Fast boats look funny going slow...

[Chris Foster]

With the (possibly) last gasp of summer here, I took the boat to Friday Harbor yesterday and came back today.

Suddenly, everybody has discovered the joys of running at trawler speeds regardless of what the boat was originally designed to do.

Some look just fine - in particular, I noticed that a the 34 to 50 foot long Tollycrafts looked just fine cruising along at 6 or 7 knots.

But the "Brand B" boats (and their new "Brand M" offshoots) just look weird. Especially the real (pardon my French) "Penis-substitute" boats that are shaped like big arrows and are supposed to look fast just standing still. They look especially bad when the skippers try to drive them a couple of knots faster than hull speed, so they drag long with their butts in the water, their noses in the air, and a big ol' wake trailing behind.

Funny that the trawler drivers are now the "cool kids," eh???

 

[Nomad Willy]

Yeah Chris, Thats true but any time they want they can mash the throttle and become 007 and then we look like AARP on the water.

Eric H

 

[Keith]

Speak for yourself. I'm in stealth mode when out in the Krogen. Undercover, ya know.

 

[2bucks]

I saw just the opposite this last week. We've had some pretty nice weather and the planing boats were all doing just that. Must be the last good boating week mentality. A go fast penis boat flew past going one way and then back past us an hour later. I was burning 1.9 GPH, he must have been over 50GPH. I hope he had lots of fun because when I go out again in a couple of weeks he'll be moaning over his fuel bill.

I also found that the local marina's were packed with boats from nearby. Bellingham was packed with boats from LaConnor and Anacortes. LaConnor and Anacortes had boats from Oak Harbor and Everett. Looked like everyone still wanted to get out, but they stayed close to home. Kingston was sold out and sending people out to anchor on Saturday.

Ken

 

[Chris Foster]

I think you're right about folks staying closer to home - which really is a pretty sane decision to make... instead of "oh my God, we can't afford the fuel any more, sell the boat," think along the lines of "ya know, we've had this boat for XX years and we've never been to (place 15 miles away)."

I took some friends to Spencer Spit on Labor Day. As we had lunch and chatted, there was a continuous procession of boats heading SE towards Thacher Pass. This last weekend, Friday Harbor seemed plenty packed, and coming back on Sunday there was plenty of company.

It still seems like a pretty good deal to me. I burned somewhere between 15 and 20 gallons to go from Anacortes to Friday Harbor and back - well less than a hundred bucks. I had a place to stay when I got there (anchored out - no $$), a place to cook dinner and make breakfast (so they're virtually free compared to dining out). Anchored for a couple of hours in Indian Cove on the way back for a bit of lunch and catching some sun.