Get a boat they said, you will make friends they said. Lies

[sunbyrned]

I agree with @Babin Farms Be careful what you wish for. I met up with some really nice folks on the lake and now I find myself trying to avoid them. Ha! Can’t even anchor at the swimming hole any more. I will say that when I bring my two dogs with me and they play fetch off the back of the boat, I’ll make new friends that day. Maybe something to consider.

 

[Thunderseye]

Neighbors sound lame. We are on the water almost every weekend with a 8 month old and a 4yr old. Bought the boat when the little one was 4 months old. Most our friends don’t have kids, pretty sure hanging out with us is the best birth control their is. We do a lot of sandbar time to make it easier on the kids. Little wind and the engine noise puts the little ones right to sleep.

I feel ya on the military thing and friends though. I feel like every time we make friends with a couple and we all have similar interests/get along it’s time for one of us to move.

Exactly funny thing is they all have other kids too. Usually you stop being so helicopter parent after the first. We pretty much just drop anchor and relax unless the older ones are with us

 

[mkbcaptain]

Come up to NC and meet at Lee
Island, always packed!

 

[ourlee]

I agree with @Babin Farms Be careful what you wish for. I met up with some really nice folks on the lake and now I find myself trying to avoid them. Ha! Can’t even anchor at the swimming hole any more. I will say that when I bring my two dogs with me and they play fetch off the back of the boat, I’ll make new friends that day. Maybe something to consider.

THIS. We’re on a smallish (6 mile long?) lake and we see the same folks in party cove every weekend. It’s easy to sneak away on our waverunners but we’re buying a boat (250?) soon and we’re not hooking up with anyone. We‘ll anchor in the middle of all the fun, goof off with Simple Cub, drink some beers and read. We‘ll have one of the skis tied on too to keep the boredom away.
(im 56, wife is 29, sons 1&2 are in LA)

 

[sunbyrned]

THIS. We’re on a smallish (6 mile long?) lake and we see the same folks in party cove every weekend. It’s easy to sneak away on our waverunners but we’re buying a boat (250?) soon and we’re not hooking up with anyone. We‘ll anchor in the middle of all the fun, goof off with Simple Cub, drink some beers and read. We‘ll have one of the skis tied on too to keep the boredom away.
(im 56, wife is 29, sons 1&2 are in LA)

Dude, you are living the dream! Sweet!

 

[biffdotorg]

Quick little story about the name of our boat, and our boating group. Lake Gypsy

Growing up in the land of 10,000 landings and sandbars, you were pretty much a lake person from birth. But in my 20's, we rode waverunners and ran from party lake to party lake. I married late, and my wife and her daughter loved boating, but we needed friends to share it with.

We had a yahoo group and a facebook page, and text rings etc. Minnesota Lake Gypsies. At the time, nobody owned property, so we would start messaging on Friday nights and pick the lake of the day and all meet up on that particular lake. Sometimes we had a theme, like adults or with kids. Some had pontoons, others had tow boats, and others joined on their PWC. This lasted quite a few years, until we started renting seasonal cabins.

Then it evolved into a place to gather our friends on that particular lake. With a monthly excursion to another lake for a change.

Now that we all seem to own property on lakes all within 20 miles of each other, we use our Lake Gypsy page to invite our friends to a roaming happy hour. Since we all own boats that can occupy 10-15 people, one will throw out the invite, and we gather there for a Friday night. Or if it's a Saturday, our non home owning friends may trailer over for additional capacity.

We all survived the evolution, and now we hope our kids come to hang with us. You are either a lake person, or you are not. And this next season, I think the herd will be thinned after this monster boat buying spree has been on during the pandemic. Some will just come to terms with the fact that they are not boat people.

You know you are, when you put you leg over the gunwale and your brain shuts off work, worries, and you relax.

 

[ourlee]

Quick little story about the name of our boat, and our boating group. Lake Gypsy

Growing up in the land of 10,000 landings and sandbars, you were pretty much a lake person from birth. But in my 20's, we rode waverunners and ran from party lake to party lake. I married late, and my wife and her daughter loved boating, but we needed friends to share it with.

We had a yahoo group and a facebook page, and text rings etc. Minnesota Lake Gypsies. At the time, nobody owned property, so we would start messaging on Friday nights and pick the lake of the day and all meet up on that particular lake. Sometimes we had a theme, like adults or with kids. Some had pontoons, others had tow boats, and others joined on their PWC. This lasted quite a few years, until we started renting seasonal cabins.

Then it evolved into a place to gather our friends on that particular lake. With a monthly excursion to another lake for a change.

Now that we all seem to own property on lakes all within 20 miles of each other, we use our Lake Gypsy page to invite our friends to a roaming happy hour. Since we all own boats that can occupy 10-15 people, one will throw out the invite, and we gather there for a Friday night. Or if it's a Saturday, our non home owning friends may trailer over for additional capacity.

We all survived the evolution, and now we hope our kids come to hang with us. You are either a lake person, or you are not. And this next season, I think the herd will be thinned after this monster boat buying spree has been on during the pandemic. Some will just come to terms with the fact that they are not boat people.

You know you are, when you put you leg over the gunwale and your brain shuts off work, worries, and you relax.

