A boater's imagination
07/04/16 05:23
Tony Fleming is the founder and owner of Fleming Yachts. Fleming Yachts built top-end motor yachts in the 55’ to 78’ range. The hulls are moulded fiberglass composite. Most of the manufacturing of the boats is done in Taiwan, with some of the electrical and navigations systems completed at the destination dealer after the boats are shipped by ocean freighter. These are large and expensive boats, capable of cruising virtually anywhere there is sufficient water. Fleming himself is a world-cruiser. Leaving the day to day operation of the company in the hands of others, he takes his personal 65’ motor cruiser all around the world. He makes and posts videos of their adventures. The boat is named Adventurer and they have been making these videos for 10 or more years. There are videos easily available on the Internet of trips to Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, Through the Panama Canal, through the New York Canal System, up the Intercostal Waterway of the East Cost, in Scandinavian Countries, throughout the Caribbean, and many other places. According to the Fleming web site, the boat has over 55,000 miles under her keel.
I’m not exactly sure why I know this information. I learned it mostly by reading and watching the videos on the company website. But why I’ve spent so much time on that website is a bit of a mystery to me. While I have no objection to Mr. Fleming and his boats, they simply occupy a part of the market where I will never operate. At four or five times my net worth, the purchase price of even a used yacht of that type is something that will never occur to me. Furthermore, I don’t really know anyone who is interested in investing their resources in such boats. The customers for the Fleming Yacht Company are primarily very successful business owners or top wage professionals. Ministers have done a lot of amazing things. Earring top wages isn’t among our common strengths.
Furthermore, I don’t come close to having the skills required to operate such a boat. Serving as captain, even in the role of owner-operator of such a vessel requires serious skills and certification in seamanship, navigation, equipment systems and much more. If I were to go to a boat show and take a walk aboard such a vessel, I likely couldn’t even identify all of the controls in the helm.
It is simply a world in which I do not live. And yet, occasionally, I allow my imagination to wander in the travel videos that Tony Fleming posts on his website.
I know that some human fantasies are expressions of desires that we have, but I don’t think I would ever want to have a boat of that size. These are really big boats - too big to be hauled on a semi truck. There is no chance of one ever visiting my home state or any of its neighbors.
Big does not serve my style of boating at all. I frequently go paddling at the lake and notice someone who has a complex motor boat who spends more time launching and retrieving their boat from the lake than I spend on my entire outing. I grab a canoe or kayak off of the roof rack of my car and am in the water paddling in less than 5 minutes. It takes that long to undo trailer straps, put in drain plugs and prepare a boat to be backed down the ramp. I never have to wait in line because I can launch without using the ramp. I don’t need a vehicle to maneuver a trailer, so parking can be done before my boat is in the water. For a person with limited time, as I am, a small and simple boat is the perfect way to spend your time boating instead of getting ready to boat.
As for long distance cruising, let’s be honest. That is a venture for those who are able to invest a lot of time - weeks and months. I understand the appeal of such a lifestyle, but I also know that it isn’t mine.
I don’t think my fascination with the boats and their trips is anything like envy. I don’t want to switch places with the owners of those boats.
I do have a bit of fascination with the technical aspects of boat building. Ratios of length, beam, weight and other factors all affect hull speed of boats. The amount of power required by a boat has to do with its design and how it parts the water as it goes. Efficiency can be as important as total horsepower for a boat designed to have a long range. Even for those with a lot of disposable income, fuel consumption is a factor when your diesel tanks will hold over $16,000 worth of fuel. Running two Cummins, Cat, Perkins of Deere engines 24 hours a day requires big fuel tanks. Electronic radar, navigation and depth sounding systems also fascinate me. The helms on these boats have several multiple function displays that can be used to control complex systems.
In contrast, my current boat project is 19’ long with a beam of 21”. It is the longest boat I can build in one side of our two-car garage. You have to have some room to walk around the end of the boat in order to build it. I don’t yet know that final weight of the boat, but I’m hoping for somewhere in the 50# range, so that I can easily carry it. Such a boat is also designed for bigger waters than we have in South Dakota. It will receive its sea trials in area lakes, but I intend to paddle it in the Salish Sea, primarily at the southern end of the Puget Sound near the home of our son and his family. Spare fuel consists primarily of granola bars and dried fruit, easily carried in a lunch bag. Water capacity is a couple of quart bottles. Holding tanks are limited to the usual capacity of a human with an aging digestive system. Nonetheless it is a yacht in my mind: a boat capable of taking me to the edges of my imagination.
