No such thing.
Reason: Adventure
If there is any one thing that has brought more people to the world of cruising, and by default living on boats, it’s the seductive promise of adventure. We seek out boats because, in our minds, they are the physical manifestation of a magic carpet. With enough time, money and hard work, that leaky, moss covered wreak will take us places it has taken no other. It will share its secrets and tell us stories of long ago voyages. It will allow us to fly without the fear of falling.
If there is any one thing that has brought more people to the world of cruising, and by default living on boats, it’s the seductive promise of adventure. We seek out boats because, in our minds, they are the physical manifestation of a magic carpet. With enough time, money and hard work, that leaky, moss covered wreak will take us places it has taken no other. It will share its secrets and tell us stories of long ago voyages. It will allow us to fly without the fear of falling.
And so, in boatyards and backyards around the world sits the dreams of many, held up by braces and scaffolds, accessed by ladders covered with splatters of paint and varnish.
We started with such a boat, 29 feet of sailboat in sad disrepair. She came complete with moss and mold, her equipment old or nonexistent. With a quick inspection I wondered how she was still afloat. Yet she was perfect.
All I could see was the magic carpet, and with lots of hard work she became just that. As time went on we learned to sail and learned how to stay on her for longer periods of time. We knew we would want a larger boat someday, something the two of us could comfortably live aboard.
We started with such a boat, 29 feet of sailboat in sad disrepair. She came complete with moss and mold, her equipment old or nonexistent. With a quick inspection I wondered how she was still afloat. Yet she was perfect.
All I could see was the magic carpet, and with lots of hard work she became just that. As time went on we learned to sail and learned how to stay on her for longer periods of time. We knew we would want a larger boat someday, something the two of us could comfortably live aboard.
Working hard on our little Ava.
It’s been several years, and now we have that larger boat. We were fortunate to acquire her fresh from a complete refit, clean and fixed and ready to go. She was designed and built for two people to explore the world and, for the past two years, we have been doing just that.
Princess Louisa Inlet, a long way from home.
Adventure or exploration?
At the beginning I wrote that boats hold the promise of adventure, but when I think about it, I should have written that they hold the promise of exploration. We don’t seek unusual and thrilling activities, the things that define adventure. Exploration, the action of traveling in or through unfamiliar places in order to learn about them, really defines for us the lure of a boating life.
We have visited new places, met new people, and learned new things about ourselves and the environment around us. As time goes by we will continue to do so. This is the ‘magic’ of our magic carpet.
At the beginning I wrote that boats hold the promise of adventure, but when I think about it, I should have written that they hold the promise of exploration. We don’t seek unusual and thrilling activities, the things that define adventure. Exploration, the action of traveling in or through unfamiliar places in order to learn about them, really defines for us the lure of a boating life.
We have visited new places, met new people, and learned new things about ourselves and the environment around us. As time goes by we will continue to do so. This is the ‘magic’ of our magic carpet.
Odyssey where she is happiest. Out exploring.
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