Small Craft Therapy

Simplicity afloat is the surest guarantee of happiness

Article by Jonathan Lewis

L. Francis Herreshoff famously said, “Simplicity afloat is the surest guarantee of happiness.” I certainly agree with that sentiment, but I’ve recently noticed several YouTube sailors who not only don’t subscribe to that adage—they go to extraordinary efforts to complicate their crafts and lives.  

Sailing La Vagabonde (close to 2 million subscribers) launched their new 60-foot Rapido Trimaran last year and have experienced major sail and diesel problems, among others.

Gone With the Wynns (more than a half million subscribers) recently splashed their HH44 catamaran and are working through their punch list including a 5-knot speed-over-ground under power problem, while lusting for a large-format movie screen.

Acorn to Arabella (closing in on 200,000 subscribers) and their 38-foot William Atkin designed wooden ketch are wintering in a harbor on Cape Cod, trying to come to grips with various maladies that range from alternators to watermakers. Atkinson must be rolling over in his grave seeing all the “stuff” aboard significantly lower his designed LWL.

But what these sailors have in common isn’t only their overly-equipped and unnecessarily complicated vessels, but rather they all tout BetterHelp, an online therapy service, to their viewers. When I first heard La Vagabonde recommending BetterHelp I was cynical, but when two other well-subscribed sailing YouTube channels joined in the promotion of a company that was fined by the FTC for sharing and profiting from the selling of personal health data, I realized something was rotten in the state of Denmark.

If one is living a chosen life aboard a sailing vessel and needs a therapist, dare I say they’re doing something wrong? Granted, my subject sample is small in number, but they reach millions of people and they’re doing a disservice to our passion. Too many people are drinking the Kool-Aid.

I spent many years of my life living aboard and while I faced numerous challenges, those difficulties were far outweighed by the benefits of being close to nature and all the other pluses the wet realm of this planet has to offer.

We small craft enthusiasts can still encounter problems, but by downsizing our vessels and keeping our needs to a minimum, we derive greater enjoyment and don’t require a Starlink satellite system to connect us to a therapist to return us to a state of bliss. Our contentment doesn’t demand a technological conduit. The gentle lapping on our hulls and a pleasant breeze on our cheeks sustains us. We depart the shore and leave our land encumbrances behind. Isn’t that why we’re on boats to begin with? •SCA•