A Closer Look at a Nautical Rivalry: Powerboat vs. Sailboat
"What you choose also chooses you." -Kamand Kojouri I've lived on both sides of this fence. I was raised a powerboater and relished my time on the water with my family in everything from bowriders to express cruisers and flybridge motoryachts. I always knew I'd own boats and spend a lot of my time aboard them, so when I became an adult with practically no budget, I had to improvise to get on the water. Paying for fuel and maintenance on a powerboat wasn't in the cards or my meager budget. Instead, I put an ad on Craigslist asking for a "free or nearly free" sailboat. To my surprise, I had someone fairly closely contact me almost immediately. There's nothing more expensive than a cheap boat, but I took my chances anyway and ended up with a 1972 Helms 25 swingkeel sloop that we named "Hannabel" after our first two daughters (Hannah and Isabel). She wasn't free, but the $400 asking price wasn't enough to keep me away. I s