Boat Show Time Again!

Strictly Sail Pacific

 

  For as long as we have been sailing (I think even before), we have been attending the Strictly Sail Boat Show in Oakland. It comes that time of the year, tax day weekend strangely enough, when we shake off the winter blues and dream, drool, look, and talk boat stuff with people who actually understand our obsession. It is the time when we talk to people about our plans, and instead of getting responses like "aren't you afraid of ...", or "what about ...",  and don't forget "well how will you ...", we get responses like "I know, we can't wait for that either",  or "we have this much longer until we cut the lines and get out there", oh yeah, and don't forget "we have this and this left on our to do list, and then we will be ...". And that is what makes the cruisers party so much fun. And this year we are poster children for the boat show guide, under the, wait for it .........., "Let's Party" section, with some fellow dreamers/cruisers we met last year. How kewl is that!

 We have met more people that I would call friends, even though they are mere acquaintances, in the short weekends of the boat shows and cruisers parties, than we have in 15 years of living in Medford, Oregon as a C.L.O.D (cruiser living on dirt). People who dare to dream, who aren't as concerned about being defined by our possessions, and who refuse to be the ones who look back from there death bed and say "I sure wish I would have ...". You don't see too many people that at that point say, "I sure wish I would have worked more", but a small percentage do have the desire or courage to break the trend, and live outside the box. 

  But wait ..., don't think for a minute that the boat show is not also drooling, fondling, fiddling with, and just plain messing around with all things sailboats! You just gotta love it! Dreams just fill the air. And here is where a transition is beginning. Where we once were attending the boat shows just for kicks, and to see all the cool stuff available, not to mention reassure ourselves that we are not the only whack jobs out there willing to get rid of all their worldly possessions, and throw caution to the wind. But we are now at a point in our own plans to begin researching the gear and equipment we will be outfitting our own ocean going vessel with, to carry us safely to distant shores, and that is the stuff our dreams are truly made of.