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GO RACING OR GO FISHING

ADD A SPORT TO YOUR CRUISE 

If you want to do more than cruise, add racing or fishing to your cruising plans. Each has a challenging learning curve that will get you and yours out on the water to test your collective skills.

GO RACING 

When we think of racing, we think speed, so it may seem odd that the plurality of boat racing occurs in the sail-boat category. Because sailing is expertise, competition takes the form of matching tactics with other boats of the same type. Sail-boats utilized specifically for racing—think America's Cup—are mere hulls with few things comforts and a specialized sail plan.
Powerboat racing is offered by the American Power Boat Association (APBA). It requires specific kinds of boats and is regulated, much like NASCAR racing is for autos. For more information, log on to www.alpha-racing.com. Any sailboat is eligible for yacht races, also called regattas. Yacht racing involves not only sailing the boat but also choosing a class consisting of similar boats.
Finding and training a crew and becoming expert in such things as boat - and sail-handling techniques, racing rules, strategies, tactics, and weather conditions will keep you busy. Most likely you will begin by checking out races being held in your local cruising area via yacht clubs and marina personnel. In my cruising area, for example, a group of local sailors hold races every Wednesday evening throughout the boating season.
Yacht races held in local waters involve navigating a course around strategically placed buoys (or markers) and are geared toward small and midsized craft. Larger boats equipped with sleeping accommodations can participate in open ocean racing. Should you become a racing nut, you can move up to offshore races that extend to foreign ports, such as the Newport to Bermuda race, and take place over several days or weeks. Because a sailboat only requires wind power to move, with a seaworthy boat you can travel for months without needing to pull into port to refuel.
If powerboat racing appeals to you and family cruising is not on your agenda, consider a racing-style powerboat like a hydroplane or hydrofoil. Racing grounds for such boats are typically lakes or rivers. A hydroplane travels so fast that much of the force supporting its weight is created by air pressure. This allows it to plane, or skim, across the surface of the water rather than push through it as do traditional powerboats. Hydrofoil boats, on the other hand, have "water wings" that create lift while immersed, and they support the hull above water.

GO FISHING 

There's no reason you can't use any boat for fishing. Heck, you can cast off from a dock or a shore. If fishing is your primary game, the exact boat you choose should accommodate the type of fishing you want to do and the places where you want to do it. Some cruising boats are designed to accommodate serious fishing and are equipped with live wells, ice chests, and the like. The ultimate is the sportfishing boat we discussed earlier, which is well suited to Great Lakes and deep-ocean fishing. And, of course, you can fish from a sailboat as long as you aren't also manning the helm.
If the type of fishing you enjoy involves motoring to shallow coves where your cruiser cannot travel, you might consider buying a second, smaller boat you can tow behind your cruiser and also use as a dinghy to reach shore. Some folks own a totally separate trailerable boat designed specifically for fishing, which they can drive to their favorite fishing ground. I can almost hear you chortling, "Right. One boat is enough trouble, thank you."
Despite what you may think, people do own two boats, even more. They use the cruiser for vacationing with the family and take the fishing boat out for the day. Many of these smaller boats are perfect for towable water sports like tubing, skiing, and wakeboarding. Keep in mind that any boat used for saltwater fishing should be sturdy enough to withstand finicky tidal waters and be resistant to corrosion. The vastness of the Great Lakes, such as Lake Erie, makes their waters as feisty as an ocean, so choose a seaworthy boat for fishing these kinds of waters, too.
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