People sometimes seem to confuse boating and boats. Boating is simple: hours spent on the water with family or friends. Some of the experiences are rigorous and some pastoral, but the real fun comes from trips both short and long to interesting and at times provocative places. A boat, on the other hand, is simply the tool. It is the device that allows you to live these wonderful experiences. Now, I have been accused of being naïve and probably am. I truly believe, however, what you do with your boat is more important than what boat you do it on.

Unfortunately, however, like so many other things we tend to make the "tool" the focal point. We get hung up on the boat’s size, its complexity or its ability to perform in some way. In the process, the boat doesn’t get purchased, or the trips don’t get taken. After all we "don’t have the right boat". It’s not going fishing because you can’t afford the most expensive reel. In truth most well designed boats have a wide range of capabilities that often go unused. Now I’m not suggesting you should be blasé about the boat you choose, nor that your ambitions should exceed your boat’s ability to safely meet them. I am suggesting, however, that more boats get underused than overused.

Understanding and becoming comfortable with a boat’s true capabilities is not something that you can get from an article, an advertisement, or a sales pitch. It only evolves with experience as you push yourself to slightly farther destinations and slightly greater challenges. In years to come as you spin stories for the grand kids, it will be the adventures you had and not the boats you bought that will open their eyes to the joy of boating.