The tale of the pretty boat

My buddy Max told me a little story the other day. He and his wife had paddled their tandem kayak out to a little island off the coast of Maine. A beautiful sailboat dropped the hook right in front of them. A beautiful family: handsome man, his attractive wife and two perfect children were on the perfect boat. They lowered a flawless custom dinghy and made their way to the island. Once there, they noticed what they thought was a sandy beach was in fact covered in sharp shells. They went back to the sailboat for sneakers. Once more the beautiful people came back to the island, but were afraid to ground the pretty dingy. The man suggested they could lift the dingy up over the shells, but the rest of the family would have none if it. In the end, they gave up, climbed back aboard their beautiful sailboat and sailed away.

I thought of that story as I was touching up the gelcoat on my little somewhat less than perfect sailboat. My lovely wife and I don’t hesitate to land someplace that looks interesting. Sure, we don’t exactly sail full speed into concrete, but a few nicks and scraps don’t bother me all that much. The bottom paint has to be redone every year anyway, right? What good is a boat you can’t or won’t take to interesting places?

Of course, I’m not a pretty person, so maybe I’m missing something. However, I bet I’m having a lot more fun than they are. I certainly have a lot less to worry about.

-Sixbears