This is the time of year when yacht owners are forced to face up to the financial folly of our obsession.
In the last month we've paid the annual berthing bill for the marina, settled the account for all those “odds and ends” (isn't it amazing how they mount up?) that we popped into the chandlery for while fitting out, paid the yard bill for relaunching, and then of course there was the insurance, and the (not so) small matter of the new sails.
It's not a good idea to add it all up, as one of the skippers we raced with when we were a lot younger used to, and then compare it with his log at the end of the season and declare a cost per mile.
If everyone did that, it's a fair bet there would be a lot of boats for sale, because set out in black and white (and red) it might seem hard to justify the scale of the expenditure. But to paraphrase those credit card ads: “cost of smile on skipper's face: priceless!”
We've just had one of those weekends that make you say: “Whatever it costs, it's worth it.” How often do we get a settled high pressure with mid-summer-like daytime temperatures at Easter?
We picked up the new sails and received the usual dire warnings from John Parker about treating them gently for the first few hoists to let everything settle before subjecting them to the torture of reefing etc.
The weather forecast for the long weekend meant conditions were absolutely ideal to “run them in.” So Good Friday afternoon was spent bending them on in shorts and T-shirt weather (too bad we hadn't actually packed any shorts for the weekend. It seemed like tempting fate, somehow!)
Then on Saturday we had a nice gentle beat down the river with a couple of friends aboard while we worked out where to set the genoa cars for the new headsail, and how much outhaul etc to apply to the new main. And wow, were we pleased with the new suit! The bill ceased to matter.
We picked up a mooring at Wrabness and enjoyed the last of the evening sunshine, before dining on board for the first time this season. We were so glad to be back on the boat that there was no need for a run ashore.
And then early on Sunday morning we set off for Burnham on Crouch. Again, we were on the wind, but the water was flat, the sunshine sparkling, and it was absolutely no hardship. And the reward for beating there was running back on Monday: spinnaker up in brilliant sunshine.
We were thrilled to see a group of about 20 seals sunning themselves on Foulness sands. We even saw a solitary swallow (and yes, we know, a single swallow doesn't mean it's summer!) We had a great time in good company. All in all the Easter cruise was absolutely as good as it gets.
Was it an omen? A sign of the way the season's going to shape up? It was certainly a promising way to start. And it put all those bills into perspective.
We have friends who spend as much on a single holiday as we spend on marina fees, for example. And the beauty of the boat is that you can have the equivalent of a great holiday every single weekend. I tend to think of it as the ultimate antidote to stress. And whatever it costs, that makes it a real bargain!
