Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Ten reasons to buy a sailboat

Astoundingly, a Google search for the phrase “reasons to buy a sailboat” turns up not a single hit. Is Google trying to tell me something? Is there simply NO good reason to buy a sailboat? Surely that can’t be so. Suppose you’re stranded on a desert isle, with no gas or diesel? Wouldn’t buying a sailboat make good sense?

My list-- 10 good reasons to buy a sailboat:

1) If there’s a crazy war or emergency, and all the highways are clogged, you have a way to get out of town. I read a novel once in which a family escaped from an invasion of England by sailing their boat out the Solent.

2) A sailboat uses less fuel than a powerboat. So any reason to buy a powerboat is probably a better reason to buy a sailboat. QED.

3) People might—might—call you “captain” or “skip” or some other such title. Where else can you get a title with no education or election involved?

4) There is nothing better than leaning out the companionway, holding a big mug of hot coffee, on a cool Maine morning, with a little drifting fog. There really isn’t.

5) Sailboat sleeping is the best sleeping. Nowhere else can a grown man get away with being rocked to sleep.

6) Everyone knows Americans have too much money. Owning a sailboat helps fix that problem.

7) If you own a sailboat, every morning, any morning, you could cast off for a trip around the world. If you want. Really, you could.

8) Everyone loves to see sailboats on the water. Owning a sailboat is like contributing to public art. Except certain really ugly ones. Funny how those tend to get holes in them.

9) If you like to compete at things, you can race a sailboat.

10) I still haven’t quite convinced myself, but I think I’m going to make an offer on the damn thing anyway.