Top Ten Reasons to Go Boating: Recreational Boating Activities

Adventure

Boating has always been an adventure: from the first mariners that set sail to discover new worlds to the commercial fishermen and merchant seamen even today who go down to the sea in ships. The seamen who opened world trade routes around the Horn, the captains and crew who fought the world’s great sea battles, and the birch bark canoe men were adventurers all. Whenever or wherever you take to the water in your boat, from a dinghy to a yacht, you are joining the ranks of marine adventurers of all time. There is always an unknown ahead of you -- an adventure awaits.

BondingBoating

You can, of course, boat alone, but the greater satisfaction is in boating with others, bonding with family and friends, and developing teamwork that makes your boat go better. Working together to leave the dock, racing, cruising, anchoring, and returning to harbor can expand your life and relationships. Sailing, perhaps, offers the greatest opportunity for team building, but so does two man canoeing, even pedal boating.

Craftsmanship

Boats, more than automobiles or airplanes, require craftsmen. There is always something to fix or improve on a boat that you must do yourself, not contract for. There’s a crack to mend, or a leak to plug, or a bottom to clean; something to paint, varnish, or polish, or a broken line (boaters don’t call them “ropes” see Education, below) to splice or replace. Perhaps there is a bolt to tighten or a block to grease. If you have an engine, there may be oil to change or packing to stuff. It is an endless source of satisfaction for a job well done.

Developing skills, wisdom, and confidence

There is never a day when you will go out in a boat that you do not learn something new or sharpen a skill. There is never a day when you are not required to make a decision, often quickly, that you have not made in quite the same way before. Boats are not as life threatening as automobiles, but they seem to be. The bigger risk in boating is to your ego, for there are times when wind, wave, or current becomes the master. And with loss of ego, as the Maine sage says, comes wisdom. In this way you develop confidence in yourself and in your ability to handle unexpected situations.

Education

First of all, you have to learn a new language. Boats don’t have fronts or rears. Even canoes and dinghies have bows and sterns, with bow lines and stern lines. There are knots you must learn to tie. There is nothing intuitive about making boats go, either, and you will always want to make the boat go better, or faster, or safer, requiring education in seamanship, rules of the road, and safety. You need to learn piloting and chart reading, how to anchor, and how to read the weather and the water. If you trailer your boat, you need an education in how to launch and retrieve, and how to balance your load; it is not as easy as it looks. In boating, continuing education is the name of the game.


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