Is it all sunset cocktail cruises and rippin’ downwinders and rainbows and kumbaya? Well, not exactly… But of the many positives that come with my cherished role at 48° North, the opportunity and privilege to sail different boats with different people is one of the best. In recent months, this has included a friend’s 25-foot power cruiser, a 100-year-old schooner both sailed and maintained by devoted volunteers, a motorsailer optimized for the Inside Passage, and a zippy cruising catamaran design (page 36). Sometimes this sailing is work, sometimes it’s play facilitated by work, a lot of times in between or beyond categorization. Going sailing is fun, as is trying out new boats—that’s not news.
In addition to the joy and connection, though, this practice is remarkably informative—and not just in an, “I’m writing an article about this” kind of way. Sailing various boats is a gift to me as a sailor and as a person.
To a large extent, this reward serves to highlight the experience I’m not having at the moment. I’m not presently a boat owner, and am missing the depth of relationship that goes with it. About any of these boats I sail, I simply can’t say, “I know every inch, every system, every minuscule quirk of this boat.”
Instead, my involvement is akin to nautical speed-dating. I get to know a boat as rapidly as possible, asking a flurry of questions and hopefully observing with thoughtful consideration and insight. I also enjoy the occasion to apply the principles of seamanship and sailing in unfamiliar environments; the proportion that’s universal is astonishing.
Along the way I get to see, and more importantly try, inspired and inventive aspects of boat design. Some alterations are small but meaningful steps away from convention—a cleverly rigged jib in-hauler, a more ergonomic helm station layout, a refined mainsail furling system. Others feel more significant in their evolution—a mechanical (notably not hydraulic) daggerboard system on an ocean-ready cruiser, joystick docking technology, a ramp in place of steps to get from cockpit sole to deck level, or the increasingly prevalent two-sided mainsheet rigging for cruising boats to have more trimming adjustability without the inclusion of a mainsheet traveler.
Innovations such as these often get the fanfare, but it’s not what I like most about this process. I stay intentionally earnest when testing a new boat, trying to avoid the jaded ‘gotcha’ lens that mainly illuminates imperfections. I also don’t want to be unduly rosy in my outlook, but I do seek to genuinely honor and understand both the motivations of the boat’s design and also what moves a buyer toward the momentous decision to make this boat their own. That’s where I find the most delight—I love the window into the question of “Why?” someone chooses a particular boat.
By grasping a hypothetical or individual owner’s decision calculus, I get my own opportunity to “try-on” such an ownership election, which probably makes my boat-less-ness a benefit. I’m not shopping (at least not until we have kids in public school and can stop sending the ‘boat fund’ to preschool and daycare each month), but every boat test has a not-so-subtle hint of, “Is this MY boat?”
Critically, the value to me and hopefully to anyone who reads any of my related articles is not dependent on the boat being a relevant purchase option, let alone a this-is-it forever vessel. From the first impressions to the test sail, from the system discovery to the borrowing of ownership perspectives—it’s all an excuse to more deeply understand and appreciate boats and the people who are passionate about them.
Joe Cline
Joe Cline has been the Managing Editor of 48° North since 2014. From his career to his volunteer leadership in the marine industry, from racing sailboats large and small to his discovery of Pacific Northwest cruising —Joe is as sail-smitten as they come. Joe and his wife, Kaylin, have welcomed a couple of beautiful kiddos in the last few years, and he is enjoying fatherhood while still finding time to make a little music and even occasionally go sailing.
