Canadian Yachting May 2023 - 62

CROSSING THE LINE
BOATING'S CULTURAL ADVANTAGE
F
By | John Morris
or two-plus years, most Canadians
stayed inside and atrophied. It was
sad. The world stopped. Most folks
sat in masks and watched game shows
until their minds turned to mush. Perhaps
we isolated too long, but no matter what,
most everything was put on hold.
But not boaters. With attention to
restrictions, distancing sailors and powerboaters
alike were able to use their boats
initially as families, then bubbles and
later, bigger bubbles. The result is that the
boating communities were able to carry
on with life while time stood still for the
rest of the world.
Today, Canadians look on in awe at
the boating community, seeing a somewhat
advanced civilization that developed
during that hiatus from normal life, today
leading the way in lifestyle, fashion, and
social communication. It's 2023 and lockdowns
have been unlocked, but everyone
is following the boating leaders. Nautical
references are everywhere in recognition
of the clear achievement boaters harvested
while everyone else stayed in.
Today we can share what was until
now, largely a niche interest. Wet weather
gear, previously confined to the cockpit
has become the must-have look for trendsetters.
Helly Hansen, Musto and Henri
Lloyd have replaced Versace and Missoni
on the runways. Kids are wearing their
PFDs to school so they can look like their
peers who head out to Christian Island
on the family cruiser every weekend.
Come June, fashion-forward brides wear
'foulies' to exchange vows. You see blue
and white stripes more than ever before.
Home decor is no longer complete without
flags, anchors and pictures of boats.
Boating has taken over!
It cannot start too early. Proud parents
who previously were satisfied that Little
Marky could identify the heroes in Paw
Patrol are racing to teach the four-yearold
port-starboard rules and drilling semaphore
flags. In short, aspiring to be part
of society's boating tranche has swept not
just early adopters, but Canadian culture
as a whole. No wonder - as Dr. Sheldon
Jeanneau of Rideau Canal University
explains it, " Put your kid in the boating
cohort and you're adding 2.5 years of
sophistication as a minimum. "
The years 2021 and 2022 then some
62 CANADIAN YACHTING | MAY 2023
way into '23, were times of repressed
or even backward progress. How many
times have you heard that online education
was inadequate and that kids as well
as their parents have suffered, possibly
permanently from lack of social interaction?
On our dock, while initially people
were staying off each other's boats, we
could toast across cockpits and eat lunch
together but metres apart. All the while air
was circulating, not to mention that the
sun was shining, and the birds were singing.
No Netflix in sight.
Small wonder boaters have survived
and even prospered over the last years
even as Canada stagnated. But we as
boaters, unsurprisingly, remain modest,
unassuming, and humble. The moral of
the story is what you already knew - boats
are the source of happiness, fun, health,
and friendships. Too bad it took an insane
crisis to point that out.
Canadian Yachting May 2023

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