Why sailors love a good problem

Never underestimate that for some boat-owners (though not necessarily their crews or partners), it is the maintaining and problem-solving that form half the satisfaction. Especially the latter: a puzzle is always satisfying.

I have discovered on several boats over the years that the concept of ‘easy-care’ or trouble-free is not universally popular. My own husband is, to our advantage and safety, master of all the systems on Wild Song, beyond and below the rig. He has a fearful intimacy with every corner, wire, plank, pipe and seacock. Perhaps it’s a long-distance single-hander thing, but I bow to it in awe.

I used to be better, but I got de-skilled by motherhood and later by his long, lone voyages and my flirtation with tallships, where hauling, steering watches and peeling potatoes was as technical as it got for me.

So on an ordinary cruise I am just an obedient crew. I can stand a night watch alone and wash up, but am hard-pressed to identify every tool-filled locker or guess which relay is fouling up the instruments.