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[–] 164 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

There are a lot of people in the world. Like a loooooot. Even if the % of non normies is only like 0.01% of the population that would easily explain those boats.

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  • [–] 29 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    If there was a plague that had a 100% human infection rate and killed 87% of the people infected it would still only set back world populations to around the start of the 1900s

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  • [–] 115 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

    The ideas that normies don't sail isn't true. I'm a normie and not rich and I started a sailing school because it's fun as hell. You don't need ^to ^own a boat to go sailing, you only need to know how.

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  • [–] 125 points 1 year ago (16 children)

    Homie how tf are you sailing with no boat?

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  • [–] 71 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    This simple trick, 🏴‍☠️

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    [–] 92 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I have a friend who grew up on the coast and her family always sailed for fun.

    When she got divorced she bought a sailboat and traveled for a bit in it. She then parked it at a marina and lived in it for so many years close to her kids and grandkids. She paid $100K for boat and her marina fees were $300/month. The boat was paid off with the divorce settlement.

    The cheapest 1 bedroom apartment to rent nearby was $3500/month for less square footage than her boat. The cheapest small house was around $1,000,000 or around $6000/ month at the time. The homes around the marina were all priced at several million dollars.

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  • [–] 43 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    We met someone like that and they were considered homeless by the city, lol. I think they were annoyed at that.

    Seattle is full of people that live on boat as an affordable alternative. You can't be squeamish about insects or get seasick easily because of the storms. I couldn't do it myself, but I've known quite a few that have.

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  • [–] 58 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Sailboats aren’t prohibitively expensive for a normie, especially if you buy a used one. If you look at the large empty houses near every harbor though, you’ll see a better sign of the wealth disparity. The rich own multiple houses worth millions each and they seem to be rarely used while many people can’t afford a starter home now.

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  • [–] 55 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    A city of 250,000 people could have 250 boats (that's enough for a marina or two) and it would be 0.01% of the population (the one percent of the one percent). That seems to not really be that crazy.

    And if you consider that a small percentage of the boat population may have 2 or even 3 boats, than it gets even less weird.

    I also think that if you live near water, people are generally at least a little more likely to get a boat instead of a nice car or bigger house or other luxury item.

    Edit: I was off by an order of magnitude so it would be 0.1% not 0.01, however, I think the broader point is still valid.

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    [–] 51 points 1 year ago* (13 children)

    My dad used to own a sailboat, which was a high point for someone squarely middle class. We're talking a 44 ft sailboat.

    These things are holes in the water who the fuck wants a boat

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  • [–] 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    How do you make a small fortune?

    Start with a large fortune and buy a boat.

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  • I used to work at a fish market, and one of the fishermen we dealt with once won a large sum of money from a big fishing tournament. When they asked him what he was gonna do with the money, his response was, "Keep fishing until it's all gone."

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    At the height of being poor in like '83 or so (mortgage rates to 17%; just ponder that) we panick-moved to a smaller town with a union job but found a fixer house with an attached shop.

    Dad, ever the salesman and skilled labourer, would do work for people in exchange for wood-working tools: Old window Jenkins would part with Lester's Table Saw if Dad re-tiled the shower.

    So we got tools. And he traded for plywood and plans. And suddenly we had a dory he could fit on top of this '75 econoline150 van. And fishing was great. But it was a lot of rowing this pig of a boat.

    So he modded it with a dagger-board and a mast port. Took him 5 min to rig it and he was set for fishing.

    Those summers camping because we couldn't afford to do anything else but at least gas was cheap, they were awesome.

    I think these people just have shiny boats, which are too expensive. If you want to find them, they're finishing the Penske file so they can still afford exorbitant Slip fees and dream of Taking the Boat Out with the estranged family members who will then love Dad again and make up for all this toil. Dude needs a cheap ugly van and a wallowing pig of a dory to 'sail' around a lake in the woods; aim smaller and actually go make memories.

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    [–] 48 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    No one, take them, they're free.

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  • [–] 40 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    A former boss told a story once that was super relatable.

