Sailing at a social distance

Harking back to simpler times during enforced boatlessness

Is there an activity as complex or costly as ours for the time spent doing or worrying about it? Is the game worth the candle, in other words? Clearly it is, or we wouldn’t do it, although when the yard bill arrives and the injectors need cleaning (again), and the loo is blocked, you have to wonder. Then there’s the weather...

Enforced boatlessness should give us space to consider what is important in the scheme of things, evaluate our chosen game. Ultimately, when all the usual justifications are exhausted (fresh air, adventure, challenge, exhilaration etc) and we conclude that boating makes absolutely no sense, what we need is a philosopher, and on cue, up pops a Frenchman, Michel Foucault:

“In civilizations without boats, dreams dry up, espionage takes the place of adventure and the police take the place of pirates.” That seems a pretty apt statement for these dire days.