Thursday, March 28

New Cruising Grounds: Home. Here’s How To Enjoy It

Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr +

Many of us are locked down at home, trying to make it through the seemingly endless coronavirus pandemic. We miss the water, we miss our boats, we miss going places. But there are things we can do to ease the pain. In fact, some of them are fun, and you might even want to keep doing them once we get back to the days when we have a choice in where we can go, what we can do. And those days will return.

First, you can dream a bit. The Moorings is here to help you with that (see the picture of the Bahamas beach above). They’ve started a program called “Bringing Paradise To You,” under the thinking that if you can’t go on a great charter vacation, they’ll bring it to you.

The Moorings gets you started thinking about paradise with a Jimmy Buffett playlist. That’s just about guaranteed to lighten your mood, make you smile, and bring back some memories. Then it offers free wallpapers for your mobile and desktop devices, and a fun photo quiz for the whole family. It’s not really the same as cruising across the BVI, but it certainly helps.

Most manufacturers have their own version of a virtual boat show or new-boat videos on their home page or YouTube. But for a treat, take a look at the cruising videos from Tony Fleming, the founder of Fleming Yachts, which he’s taken on his own expeditions. Nordhavn, Outer Reef, and Jeanneau, among many others, have videos taken by their owners. They’re the next best thing to being there.

For its part, MarineMax, the largest boat retailer with 63 locations around the U.S., has started an online experience called “Endless Staycation,” with videos, tours of new boats, chat rooms and shopping  possibilities. The videos range from “Boating Tips” to “Financing Q&A.”

Now that you’re home, you probably have some time to brush up on your boating skills. America’s Boating Club, formerly the U.S. Power Squadrons, has cancelled all its in-person classes, but it has on-line classes, including its basic “Americas’ Boating Course,” which can lead to a boating license after a test. It also has ten on-line seminars ranging from “Cruise Planning” to “Hurricane Preparedness.”

If you really want to stretch your mind muscles, take a look at the list of courses that Dockwa has put together. These aren’t basic boating; they’re college-level, on-line courses that could be relevant to cruising people. They range from “The Art of  Structural Engineering: Bridges,” at Princeton, to “Basic Circuit Analysis,” at MIT. If those sound too intimidating, try “Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science,” at Harvard.

Links to all these virtual activities and courses are below:

https://www.moorings.com/blog/bringing-paradise-to-you?utm_campaign=TM%20GL%20-%20Destination-Caribbean&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8MBYrwEiPBWfRaIn8Z5JFO7zAWkjGSJN4k0UAzzVFk83jFiiqv4-vMvwUd3nVqfriJfZMy7jQVBMhDFFdU6SBVP2Rhqw&_hsmi=85982628&utm_source=hs_email&utm_content=85982628&hsCtaTracking=0beb2d52-baf7-48f7-889d-b07d34be505c%7C93c66449-1a6a-4047-8b48-d58c6753151a

https://www.marinemax.com/connect/lifestyles/sales-events/endless-staycation-sales-event/online-experience

http://www.theensign.org/uspscompass/contentmain.html

https://blog.dockwa.com/free-boating-related-online-courses?utm_campaign=Blog%20Subscribers&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=85306963&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–Fj4f2E7EdtDJKDIDfZj4GnRtzROQHZOG5BHEQaS_AHZjhhRkWMCV6I4IYniAE4obfn1vBvnscyxM53FmnCBhF86CUcg&_hsmi=85306963

 

 

 

 

Share.

About Author

Comments are closed.