(This post is about boats and sailing. So…if you’re not interested in this sort of discussion, switch off now.)
Dylan Winter, of Keep Turning Left fame, asked this on the forum I visit: Ten Things I Love About My Boat.
- It’s a boat.
- The view from the cockpit is often spectacular
- It’s another world.
- Laying in bed in the front V berth under the glass hatch watching the clouds drift by
- That special moment when the sails go up and you switch off the engine…….
- anticipation about the journey ahead
- Being rocked to sleep and listening to the slop, slop, slop of the water against the hull.
- That moment when you pull the ring on a can of beer after mooring and a great days sail.
- Just being on the boat is enough
- Being half asleep and unable to decide whether that gurgling noise is inside or outside the hull
- The bubbling forefoot, the gin and tonic at sunset at anchor. The only sound you can hear is the birds. The seal popping up alongside. When she is in the groove and she sails herself as if enjoying being free again from her mooring. The joy when most of the winter jobs are done and you feel safe within her bosom.
- The sound of rain on the coachroof
- Watching the sun go down with a glass of red wine in hand
- The feel of the cool, slightly damp air when you open the hatch to go outside and turn the gas on, followed by the smell of matches, the gas burner and the freshly brewed coffee.
- the sound of the wind through the sails
- sailing at 4 knots against a 4 knot tide and admiring the still scenery
- When she’s sailing smoothly and safely in strong conditions with the windvane steering,she feels complete.The noise of the wind in the rigging and the rush of the water going past and over the hull while I’m sitting at the chart table is intoxicating.And when steering her to windward she behaves like a living thing choosing the best path through the seas with only minimal input from the tiller.
- I like being able to get almost 5Kts water speed out of 8Kts of real wind on a beam reach
- I feel more myself on board than anywhere else I think. SWMBO has said as much and prefers the sailing me to the land bound one