Issue 26 : Sept/Oct 2002
Jerry and I didn’t coin the term “affordable dream,” although we like the concept and, through Good Old Boat, we have done much to promote it. What’s so intriguing about it is that the size of the dream (and its relative cost) differs from dreamer to dreamer.
People talk about “boat bucks” and “boat units.” These are sums of money spent on boating activities, of course. What’s compelling about this concept is that the amount in question varies with the size of the boat. Usually it’s based on the length of the boat, but among those doing extensive refits in the yard, I imagine the sum could be based on the size of the project. Like slip fees, boat units increase in size increments — perhaps from $100 to $500 to $1,000 — depending upon the size of the boat.
The affordable dream has the same cachet: my dream won’t be the same as yours or have the same price tag attached. Right now, I dream of having the summer off for sailing the boat I already own in the Great Lakes and eventually out the St. Lawrence Seaway. Your dream could be of circumnavigating. That may require the purchase of a bigger boat, one with bluewater credentials, or more stuff to put on the boat you already own. Or you may dream of trailersailing the North American lakes. Someone else may dream of sailing the San Juan Islands and Inside Passage to Alaska. For some, it’s the Baja. For others, the Caribbean . . . Bermuda . . . Maine . . . Florida . . . For others it’s simply having a sailboat (any sailboat!), or a bigger boat, or another boat.
It can be the destination that inspires dreamers. Broad expanses of sandy beach and palm trees figure into many a dream. Or it can be the vessel that causes our minds to wander . . . that dreamboat we always imagined . . . the one that caught our fancy years ago as a reality or as a vision and is crystallized forever in our minds.
The cost of these dreams, like boat units, will vary from hundreds to thousands. What’s affordable and what’s just out of reach will vary from individual to individual, too. What unites us is the common thread of sailing. One sailor dreams of a Hinckley Pilot 35 and a trip to Bermuda. Another dreams of his first sailing dinghy on the lake near home.
Whatever the size of the dream and the boat, used boats and an investment of our own time in caring for them make most of our dreams affordable. They won’t come true unless we make them happen. Dreams never do. But what’s important to realize is that our sailing dreams are within our reach and can come true. It is the goal of Good Old Boat to give wings to sailing dreams large and small.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
