TheReluctantBoater.com goes live! The new website is a fun and helpful resource with videos, short cuts and hacks for power boaters.
Website creator Janet Crance loves the water, the sea, everything about it. She was NOT, however, in love with boats. To her they were noisy, expensive, and scary. Its what she didn’t know that scared her. Her husband Chuck, however, grew up with boats and became quite a confident and savvy boater. Janet on the other hand was content to sit back and be life’s observer.
Janet’s introduction to boating started in high school. She met her husband Chuck at the lake, on his boat. She loved riding in that boat with him - at least she loved the IDEA of riding in that boat with him. In truth, it was too low to the water, was too bumpy, went to fast – it downright scared her, but she persevered. Six years later, with kids in tow, the boat was sold. Not practical, no time, no money… she secretly rejoiced. Chuck, on the other hand,very obviously grieved. So, it was no surprise that once the kids were older and the opportunity presented itself, they were going back on the water.
With retirement on the horizon, Chuck declared he wanted to retire on a boat, Janet thought, here we go again. The realization of his passion was very real. Once again, she faced her fears, and they charted a 48’ power catamaran in the British Virgin Islands. To Janet’s surprise, she loved every minute of that experience. It was everything that boating on the local lakes was not – the boat was really roomy, it went slower, it wasn’t as crowded – She felt SAFE! She was all in but needed to know if she could handle this new, inflated idea of boating. No longer were they going to be relegated to local lakes where their experience had taken them so far. They were talking to the open ocean in their new power boat, an entirely new adventure.
Retirement came and their new second home was awaiting them. Becoming a competent first mate became Janet’s goal. She began to google search everything related to boating and realized that while there was a lot of information available for sailing, there was very little information for power boating. Thus, the idea for The Reluctant Boater began to take form. As she learned (sometimes trial by fire!), she noted every hack and short cut that made boating life easier.
Initially they got a slip at a local lake and kept the boat there which allowed Janet to learn the ins and outs of boat handling without the waves, wind and tide of the ocean. In 2017 they moved their boat to San Diego; they had no idea how life changing that decision would be. The ocean, and time on the boat has become their happy place. After eight years of ocean-going boat ownership, they spend at least half their time on their boat. “It is the one place where the stresses of life, cannot find us”. The ability to navigate to a point in the middle of the ocean is empowering and exhilarating” said Janet.
Janet is not the same person she was 8 years ago. She hopes her followers will experience a similar paradigm shift.
It is never too late to reinvent yourself, happy boating! Visit www.thereluctantboater.com
