Dogwatch – February 2019

Dogwatch (n): For sailors, either of the 2-hour watch periods between 1600 and 2000;
For journalists, the period after going to press when staff stand by in case breaking news warrants a late edition.
Volume 2, No. 4

Nautical Vows

News from the Helm

Consider buying used, a DIY bottom-cleaning tool, magnetic north and the US government shutdown, Raymarine goes over the top. Continue reading …

Mail Buoy

In praise of the DIY boatyard, readers weigh in on the benefits of the DIY yard and tell us about their favorites.
Continue reading …

Put it to the Readers

By Michael Robertson

We’re told that Millennials don’t buy stuff, they rent. Instead of a Ford in the garage, they keep an Uber app on their smartphone. Instead of a shelf lined with CDs, they pay a monthly fee to stream the music they want to listen to. Will it be the same with boats?

For those of us who take pride and pleasure in maintaining and improving and messing about in boats we own, it’s a foreign concept. But for those of us who have ever figured out the sobering cost-per-hour-used figure for the boat we own, maybe there is something to renting.

Boatsetter.com is a worldwide, peer-to-peer boat-sharing site that reminds us of Airbnb. There are smaller regional sites that operate the same way, and membership-based companies exist that own and maintain fleets of boats for members to use on a cost-per-hour basis. In other words, there are lots of ways to get out on the water under sail without owning a boat.

And so I put it to the readers: Have you used one of these avenues to get out on the water? Has it, or will it, replace boat ownership for you? Or do you place a high value on walking down the dock to your boat, a nautical refuge all your own? Do you think the future will look very different in this regard, with boat ownership becoming less common? Or will ownership rates be unaffected, but more people will find a way out onto the water via peer-to-peer boat sharing?

As always, I’m at michael_r@goodoldboat.com

Book Reviews

Poem of the Month

Fun to watch them fly and frolic
stunts and airs and high-speed swoops,
but oh it renders me melancholic
to see my boat all covered in poops.
I hung up foils and owls and snakes
stood on the deck and waved my arms.
I thought I’d done all that it takes
everything but install alarms.
And yet each day I sadly view
Tern poops, tern poops, anew,
Tern poops, tern poops…residue.

—Richard Green, Pacific Northwest sailor and owner (and part builder) of countless sailboats over his lifetime, including the pictured Jay Benford-designed 22-foot sloop he launched in 1980 after machining all the bronze fittings himself.

Have you written a sailing poem (or haiku or bawdy limerick) you want to share with Dogwatch readers? Send it to Michael_r@goodoldboat.com and it might wind up here.

–MR

Sailor of the Month

–MR