well yeah but Im a happy idiot

Some bad news on the snow/water front in California, Yowza, and maybe its all just too fucked up to fix...

Someone wrote to me the other day to point out that boats were complicated/expensive affairs and that my suggesting that they could be any other way was simply idiotic.

Over the course of this blog experiment I have come to the conclusion that, at best, selling or promoting simplicity and sustainability as an alternative to the consumerist led status quo was something of an idiotic pasttime... So yeah, Ill admit to being something of an idiot.

For those like minded idiots who read this blog on a regular basis I highly recommend picking up the current excellent issue of WoodenBoat as there is a great article entitled "A Sound Boat and Simple Living" youll want to read.

Oh yeah, there is also a neat cruising design concept from the dynamic duo of  McGowan & Schacht that is well worth perusing...

Listening to the Idiot Bastard Band (because its what we happy idots do)

So it goes...

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OK I admit Im at a loss

An island of interest, a question of justice, and in the "outrageous" department...

Has anyone seen a really clever (dare I say cunning?) method of stowing a pair of bikes on a sub forty-foot sailboat?

If so, care to share?

Listening to a bunch of Rolling Stones covers

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On the fact that Im simply tired of getting depressed when I read boat ads

Something interesting/scary, video meets the memory hole, and in the ongoing "Attack of the PFD Nazis" department...

This morning I saw that a boat I know was still for sale and had been recently reduced in price... It got me thinking about how everyone makes mistakes. In this case, a young couple bought a boat that was as close to perfection (in their mind) as they could find, spent a sizable chunk of money making it even better, and then discovered, for one reason or another, that cruising simply did not suit them.

Sort of a bummer that.

Of course, this is not an isolated incident and, over a fair amount of years, Ive seen this scenario play out time and time again and, at the end of the story, there is always a boat with so much invested in it selling at a deep discount. To say its depressing is something of a gross understatement. So, just a little advice...

Get yourself a cheap boat in decent shape and just go cruising.

Go cruising for six months or a year and find out if you actually want to cruise. An old Pearson Triton, a CAL 29, or a Hunter 33 will tell you everything you need to know about cruising and if in the process you discover you want to cruise full time you can always buy a nicer/better boat with added smarts on what a better/nicer boat actually is.

That said, if you find you dont actually like being on a boat you can then sell your cheap Pearson/CAL/Hunter for around what you have invested in it or at most a minuscule loss.

Just saying...

Listening to Lucy & La Mer

So it goes...

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