RediscoverCruising

BOATING IN S'PORE

If you’re like most boat owners, you’ve developed a weekend routine. You head to your favourite beach and pursue your interest, whether it’s fishing, waterskiing or simply a picnic with family and friends.

You’re familiar with these areas: You know where the fish are biting, you know where the water is smooth for skiing and the family likes the food at one of the nearby marinas. But boating is like a marriage: To keep the zip in the doo-dah, you can’t allow yourself to get into a furrow. Follow the same routine, and you’ll find yourself bored and the boat neglected. Perhaps it’s time to go cruising.

If you keep your boat in the water, this might mean taking an overnight cruise instead of an afternoon jaunt. Decide how far you want to go in a few hours and you’re sure to find great marinas, quiet anchorages or new sights to enjoy.

Many boat owners rarely venture more than a few minutes from their marinas, yet a couple of hours on the water can put you away on a Friday evening or Saturday morning to explore new destinations. Dig out your sea chart and start planning!

REDISCOVER CRUISING

A cruise doesn’t have to mean taking a month off from work to go far away; it can be something as effortless as exploring new waters from Friday evening until Sunday evening. Let’s take a look at the many faces of cruising.

NEW DISCOVERIES

In the simplest form of cruising, you can take your boat and cruise to a distant marina. Tuck into a transient slip, hook up the shore power and explore the area. You’ll surely find nice restaurants, shops and sights within an easy walk of most marinas and without having to race home by dark, you can take the time to savour the moment. You will also find that when you wake up in the morning, far from your usual marina, you’ll have plenty of time to discover new fishing grounds, new waterski areas or new sandbars for picnics.

They are two things you’ll soon learn about cruising; It allows you to smell the roses without being rushed, and it allows you and your family to make discoveries, large and small. As your cruising experience grows, you’ll find that there is a particular pleasure in anchoring in a quiet cove far from civilization (or at least, seemingly far). If your anglers were lucky, you might have a mess of fish on the barbecue hanging over the stern or, if they were skunked, there’s still nothing like hamburgers or steaks grilled in the cockpit.

You’ll find that an anchorage is a great place for the kids to swim and splash around, where they can try to identify stars in the dark night sky, and where the family can enjoy quality time together. Every marinas has shoreside restaurants with docks and, in many cases, you can not only have a great meal ashore but also reserve an overnight mooring. Enjoy cocktails and conversations on your own boat, and then head to the restaurant for dinner. With any luck, there’s a nearby cafe for breakfast the next morning waiting for you.

PICK THE PACE

Here’s the thing about cruising; It’s your choice. If you want to be busy, you can go fishing or wakeski or wakeboard or play in the water. But if you want to curl up in a corner of the cockpit with a mystery novel and left the afternoon drift by, that’s OK, too. It doesn’t really matter what kind of boat you have, either. A cruiser is the best solution, of course, especially if your wife is like mine; She thinks “roughing it” means slow room service. She wants a stand-up shower in the boat, a real toilet (even if i have to pump it out), a cocktop and a microwave and a comfy bed. Oh yes, if the boat has air-conditioning, so much the better in Singapore.

Open bow-rider boats are great choices for day cruises, and even night cruises as they offer a tremendous amount of deck space and they’re extremely versatile. You can fish from them, cook in them, and depending on how they are powered, they can be great for water-sports activities as well. Rinse off, change clothes in the changing room (a feature common to nearly all bow-ride boats today) and you’re ready for dinner at a dockside restaurant.

But cruising doesn’t have to mean staying aboard. It can mean taking your boat out and spending the night in the marina resort on the other side. Some marinas even offer complimentary docking if you’re staying in one of their rooms.

OVERNIGTH DELIGHT

And then, of course, there’s boat camping. Believe me, having a boat to carry your supplies to an empty meadows is a lot better than humping them in on your own back. And you can take all the comforts of home, even on a small runabout boat. A tent, sleeping bags, a portable stove, an ice chest full of food and a lantern and you are ready for a wilderness adventure.

Speaking of boat camping, there are a growing number of runabouts and even sport boats that have

the basics for an overnighters. A runabout may have seats that unfold into a bunk and a speedboat probably has a v-berth tucked under the foredeck. You can even order “camper-packages” that turned your Bimini top into a boat “tent”, add a sink and toilet and upgrade the seats into convertible berths. Just add the food and you’re ready!

The French love the phrase “Vive la difference!” and so do I. Doing something a little different, like an overnight cruising rather than day boating, can revive your enthusiasm for boating. It can also turn your boating adventures into memories to be cherished. All it takes is a little imagination, a willingness to break out of the rut and a good chart.

So – where are you headed this weekend?