Hydraulicjump
Senior Member
We are just back after buttoning up the boat for the end of summer (don’t pity us, we are headed to the Med for some sailing) and I tried to explain to my spouse how boats are all about the senses. I am certain I will get support from this crowd:
Sight: our eyes are everything on a boat. From the moment we admire the lines of our trawlers to the scanning of the interior to studying the charts to…the list goes on endlessly. Sight is our primary sense.
Hearing: not the equal of our eyes, but it is damned important. Think about how sensitive you are to any changes in the sound of your engine, to noises in dense fog, the noise that water pump is making, the sound of your windlass…
Smell: I am certain all of us rely heavily on smell to manage our trawlers. Engine running hot? Smelled that. Bilge getting funky? Smelled that. Getting close to shore? Smelled that. A short somewhere? Smelled that. Time for a pump out? Well, you get it.
Taste: my spouse scoffed at this and I gave her yesterday’s example. There was water in the bilge (I am a dry bilge nut). First thing to do? Taste it to determine salt or no salt (it was salt and the source was the dripless shaft seal). I am not advocating licking our boats, but I can imagine we use taste all the time.
Touch: this may be second only to sight. You feel everything in a boat. The temperature, vibrations, the smoothness of the brightwork you wish you did not have to sand and refinish every year, the oxidation of gelcoat, rust on your stainless, etc. We are constantly “feeling” our boats.
Usually we stop at five senses, but there is at least one other that trawler owners use. Proprioception is something all seasoned boaters have. This is basically the awareness of your body in space and to all the parts of your body. In short, this is the sense that allows you to manage your arms and legs in a rough sea, subtly adjusting yourself in anticipation of a passing swell (even when you can't see it!) and unconsciously grabbing a railing or hand hold as you walk around the boat. It really is an additional sense beyond just touch, especially on Weebles and other long-range cruisers who are out there getting knocked around for weeks on end.
I know this is a long post, with apologies. But I wanted to remind that we use all five senses, plus the bonus sense with a weird name, all the time we are on a boat, even when we are sleeping. And I am convinced that working all these senses makes our lives better and makes us more healthy. At least that is what I tell my spouse. I am a very sensible mate.
Get a boat. It makes sense.
Sight: our eyes are everything on a boat. From the moment we admire the lines of our trawlers to the scanning of the interior to studying the charts to…the list goes on endlessly. Sight is our primary sense.
Hearing: not the equal of our eyes, but it is damned important. Think about how sensitive you are to any changes in the sound of your engine, to noises in dense fog, the noise that water pump is making, the sound of your windlass…
Smell: I am certain all of us rely heavily on smell to manage our trawlers. Engine running hot? Smelled that. Bilge getting funky? Smelled that. Getting close to shore? Smelled that. A short somewhere? Smelled that. Time for a pump out? Well, you get it.
Taste: my spouse scoffed at this and I gave her yesterday’s example. There was water in the bilge (I am a dry bilge nut). First thing to do? Taste it to determine salt or no salt (it was salt and the source was the dripless shaft seal). I am not advocating licking our boats, but I can imagine we use taste all the time.
Touch: this may be second only to sight. You feel everything in a boat. The temperature, vibrations, the smoothness of the brightwork you wish you did not have to sand and refinish every year, the oxidation of gelcoat, rust on your stainless, etc. We are constantly “feeling” our boats.
Usually we stop at five senses, but there is at least one other that trawler owners use. Proprioception is something all seasoned boaters have. This is basically the awareness of your body in space and to all the parts of your body. In short, this is the sense that allows you to manage your arms and legs in a rough sea, subtly adjusting yourself in anticipation of a passing swell (even when you can't see it!) and unconsciously grabbing a railing or hand hold as you walk around the boat. It really is an additional sense beyond just touch, especially on Weebles and other long-range cruisers who are out there getting knocked around for weeks on end.
I know this is a long post, with apologies. But I wanted to remind that we use all five senses, plus the bonus sense with a weird name, all the time we are on a boat, even when we are sleeping. And I am convinced that working all these senses makes our lives better and makes us more healthy. At least that is what I tell my spouse. I am a very sensible mate.
Get a boat. It makes sense.
