Does anyone here ever feel underboated?

[bamamick]

I was sitting looking at the ocean yesterday with a clear blue sky overhead and beautiful green water out there and I said 'damn, I wish I had a boat I could get out there in'. My wife dropped the book she was reading about an inch and said 'I wish you knew how crazy that sounds', this in reference to our five sailboats, one powerboat, and two kayaks. I understand the sentiment, but I have rarely if ever found that 'perfect' boat for what I wanted to do with it at the right time.

Racing boats are not for cruising. They aren't really even good daysailors in many cases. My daysailors have always come with problems. I have rarely, rarely I say, felt that I was in the right place at the right time. Is this asking too much? Is my quest always to be in vain?

My goal right now is to get down to a Dragon and a small catboat. My wife's concern is that the small catboat may be too small and as our family grows (with grandbabies) that I will want a bigger boat. 'Voila' I cried, a Marshall Sanderling would do the trick for us, but thinking about it, that wouldn't fit the 98% of the time when I would be singlehanding, and the Sandpiper would be the right boat.

Like Frodo Baggins after he threw the Ring of Power into the molten lava of Mount Doom, am I always to be torn with this dilemma and know no peace in these, my waning days? Are there therapists to help people like me? Anyone want to toss me a little empathy, sympathy, or tickets to a nice symphony?

I have devised a wicked scheme (another one) which should allow me to move on another boat a year from now, not the two years I had originally planned. A year is a really long time.

Mickey Lake

[huisjen]

I'll just say yes.

Dan

[GrassSlipper]

There is no perfect boat!
There's only a boat that would be perfect for what you're doing right now.
And "now" changes moment by moment!

[Lew Barrett]

Not remotely.

[Tom Robb]

Happiness is in the search.
Having is frequently not as interesting as the quest, Grasshopper

[Michael D. Storey]

What would a perfect boat be? Is all weather perfect? Is my shoulder perfect? Suggest you give up this perfect thing and go sailing. Maybe find someone with a different kind of boat and offer to trade off, every now and again. I understand sometimes that works out with wives, even.
Jusayin.

[openboater]

I don't think your problem is 'underboated', it sounds more like 'mis-boated' or 'incorrectly-boated'. I suffer from the same problem. I have 2 wood powerboats, 2 strip canoes, grumman aluminum canoe, 2 glass kayaks, kevlar and ABS whitewater slalom canoes and a glass 12' sailboat. And I too am trying to get down to 2 boats, my 24' Bolger variant that you see next to my name, and I'd like to find a 14' Compac Picnic Cat. Most everything else is for sale. I'm having problems finding buyers though. Just as I am having problems finding the time to finish the trailer so the Bolger variant and I can go somewhere fun.

[JimConlin]

There is no perfect boat, except one of mine, depending on the day.

[seayou7]

A Concordia Yawl was designed to answer just the parameters you prescribe. Day sailing, racing, cruising with family, and able to singlehand. One of our members here has shown that it can become a right nice lifestyle choice! What would make owning one the cats meow would be your own railway or covered boathouse! Just sayin'

[James McMullen]

Mickey, don't give up hope. I was exactly like you, going through one boat after another, building them, trying them out and then selling them again as fast as I could, one after another, after another, after another. . .

But then a bizarre thing happened after I had completed Rowan, my 42nd boat at the time. . . .

After I had spent a month or two shaking her down and getting her all squared away, I had this uncanny sensation of. . .well. . . .contentment, I guess. I actually wasn't planning her replacement while out sailing in her--a brand new and mysterious sentiment for me. Somehow, I'd actually narrowed it down to the point where I really had hit the bullseye on my personal slate of prejudice and preference.

Now I'm not necessarily saying that Rowan would be the perfect boat for you as well--after all, there are so many different types of boat and different types of people who use them. And I'm not saying that you will ever find the one boat that can fulfill all of your spiritual needs--not any more than your wife whom you love dearly can always replace the times when you need to hang with your buddies instead. But what I am saying is that you shouldn't give up hope because it just might turn out that your boatly soul mate actually exists after all.

[johngsandusky]

Mickey, cheer up. You're a great guy and an avid sailor. We all feel boat lust and boat frustration at times. But count your blessings: boats and children. Get out for a sail, you'll feel better about the whole thing.

[Duncan Gibbs]

A chap can never have too many boats!

[bamamick]

Thank you guys. Thank you, John. Always so kind.

