February 16, 2006
Boating Is About Making That Special Connection
There are two different groups of people in this world: one that dreams of enjoying adventure and another that lives the adventure.
Recreational boating is about making that special connection. Those who stay back on the dock, sit in their summer homes or travel only by car, block themselves out of the real world that they see every day. Boating is about being a part of the reality, part of the real world. Boating is about not only gliding across the open water, but feeling its wetness as the spray of water shoots over the bow. Boating is about moving to and fro with the wave action, getting bounced a few times and feeling the breeze surround you.
In boating, one is in contact with it all. You become part of the living and breathing reality that exists outdoors and is always variable. Boating opens itself up to an even more in-depth reality when it is combined with fishing, waterskiing, tubing and wakeboarding.
Another special connection that is made is in the experience of sharing the boating passion and boating lifestyle with others. Quality life adventures shared with others provides for quality life enhancement. The connections made are evident in the relationships we share among family, friends, co-workers and other boaters. Surveys indicate boaters are happier overall than nonboaters.
Boating is a relationship builder as it requires a person to become an active participant. For those who do not go boating, they are merely passive observers watching the world go by them as if it were some sort of reality television show. What separates us is not so much the haves versus the have-nots, as much as it is the doers and the thinkers.
An estimated three million Ohioans enjoy recreational boating each year. Less than ten percent of this boating group actually owns their own boat or other type of watercraft. This means that nine of every ten Ohioans are enjoying boating through a shared passion of someone who does own a boat. Call it a special connection.
There are many opportunities to become introduced and active in boating, fishing and other forms of outdoor recreation. You just have to have the desire and reach out a hand as there are many of us active and “doer-types”, who live for the opportunity to continue making special connections with others and who might one day come to share our passions for boating and the outdoors.
|