To be a Sailor, one must have this pull to step away from all that is permanent, to cast off and exist in a world where the forces are set against each other and at no time do they completely balance each other and provide rest. Since the forces are not in balance, motion is the only constant.
Even at anchor, the vessel swings with the motions of wind and water, straining against the hook buried or caught on the bottom.
It is a world that consumes the sailor and nothing on land matters. It is a freedom from landlocked stress and concern.
There is cost associated with it. There is fun.
For the Sailor, that fun glistens like a pot of gold sitting at the end of a rainbow.
I've always been aware of the cost/fun ratio. It looms like a taskmaster, and my goal is to minimize it.
"A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money" is the tale of woe of the typical boat owner.
The advice that "the two happiest days of a boat owner are the day they purchase the boat and the day they sell it" is prophetic to most.
I've found that the cost/fun ratio approaches zero when one becomes a member of the crew of a race boat. Unfortunately, one of the prized attributes of a race crew to the owner is willingness and loyalty. The cost/fun ratio taskmaster is cast away, only to be replaced with the owner/racer as taskmaster.
I've reached my 70th sailing day of the year. I'm dropping by JWorldsf on this day to meet with the General Manager. He and I have been trading emails and phone calls to discuss the participation of the Got Wind and Water group and J World in the Sarcoma Cup. We've yet to meet face to face, and I want to get that out of the way.
I've struggled (struggling is a cost) over the last 3 days to decide what to do on this 70th sail of the year. To sail 70 times in just a wee bit over 6 months is a lot. I set out to see what the cost/fun ratio would be like to sail 100 times in a year and I'm past the halfway mark.
You can't put a number on 'fun'. You can't put a number on 'cost', if you include the personal effort into the equation. While 'Work' can be defined in engineering units, so can 'Strain'. Certainly you can put a number on 'cash'. 'Value'? what's that? can you put a number on that?
A ratio can be thought of as a way to balance something. If cost were '1' and fun were '1', then the cost/fun ratio would be 1/1, which would equal '1' and things would balance out.
But sailing is a sport that intrinsically does not balance out.
I can put a number on the times I've sailed so far. I can't put a number on the fun I've had. I can't put a number on the cost, because the monetary cost is not the only cost. The effort, the struggle, the strain, the hours writing emails, the minutes on the phone working out the details of each and every sail . . . those things all contribute to the cost.
There are some boat owners for whom the cost associated with owning their boat, belonging to their club, finding their crew for some of the days spent sailing is infinitesimal when compared to the fun they get back.
Nat, the founder of the Beat Sarcoma effort, is, I think one of those owners. She would probably scoff at the suggestion that her boat is a hole in the water into which she pours cash. She keeps it on a trailer . . . at a very expensive Yacht Club . . . and sailed it to Hawaii with Nathan in the Pac Cup.
Cost . . . Fun?
I'm guessing she pays attention to the fun and totally ignores the cost. The cost/fun ratio is so out of balance, that it does not resemble a taskmaster. The fun genie beats the *#$%#^&* out of the cost taskmaster
But all you have to do is look at any marina on any day to figure out that Nat is a part of the 20% of boat owners who have managed to ignore the cost and focus on the fun. Otherwise, the 80% of the boats you see would be out sailing, not sitting there.
I considered three options for the 70th day:
The first was to arrange a $250 check out ride with J World, and become a member of their club, something I expect I'll do within the next month, a prerequisite for me to get their J120 - "J World" entered into the Sarcoma Cup as a Got Wind and Water entry. Why not do it . . . today?
Hmmm, wading through their website, there seem to be a host of other requirements . . . and restrictions . . . the cost/fun ratio is starting to glare at me like a task master. Where is the genie when I need him?
I've calculated the dollar cost associated with my 70 sails this year, and came up with $6.73 per sail. The other non-monetary 'costs' have at times made the cost/fun ratio resemble a task master. The fun however . . .
After the solstice weekend, it took 3 days to come off the high. The '70' picture is from that sunset spinnaker run back . . . The cost/fun ratio resembled cavorting with the genie in the bottle.
The second option was to charter a J105 from the club I pay a monthly membership fee to, get a couple of Got Wind and Water members together to share the cost, and the fun, and go talk to the General Manager at J World today - by sailing there. My cost would be minimal, would not tilt the average cost above $7 like $250 would, I'd have the boat for 23 hrs . . . I'm past all the paperwork and tests involved . . . getting Got Wind and Water members to go along is soooo easy, there really isn't much *cost* there.
With a full day charter, we could sail to the Golden Gate Bridge for the sunset and fly the chute all the way back to Berkeley at night - - - super cool. But I"m under doctor's orders to 'take it easy' for at least a week after straining a muscle in my back, so this very, very, attractive option has an element of risk associated with it.
On this 70th day, I've decided on the third option - going sailing with a member of the Got Wind and Water Group who is also a boat owner. We are not racing, we are cruising, I'll be a passenger, not really a member of the crew. This will help me follow the doctors orders. There will be zero cost for me, and the fun will be there . . . and I'll stop by the J World office, next door to where the large sailing yacht I'll be on is berthed. It is an easy, no cost, no risk option, with no hint of a taskmaster involved.
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