What does your boat say about you?
Is your boat a shiny pair of Italian loafers, or is it more of a Dunlop Volley? Like your favourite pair of shoes, your boat makes a statement. What does it say about you?
We put it to the boating enthusiasts of the Gold Coast to find out their honest opinions. Funny or witty, lighthearted or sarcastic, frank or judgmental – whatever your take is on the thoughts of three local boaties, Tom Carlisle, Jack Lester and Brent Churchill, may leave you having second thoughts about what next boat to buy.
Sailing Boat
Tom Carlisle has had years of experience on the Gold Coast waterways. Tom believes that sailing boats are generational; and owners are likely to encourage the next generation to hit the water in the same such way. “Owners vary from humble working class families to the wealthiest individuals on the planet, all sharing a common understanding and passion,” he says.
Jack Lester finds that sailors enjoy living aboard, provided they can brave some mad weather from time to time. “Generally, sailors are a good breed of folks with some incredibly diverse and fascinating backgrounds,” he says.
Pontoon Boat
Tom believes that pontoon boat owners can be segmented into two groups. “About half are sold to first time boat owners – middle aged, with an established family, a disposable income and a new house, which lends itself to a pontoon boat,” he states. “The other half are experienced boaties that have owned and sold lots of boats – typically having just sold their big boat because they were not getting enough use out of it.”
Boat savvy Brent Churchill finds that those owning a pontoon boat are normally after a more social experience, rather than being concerned with their image. “They are after all the extras without paying top dollar. Pontoon boat owners care for comfort over style,” says Churchill.
Tom agrees, “While they love the idea of the great outdoors, they also enjoy going home to sleep in the comfort of an air-conditioned bedroom and a pillow top Sealy King.”
Yacht
Jack sees yacht owners as the best people to seek for help or advice on the waterways. “A generally magnificent group of humans, divided by the monohull/multihull conundrum,” he says with an unashamed bias. “Salt of the earth folks.”
Tom finds yacht owners to fall into two types. “Yacht owners are either middle aged, self-employed and leveraged to the high hills, or pushing retirement and enjoying the fruits of their labour.”
Brent beats around the bush. “Yachts are rich people’s boats. They don’t care what boating enthusiasts think and are sick of sailing.”
Wake Boat
Jack finds wakeboard boaties are thrill seekers, enjoying what the lifestyle offers. “They generally cause little trouble of which I am aware.”
Tom believes wake boat owners, like jet ski owners, have earned themselves a special place on the social list for boaties. “Wake boats throw out huge wake, go figure?” He finds that no boaties delve quite as deeply into the lifestyle like wake boat owners do. “You rarely see a family wagon stickered up, or kids wearing flat caps at the skate park,” he notes. “Though for wakeboard boaties, the only question is – how big of a sticker can you fit, and does that hat come in black?”
Fishing Boat
Jack believes fishermen are masters of the sea and best avoided and left to their task. “They will assist where they can. But at the end of the day, they need to make money,” he states. “Recreational fisherman are living the dream and generally do not pose any problems.”
Brent finds it difficult to understand owners of fishing boats. “They have wasted their money on a boat for a sport with little excitement involved,” he finds. “I don’t understand them or the logic.”
Jet Ski
Jack finds that jet skis are a more accessible point-of-entry to our waterways, and he says the drivers are usually those who would not bother with boats. “Tattoos are not essential, but common, and some have a slim grasp of marine etiquette. I must confess though that I have been saved from two incidents on the water by jet ski riders, so I can’t be too harsh!”
Tom finds that jet skiers are to the boating community as “P-platers” are to those on the roads. “Sure there are some good ones, but even they understand they are greatly out-numbered.”
Dinghy
Jack finds that there are generally two types of dinghy driver: the yacht tender owner and the ‘tinny rat’. “The former regularly scoops garbage from our waterways, and are responsible and often heroic. Tinny rats are pesky individuals indeed. But then, we were all young once!”
Boat savvy Brent finds dinghy drivers as “very poor boating enthusiasts”. “A dinghy owner is typically an under-aged hoon that has been given a means to cause havoc on the waterways,” he says frankly. “They should be banned.”
Here’s to hoping dinghy drivers of Broadbeach redeem themselves for the sake of Brent!
By Sophia Sorensen
