Driving A Boat With Emotion

,

Everyone feels it

We have touched on this before, but the other day while driving the Boatress’s Navigator it hit me how removed from reality I was compared to driving the WILLYS. WOW, And then I went down the rabbit hole regarding boats as well. With GPS, and all sorts of computer assisted stuff, sensors, yada yada, life in a car and a boat has become less personal. You really don’t feel the water, the road, the weather. None of it. Yet in a Woody Boat you are all the things that have been replaced. Your nose is the sensor, your ears are filters, your feet and hands are one with the water. Your eyes are your navigator.  And after all, you want to go boating. As in being one with the water.

One with nature – Photo Saun Fenn

And of course there is the entire soul embedded in the grain of the wood.  OH! you think I am nuts or kidding, I do truly believe that wood is a living thing, and does respond to life in many ways, heat, water, you. It’s all part of our ecosystem. It’s life, and every single woody boat has a life of its own, you job is to understand it and be with it, not force it to do unnatural boating.

With all this said, I feel that WoodyBoaters are more in tune with this emotion, oh you may not want to admit it, but on some level, your subconscious feels it. Like falling in love at first sight, religion, heaven, all that stuff is the same thing. And yes I am comparing your woody boat to heaven!

15 replies
  1. Greg Lewandowski
    Greg Lewandowski says:

    Matt, I agree 100%!
    Steve Lapkin captured me having that feeling on the North Channel near Algonac. I think he was feeling it too!

    Reply
  2. Dan Overbeek
    Dan Overbeek says:

    Yes, I believe wood is very special. It was indeed a living thing. It is easily shaped with basic tools. It is beautiful, in its raw form, and even more so when one works to bring out that highlight that is sometimes hidden. Life “wood” be a little less rich without the beauty of wood. I think wood boats, at least for me, remind us of somewhat less complicated and happier times. They are the thing dreams are made of…speaking of which, I had a dream last night I was racing a fellow Century Resorter own across the lake to a fuel dock. We pull up to the dock and the gentleman looked at me and said,”Thought you could beat me!” I said, “No, age goes before beauty!” He looked back with the biggest smile! The gentleman was Clint Eastwood. Where does that stuff come from? It going to be a long cold winter, for sure! Have a great day ya all!

    Reply
  3. Syd
    Syd says:

    Our daughter Katelyn (the one with the pink boat) said it all back when she was about 3 or 4 ish. My dad was in the hospital with his cancer and Katelyn one day says
    Pop Pop doesn’t belong in the hospital just put him in a boat and he will be all better

    Reply
  4. Kelly Wittenauer
    Kelly Wittenauer says:

    Matt’s Sunday words of wisdom sent my thoughts in two directions.
    On wood – it brought to mind Frank Lloyd Wright’s teachings on the material. He said, “Wood is universally beautiful to man. It is the most humanly intimate of all materials. Man loves his association with it, likes to feel it under his hand, sympathetic to his touch and to his eye.” He also noted that “the beauty of wood lies first in its qualities as wood”, “having in itself intrinsically artistic properties, of which its beautiful markings is one, its texture another, its color a third”.
    And on how the simplicity of older machinery puts one in touch with an experience. Unlike the insulated feeling of modern automated vehicles. That always brings to mind a classroom session at a trackday, when the lesson turned to whether “nannies” should be left on or turned off. I realized that I was one of few in the class driving a fully manual gearbox. And the only one who’s car was completely devoid of computers & assists – not even power brakes & steering!

    Reply
    • Greg Lewandowski
      Greg Lewandowski says:

      Kelly, a couple comments on your thoughts:

      Now I know why I have always admired Frank Loyd Wright designs.

      Congratulations on driving a wonderful “Old School” racing machine!

      Reply
  5. Brock
    Brock says:

    My zen moment is putzing at idle speed on the lake, listening to the low slow grumble of the motor and spatter of water out the back mixed with soft splashes of water against the front of the boat combined with the slow flapping of the flag up front while taking in the mixture of smells from the the pines and cedars on shore with the smells of water, gas, oil and varnish. Then looking around the interior admiring the beauty of the mahogany, chrome and brass…..
    And then it’s all lost when you hear the motor sputter and stop, only to look over at your wife’s facial expression of shock and frustration as she says, “are you kidding me? we ran out of gas AGAIN?” Priceless!

    Reply
  6. BT
    BT says:

    Lots of rough sawn wood around my Minnesota cabin (my buddy owns a sawmill). Notice the colors next to my thermometer this beautiful sunlit morning.

    Reply
  7. Paul Fro Minny
    Paul Fro Minny says:

    I get a similar feeling driving and working on my vintage cars. It’s called visceral. Feel it as if it’s in your organs. You are engaged with it. Kind of a partnership! It’s a wonderful feeling.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 3 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, text. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here