as grand an experience for any of us in a hotel or land home gathering I am certain.

Some photo evidence here:

Imp · Jun 21, 2019

BandB said:
Wifey B: Some get it and some don't. You do. . . . . First time my hubby to be took me out on the lake in his boat I said, "Now this is the life." I knew instantly why he loved it, I felt what he felt. I screamed in joy as we blasted out. When he asked if I wanted to drive, I said yeah (well preceded with the f word for exclamation). I took the wheel and it was omg I want to learn how to do this. I couldn't get enough of it. He'd tried to describe his love of boating but it was far beyond any of his descriptions. It's not something you just see or hear or smell or touch. It's something you feel and it's wonderful.

I totally understand. It must have been 1964, one of my first dates with my late skipper, Rocket Man, when he took me to the Long Beach Boat Show. I was entranced. We married, did the kids thing, & I went back to school, but I couldn't get the boat thing out of my mind. I loved the man dearly, but also adored the new world to which he had introduced me. I saw an ad in a magazine for a sailboat. All I had to do was send in $88 & the end flap from a carton of Kool cigarettes (my brand). Done. A few weeks later there was a styrofoam boat & a green sail in my living room & we spent the next few weeks fiberglassing & painting the hull. Then the Boat Show came to Anaheim, & when a modest cabin cruiser caught Rocket Man's eye, I quickly handed him the check book before he changed his mind. A mere year later we owned a larger boat, & so on. Weekends & vacations at Catalina Island became the family norm, & we seldome missed a weekend on the boat no matter the weather. Even when we were boatless we joined a club & chartered frequently. We took early retirement to run away to sea in a sailboat, & managed to put a few thousand miles under our keel. Family boating memories are indelibly imprinted on four generations, & when Rocket Man left us, we celebrated his life with a Cheeseburger in Paradise Party, complete with games for the youngest great-grandchildren, including tossing rings on the nose of a blow-up dolphin. I think he would be tickled to know great-granddaughter #2 has spent the past 3 summers at Annapolis Naval Academy, & has nearly completed her application for the Class of 2024.

Wayfarer · Jun 21, 2019

That is one damn fine looking gaggle of people right there.

How a boat pays its entire self back in one day

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