The luxury imperative

Cruising strategies for post-Trump austerity

- Sam Llewellyn

Readers of PBO will have noticed that there is plenty of expensive stuff happening these days. This has led to a renewed interest in open-boat cruising, which allows the sailor averse to yacht ownership to build and maintain a boat and keep it in the garage rather than eating its head off in a marina all season.

There are, however, those who claim they do not wish to get cold and wet and become undesirably intimate with an all-purpose bucket. So they plan to bask in the total luxury of a cruise. A proper cruise. On a cruise ship. The Stinkadelic. This is of course ridiculous. On a properly equipped open boat, luxury levels far exceed those experienced on El Stinko. Sleeping, as long as you do it on the boat and not on the beach, is sound and comfortable and filled with fresh air, not the canned version provided by the Stinkadelic. The amniotic rocking of the open boat will lull you peacefully through the full eight hours, unless it doesn't.

On awaking, the open-boat cruiser reaches out an arm and is able to participate in the greatest of life's luxuries, viz. making the morning coffee without getting out of bed.