Boat People

One of the things I have always enjoyed most about being involved with boats is that they have a wonderful tendancy to bring people together from all walks of life, people who you wouldn't expect to have become friends if they met under other circumstances. Boat people all have one common thread, which occupies inordinately large amounts of their free time, and the shared misfortune of owning a boat draws mariners together into what amounts to an extraordinarily widespread support group. For every first-time boat owner there is always a dockfull of available mentors, ready to share their hard-won expertise in whatever problem most closely mirrors past mechanical nightmares in their personal money pit in the water. Unlike life on land where concrete and open lawns create distance between you and your neighbors, literally and figuratively, on a dock you pass by your neighbors on an 8' floating wooden strip, and it's very hard not to get to know one another. It's natural therefore that I've found it so easy to make many great friends on the docks over the years, irrespective of age or background, ranging from being in their mid-twenties to eighty-somthings. Nautical life seems to diminish the apparent boundaries of age significantly, and it's interesting to note that a number people I regard as some of my fondest friends are old enough to be my parents, or even grandparents. It is said that God does not count against man's allotted time on earth every day spent sailing; I'm just holding out hope that applies the same to every day spent fixing one's boat. That way, hopefully, we'll all live a long, long time.