Changing Priorities

It is funny how your priorities change over time. I used to consider this was because your physical capabilities diminish with age. While this is undoubtedly true, I now prefer to think that the accumulation of life experiences simply allow you to develop more refined tastes (e.g. appreciating a fine brandy or a single malt scotch vs Captain Morgan’s Dark Rum).

Experiencing a winter in the Bahamas has changed my tastes in boats and while the experience certainly must have resulted in the death of many brain cells, the change in tastes is still supported by a certain degree of logic.

Let me explain.

When I was 13, I was given an old (1930s) 18’ wooden sailboat to maintain and to sail. On most summer days with any wind, you might have seen two friends, myself and my dog sailing around Lake St Louis, Montreal. Usually our trips were voyages to nowhere. After spending hours on the water, we would return to the mooring where we started without having ever stopped. It was time well wasted. We learned to discipline ourselves to do necessary maintenance (if you don’t paint it, you can’t launch it and if you don’t launch it, you can’t have fun). We learned how to harness the wind and to overcome whatever nature threw our way. We enjoyed each others company and shared in the mysteries of life as only 13 year old boys can (e.g. wanna see how I can make my dog eat a dill pickle?).

For me at that age, that boat was damn near perfect!

In my later teens and well into my 20s, racing became the thing. Now, the only thing that mattered was going fast. Having a boat that could also be used for a pleasure sail, that could be used for more than two people, that did not require and extremely high level of expertise even to crew, having any load carrying capacity or even having an anchor simply did not matter. The purpose was to enjoy both the intellectual challenge of equipping and modifying a boat and to sail it in a manner that was faster than the competition.

The International 14 provided both challenge and learning opportunity in huge quantities.

As I moved into my 30s and 40s, my focus shifted towards cruising sailboats. Still, whenever there was another sailboat in sight (and there was almost always another sailboat in sight), I was racing. Destinations were usually anchorages or maybe small towns. They were chosen for protection, to provide entertainment for the kids (e.g. good swimming hole) and sometimes because of some event going on (e.g. good July 4th fireworks display). In my mind, the purpose of sailing was still to enjoy the process. If I had my way, we would sail every day, even if it meant returning to the same place where we started.

I lusted after, but never owned, a cruiser-racer like those made by C&C.

When preparing for our trip to the Bahamas, priorities started to shift. I considered that performance under sail was going to be important, but safety and performance at anchor would be even more important. When choosing a boat, low initial cost, simplicity and robustness (hopefully lowering operating costs and releasing time to be spent enjoying life) were very important considerations. An older, shallow draft catamaran with a well proven safety record, world girdling capability with the simplicity and reliability of long, fixed keels and a steerable 4 stroke outboard seemed to be ideal.

In many respects, I was right. For cruising in the Bahamas, I can still think of no better sailboat than a catamaran. For added comfort, I would like a bigger one but for ease of sailing, anchoring and maneuvering, I would not want it to be bigger at all.

Experiencing the Bahamas cruising lifestyle, however, changed some of my perspectives.

First, there is the dingy. I always thought a dingy was primarily used to take yourself and passengers ashore. While this remains an important function, it should also be thought of as your pick-up truck for bring groceries, water jugs and anything you might buy from shore to your boat. It is also your vehicle for exploring shores and destinations easily 5 miles away. Finally, it also served as our dive boat. A very important consideration of the mother boat should be what size of dingy it can carry on board. I would love to be able to carry, on deck, a 13’ Boston Whaler or equivalent.

Secondly, you just don’t get a chance to sail the mother ship that often or very far. Absolutely no-one bothers to just go for a day sail. It is simply too much work. When going from port to port, the distances are always short and most people use all the distance as an opportunity to charge batteries and/or to make water. On the Stray Cat, we sailed more than most. But we still did not sail much and I love to sail.

I found myself looking for a better solution. On any nice day with wind, I think that if we had a Hobie Cat in tow, it would take me about 35 seconds using the VHF radio to find someone else who wanted to go for a daysail. Small boats are more fun anyway. Even if this was my only sailing outlet, I think I would sail more often and with much more enjoyment than if I continued to rely on the Stray Cat as my only source of sailing fun.

Thirdly, we entertained and were entertained much more often than I would have thought possible. One evening, we begged off going to a dinner party on one boat and the basis we wanted to take an evening off just to be with our selves. We then went to shore to do some laundry. By the time we returned, we had visited people (and had drinks with) people on 3 other boats and accepted a dinner invitation on one of them. On the Stray Cat, we can entertain 12 for happy hour and seat 6 for dinner but Beverley desperately wants space for more.

Finally, when you live on it for months, your boat becomes your house. It is no longer a piece of sporting equipment. If performance is synonymous with speed, then speed at anchor becomes much more important than speed under sail.

I find that there is an automotive analogy. For blasting around back roads, I love my motorcycle. If the weather is inclement or I need to carry anything, then I want my car. If I am going to live in it, then I want my motorhome. If we are going to park the motorhome in one location for any time, then I want to take the car in tow. I have often yearned for a way to tow both the car and the motorcycle as well as to carry the canoe and the kayak.

So, what we need is the nautical equivalent of a motorhome which can carry its maritime equivalent accessories (car and motorcycle).

So, what we need is (drum roll please)… a trawler - one with sufficient space to carry a small motorboat and a disassembled Hobie Cat on a roof. When not making open ocean passages, one or both of these could be towed.

When you come down to it, in the Sea of Abaco, most of us behave as we were piloting trawlers most of the time. None of us would voluntarily try to sail a trawler. So why do so many of us insist in trying to “trawl” in a sailboat?

So where does that leave us?

Anyone want to buy a boat? You can find the Stray Cat listed on www.yachtworld.com .