On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 14:48:50 -0800, Frogwatch wrote:

My personal strastegy is that my own boat is sorta small but just large
enough for me to cross the Gulf in good weather (28'). She is long ago
paid for and isnt a modern beauty but she works well. I have no
complicated stuff, no shorepower, no marine head, no chart plotter,
nothing fancy at all. I do have a good hull, good sails , a good engine
with fixed 3 bladed prop, new rigging and PAPER CHARTS. GPS is just a
back-up for my personal navigation obsession. If she was wrecked, I'd
shrug my shoulders and figger out what to do next and it wouldnt be too
big a deal.

I'm with you on this. We used to keep our little boat on Lake Huron.
From time to time as we were daysailing we'd watch Admiral Gotbucks sail
his big Gozzard out of a 30' wide channel into the lake and I'd remind
my mate that if we lost our boat, the insurance company would have to pay
us 3X what we paid for her...and if Gotbucks went on the rocks?... Then
we'd raise another glass of Veuve and wonder whether they were having any
more fun than we were. Although I suppose it's all relative. If you can
spend $3/4million on a boat and it doesn't hurt, why not?