Keep It Simple

"The greatest fun in boating usually comes in the simplest boats.  The main thing that so attracted me to sailing and particularly to cruising more than 50 years ago was the total change in lifestyle - no hot baths, an icebox with real ice rather than a refrigerator, oil lamps, the isolation from the daily affairs on shore, the good smell of tarred marline and manila rope mixed with the aroma of cedar and bilgewater - all combined to make even an overnight cruise an adventure.  Curled up in the red Hudson Bay blanket on the capon bunk cushion, listening to the water moving against the hull, I felt transported to a different world.  And I still feel that way about cruising. 

Most modern boats are simply too complicated.  They are so full of systems, which all too often fail to work, that the feeling of self-reliance - that wonderful ingredient in the pleasures of cruising - is now missing.  The modern cruising boat makes the owner a slave to the systems and to the chore of keeping them all working... On my Dad's old cutter Astrid, the only "system" was the 1932 four cylinder Palmer, and I don't recall that it ever failed to start.  We never missed an expedition, whether it was for mackeral fishing, or for a weekend cruise, due to system failure.  Keep it simple and have more fun."

by Joel White as recorded in Douglas Whynott's excellent book "A Unit of Water, A Unit of Time".