For many years, following a spell living alongside a beautiful lake in New Zealand, I wanted a boat. My particular favourites were diesel-powered 'bay cruisers'.
I eventually bought one in 2006, to chug around Moreton Bay and its islands. The first couple of trips were lovely and much like I imagined they would be: slow-speed, relaxing bumbles around a couple of islands, anchoring in quiet spots for lunch and to dangle a line, then cruise back to the marina or sleep aboard.
But I soon found that it wasn't usually like that. I discovered that, apparently, many people buy boats in order to zoom around at high speed, often with music blaring and oblivious/careless of other boaties - and speed limits. Even owners of big, expensive cruisers were often antisocial, and would churn through narrow waterways between sandbanks (a common feature of southern Moreton Bay), sending the rest of us scurrying around clutching crockery or grabbing handrails - all in supposedly 6-knot areas. We even had a near-disaster when we took my wife's elderly mother out for lunch, when a big boat muscled past, way over the limit, tossing our little 24-footer around like a bath toy. Poor Mum went flying but fortunately landed on cushions.
Then there are those pests of the waterways - jetskis. When they arrived in an area, you could forget chilling out while listening to the lazy slap-slap of calm water against the hull. It seemed to me that jetskis were the preferred choice of water transport for hooligans.
Just short of two years after buying my 'dream boat', it was sold.
>End Whinge Mode<
5D3, 7D2, EF 16-35 f/2.8L, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II, EF 24-105 f/4L, EF 70-200 f/2.8L II, EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L II, EF 1.4x III, Sigma 150mm macro, Lumix LX100 plus a cupboard full of bags, tripods, flashes & stuff.
