Morning Guy Blog

For Early Risers Who Wish That It Could Be Morning All Day

  • About
  • Blog
  • Watercolors
  • Books
  • Project Sail

For Early Risers Who Wish It Could Be Morning All Day

Sailors & Smokers

November 22, 2016 By Morning Guy

garmarsail-1

In an earlier life, Marlene and I were sailors. For five winters, we actually lived on a sailboat with our two children and a cat. We had been inspired by such sailing movie classics as The Dove, Wind, and, of course, Captain Ron.

Here is a short clip from Captain Ron (my all-time favorite silly movie):

In those days, we frowned upon dirty, noisy “smoker boats.” Sailors can be snobs. Sometimes they have a haughty air about them—much like garish-colored-spandex appareled bicyclists, who hug the road’s shoulder-line “because they can.” So when Kevin Costner released Waterworld in 1995, we felt that our indignation was at last vindicated in a more snob-less manner (or, at least, we knew that it would be in some waterlogged future).

But that was then and this is now. We have since modified our position on “smokers.” One’s self interests will sometimes do that.

Sadly—or perhaps happily (another story for another day)—the time came for us to sell our Florida Gulf Coast based sailboat. “Those dang kids got older and needed proper school’n.” Plus, they were picking up too many bad words hanging around the docks.

This occurred long before our migration to the Rocky Mountains.

So as Montanans, we were mariners no more. We had boxed up our charts and harness life jackets, deflated our dinghy, and stopped subsidizing the Fort Myers West Marine boat supply store. And even though this post-sailboat life gave us back money for food and such, we missed the wind in our faces and the smell of the sea.

Alas, this seafarer yearning and mariner envy finally took another abrupt turn this past summer.

2000-boatkaylaunch

We purchased a boat from a good friend—though a “smoker boat.” We did so, because we knew the boat and we knew it had an unused cuddy cabin. You see, what we missed most about our sailboat days was not the foul language of our fellow sailors or the endless repairs and removal of saltwater corrosion, but rather the “anchoring out”—those magical starlit nights “on the hook.” As it turned out, this new old boat—this “smoker boat”—could be deployed from a trailer quickly and easily, and its 350 smokey horses could get us to our preferred anchorage on Flathead Lake, pronto. For the two of us, it provided a great “anchoring out” platform and a Mother Ship for our more earth-friendly kayaks. We actually regard it more as a travel trailer on water than as a boat.

Still, we felt self-conscious anchoring among (mostly) sailboats. We knew that they looked at us as we once would have looked at us—with that Kevin Costner stare of disdain. And it made us feel (a little) bad.

But don’t worry. We’ll get over it.

Kevin did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~

PS: Here’s a short clip from Waterworld that explains everything that you need to know about “smokers.”

Filed Under: Anchoring Out, Favorite Movie/TV/Video Clips, Flathead Lake, Montana, The Artist Life

Morning Guy Gary Spetz

Morning Guy,  Gary Spetz
Born to rise early ... (more about Morning Guy).

