Boaters in January

My husband and I are lucky enough to live in sunny southwest Florida, where we can go out in our kayaks, our Boston Whaler, or our sailboat year-round, including January. We were just out sailing in Charlotte Harbor in the Corsair F-27 last Sunday. In shorts and shirt sleeves. It can get cold here, sometimes very cold — but within a day or two, it’s generally warm and sunny again. The week-end before that, we were playing with a demo model of the Hobie Adventure Island Kayak in Shell Creek. Over Christmas, when my brother-in-law was visiting, we went out fishing in our Boston Whaler. We lament that we don’t get to use our boats as much as we’d like, but at least we can and do use them whenever we want, regardless of the season.

I sometimes wonder why people up north even bother to own boats. They haul them out of the water in what? September? The boat sits in storage for months, then finally gets put back in the water when? April? May? With what boats cost to own and maintain, and such a short boating season, I have trouble believing that it’s worth it even to the most avid boater.

My husband is selling the F-27. A fellow from Sweden is buying it. What’s his boating season going to be? Two months long?

I guess people up north who enjoy outdoor activities resort to things like snowmobiling or snowboarding for their adventuring fix in the winter months. Me, I’ll stay right here in Florida, thank you very much, and enjoy my time on the water throughout the year. What’s the point of owning boats if you can’t go out and play in them?