Waterbased

I got lucky in the lottery of life and have always had boats to sail, drive, and sleep on. As I get older and start to realize that I won’t always be living under my parents roof and budget, I’ve started to dream of my own sailboat.

She’s a very light blue – slightly closer to periwinkle than turquoise but definitely not too purple – and has a yellow and white striped spinnaker. Her standard sails are a simple white, but maybe the mainsail will have a red stripe or two. There are 2 portholes (rounded, not angular) and the cockpit is big enough to sleep in.

Then again, she could be any color and have the smallest cockpit you’ve ever seen. I’ll get any boat I can sail, live on, and (most importantly) afford!

So I spend my afternoons combing the overgrown back yards of marinas, climbing up into the abandoned sailboats and taking note of how beat up the cabin is, how many cracks in the tiller, centerboard or keel. I’ve already fallen in love with a few boats, all out of my price range or not for sale.

Boat dreams are big dreams. I sail across the Atlantic on my blue boat with spotless decks and perfectly trimmed sails into the light yellow sunrise…

But it’s okay to start small. I’ll keep scouring marinas and learning about what will work for my purposes and what won’t.

Once I buy my boat, whether it’s tomorrow or two years from now, it’ll only be the beginning of making these boat dreams come true. I’ll have to fix whatever’s broken, and learn the ins and outs of every bit of rigging. I’ll need to figure out what kind of bottom paint to use, preferably one that doesn’t act as a pesticide and pollute the water. I need to have a head (everyone poops!) and I’d love to be able to afford and install a composting toilet. I’ll need a big enough water tank and good sails and at least two anchors and a bunk to sleep in and the list goes on…

And hopefully, by then, I’ll have plotted my course out of the Hudson and into the sea!