Today was the most beautiful day of the year.
It might have been the most fantastic day of the decade. Or the entire Cenozoic Era.
The only Westporters not outside were dead. Thousands of folks swarmed the beach — and hundreds more were on the water.
Which makes this scene so puzzling:
At 2 pm, the marina was filled with boats that were not going anywhere.
They are notoriously expensive and time-consuming. (“You don’t own a boat,” the saying goes. “It owns you.”)
So if all those people didn’t want to take their boats out on the most beautiful day in the history of the galaxy — well, when do they use them?
boats are holes you fill with money. or convenient acronyms:
Break Out Another Thousand or Bankruptcy on a Trailer
This has been true for decades, in every marina on the planet. Except maybe Cedar Point YC.
Actually, in fairness to small boats, the waters today were quite choppy, even if landlubbers did not notice. The winds were reasonably high too. In fact, because of Arthur, and its aftermath, the marine weather was not as ideal as the land weather this weekend. There were small craft advisories through the weekend, including yesterday. And, of course, some people actually have other commitments on the 4th of July!
I have a 36′ sailboat in the marina (I was out yesterday and today) and I’m on the water as much as I can from April through November. I serve on the Boating Advisory Committee. I live in Westport because of the water. And, lots of people don’t use the marina as much as they should or I would expect. But, water weather is different than land weather.
It perplexes me as well. My husband and I trailer our boat, and we launch it every chance we get. Having a boat in a slip would make it even easier and more enticing to use it as often as possible. If nothing else, it’s a prime spot near the beach for just hanging out on! But Compo basin looks like a ghost town here, LOL. My Dad kept his boat here for a time, when I was a kid. We sailed every weekend in the summer (EVERY weekend, much to my chagrin – preteens get bored easily, even in the face of a privileged lifestyle, ha). Now I miss it!!!
Good points Lawrence! We checked out the marine forecast for this weekend as well, and with our 24 foot powerboat, it didn’t seem smart to venture out. However, if we had a sailboat, we might have enjoyed the challenge and the great wind. But, it IS a lot of work and ya gotta know what you’re doing out there.
🙂
Two great days for larger sailboats… Wind and rough water makes motor boating in smaller boats on days like these enjoyable only if you like pounding at high speeds and getting wet.
In the nearest row in the photo I count 12 boats and 7 empty slips. If that means 7 out of a total of 19 boats are out on the water, that’s a pretty high percentage. You don’t expect every owner to go boating every day.
The 2 happiest days in a boat owner’s life? The day it’s bought, and the day it’s sold! 🙂
The joke never gets old 🙂 Luckily it’s only true for those who value money more than experiences. Ours is being repowered right now, to the tune of $16k. It’s a ton of money, but in the 10 years we’ve had the boat, it’s certainly brought us more than enough joy and family time to justify the amortized expense. Heck, our toddler asks to eat dinner out on the boat! We’re lucky water people 🙂