One of our readers here at Boat Bits wrote recently and disclosed that he had a fear of doing some rigging work that was needful on his boat and simply too expensive to have done by a "professional rigger"...
I get that, I used to have a fear of spars...
What I mean is, I used to feel more than able to build a boat but spar-making worried me. I could plank a hull, build cabinets, and do all manner of boatbuilding mayhem but when it came to masts I had this feeling that, just maybe, I should leave that to someone with greater skills than I.
Like most irrational fears, when you look into them deeply you find that they simply do not make any sense. In this case, if I could lay a keel, do a teak deck that did not leak, and do pretty joinery, it's obvious that I possess enough woodworking skills to do a mast but I still had that feeling that it was beyond me...
I have run into so many people that suffered from the same problem though in some cases it was engine repair, rigging or sail repair. Fact is, a lot of the mailbag from Boat Bits readers concerns these mental road blocks we set to keep us from doing certain boat tasks.
In my case, dealing with my fear of spars came about simply because way back when, I needed a mast and I simply could not afford one so it was dealing with the fear or not sailing. Or in other words, my being Mr Cheapseats trumps fear!
Once I started that very first mast I found that not only was it not difficult or beyond my abilities, but was easily the most enjoyable work I had ever done in a boat yard.
Now, many years and spars later, I still love building spars...
Which is not to say you will find that you love whatever boat task you find your fear factor in, but if you take the time and work through your fear you will find that it is a lot easier than you thought, and the rewards are great. More than likely, you will also save yourself a lot of money in the process as well.
Listening to Lowell's daughter sing
So it goes...
Plans Change, Martinique version
5 days ago
