SAIL - April 2015

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APRIL 2015 ILLUSTRATION BY JAN ADKINS

The old saw implies that by selling your boat you escape
the expenses that go with ownership. No more slip fees,
winter storage fees, maintenance and upgrading costs, insur-
ance costs, not to mention the time you invest in prepping your boat
for another season. If financial concerns are your sole motivation for
selling, then the day you sell your boat would indeed be a happy one.
But I’m guessing they’re not. I’m guessing that guilt, and the avoidance
of it, is a bigger reason.
When we buy our sailboats, many of us justify the sizeable purchase
by convincing ourselves that we’ll be spending every free moment
aboard. Many of us spend hours comparing the cost of boat ownership
with weekends at the beach or a cabin in the mountains or country club
memberships for the next decade and decide that by spending every in-
season weekend, holiday and vacation day on the boat, we’ll be getting
a bargain.
When we make those computations we fully intend for the boat to
occupy our every leisure moment, but intentions don’t always become
realities. Little League baseball games, Sunday visits with the in-laws,
charity golf tournaments with the boss, that early season Ravens-Steel-
ers game, etc., have a tendency to weave their way into the fabric of
our everyday lives. It’s not that we love sailing any less. It’s just that life
presents so many demands on our “free” time.
So the end result is that many of us start to feel guilty. “We’re not
using the boat as much as we should,” we think. “It’s just sitting there
in the slip on this beautiful weekend. We should be out there sailing!”
Sadly, for many of us, our boat becomes a source of anxiety rather than
the source of joy it once was.
Even though the annual costs may be easily manageable, we start
thinking that our reduced usage doesn’t justify the cost, so we do one of

two things. We either consider selling the boat that we love, or we make

up our minds to use it more often, regardless of whatever else might

be happening in our lives. Either way, we’re trying to rid ourselves of

that gnawing feeling in our gut everytime we spend a sunny, breezy

weekend ashore.

That said, though, who determines how often we should be using

our boats? Our sailing friends? Our banker? Our neighbors? Nowhere

is it written that to justify boat ownership, we have to be aboard every

weekend. These are self-imposed standards, and as our lives change, so

should our expectations.

The question comes down to quality versus quantity. Is sailing your

boat still fun? Do you still love the feel of the tiller or wheel in your

hand as she moves to windward? Would you miss that feeling? If so,

then it doesn’t matter whether you’re sailing every single or every

fourth weekend. In fact, many of those who force themselves to go

down to their boats every weekend out of guilt and obligation, might

enjoy them more if they skipped a weekend once in a while.

It’s naive to assume that our boats should be our sole source of

recreation. We all have other interests, and boat ownership shouldn’t

keep us from enjoying those too. Allowing that to happen can only end

in resentment and resentment often leads to “the saddest day in a boat

owner’s life.” Stop feeling guilty. Enjoy your sailboat as frequently—or

infrequently—as you choose. s

Alan Keene, a retired mental health care professional turned writer, sails his

Oxford Dinghy and his Capri 25 on Chesapeake Bay

Windshifts

by L. Alan Keene

Feeling

Guilty?

W

e’ve all heard the old adage,

“the two happiest days in a

boat owner’s life are the day

he buys it and the day he sells it.” Sounds

straightforward enough, but there’s

another side to “selling day” that you

may not have thought about.