If you’re a true boater, you know that there’s nothing worse than stepping outside on a beautiful day wishing that you could just go for ONE MORE boat ride!
For many people, boating season is between memorial day and labor day weekend. For others, it’s the two months of summer break. If you consider boat season to be only this two to three month period, I encourage you to consider otherwise.
The Indian summer is a period of unseasonably warm, dry weather that sometimes occurs in autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Unbeknownst to many boaters, the Indian summer is the prime of the Massachusetts boating season. So far this fall, Marblehead’s Indian summer has featured relatively mild temperatures, ranging from low 50s to high 70s (degrees Fahrenheit). Predictably brisk mornings give way to sunny, breezy afternoons. Better yet,
there is little boat traffic, because many of Marblehead’s summer-dwellers have returned to Florida or wherever home is for the winter, and many people are busy at school or work.
Considering the costliness of winterizing boats, it’s slightly ridiculous to only keep your boat in the water for a few months of the whole year. If you divide the total cost of buying, maintaining and winterizing a boat by the number of times you actually use your boat during those three months, you may as well just rent a boat each time! By keeping your boat in longer, you are making the cost much more worthwhile – getting the “bang for your buck.”
The only threat is the Atlantic hurricane season. Many boaters fear that keeping a boat in the water past Labor Day puts the boat at risk of storm damage. However, so far this fall, even the most exposed areas of Marblehead and Salem harbors did not experience anything that a securely-tied or moored boat can’t handle. In the years when the North Shore is hit harder by storms in the fall hurricane season, it is true that the (exposed) smaller boats can be put at risk. But, don’t let this fear hold you back – taking a small boat out of the water for a few days is a rather simple task. The ramps at Little Harbor Lobster Company or Riverhead Beach are public spots where you can drive that vulnerable 15-foot Boston Whaler straight onto your trailer and out of the water in minutes, leave it in a boatyard, garage, or parking lot for a few days, and plop it back in the water once the storm has passed.
If you’re more daring, and launch your boat rather early (April), then you can enjoy a lengthy seven month boating season, rather than the disgustingly brief three month season that many boaters consider sufficient. My family always launches our boats in early April, and we keep them in until at least Halloween. This past weekend, we enjoyed a sail around Misery Island, and a motor-boat trip to Manchester by the Sea for a quick lunch. Except for a few other crazy sailors, we had the entire ocean to ourselves! Not only was the quietness a sweet escape from the hussle-bussle of our school and work lives, but the red and orange foliage along the shore provided the most beautiful scenery as we sailed. Moral of the story? Plan to launch your boat in April next year, and leave it in until October. Remember…“a bad day on the water is better than a good day at work.”