madrasahs

"I've never just gone out to the Broads, shut down, and enjoyed the quiet and feeling of isolation. Usually we're scooting from one harbor to the next..."

Try a sailboat in the Broads. Anyone who has shut off their auxiliary power on a sunny Broads sailing day will tell you there's only one bad thing about it...and that's the starting up of the engine at the end of the sail.

If you want the real quiet and feeling of isolation, try sailing without auxiliary power -- as I do.

There's always "just enough" wind to return home, and sometimes the return home can be much faster (and exciting) than ever imagined.

There are the occasional powerboats "just floating" out there, a few trollers off Rattlesnake, and the peculiar phenomenon of power-boater "magnetism", as though my sail had large letters on it stating "Free Beer".

Though my boat is far smaller than those demanded by most Forum contributors, I was just reading about an ocean race of my peers that had a sudden storm of 48 Knots (over 50 MPH) hit the fleet. A few rudders broke, and some sails were ripped, but everybody made it home OK. So "The Broads @ 25 MPH waves" comment gave me a chuckle.

One racing skipper reported that he had bloodied his head, and he and his son had been driven over. He commented that he wasn't worried about sharks, as the boat, partially submerged, was being blown sideways too fast for a shark to keep up!.

On the Great Lakes I've read of sailboats who achieved their destinations hours earlier than the magpowerboats that were filming them!

Sailboats are tough, but require more skills than powerboats.

You can hear bald eagles and ospreys call when they're around. And when they're not, you listen to the shoosh...shoosh...shoosh...shoosh...shoosh of Lake Winnipesaukee's waters parting before your bow.