In all honesty, I never quite understood the appeal of boats and cruising in them until I was a fair bit into adulthood. It just seemed like a pointless risk to me, the sort of thing you do when you feel like getting the same enjoyment out of lying at the beach is too ordinary for you.

My mind has been changed, though not entirely, by relatively recent events. My family and I were invited to go on a friend’s boat, out into the water to cruise and have fun.

My husband was loving every moment, acting like he was going to buy about 4 different boats as soon as we got back. My kids loved it even more, somehow, taking photos and just having a blast.

Then the noise became noticeable. An ungodly, core-shaking level of loudness that nearly ruined it for me.

I kept thinking about suggesting various solutions and ways to mitigate this to the boat’s owner. Let’s go into them now.