I need your cell #

 

[scokill]

Over the years we've had problems getting any of our friends to go with us. People are just too busy doing their own stuff. Not too keen on just random hookups on the lake.

 

[Babin Farms]

Our friends that just went on vac with us used to come out with us all the time but now they have travel softball EVERY weekend, so they don't come out on the boat any more. Other friends put in a pool so they stay home all of the time and usually when we invite anyone else they too are busy, so we just go on our own, talk to new people if we want and do our own thing.

 

[ourlee]

We did lacrosse ALL SUMMER. Sons are out of college and on their own, moms and I can’t believe how fun no kids is

 

[ken4motion]

Find a local yacht club. This can be a great way to meet people...but you'll probably be the only one there with a Yamaha jet boat! Ask me how I know...haha

 

[mark_m]

Do you have anyone that you work with that you click with that might want to join you on your boat? Same question for your wife.

Similarly, think about your children, any of their friends parents that you’re close to? It’s a good thing to be in touch with your children’s friends parents. You can catch any BS that way.

Any siblings close for you or your wife?

I caught the boating bug getting asked to go boating by a neighbor years ago and our kids are wildly mismatched in age. I think we used sitters and kept the kids at home.

 

[TimW451]

I agree that lifepoint drives things more than age. We moved to where we are 15 years ago, everyone our age had kids, and we didn't for another 4 years, so we didn't connect with anyone. Once we had kids, their friends' parents became our friends, and once the kids weren't friends, neither were the parents. So we have acquaintances now.

As for an app, there is this Argo Nav app that is supposed to not only help you connect with your friends but to make new ones too. I installed it, but I am too antisocial media to have tried it.

‎Argo - Boating Navigation

‎Argo™ is an easy-to-use navigation and social boating app – FREE to download and FREE to use! Find and route to new destinations anywhere in North America, track your boat trips, see boating friends on the water, get real-time local knowledge from other boaters and more! Want a safer, easier...

apps.apple.com

 

[AZMark]

We thought the same thing when we got our boat last year and we’ve only had friends out for the day on it twice.
Covid is a big part of it, either because we’re not inviting people that are being completely careless or on the other end of the spectrum some people are being super cautious and not doing anything at all.
Recent divorces/break ups have also split up the pool of people we usually do things like this with. This is the worst part cause it’s permanent.
We have a few friends with jet skis so we’ll hang out with them at the lake but they’d rather ride the skis than come on the boat for tow sports. We got a wake foil this summer so the lack of a spotter is killing my learning curve and driving me insane!!!
That said, I still have a great time getting out even when it’s just the two of us. It’s just a little more relaxation than excitement.

 

[HangOutdoors]

@AZMark We run into the same thing. When the kids aren't on the boat, it is just the two of us and without a spotter all of our watersports equipment just sits and it bums me out.

 

[mark_m]

Find a local yacht club. This can be a great way to meet people...but you'll probably be the only one there with a Yamaha jet boat! Ask me how I know...haha

If you can slip your boat and dock it from time to time, you will meet some new people at the docks. We have a very tight knit set of friends that we met at our docks. Didn’t know any of them when the season started. Now we all help each other retrieve each other’s boats.

 

[drewkaree]

@AZMark We run into the same thing. When the kids aren't on the boat, it is just the two of us and without a spotter all of our watersports equipment just sits and it bums me out.

It's a big move to not have to worry about having a spotter, but if you come to Wisconsin, your mirror is allowed as your spotter. We offer other reasons to move here, but Wisconsinites understand if you don't wanna take that step, just stop in for an Old Fashioned or something, and tell your dad I says hello!

 

[haolegirl70]

My wife says do it. She has no friends, can’t relate to the women around here to don’t work. She’s a full time student and a full time engineer. That mom across the street, that sells beauty products just can’t relate

Some stay at home moms used to be full time in the work force (like me), just a choice that's made by each individual person once you have kids. Most of my friends are working parents but we relate just fine Besides, once you're on the boat, no one's work should matter. It's all about the boating lifestyle at that point lol

 

[haolegirl70]

For what it’s worth, we moved in to a subdivision and find ourselves recreating with couples older than we are, just because they’re at the same stage in life (nearly grown children). Have to get outside your comfort zone!

I agree! We have friends of varying ages and it's great.

 

[TheGreekTitan]

I feel like we are almost out of place. most of our friends our age (late 30s) all have small children or babies, and can't ever seem find to get out for date nights, or a lazy day on the lake. So unless its a boat full of teens its just the wife and I. Which is great. But sometimes its nice to have other couples to meetup and hangout with, ya know adult. We have moved so many times (military) but In Georgia it seems we just haven't met any other couples that actually have time to get out, or just hangout.

My wife and I, plus usually another couple hang out in the cove at Sweetwater Creek almost every Saturday. Occasionally we go to Illinois Creek. We are all in our early 40's with no kids on board. We'd be more than happy for you guys to join us. Yacht Blue SX210, "Serenity Now" clearly visible on the swim deck. We will most likely be floating in the water around 2:00 - 7:00 with beers in hand. And we are always towards the back of the cove. PM me if you want more info. Hope to see you out there!