Take a look at Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues. How many do you have?
Me? I've got 2, maybe 3. But I'm kinda drunk right now and I haven't been shagging the empties. So I'm not too sure. 4?
...plus a million things I still don't know. That's what I learned last night.
See, I stayed up until 4:30 last night reading every article on this page and this page. I'm serious; I read them all.
My head (no pun intended) is awash (err...) with tales of woe and doom. But I found it very informative. Knowing what not to do was, I think, what was putting me off. It's not very hard to spend $50,000 and through omission of action wind up with exactly $0. Hearing about what's bad enables you to think about what needs to be good. It's a lot of work, too, keeping everything in order. Except now it's not mysterious, what needs to be done.
Plus, I know more about galvanism and electrolysis and pumping and amp-hours and hull-throughs than I ever thought I would. So that was a cool brain-load last night. Made for a tired day, though.
I still think that I'm going to start slow, renting bare charters for a while, until I get the basics down. It pays to hang around the marina, listening to folks who aren't selling things. Besides it'll still get me out on the water and exploring so that's cool.
After reading all that last night, I was sort of thinking way back to that VW Squareback I built right after high school. If I didn't turn a wrench at least once every 3,000 miles, I'd break down somewhere for certain (including one time on the Goldan Gate Bridge at 4:30 on a Friday; that was a fun time). The car would just get mad at me for my inattentive ways and would not put up with me anymore until I gave it the care it desired. After a while I found myself getting bored and gapping valves and replacing points or fuel filters just because it was "Sunday".
I get the feeling that the same sorts of things are involved in boating. There's lots of putzing around with various maintenance-style tasks, it seems. About as much time is spent fiddling and maintaining as actual on-the-water boating, it looks like. But being a handy guy who likes to tinker, that's fine by me. I still think it'll be fun. Better use of time than video games, anyway...
I've had this idea for a long time that I'd own a boat. Every time I've been on the water, I've loved it. Sail boats, power boats, launches, big cruise ships, I've enjoyed all of it. I like all the special tricks and the little doodads and the different way you have to think when you're on the water. And it's like a little hotel that you can take with you. Hell, I've even had a fun time when it's just staying on board and never leaving the slip.
The trouble is that I've never really known anyone with a boat, so I've never been able to get familiar with it through practice. There's a lot to learn adn I never knew where to start. I've bought a few books, but it gets geting boring when it's so esoteric. But you can't just get in a boat and head out, like with an RV or whatever. So that's been an issue.
I recently came across Club Nautique, and that looks like a perfect way to solve my maritime ignorance issues. In particular, I had my eye on their Basic Cruising Trawler Course.
They take you out for two days in the bay and teach you everything you need to know to skipper a 30 foot yacht. You learn knots, navigation, rules of the road, and a hundred other little conventions that would probably never occur to you. Afterwards, they will let you rent boats from them without having to also rent the captain. That makes it a private trip, and therefore 1200% more fun.
One trip I'd like to take is a weekend cruise up the river to Napa. They also offer a similar trip, but on a bigger boat. I think I'd like to go out on my own for a bit and then when I get good enough, make a 3 day weekend out of it. The idea is that I'll get the course under my belt, charter a bare boat a few times and get to know the bay. Then I'll go on more adventerous cruises. But first, I'll be happy enough just to not get in the way of some big-ass boat loaded with cargo containers or something.
Another course I want to take is the Coastal Navigation Certification one. Take that, get my cert. I'm pretty good with maps from back when I had to make them in school, and the geometry isn't that foreign, so I think it'll be pretty straightforward. Besides, you get to spend 3 days out on the water. Talk about having a fun time learning!
Anyway, Tess and I both signed up for the basic course. Come early August, we'll both be skippers. If we decide that cruising is the thing we like, craigslist has some pretty nice deals on boats...
Boy, they sure did produce some swell comics back in the 40's. If only that one came with a secret decoder ring, too! That would be nifty!