Wooden Boat Season

[TimH]

I am not sure why but this time of year has always been my peak for wooden boat interest. In the spring I just want to get in and sail, material be damned. In the summer I start thinking Id rather be on a wood boat. In the fall I feel seriously drawn to wood boats.
Any psychologists have any insight on this?
Is this why the PT WB festival is in the fall?

[Don Kurylko]

Nah, it’s just the chill in the air and the need to build a nice warm fire! :eek: :D

[rbgarr]

I go through the same cycle!

[Paul Pless]

Any psychologists have any insight on this?I'm not a psychologist, but I play one in the bilge... maybe it has something to do with this usually being the best time of year to find a good deal on a boat.

[Joe ( Cold Spring on Hudson )]

Had a wonderful sail both days this weekend. What season ? I'm seriously giddy that Tidbit is still in the water this time of year. Its the BEST sailing time. :D

[martin schulz]

Had a wonderful sail both days this weekend. What season ? I'm seriously giddy that Tidbit is still in the water this time of year. Its the BEST sailing time. :D

Yea because all those morons (OtoO sailing = October to Ostern (Easter)) making a constant fuss (engines on, engines off, brawling in harbours...) are out of the water ;)

[Rich VanValkenburg]

I always thought of this as the worst time of the year, warm summer breezes are over, not that we had many of those this year. The haulout and put-to-bed procedure was always cold, rainy, and miserable but we lucked out this year and hauled last week on the warmest day in a while. Around here it can be 74 one day and 44 the next, like last week. I'm feeling too old for the 'get cold and wet' sails of the end of season.

[bamamick]

Of course, our situation is very different from yours, but this is easily the best time to sail down here because it is cooler, and if you are lucky enough to hit it right, you can sail in some pretty fun breeze with flat water.

My most memorable races were this time of year. I love it.

Mickey Lake

[frank pedersen]

I mentioned this posting to my wife and she thought it was another expression of
Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Well, I have a Ph.D. in psychology although it is not something I have previously admitted on the WBF. It strikes me as plausible that there could be a valid (not just imagined) basis for boatophilia (wooden variety) to emerge in the fall. There is a field called evolutionary psychology that has had a major impact in recent time. One of its leaders is Edward O. Wilson, who earlier received much criticism for suggesting that behavioral patterns could have a genetic basis. A central idea, vastly oversimplified, is that behaviors, including emotional responses, that have a survival advantage can be linked to genes, and people who engaged in these behaviors left more of the associated genes in their offspring than people who did not. With the advent of agriculture, about 10,000 years ago, it probably was less important to follow seasonal migratory patterns and more important to provide shelter and other provisioning to live in the same territory throughout the year. Building things, including shelter, animal pens, storage areas for harvests, and even rudimentary boats for fishing could have been done more effectively in the fall and winter rather than in the seasons when planting, crop tending, and harvesting were obligatory. The argument would be that there is a residual tendency to engage in similar behaviors today arising from our evolutionary past even though there would not be survival implications in our present environments. There is also the idea that displaying boat building skills is a way of attracting more females (better provisioning skills, etc.) and thereby leaving more of your genes, but I defer to others to develop this line of thinking.

BTW, my plan is to build a new Shellback over the winter.

[Don Kurylko]

BTW, my plan is to build a new Shellback over the winter.

Does your wife know about this? :D