There are dozens of reasons to love living on a boat. Some adore the gentle rocking as they fall to sleep; some like the gorgeous view from their cockpit and decks; some the ability to take their home on vacation with them; and others cherish the simplicity of living small. I’m sure the list goes on. For me though the thing I love most is the dockside social scene. At first I thought I had just lucked into the world’s best marina but now that we have spent a week in Santa Cruz harbor, I’m starting to believe that there is a universal chattiness amongst sailors.
As I mentioned in my s/v Convivia post, we were greeted in Santa Cruz by a fellow Cal 43 owner. It took Herculean self discipline to tell him that I would have to catch up with him on the morrow. When we finally did start chatting in earnest, it lasted hours, and would pick up at the oddest times (taking out recycling, walking back from the beach, heading to the showers). This is probably wy Vick is never surprised when it takes me an hour to take the trash down the dock.
I love that there is always something to talk about, and that weather isn’t small talk. I love that age and class don’t seem to have any bearing on a person’s eagerness to engage. I love that within 10 minutes someone will be hooking you up with a wholesale deal on that pricy part you’ve been needing. And I love that you can be pretty sure that the people you meet at the docks would be delighted to run into you two years hence in Rora Tonga, or two hours hence in Trader Joes.
So even if my boat didn’t rock me gently to sleep in a beautiful vacation harbor, I would still choose a life aboard for no other reason than to chat.