Hung up on the "best"...

We get quite a few emails here at Boat Bits central and not so surprisingly (after deleting the copious right wing rants and Nigerian money scams) what's left mostly tends to be of the "How do I..." and "What is the best..." nature.

As far as the "How do I" thing goes... Well, that all depends, and I'm not going to address that as what I really want to talk about is the silly idea that there is really a "BEST" anything...

Now, it's only my opinion, but there is simply no BEST blue-water boat, BEST rig, BEST winch, BEST anchor or BEST anything and the quest to possess such a thing will simply drive you insane and you will be reduced to drooling and writing right wing rants to Boat Bits or coming up with Nigerian money scams to try and afford that BEST monkey residing on your back...

Which is not to say that there are things that work and things that don't (and things that should work but will only drive you bat-shit crazy but that is grist for another day).

There is also having the RIGHT thing... Which is a whole lot different than that "BEST" thing... As in "I want to go cruising and I have a Columbia 29 but really feel I need a Hallberg-Rassy 62 because it is the BEST!" Of course, I'd be lying through my teeth if I did not admit that Hallberg-Rassy makes a seriously sweet ride and that the 62 makes me get all hot and bothered (in a good Barry White kinda way) but the truth is the HR62 is not a BEST boat (though mighty fine IS a phrase that springs to mind) it is a fantasy and the sort of aspiration that assures your dream will remain just that...

As for the Columbia 29... It is a sweet ride as well, and for a couple not into silly consumerism quite capable and able to take them cruising for a summer, a year, or around the world at a price that you'd pay to buy a sail for the HR62 which in my mind makes the Columbia 29 a heck of a lot closer to BEST when all is said and done...

Cruising is a different mindset and BEST just does not factor into it at all. Cruising is more of a what works and what does not work world. So, if you can't get your head around that perhaps you'd best take up golf or melon farming...