I just got through sending out my latest Dragon newsletter to the people who get it (about 150 people in North America, Australia, and Europe) and it always gives me a feeling of accomplishment to finish that little job. It's not much. A few lines sent out as a personal letter, but it makes me feel good to do it because I know that there are a lot of isolated members who enjoy reading about their own class and what's going on in their neighborhood.

I have and will continue to have lots of different boats over my lifetime, but I think that it's safe to say that I will never be Dragon-less. Even if we just take her out for a spin from time to time and then keep her washed and under cover I will have my Dragon....

and a few more boats, in all probability.

Mickey Lake
USA149 'Rune'

[Lewisboats]

Always...but mostly in quality, not necessarily in size.

[JimD]

Yes, I am underboated. Been whining about it for years. Gonna start a new one in about six months.

[TerryLL]

Definitely. I have but one and it's plastic. But I'm looking to add at least two more soon.

[PierreR]

I always had the wrong boat for the times until I really evaluated what I do with a boat. At that point I actually settled on the right boat for now. That will likely change at retirement. I am already looking at the retirement boat 5 years down the road.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Yet to build (all Billy Atkin designs):

Krazy Kat
Eric Jr
Teach
Bruce Conklin

Lots fun!!

[TerryLL]

Yet to build (all Billy Atkin designs):

Krazy Kat
Eric Jr
Teach
Bruce Conklin

Lots fun!!

Teach is a terrific little yacht. There was one sailing Lake Union in Seattle back in the '70s and was that boat ever a performer!

[downthecreek]

Not so much underboated as undertimed. I still love small open boats and have had a succession of them in addition to the "mothership", which we have owned for 35 years. Trouble is, I just don't get enough time to sail them. So I have reluctantly parted with the last of them - a nice wooden Wayfarer.

The people at the local brokerage - good friends - are always teasing me with the latest little gem to come on to their books (the last one was a Mersea One Design in very good trim)

I do have a yen for a Golant Gaffer as well. Perfect for our creeks.

Photo courtesy of the Tollesbury Sailing Club website, where there are lots of good pictures of smacks, barges and other interesting craft in Dylan Winter land.

[Duncan Gibbs]

Teach is a terrific little yacht. There was one sailing Lake Union in Seattle back in the '70s and was that boat ever a performer!

Got any photo's Terry? I think it would suit either stripping or cold mounding down to the ground so she could be sailed dry. The 2' draft and long keel get me going.

In an article about the Atkins in WoodenBoat #169, author Daniel MacNaughton had this to say about Teach: "If there is a simple boat that can offer the Herreshoff 12 1/2 some competition for the title of best small keel daysailer, Teach might be it. Her large stern deck gives a secure feeling and helps to ensure that crew weight will be kept amidships where it belongs in such a small boat, and there is a lot of useful space for seating a small crowd or cruising with a boom tent. Her double-ended character is something out of the ordinary, and combined with the long keel, ample ballast, and easily handled rig, she will be a reliable and reassuring boat to sail."

I'm surprised it hasn't taken off as an OD class because it would suit that purpose perfectly. What was she like at pointing?

[TerryLL]

No pictures, but I sailed beside her many times. When the wind piped up and everyone else was tying in a reef she just carried right on. A gust would heel her over and she would bounce back up.

[wtarzia]

I like what GlassSlipper said. When you are sitting on the beach looking out on the water with no prospect of sailing that day, then you might as well have no boat at all as far as that moment is concerned. (Reminds me of my favorite saying, "The boat that you use is the best boat.")

But far worse is looking out at people sailing and you have no RECENT memory of sailing. I have found that, if I had a great day sailing a few days back, I can be walking on the beach boatless, looking at the sails drift by, and saying, "I was one of those people a few days ago: it's OK."

And yet the mania can continue. I recently donated my old dory back to the shop that built it because I couldn't take care it well enough, yet came home with a free sail boat that again occupies that patch of dead grass on my front lawn. The widow couldn't get rid of it, and I couldn't bear to see another sailing option passed by. It's madness. "Man, I wish I had a boat." But there are worse addictions. --Wade

[davebrown]

this is a lot cheaper than going through wives.

[Clive P]

Mickey,
Try to remember that every boat is a compromise.
There is always one bigger, faster, prettier, more stable, cheaper or easier to sail.
BUT, There is always one smaller, slower, uglier, less stable, more expensive or harder to sail.
AND we all have different needs and/or preferences.
For me the Dragon is fun, even sitting on the lawn outside the bathroom window. When I'm sick i can enjoy looking at her.
And after 19 months, she goes forth upon the water next Saturday.
Clive

[bamamick]

That is excellent news, Clive! I look forward to hearing about it.

Mickey Lake