Fortunately I spend more time looking at videos demonstrating construction techniques of canoes and kayaks than I do on the web sites of high end yachts. Still, I wonder from time to time whether or not Tony Fleming ever spends a few minutes checking out the web site of Canoeroots or Cape Falcon Kayaks. I bet those would fascinate him at least as much as his web site fascinates me.
I’m not exactly sure why I know this information. I learned it mostly by reading and watching the videos on the company website. But why I’ve spent so much time on that website is a bit of a mystery to me. While I have no objection to Mr. Fleming and his boats, they simply occupy a part of the market where I will never operate. At four or five times my net worth, the purchase price of even a used yacht of that type is something that will never occur to me. Furthermore, I don’t really know anyone who is interested in investing their resources in such boats. The customers for the Fleming Yacht Company are primarily very successful business owners or top wage professionals. Ministers have done a lot of amazing things. Earring top wages isn’t among our common strengths.
Furthermore, I don’t come close to having the skills required to operate such a boat. Serving as captain, even in the role of owner-operator of such a vessel requires serious skills and certification in seamanship, navigation, equipment systems and much more. If I were to go to a boat show and take a walk aboard such a vessel, I likely couldn’t even identify all of the controls in the helm.
It is simply a world in which I do not live. And yet, occasionally, I allow my imagination to wander in the travel videos that Tony Fleming posts on his website.
I know that some human fantasies are expressions of desires that we have, but I don’t think I would ever want to have a boat of that size. These are really big boats - too big to be hauled on a semi truck. There is no chance of one ever visiting my home state or any of its neighbors.
Big does not serve my style of boating at all. I frequently go paddling at the lake and notice someone who has a complex motor boat who spends more time launching and retrieving their boat from the lake than I spend on my entire outing. I grab a canoe or kayak off of the roof rack of my car and am in the water paddling in less than 5 minutes. It takes that long to undo trailer straps, put in drain plugs and prepare a boat to be backed down the ramp. I never have to wait in line because I can launch without using the ramp. I don’t need a vehicle to maneuver a trailer, so parking can be done before my boat is in the water. For a person with limited time, as I am, a small and simple boat is the perfect way to spend your time boating instead of getting ready to boat.
As for long distance cruising, let’s be honest. That is a venture for those who are able to invest a lot of time - weeks and months. I understand the appeal of such a lifestyle, but I also know that it isn’t mine.
I don’t think my fascination with the boats and their trips is anything like envy. I don’t want to switch places with the owners of those boats.
I do have a bit of fascination with the technical aspects of boat building. Ratios of length, beam, weight and other factors all affect hull speed of boats. The amount of power required by a boat has to do with its design and how it parts the water as it goes. Efficiency can be as important as total horsepower for a boat designed to have a long range. Even for those with a lot of disposable income, fuel consumption is a factor when your diesel tanks will hold over $16,000 worth of fuel. Running two Cummins, Cat, Perkins of Deere engines 24 hours a day requires big fuel tanks. Electronic radar, navigation and depth sounding systems also fascinate me. The helms on these boats have several multiple function displays that can be used to control complex systems.
In contrast, my current boat project is 19’ long with a beam of 21”. It is the longest boat I can build in one side of our two-car garage. You have to have some room to walk around the end of the boat in order to build it. I don’t yet know that final weight of the boat, but I’m hoping for somewhere in the 50# range, so that I can easily carry it. Such a boat is also designed for bigger waters than we have in South Dakota. It will receive its sea trials in area lakes, but I intend to paddle it in the Salish Sea, primarily at the southern end of the Puget Sound near the home of our son and his family. Spare fuel consists primarily of granola bars and dried fruit, easily carried in a lunch bag. Water capacity is a couple of quart bottles. Holding tanks are limited to the usual capacity of a human with an aging digestive system. Nonetheless it is a yacht in my mind: a boat capable of taking me to the edges of my imagination.
Fortunately I spend more time looking at videos demonstrating construction techniques of canoes and kayaks than I do on the web sites of high end yachts. Still, I wonder from time to time whether or not Tony Fleming ever spends a few minutes checking out the web site of Canoeroots or Cape Falcon Kayaks. I bet those would fascinate him at least as much as his web site fascinates me.