The "What our boats say about us" thread got me thinking about why I even deal with boats and boating in the first place. It's expensive, it takes time, and if you do a lot of the work yourself, it can be frustrating. So why bother? My wife and I could spend more of our free time flying (and letting the A&P deal with the maintenance) or canal boating in Europe or fly fishing or whatever if we didn't have this old Grand Banks to deal with.
So why do I bother? It's a question that one could write a book in the course of answering but I'll try not to do that....
I boat primarily because I love the mood of a marine environment. Or I should say, of the marine environment here. I absolutely love boating in fog. I love the look of it, and I love the challenge. I love boating in misty rain. Boating on nice days is a pleasant contrast and I enjoy it but I much prefer the days where things drift in and out of the mist as we move through the islands. I love seeing the animals--- the birds, whales, porpoises, seals, otters--- in their environment in which we are guests. I love staying on the boat in the middle of winter when the wind is gusting to 60 and everything around us is rattling and clanging and the sailboat rigging is moaning and the waves are smashing against the breakwater.
I love what some call the "BC Raincoast," the maze of islands, channels, and bays that form the Inside Passage from the Gulf Islands to Prince Rupert. It's got a mystery to it that I've found nowhere else on earth. So far, other than than my initial ferry ride down it and boating in the lower end of it, my experience along the Inside Passage has been in a floatplane. But the same moods hold true for flying the area as boating it.
It's a bit intimidating and scary, too, up the Passage at times. Flying or boating among mountains that drop straight into the water certainly drives home our insignificance in the overall scheme of things. Even the river otters on shore are better equipped to survive up there than we are if you take away our boats and planes and radios and iPads and cans of chile. But I've found the apprehension and even nervousness about heading into this country by water or air is worth it because of the reward of simply being there. And the challenge and degree of uncertainty makes me feel alive like nothing else does, at least not in the same way.
So for me, boating is a way to get into country I love being in and that I find inspirational. I have no interest in the social aspects of boating. Marina parties and dock visits leave me cold although I do like boating with select friends who I know feel the same about the area as we do.. With the exception of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, if I lived anywhere else along the Lower 48 US coast I very much doubt I would bother with boating at all other than perhaps the fishing aspect. From photos and videos and reading about it, I don't see anything about the rest of the country that would interest me at all from a cruising aspect.. I would find some other pastime that provided the same sense of wonder that boating produces here.
In short, boating makes me feel part of an environment that never ceases to amaze and inspire me. I like running the boat and always learning how to run it better. And it's important to the quality of my boating experience that the boat itself be one that I want to run and that looks like what I think a boat should look like. But the main thing is the getting out there and being a participant along with the ravens and bears and porpoises in this wonderful experience called the Inside Passage.
So why do I bother? It's a question that one could write a book in the course of answering but I'll try not to do that....
I boat primarily because I love the mood of a marine environment. Or I should say, of the marine environment here. I absolutely love boating in fog. I love the look of it, and I love the challenge. I love boating in misty rain. Boating on nice days is a pleasant contrast and I enjoy it but I much prefer the days where things drift in and out of the mist as we move through the islands. I love seeing the animals--- the birds, whales, porpoises, seals, otters--- in their environment in which we are guests. I love staying on the boat in the middle of winter when the wind is gusting to 60 and everything around us is rattling and clanging and the sailboat rigging is moaning and the waves are smashing against the breakwater.
I love what some call the "BC Raincoast," the maze of islands, channels, and bays that form the Inside Passage from the Gulf Islands to Prince Rupert. It's got a mystery to it that I've found nowhere else on earth. So far, other than than my initial ferry ride down it and boating in the lower end of it, my experience along the Inside Passage has been in a floatplane. But the same moods hold true for flying the area as boating it.
It's a bit intimidating and scary, too, up the Passage at times. Flying or boating among mountains that drop straight into the water certainly drives home our insignificance in the overall scheme of things. Even the river otters on shore are better equipped to survive up there than we are if you take away our boats and planes and radios and iPads and cans of chile. But I've found the apprehension and even nervousness about heading into this country by water or air is worth it because of the reward of simply being there. And the challenge and degree of uncertainty makes me feel alive like nothing else does, at least not in the same way.
So for me, boating is a way to get into country I love being in and that I find inspirational. I have no interest in the social aspects of boating. Marina parties and dock visits leave me cold although I do like boating with select friends who I know feel the same about the area as we do.. With the exception of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, if I lived anywhere else along the Lower 48 US coast I very much doubt I would bother with boating at all other than perhaps the fishing aspect. From photos and videos and reading about it, I don't see anything about the rest of the country that would interest me at all from a cruising aspect.. I would find some other pastime that provided the same sense of wonder that boating produces here.
In short, boating makes me feel part of an environment that never ceases to amaze and inspire me. I like running the boat and always learning how to run it better. And it's important to the quality of my boating experience that the boat itself be one that I want to run and that looks like what I think a boat should look like. But the main thing is the getting out there and being a participant along with the ravens and bears and porpoises in this wonderful experience called the Inside Passage.
Last edited:
) and went up on deck to check the anchor. It was pond calm but the air had that tropical feel that we don't get at home. The bazillion stars were now 2 bazillion because they were reflected everywhere. I could clearly see a conch shell on the bottom in 15 feet of water with just the moonlight. I don't feel that way on land.
Two things attract girls, boats, and dog/puppy, and I had both. Mid years and family, boating and camping/RVing was a family/friend activity. Mid life crises and as the children left the nest my wife and I got a friendly equitable divorce. So back on the dating seen again, reverted back to what worked, boating and dogs/puppies to attract WOMEN. 
However, being my wife is retired and I hope to retire in 17 months, we are sticking it out with the hopes of being able to move the boat around the PNW in the warmer months and in the winter travel to warmer climates. 
