Sailing Small is a Big Win by Kate Reckner I’ve been wanting to write about my last boating adventure
interesting to say. Most folks were interested in the places we went and maybe curious about the daily living and how we got there…but not really. The boyfriend and I planned a 2018 summer getaway on
Elf, our 1977 Neptune 24, with visions of gunkholing all sum- mer long throughout Long Island Sound, sailing grounds that would be cooler with less humidity than our local Chesapeake. When we returned in the fall, friends and family looked at our photos, reviewed our blog, and made a few comments about our adventure. But it wasn’t until recently that the nitty gritty was asked about: Had we really enjoyed spending all that time together being very next to one another in our 24-foot boat? Some questions came as jokes: “You guys still talking to each other?” “Didn’t you want to kill each other?” Or, with incre- dulity, “I love my partner, but I don’t think I could ever do that with them.” So, I’m here to cover our adventure from that angle, keeping
in mind most people have told me they just would not be in- terested in traveling together in such a small boat. I think this
“Just remember, it’s not how big you are, it’s how big you play!”
prejudice is borne out because we only saw two couples our age, under 50, traveling on a small boat on that trip. Well, I now have a hook, my angle, and a point to make. I’ll start with this: I think much of the fuss about small boat
size is just a hasty judgement; made without realizing that the living we were doing, is no different than being generic tourists. (How much space, either physical or emotional, do you have when you’re in steerage on a plane, or in a cozy hotel room?) Our trip included leaving the Chesapeake via the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, up the Jersey coast, passing Roosevelt Island in the East River and stopping off on City Island before getting fully into Long Island Sound. As a car trip, it would have been quicker for sure, but our boat cockpit is still roomier than the front seats of our economy cars. Making sandwiches while underway on the boat was yummier and easier than in our car. Our berths on the boat offer about the same amount of space as a New York hotel room (unless you’re spending a million dol- lars), and our views of Jersey and New York were what tourists
36 for too long, but I didn’t have a hook or angle—something
pay to get. So, my first point is to reject the premise that you always have more space and comfort on land. I mentioned our adventure was not about being fast or ef-
ficient, so I get the concept that many long days on the water, coupled with a small space, are really what some people are questioning. On our adventure, we certainly were not in a rush, as we sailed from City Island to Duck Harbor, to Port Jefferson, and on. We were taking our time, stretching it out, being lazy on the sheets. Te friends who swear they couldn’t survive on a small boat are not really thinking about how they spend their own long, languid summer days. Sure, there’s going to the grocery store; there’s getting gas; there’s putting away the laundry. But on long weekend days, are there not also naps, and dips in the pool? (You can do all that same stuff on a boat, and just like at home you’re not doing any of it joined at the hip. If I’m putting away the groceries, which requires floorboards up and access to bins, the boyfriend can’t be down below while that’s going on; he would just be in the way, and besides he’s too busy topping off freshwater jerry cans. If I’m reading my book, then he’s cooling off with a splash overboard. I don’t think the naysayers realize how oſten one person is busy doing something that’s separate and unrelated to the other person on a boat. It’s actually a treat for both to be able to sit in the cockpit and enjoy where you’re heading because most of the time you’re each doing separate stuff. Pulling into a marina also has us going our separate ways. (New Bedford had one of us going to the grocery store, while the other was waiting on the outboard motor repair guy. Or on City Island, one of us was waiting on the laundry to finish drying, while the other went and got her toes painted!) We made time each day to be together sailing, but it wasn’t
as easy as you think. You’re taking turns helming, and when it’s not your turn, you’re going to the head, putting on sunscreen, consulting charts, grabbing a snack so when you’re back at the helm, those things are done. Yes, you might be in shouting dis- tance of each other, but that doesn’t mean you’re interacting. For us, the only guaranteed time together was each morning when deciding where to go for the day. (We did usually brush our teeth together each night, too.) Mostly, each morning would include a follow-up conversation from the night before, when weather re- ports and charts had been consulted, so we felt we were anchored in a good-weather spot for the evening…and as a tee-up for what we might decide to do the next day, like the morning we thought we might head to Mystic Seaport from Tree Mile Island. We could have stayed on the Long Island side of the Sound but based on wind and motor issues referenced above, we decided it was time to cross Mystic Seaport off the to-do list. Te whole
SMALL CRAFT ADVISOR
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