{"id":6845,"date":"2025-03-29T10:04:23","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T10:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=6845"},"modified":"2025-03-29T10:04:23","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T10:04:23","slug":"setting-goals-for-the-new-boating-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/?p=6845","title":{"rendered":"Setting Goals for the New Boating Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    Setting Goals for the New Boating Season<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    <!-- no image --><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><\/p>\n<div>\n<section class=\"hydra-container\">\n<div class=\"hydra-canvas\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BTG325-OMD-Regrets-1024x768.jpg?resize=800%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" class=\"hydra-image disable-lazyload\" alt=\"Making a boating checklist\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1400px) 100vw, 1400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BTG325-OMD-Regrets-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BTG325-OMD-Regrets-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BTG325-OMD-Regrets-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BTG325-OMD-Regrets-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/uploads\/2025\/03\/BTG325-OMD-Regrets.jpg 2000w\">                <\/div><figcaption class=\"caption margin_top_xs full border_1 hydra-figcaption\">\n                <span class=\"hydra-image-caption\">Making a list will help you accomplish all of your boating goals this season.<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"article_image_credit italic margin_right_xs\">Tim Bower<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/section>\n<p><iframe id=\"wxuzj5efbz\" src=\"https:\/\/boatingmag.dragonforms.com\/wxuzj5efbz\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"width:100%;height:165px;border:none;overflow:hidden;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We are deep into mud season here in the North Woods, that interminable meteorological period that has winter lingering and spring reluctant. My affluent farmer neighbors have escaped to a warm beach, maybe Gulfport or Biloxi, and it\u2019s quiet at the Lake View Inn. Perfect time for me to work on my annual list. I hunch over the worn blue Formica bar top and draw two columns on the back of a napkin.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWorking on that list again this year?\u201d Wally asked from behind the bar. \u201cDoes it ever help?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like to start with regrets from last season in one column,\u201d I replied, \u201cso maybe I won\u2019t repeat those mistakes this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAh, regrets,\u201d crooned my good friend Chuck Larson from down the bar. \u201cI\u2019ve had a few. But then again\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, for example, the weekend of boating I missed out on last year for my niece\u2019s wedding. This year, if it\u2019s a daughter getting married, I might attend, but I won\u2019t go deeper on the family tree,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd I\u2019m going to skip taking the old Ford to the Iola car show, even if my departed father rolls in his grave. This year I\u2019m all-in on the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the reality of boating at our latitude. The traditional pleasure-boating season starts on Memorial Day weekend and ends on Labor Day. That\u2019s 15\u00a0weekends for a working person. You can count on at least two of those weekends getting rained out, and a couple more \u201crained out\u201d because your wife\u2014in my case, the deputy medical examiner\u2014is on call and can\u2019t leave the house. Another two will probably be lost to an unavoidable social obligation, a wedding or a graduation or, worst of all, a birthday for a toddler grandchild. Forget about the big holiday weekends, when the launch ramps are mobbed and too many other captains on the lake are deep into a six-pack. If you have a 14-foot vintage runabout like mine, there will be days when it\u2019s too windy and rough to launch the boat and have any fun. Next thing you know, the leaves are turning and you\u2019ve still got a jug full of pre-mix in the shop, and you realize how little your hour meter has turned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read Next:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/gear\/top-gadgets-for-boating-adventures\/\">Top Gear for Boating Adventures<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be different this year,\u201d I said. \u201cIn this column, I\u2019m listing Plans for 2025. I\u2019m going to start by getting the Bearing Buddy kit that I bought last year installed on the trailer, and the vintage spring cleats mounted on the gunwales so we can hang fenders. I\u2019ve got four weekends devoted to wood-boat shows in Wisconsin and Minnesota. And I\u2019m going to propose that we celebrate the grandkid\u2019s birthdays on the boat!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat last one is brilliant,\u201d Chuck said. \u201cDo you think your Evinrude Lark could pull a small tube? It\u2019s a vintage boat, so maybe you need to put them in an old tractor tube and pull that around.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s still going to rain,\u201d Wally said. \u201cAnd the wind will still blow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Maybe we\u2019ll get a nice drought this year. Regrets? I\u2019m hoping for too few to mention this season.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/how-to\/setting-goals-for-the-new-boating-season\/\">Setting Goals for the New Boating Season<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/\">Boating Mag<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><br \/>\n    Charles Plueddeman<br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n<BR><\/BR><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.boatingmag.com\/how-to\/setting-goals-for-the-new-boating-season\/\">Go to boatingmag<\/a><br \/>\n \t<BR><br \/>\n <BR><\/BR><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Setting Goals for the New Boating Season Making a list will help you accomplish all of your boating goals this season. Tim Bower We are deep into mud season here in the North Woods, that interminable meteorological period that has winter lingering and spring reluctant. My affluent farmer neighbors have escaped to a warm beach, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2872,126,175,994],"tags":[127],"class_list":["post-6845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-april-2025","category-boatingmag","category-how-to","category-off-my-dock","tag-boatingmag"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krogragg.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}