I've always wanted to sail to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and the South Seas, but I can't afford it. What we all can't afford is not to go. We as a society have instilled in us all, the cancerous discipline of security. We are all enmeshed in gathering more and more, and in a way, doing so actually turns into being less and less. And in the worship of security, we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine, and before we know it, our lives are gone.
Modern-day society engulfed and brainwashed us to achieve, to prosper, to gather, and to plan for tomorrow, and doing so, we forget about today. So many times I've heard from clients dreaming about buying a boat and sailing away, if just for a weekend or a lifetime, is "when I retire, I'll get that boat," or "just three more years, and I'll have what I need to be able to pull the trigger" or "when the kids are gone, I'll get the boat." Making excuses is always the easy way out, for its like saying, it's raining out so I can't go for a run now.
And now with the Apocalypse coming because of the recent coronavirus outbreak where we might all turn into zombies and the Wall Street meltdown as we watch our portfolios being cut in half once again; getting onto a boat makes the most sense. Just think about it. Self-sufficient, you carry aboard what you need to survive and live healthy, care-free, and stress-free. I heard that zombies can't swim. If the neighborhood goes to crap or you don't like your neighbors, it's easy to find another better place, for you just have to untie her and point her in the right direction. There would not better a better place to be when things go south than on a boat anchored in the same beautiful, peaceful cove far away from all of the confusion, turmoil, and fake news.
Freedom is just another word for when you really don't have that much to lose.
Tomorrow isn't a sure bet, for so many times, dreams are lost, forgotten, and given up to life's uncertainties. Health, youth, and time are like an hourglass that has been turned and never again can be righted again. Then in time, our lives are complicated by aging parents that need care, and before we know it, our kids have kids, and we are grandparents. The window of opportunity is a narrow one, and its doors are not always open, or even stay open for long.
So the solution is to accept compromise and not delay dreams anymore. When one does the talk with the walk, it's a complete package of actions, then do speak louder than just words.
Sure, we all wish to win the lottery so that we can buy that Hylas 57 one day, but one has a much better chance of getting hit by lightning. My advice to those procrastinating is not to wait, for life is just to short for dreaming. Yes, everything starts with a dream, but leaving one's desire to experience boat ownership and a sense of voyaging only a dream, will just lie on one's shelf with all of the other broken dreams.
I always tell my clients that spending their money on a boat isn't like spending that same amount of money on vacation. One will still have a monitorial valve in boat purchasing, most likely not as much as initially invested, but have always tried better and more prosperous than not ever having tried. As the old saying goes, a venture not attempted is a venture not gained and lived.
It takes years to learn a boat and its systems, for sailing her is only twenty percent of the entire equation. One needs to learn the difference of what a wet impeller spinning sounds like compared to a dry one, for the things one needs to learn is endless. Learning and understanding is part of the fun.
Owning a boat and sailing her, for most of us, becomes a lifestyle, which in turn transcends ones' career, religion, politics, and sexual preference. It is one of the few things that someone with a million-dollar boat shares with someone on a fifty thousand dollar one. Same ocean, same tides, same weather, same issues, and same challenges. It is something hard to explain, but in a way, it makes the playing field sort of level for everyone.
Many years ago, a famous cruising couple coined the phrase, "go simple go now". One feels that they need everything under the sun to make the cruising voyaging scene a fun one. We go to every chat room, every blog, and YouTube video to learn, and before we know it,
our minds are filled with other peoples experiences good or bad, to spreadsheets, shortlists, and long lists; and before we know it, we are just tangled up in blue. Sometimes we waste our lives living our dreams through someone else's, which is so sad.
So, the years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.
Where then lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?
By: Bernie Jakits
Senior Broker
David Walters Yachts
Mid-Atlantic Office, Seattle, & Santa Barbara
bernie@davidwaltersyachts.com
443-742-1792