Re: My first boat show
If I were ever to change boats, it would be to another trawler. I have
no personal use for a lot of speed, and I think that cruising 8-9 kts
is sort of a relaxed, almost natural pace.
Taking one very long day or two shorter days to get from Seattle to the
San Juan Islands creates a sense of distance and removal that a 3-hour
sprint in a faster boat could never accomplish. Then there's just
enough Scot in my bloodlines that I do enjoy getting 4 nmpg, especially
at the current and probably future prices for fuel. There was a point
in my life where I could easily have taken up sailing, rather than
powerboating, but my wife, (with two toddling kids at the time),
decreed that if we were going to resume the boating activity I had
enjoyed while growing up she would insist on a warm, dry "house" on the
boat where she and the kids could stay out of the weather and out of
harm's way.I adpoted a lot of my boating "attitudes" if you will from my
Grandfather, who graduated from the Royal Naval Hospital School at
Greenwich and served on destroyer escorts in WWI. Just after the turn
of the 20th Century, British naval officers were still expected to
demonstrate many of the abilities required to command a ship under
sail- although pretty much the last of the British sail fleet had been
retired decades earlier. Grandpa was a consumate salt who could almost
turn a sailboat into a living being. Since I'm not ever going to be a
sailor myself, I guess I perceive trawlers as among the most
traditional powerboats, and if grandpa were here today he'd be less
ashamed of his stink-potting grandson in his 8 kt trawler than he would
be if I were
planing along at "way too fast". :-) So, as you see, the answer is strictly one of personal preferance. I am
open minded enough to appreciate that other people come to boating
looking for things that are entirely different than what I personally
value, and I can enjoy a variety of boating experiences and appreciate
the unique aspects of all of them without having to judge every boat
based on how similar or dissimilar to my personally favorite category
(the trawler) it might be. For a beamy layout on the main deck, very civilized performance in a
2-4 foot choppy Puget Sound sort of seas (head seas most particularly),
reasonable speed and fuel economy, a catamaran will meet or exceed a
lot of peoples' expectations. If I weren't a trawler boater, I could
easily imagine having a power cat among choices on a future "short
list". If. |
chuckgould.chu...
Jan 16
2006
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