Anguish continues – after boat show edition
Feb 7, 2023
we love the show, but it only inflames the desires for spring.
As every one of your friends and acquaintances, and many complete strangers have recently commented, Canadian winters suck. But for boaters, it’s worse than that in some ways.
It’s the stages of grief…lol. First, each autumn the boats get hauled out and we commiserate about how miserable it is to not get on the water. Then it’s the holidays and we get mildly distracted by trees and turkeys, exchange gits of foul weather gear and plastic tumblers with anchors on them. After that, it’s boat show time and this year, hallelujah, we went live to the show. Old friends, the smell of fibreglass, specials on fender covers. Totally wonderful!
But it’s something of a tease because when you go back outside… Well, I need not tell you that it’s a cycle of arctic horror, piles of slush, parkas and boots etc etc etc. And it’s only February 9; there’s literally months to go before launch.
Here at CYOB, we annually get the arrival of spring checklist and boat prep advice, all carefully considered and useful. Ask Andrew’s column in this issue and Marc Robic’s a couple of weeks ago only inflame our yearning for spring.
To be honest, I am not an enthusiast for waxing the topsides, but I would happily put on my boat-work shorts and climb the ladder with the buffer if the weather would allow it. How many days until launch? I’d rather not discuss it.
