Len wrote:

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:03:56 -0800, Stephen Trapani
wrote:


You might consider adding the typical moments offshore, like getting
out of bed at 03.00 going out in your pyama's and being hosed down
with the garden hose by your partner who's yelling "we need to set a
reef"...

and they hose you off with salt water, don't forget what that's like
when it dries.

The problem though with Larry's simulator is that it leaves off all the
good parts of living on a boat.


Yes, I see your point. But as I read it it's an insurance policy
against the hazard of making decisions being blinded by love for
boats....

For us (the mrs and me) the best part of living aboard is the freedom.
We can take our pick of harbours or anchorages to choose from.
When a particular place doesn't suit us, we simple go elsewhere...

And also another type of freedom:
No garden, no home-improvement, no stuffing up garages and attics with
the useless crap that is sold in bundles nowadays, no car, just two
folding bikes.
We altered slowly into a less consuming lyfestyle and in retrospect
that is the major asset.

What do you regard as the good parts?

Well, for one, lots to do with the mobility as you said, especially if
one is in an area like I am, Puget Sound, where there are tons of
marinas and anchorages to explore, and the whole waterway sheltered, and
the sense of adventure and exploration that goes with it, without as
much of the high speed and high risk associated with highway travel.

The boating culture and increased opportunity to meet people is a
biggie. There's something about boating that encourages camraderie and
leads people to be friendly, like when they have both traveled from a
distance and find themselves sharing the same piece of adventure. Also
there's a healthy chunk of the "live it up" mentality among boaters,
which is loads of fun if one doesn't overdo it.

Another feature of boating to love is harder to describe. It has to do
with the smell of the water, the feel of floating instead of being stuck
to the ground, the forces of nature have you, but they don't, you
partner with them for your ends. But not just that, it's always ancient
and brand new, a part of your history and future and the same time,
deeply familiar yet always strange.


--
Stephen

-------

For any proposition there is always some sufficiently narrow
interpretation of its terms, such that it turns out true, and
some sufficiently wide interpretation such that it turns out
false...concept stretching will refute *any* statement, and will
leave no true statement whatsoever.
-- Imre Lakatos