Post Titles

  • Alaska Workshop Cruise
  • All About That Bass
  • The Amazing Mr. Kite
  • Anticipation
  • Apple Squash
  • Artist Doing His Art
  • Bad CowGar
  • Bad Ross
  • Bad Fisherman
  • Beach Biking
  • Beam Me Up To The Mothership
  • Bird’s View Of Flathead Lake
  • Boat Motors & Sadists
  • Bogus Bogguss Groupies
  • Boredom & Crescent Wrench
  • Breathe
  • Broke Ground
  • Brrrrr!
  • Canoeing Days
  • Cedar Island
  • Cedar Island Shore
  • Christmas Flat Tire
  • Clear Cool Water
  • Coast To Coast
  • Color Rocks
  • The Color Show Begins
  • Colorful Newport
  • Cool But Colorful
  • Cool Hand Luke Car Wash
  • Crazy Fit
  • Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Browne
  • Cultured Montanans
  • Dewy Sweet Hawaii Postal Route
  • Ah … The Dog Days Of Summer
  • Don’t Tell Anyone
  • The Driveway Less Traveled
  • Dualing-Double-Dog Triple-Axel
  • Early September Sunrises On Flathead Lake
  • Ecobee4, An Experience
  • Elgin Air Force Armament Museum
  • Far From The Maddening Crowd
  • Father’s Day (Grand) on Flathead Lake
  • Find Your Beach
  • A Fine Day To Land On Mars
  • First Kayak Outing
  • First Mate
  • Flathead Lake
  • Florida Does Sunrises Well
  • The Florida Myth
  • Forever 39
  • Fresh Snow
  • Frightful October
  • Fruit & Veggies
  • Glacier NP Sunrise/Moonset
  • A Glimpse Of Fall
  • God Only Knows
  • Going All Out
  • A Good Day For Boaters Ahead
  • Hanging Out
  • Happiness Is 74° Lake Water
  • Haunted By Waters
  • Hazy Days
  • He Scores!
  • Hectortunes
  • Hike To Grinnell Glacier
  • House On A Hill
  • How Social Distancing Rules Are Created
  • I Love The Smell Of Boat Motors In The Morning
  • Icy
  • The Illusion Of Time
  • I’m Back, Baby!
  • The Importance Of Good Pipes
  • In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company
  • Indian Summer
  • Insegrevious Loss For 2017
  • Into The Fog
  • Into The Mist
  • It Is Cold And My Snow Shovel Is Broken
  • It’s A Hard Knock Life
  • Just An Ordinary, Average Guy
  • Just some clear water and colorful rocks …
  • Kayaking Wild Horse Island
  • Keytar Fan Club
  • Kind Of Creepy
  • La Bamba Beach Biking
  • Last One Out
  • Let The Fishing Begin
  • Leigh Lake
  • The Library Cop
  • Life’s A Beach
  • Little Cindy Lou Who?
  • Look’n For Warmth In All The Wrong Places
  • Lost Frog
  • Lost Giant
  • Lost in Space
  • Lovers In A Dangerous Time
  • The Magic Hour
  • Marlene The Apple
  • Meant To Be Together
  • Meanwhile On Mars
  • Morgan The Iceman
  • Morning Festivus Lights
  • Morning Fireball
  • Morning Mountain Cloud Bank
  • Morning Sun Dancer
  • Mornings On Water
  • Mother’s Day In Missoula
  • Mountaintop Mandolin
  • A Mountain Too Close
  • My Not-So-Lofty New Year’s Resolution
  • Needs A Little More Tambourine
  • NEVER interrupt an artist …
  • Nosy Neighbor
  • The Ocean Ringing In My Brain
  • Old Growth Ponderosas
  • Oh Deer
  • Once Upon A Time
  • One On One
  • One-Minute Of Sunrise
  • One-Minute November Sunrise
  • One Small Roll
  • The Opposite
  • Our New Old Passtime
  • Pastel Mornings
  • The Pink Flash
  • Pink Pearl
  • Plastigoop
  • +1 !!!
  • Proper Boat Docking Tutorial
  • Pulitzer-Smulitzer
  • Pull & Smash Trees
  • Quiet Waters
  • The Road To Mary Ronan
  • Raspberry City
  • Room With A View
  • Safe Streets
  • Sailors & Smokers
  • Salt, Sand, & Snow
  • Save The Whale
  • Scary Sandals
  • The Sea Was Angry
  • September Landing
  • Signage
  • Sittin’ On A Log Off The Bay
  • Six Blue Eyes And A Puppy
  • Skeeko Bay
  • Slip Slidin’ Away
  • Snorkeling In Flathead Lake
  • Son Of A Beach
  • Spetzenhaus Watercolors & Hockey Pub
  • Spring Is Approaching
  • Spring On Flathead Lake
  • Still A Music Lion
  • Still Behind Bars
  • Storm Clouds Brewing
  • The Stuff That Floats An Artist’s Boat
  • A Summer Fishing Dream
  • It’s Summer In Montana!
  • Summer Is Feeling Short These Days
  • Summer Kayak Dream
  • Summer Sunrise Boat Ride On Flathead Lake
  • Summer Writing Perch
  • Summer’s End
  • Sunrise & First Snow
  • Sunshine & Turning Tamaracks
  • Sweet Sunday
  • Swiftcurrent Lake to Lake Josephine
  • “Taken” By A Photograph Of You
  • These Days
  • Those Days
  • Three Amigos, Dos
  • Throwing Foliage
  • Time Flies
  • Time Travel
  • The Torosizer: A Love Story
  • Those Long, Glorious, Summer Days
  • Trout On
  • 2020
  • Wayne’s World
  • Up On The Roof
  • Wild Horse Island Loop Trail
  • White House Press Pool For The Day
  • Watercolor Pour
  • Watercolor Workshop Season 2019
  • Winter Solstice Soon
  • Wild, Wild Horses
  • Winter Cars
  • Winter Bullseye
  • Winter Inversion
  • Yearning
  • Yet Another Reason To Not Eat Kale
  • Walks With A View
  • Warm & Sunny!
  • Water Colors
  • What, Me Worry?
  • What Would George Think About Covid-19?
  • When Grandparents Learn To Fly
  • When You Are Little, Life Is A Beach
  • Wind Drinkers
  • Winter Writing Perch
  • XCountry 2.0

Copyright © 2021 · Contact: Gary Spetz Studio