Bigger isn’t Always Better

Saturday October 6, 2012

Up early again, we had gone off to the boat show for the second day with the thought in our heads of ‘We really didn’t need to spend second day here‘. We were still pretty satisfied with everything we got in yesterday, but the tickets were already purchased and we figured we may as well use them.  Personally I was just excited to just stroll on and off boats with nothing dragging me down like all the gear we had purchased yesterday.  Trying to visit some of the boats we didn’t get to the day before, we went up to the line of Tartan’s first.  There was a group of three, ranging in size from about 34 feet to 45.  We were used to the previous day when brokers or other hired help would keep a steady flow moving on and off the boat to keep it from getting too crowded on deck or below.  Tartan didn’t feel like doing this.  While we watched four people stand in the cockpit before they could make their way below, we decided to wait on the steps leading up to the boat until all four of those people had gone below before letting ourselves board.  It was amazing on how many people behind us didn’t get the concept of a line and would try and push their way past us on to the boat.  Then after getting on and seeing there was no room to even move around the cockpit they’d look back at us with and idiotic expression on their face and remark, “Oh, were you in line?”.  Yes, you mouth breathers, we are in line.  It’s something us civilized people like to do to keep order.  One couple that asked us this replied with “Well we’re just going to sit in the cockpit until there’s room to go below” and still tried to cut in front of us after we were on deck and had moved out of the way to let other people off.  Some people have no sense of others.  They’re probably the same people that will take up a whole aisle in a grocery store with themselves and their cart.  Drives me insane.

While walking from boat to boat I also had a question answered that I asked Matt from the previous day, which was ‘Why are there no kids around?‘.  Every year we used to go to Strictly Sail in Chicago and you would be dodging strollers left and right.  Yesterday we saw only two strollers the whole day and very few people under the age of 18.  Today there were strollers and kids everywhere.  Then it hit me that yesterday was a work/school day, and of course Saturday would be the day that all the families would be coming out to the show.  We actually didn’t have to watch out for too many strollers here in Annapolis, but there was one family we kept managing to follow from boat to boat that had two kids under 8, and I felt bad for the brokers and owners when those kids kept jumping up on furniture and slamming doors and cabinets open and shut.  Except for the brokers on the Tartans.  That’s what they get for their lack of traffic control.  Things really got better when we started viewing some of the nicer catamarans like the Lagoons and you had to sign in with a representative.  It was all adults and they did a great job of monitoring how many people were on a boat at a time.  I couldn’t even imagine living on the size and luxury of those cats, but at a certain size it almost stops feeling like a boat and more like a condo permanently on the water.  Takes a little bit of the nautical feel out of it.  Not that we’ll ever turn down a sail on one though should anyone think of inviting us (hint, hint).

One thing I do love about these boat shows is that they still make me love Serendipity just as much as the day we bought her.  As I said, we’re quickly becoming the smallest boat in most anchorages and while visiting the show, there is not much shown that’s the same size or smaller than ours.  But while viewing all these upper 30’s, 40, 50 & 60 foot boats, I can’t help but think how she is just the perfect size for us.  Yes, sometimes we do go crazy with the lack of storage and that extra 4 or 6 or 10 feet can sound really tempting until you figure everything that goes in with it.  Our 34′ was $55,000 when we bought her.  Should we go up to 42′ that cost would be around $140,000.  Then the parts are more expensive should you need to replace them.  You need larger lines, winches and sails.  Per foot the price goes up any time you stay at a marina and in some countries you enter and when something goes wrong you may not be able to fix it yourself any more.  So is all of that worth a little extra storage and an enclosed shower?  Not to me.  And once everything is put in it’s place, our boat is actually pretty comfy to relax, sleep, or even cook in.

Forcing ourselves to stay as long as we could, once the rain clouds came in and we felt a few drops on our face we loaded back on to the shuttle bus to go home.  Getting dropped off we crossed the street to do a little grocery shopping for Canadian Thanksgiving the next night that we had been invited to.  Then bugging Matt, because all our friends had between 2-5 cases of beer on their boat while we only had four cans, we went next door to the Rite Aid to stock up.  Besides getting a sample of American Harvest Vodka mixed into a Screwdriver, we found a new beer we had never seen before called National Bohemian.  It was only $14.99 for a 30 pack!  But then there was also 30 packs of Bud Light for $17.99.  Which one to choose?    We went with both and now can proudly say we also have at least two cases of beer on our boat.

Sitting on a bench enjoying the city.