Oriental Dreamers

Oriental, NC

35 01.48 N 076 41.72 W

The package we were waiting for arrived today. Now we can (reluctantly) leave Oriental tomorrow. We really like this place. I'll confess part of the reason. More than any other place, Oriental is filled with people who dream about Westsail 32s, and about living the cruising life. It's an ego trip for us.

Oriental claims to be the sailing capital of North Carolina. I think the claim is well deserved. There seems to be a 3:1 ratio of big sailboats to people around here. Thousands of boats fill the marinas up Whittaker Creek. Curiously, on a splendid day such as we've been having lately, only a dozen or two of these thousands of boats are out sailing. Even on a weekend.

I mentioned this to a local. He explained that this is a retirement community. Many of the residents are lifelong sailors. Many have impressive histories. However, now they're old and perhaps not up to much physical activities. They keep their boats more for sentimental purposes.

Still, many of the admirers we meet are in their 30s and 40s, too young to be retired. What about them? It turns out that many of them are second generation sailors. Their parents are retired in the area and their parents indoctrinated them in the dream of living the cruising life.

We recently learned that the Westsail Company succeeded largely on the basis of a marketing campaign that didn't overtly sell boats. They sold people on the cruising life. Owning a cruising boat is merely a means to that end. Based on what we see, I think that marketing pitch could still succeed today. Anybody want to partner in a new cruising boat venture?

p.s. Right now there's some very un-Oriental-like stuff going on. A squad of US Marines are practicing urban warfare in the streets of Oriental. They are calling in close support air strikes. Helicopters and very very noisy F18s are making strafing runs just above our mast. How's that for a clash with the idyllic scene?