Captain's Log
Captain's Log October 2007Sailing is the Prize
Not long ago, we were at a gathering of sailors and friends to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Morris Yachts in Southwest Harbor, Maine. One of the friends who stood up before the crowd at dinner, a 20-year owner of a 30-foot Morris cruising boat, mentioned that to him owning his boat was "the prize" of his life.
For many of us, the purchase of a cruising boat is one of the largest expenses in our lives, usually coming in third behind our homes and college tuitions for our offspring. Owning and then maintaining a boat requires a certain level of budgeting and sacrifice. We may have to keep the family cars running a few years past their replacement dates. We may have to forego expensive vacations or the remodeling of a bathroom for a while.
Owning a cruising boat-whether it is 30 feet or 60 feet-involves a commitment required by few other leisure time activities. (You don't have to buy a tennis court to enjoy the game for a lifetime.) Part of the com- mitment is the expense of running and keeping a boat; part of it is the time needed to maintain and then use the boat; and part of it involves the sacrifice of other activities that owning a boat and cruising often implies.
But, for those of us who have discovered the sailing and cruising life, the commitment is all part of the life-changing effects of sailing a good boat on a fair breeze to a new and enchanting place-even if only across the bay.
Out there the wind is free (although the boat and gear are not!) and we are free to sail more or less anywhere we want to go. Once you clear the channel markers and head off along the coast, you are the master of your ship and your fate is very much in your own hands for better or worse. The press of wind in the sails, the sound of water rushing by the gunnel, the sight of sea birds fishing, the blow of a dolphin or whale-these are the rewards of a day or a week or a year aboard out boats.
Our friend in Maine was right. Our boats are the prizes of our lives because they allow us to sail freely, to escape from the madding crowd ashore, and to thoroughly enjoy special times with family and friends. No matter how we got there, we’ve earned it.
We are please to introduce two new monthly columns in BWS from recognized experts. Long-time contributor Bill Biewenga, who has some 300,000 miles under his keel, launches his column "Biewenga Offshore" with a concise discussion of weather forecasting at sea. And, tech guru Tim Hasson introduces his new column "Plugged In" by showing us how we can use low-cost Skype communi- cations aboard our boats. We learned something as we prepared their first columns and we hope you will, too.
