I have told everyone here how I am planning on buying a newer Dragon come the spring. Well, my wonderful wife has never said one word either for or against this plan in the entire time I have been thinking about it. I have an agreement in principle to buy a friend's boat for a pretty good price and I have looked forward to the day when I can go pick her up.
This week while on vacation my wife made a stunning announcement: she wants me to NOT buy the Dragon, and she wants me TO buy another Finn! Her logic is this: when I was sailing the Finn I was sailing once and twice a week and was sailing regattas at least once a month. In other words, I was SAILING. I was watching my weight closely (as funny as that may sound to my sailing buddies) and I was as fit as I have been in awhile. She liked that Mickey. The problem with the Dragon is that I don't get to sail her that often. A newer boat will make that easier, but it still won't happen anywhere near the same as if I was in a singlehander.
So I have a dilemma. I need to spend some money (probably about $8K) on the wooden Dragon. That doesn't leave me the money I would need to buy both the nice Dragon and a decent Finn. I could buy the nice Dragon and another beater Finn, at least for the time being, and that's what I am leaning toward doing. My problem is this: I am beating the heck out of the wooden Dragon by traveling with her and I want that to stop. I want to pretty her up and keep her at home for local sailing, but I need a travel boat if I am to do my part in promoting the class and having fun racing in North America. So I NEED the newer Dragon , but I have missed sailing the Finn a great deal. I miss the friendships, and I just plain miss being in the boat.
I thought about buying a MegaByte for around $3K. That would be fun to sail, but Brenda honestly feels that I need the interaction with other sailors that the Finn offers. I just don't know what to do, keeping in mind that one very important goal for our family right now is to simplify our lives and grow less and less dependant on a weekly paycheck. The less money I spend right now the better. My wife thinks that I should just keep the wooden Dragon and go for a nice Finn. I think that for me to be happy I will need to do both, and that would mean one heck of a compromise on both. What would YOU do?
Mickey Lake
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