    It was about change and how it's not always necessary.... He went on about how one business changed their payment policies so that everything was done by some kind of payment card, they wouldn't accept cash/cheque with their new system.

    He was basically bitching about having to pay by card for something he usually pays for by cheque.

    The super relatable service that "pulled this on him"? It was a dry dock for his boat.

    Yep. Super relatable bossman. I can barely pay my bills on what I'm paid, and you're being super relatable talking about how you store your boat in the winter. 🖕

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  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    The elites don't want you to know this but the boats at the marina are free you can take them home I have 458 boats.

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    [–] 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    The two best days in a boaters life:

    The day they buy their boat; and the day they sell their boat.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    My uncle used to own a fairly large shrimp/crabbing boat, and he ran a fishing crew for nearly 20 years. He said "They say the best days in a boat owners life are the day you buy, and the day you sell. There is a Third option, the day you realize you can rent you boat to a crew, and not have to deal with most of the issues, and still make money." Yeah, he eventually was in too bad of shape to continue, so he started renting his boat out to crews, they covered fuel, and short term maintenance, while he was responsible for the big stuff. Made a nice side income from it, and started a plumbing business.

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    [–] 26 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    boats aren't expensive, especially the older they are. fixing boats properly is expensive, but you also don't really need to do that. My dad had a racing boat when I was a kid, it cost him $400.. I bought a dinghy last year for $200. That's less than the cost of a game console. And it costs literally nothing to go take it out on the water.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    My mom grew up in the '40s and '50s and she told me many times about the surplus PT boat her dad had bought at the end of WWII which the family would take out for boating trips. I was like holy shit a PT (Patrol Torpedo) boat! These things had three Packard engines and could make 45 knots. Later on as an adult I discovered that it was actually just a pontoon boat, one of the things the army would use to make temporary bridges over rivers and that could only go about 3 mph. My mom had just thought "PT" stood for "Pon Toon" so that's what she called it. It turns out she had always wondered what the hell John F. Kennedy had been doing in the Pacific fighting the Japanese in a pontoon boat.

    Later on, I then learned that my mom's uncle had actually bought a surplus Air/Sea Rescue boat after the war. This boat was basically a PT boat, just with two of the Packard engines instead of three; since it was 15 feet longer than a PT boat it could also do 45 knots. So it turns out my mom did have this childhood experience of rocketing around the ocean at unbelievable speeds. Her uncle ended up selling the boat after the engine room caught fire for the third time (something these engines were notorious for) and we have no idea what happened to it after that. These boats cost about $190K new and he had somehow acquired it for $10K - I expect there was some shady dealing going on there.

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    [–] 24 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Some people don't even really sail them but live in them.

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    Boats aren't even that expensive everywhere. In America they're priced as luxury objects for the richest of the rich from what I've heard. Sailing as a way of traveling is actually a kinda cheap and rough activity, like camper vans. Not very "rich" stuff at all. My grandparents had a 30 footer and it wasn't exactly luxurious, definitely camper van vibes. They'd sailed it all over around Europe though.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    They're not that expensive, at least not up-front. A guy I know bought a sailboat for a few thousand dollars, but the catch was that it was almost 50 years old and needed a lot of repairs. He saved money by doing the repairs himself, but the $400 per month slip fee was still too much for him eventually and he sold the boat.

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    [–] 21 points 1 year ago (15 children)

    Just had a look at used sailing boats in Norway and there are a fair number for under $10 000. Basically cheaper than a used car or camper. I'd have one if I had somewhere to keep it.

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    [–] 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Same people who own all the empty properties, residential and commercial; Fucking leaches, that's who.

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    [–] 21 points 1 year ago

    A friend of mine used to work in a yacht club, albeit a very small one on a river, not the sea. He was firmly convinced that at least half of the boats belonged to the owners of craft businesses. He was of the opinion that the boats were bought with black money, either to be able to do something with the money or to sell the boats again later and launder the money that way. I don't know if that's true.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago

    It's usually a divorced guy

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