PassageMaker - April 2011

Actually boating in winter can be fun, but that's for another time. If you've already got a boat or a friend with one you likely already know the "game is afoot". For legions of others however, the endless planning/dreaming stage prevails. Why? Truth is going cruising has less to do with cost than it does making the decision. Bunches of people with less money than you do it every day.

Shifting to my awkward metaphor. Though I grew up in the Midwest, both of my parents were from Texas. Barbecue/grilling was inbred long before you could buy ready made grills. Now of course BBQ is a mainstay cooked on everything from home made rigs, to simple kettles, to expensive high-tech cookers. The lesson, however, is that the cost of the grill has little to do with the food it produces. Most of us have tasted excellent fare from the simplest grill, often in our own back yards. I can also assure you that a bad burger won't taste a speck better cooked on a $5000 mega-grill. Hopefully you don't need a hickory log up-side-the-head to appreciate the analogy.

Take a cue from your grilling experience. Don't focus on the hardware. Find a way to get involved in cruising. If not buying a boat, make friends with someone who has one. Sign up for a boating course. Charter a boat for a week or weekend cruise. Not the kind of boat you're considering? It doesn't matter. Boating aboard anything is both fun and instructive.

Plan to put a few sea miles behind you in 2011. Find out whether boating lives up to your reading, fanaticizing, and arm chair dreaming. If it doesn't, maybe championship barbecue pit boss is your calling.

But then that’s just my opinion. . .

The Cruising Yacht
Specialists
CHARLES NEVILLE associates
Naval Architects
223 Broadway, Centreville, MD 21617
tel: 410 758-1891 • fax: 410 758-3724
www.nevilleboats.com • e-mail: chuck@nevilleboats.com

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