a new boat--- a kid's point of view

When you decide that you have enough money for a brrand new "toy" as my dad put it, what would a dad choose? A new grill, a new flat screen, a new car, or a chair for him. What would a kid choose? a new computer, a new pet, a new bike(ahem dad, you getting all of this?), new aquarim(comon' one more couldn't really hurt, could it? iv'e only got.... uhhhh two or three in my room now!), or a new cell phone. What does my dad choose? A boat. what's my reaction? YES!!!!!!!!

Okay, i should have explained that this is not you adverage family... No backyard grills, no room, we live in a forest with a pond and various things that my dad and i have put together, i only use them when i can get the nieghborhood kids to detach themselves from them. The term the more friends the merrier does deffinetally apply to mom's philosophy. Deffinetally not a hunting family, we don't even watch football! (gasp)No, we can proudly prclaim ( and i tell my friends on a regular basis) "nope, i am not normal"! Although around halloween, this has a new twist. ( we have a couple hundered kids every year, and we have had a family from texas come every year, and let's say that my friends get a kick out of saying " you know that house that goes nuts for halloween? The one with the graveyard in the frount yard, and the eyeballs on the roof? Ya, i know 'em!")

A new sailboat.... just a tad bigger than our Catermaran, The Cherokee Sun. We are getting a PDQ 32. "only slightly bigger," says my dad. Yeah, right. I can stand under the deck now! Well, i could do that before, but only because i'm the shortest one in my class! now i have a HUGE bed, a REAL kitchen with a fridge and a stove, a REAL head,( no more port-a -poty!), and ANOTHER BED for my mom and dad, MOT TO MENTION the dining room and all of the deck space! Right, slightly bigger my butt! i think i'm in heaven, except for one tiny detail.... we can't go to all of those awesome places on our trips that we love to go, the ones that need boats with a draft of about a foot. Well, that's okay i guess, maybe i can talk dad into GETTING THOSE KYACKS THAT I REALLY, REALLY WANT. ( ahem, oh daddy dearest, are you listening?) well, i was glad that we had a inflatable dingy, although i love, love, love kyacks! Now that i have my boating liscense, i can legally operate the dingy, and that is just, AWESOME!

to any other teen, the size and the bed would probably be a selling point, but, like i have preveiously stated, i am not the normal teen,at all. I love my exploring habbits, so that is what my dingy is for, i don't let dad operate it that often, he stinks at it. He really does. Failure! (love you dad!) but anyway, the fact is i love The Shoal Survivor, but i love exploring. The dingy on the boat, The Nana Two, after my grandmother in upstate New York, is my best friend.

Although i say that this boat restricts my family's exploring habbits, i am glad that my mom was able to finally make her first journey around the Delmarva. She was a interesting color of green now and a gain, though. i did manage to take off every night on the dingy, and go places that the Shoal Survivor was unable to go, let alone the catermaran. so, i am extreamly pleased about my new boat. and now, i can fit all of my friends on my boat, without it sinking!

When my dad and i compleated our latest adventure around the Delmarva, both of us agreed that it was wayy easier, i think that we cheated. We were used to getting attacked by fly's , cats , and dolphins ( oh my!) not to mention the storms that we got stuck in, and the problem finding slips in small fishing towns. although, we can still go to tangier...... YES! my absolute favorite stop! best place for crab cakes, and all of the cats are pretty awesome. We do need to add bikes to the boat. Dad wants some collapsable ones. ( donations are welcome! Christmas is getting a lot of publicity this year... kayaks are sure to be on sale!) I do miss the extreame thrill of surviving in the ocean, and my friends were just talking the other day about a girl younger than i compleating a trip around the world, sailing of course! Even with the extreamness gone, i still love sailing, and i am getting more nible on my feet. Amazingly, the cat didn't make running on deck soo difficult. on the PDQ, you have to duck, pick you'r feet up and not fall over! quite the trick!

All in all, the PDQ is a great boat, but there are some things that even a new boat cannot beat. it's weaknesses, in my mind at least, are pretty much covered in the strengths. As long as there is a boat to go on, i will be happy and not complain.... to much anyway!