Still some 10 months before picking up the new boat. Time for some musings on the art of deciding on being a boatowner or not. We sold our HR29 in 1996, and ever since we have been on and off whether getting a new or not. So what goes into a decision like this?
I remember reading a round the world yachter quitting and selling 1/4th. of the way round: "After all, yachting is nothing more than camping glorified by another term." There is something to it: compared to a five star luxury cruise, or resort hotel, boating around your home coast leaves a lot to wish for. Then there is the economy: Even a modestly priced sail yacht represents an investment most people will notice on their economic well-being. Most people have their capital tied to a home. Therefore, buying a yacht means your cash flow will suffer through a mortgage.
Yachts depreciate less than a car, but still lose value. This must be added as a cost, together with interest paid and running maintenance, insurance and so on. And beware: I have not even mentioned opportunity costs (the costs by not being able to use your yacht investments on something else). Spread out on number of days actually sailed, the costs are pretty high: each trip out of the harbor should resemble something like a day in Shangri-La to compensate.
Add to this the work involved in keeping her floating, beautiful, and useful throughout the sailing season. Or better not.
But of course, getting oneself a yacht is not a very rational process. It is not even altogether about the boat. I guess most sailors are buying into a lifestyle rather than a piece of equipment. A sailboat gets you to sea, away from the daily humdrum, and away from crowded hotels and airports at summer time. Most of all, it gives you the freedom to go where you like as long as there is water under your keel. And when winter arrives, days can be filled with planning for all the fantastic trips to be had when the weather is back on one's side again.
The thing is: Either you are bitten or you are not. In the former case you get yourself a boat, and in the latter you let it pass ( I sincerely hope that my English is up to what I tried to express here - but you probably get the point anyway). At one point in all our deliberations on this issue, we came to understand that pro et con lists would get us nowhere. So we just took the plunge again. Then we will see how it turns out.