BOATING IS THE BEST KIND OF HOLIDAY RUSH

Boating is the Best Kind of Holiday Rush
By Barb Hansen
December 2007


Vic and I did not join the elbowing crowds to save a buck or two at Circuit City on Black Friday. We do not need an interactive game console, thank you. We already have one. A boat.

I understand that playing computer games is a rush. But what kind of rush is it? Is it an adrenaline rush? If so, it doesn't sound healthy to me. It seems to me we all get enough stress in our lives without the need to produce it artificially.

Lots of things give us rushes but that doesn't make them good. Shopping till you drop is a rush for some people. It may also be unhealthy physically, not to mention financially.

How many times have we fallen victim to HSF (Holiday Shopping Frenzy) – finding the perfect gift for Aunt Harriett or Uncle George or the very latest and only the very latest fashionable $100 tennis shoes for Junior? You get the picture.

And then there are the parties, the hostess gifts and don't forget the mailman and the paperboy. Whew!

Every holiday season I find myself wishing that people would spend their hard-earned money on things that can really make a positive difference in their lives – yes, like boating. Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me that playing World of Warcraft on your Xbox falls into the wrong category.

So what's the point? I would say that when we buy gifts for others and for ourselves maybe we should apply the "rush standard" to our decision. In other words, we should ask ourselves, "Will this purchase produce a healthy rush or an unhealthy rush?"

This brings me back to boating. I happen to think boating produces the healthiest rush of any diversion, especially including interactive computer games.

Like the game console you can buy at Circuit City or Best Buy, our boat console manipulates a visual display. Our console shows an ever-moving panorama of beautiful scenes framed by blue sky and blue-green water.

Like the electronic version, our game has a console with manipulating devices such as a steering wheel and throttles. (You could call them joysticks.) They make the visual display turn this way or that, and go slower or faster, forward or backward. For real.

Unlike the indoor game console, our outdoor console game supplies us with fresh air and rewards us with unexpectedly exhilarating sights such as dolphins surfing the bow wake or a family of manatees chewing on seagrasses.

Now, that's a rush.