Aquatic Quandary
I’m sure some of the readers who happen upon this entry will say, “Does this guy have any real concerns?” But I’m having trouble deciding whether to maintain my membership in the sailing club. (I’m also having trouble with a few switches in Whirlwind, but that’s another story.)
Two years ago I took sailing lessons in the heat of July/August on Lake Lanier, and decided to sign on with the Lanier Sailing Academy. They have a nice fleet of boats, from the Capri 22’s to a few 27-footers. The deal is that you pay a yearly fee and then sail as much as you like. It worked well for the single guy who has a clear calendar. I had a lot of good days on the lake and wrote about them here.
Over the past year, two things have happened: 1) Our weekends have gotten remarkably busy, and when things are busy I tend to just want a day where I don’t have to go anywhere. And 2) the days we have gone out on the lake, good wind has been hard to find. Good wind is somewhat, you know, essential to the sailing experience. And then this whole pinball thing has exploded and there are other things we’d like to do with our entertainment funds than spend a considerable chunk on a year of sailing. Priorities.
I’d be tempted to let membership lapse and then pick it up again in the future, but the steep “initiation fee” I’d then owe to get started again (almost equal to one year of membership) is really a great deterrent. Chap and Colin have unhelpfully suggested buying a boat (hilarious, really). So this is my quandary. Renewal is due in two weeks. Hmmmm. Maybe I should extract boarding fees from our guests to help pay for it. Hah! Hilarious.