Long live the Republic

It doesn’t have a constitution or even its own stamps, but the Republic of Boating counts 72 million people in the U.S. who float each year on 17 million “pleasure” boats.

That pleasure largely comes from a shared disdain for the tethers of the dry-docked world.

In the Republic of Boating, if you’re not careful, you can die. But you can also let your hair and clothes down in anything from a collapsible dinghy to a pilothouse, if that enhances the fun (as Lake Havasu powerboat partisans insist it does). You can park-and-play in an urban marina or ply that ocean prankster aboard a vessel that, even idling in its slip, excites you every time you see it. Boats suck us dry, as any captain will attest, and they set us free. We hope you enjoy this issue.

— The Outdoors Staff