A New Year's Resolution

I’m not, by nature, someone who goes outside my comfort zone very often. And my comfort zone is probably more like a comfort mat – just big enough to land my feet, but not do much of anything else.

Six weeks ago, a couple of friends convinced me to purchase a WagJag coupon to try out a new gym. Twice in one week I heard these words: “get your head out of the way.” (Just to be clear, this was figuratively not literally!) This is not the first I’ve heard this advice.

I went home that night and asked my husband for his take on this assessment. He gave me the look of a man who knows the answer but is tying to figure out if the woman really wants to hear the answer. I reassure him that I want it straight, but as gently as possible.

Turns out I’m my own worst enemy. I don’t try new things because I think it’ll suck. I don’t try new things because I think I’ll hurt myself. I don’t try new things because it’s just darn scary. Well, if I’m honest with myself, I don’t try new things simply because I won’t. Well, I’ve decided that’s going to change for 2012. And the magazine was my first opportunity to stretch my legs.

If you haven’t flipped through the issue just yet, you may not know that we have freshened the look a bit this year. Our sibling, PowerBoat Television, has been undergoing a huge revamp with HD, a new logo, a new theme song… we were inspired.

Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that several of our articles in the issue are about what’s changing in the boating world.

Mike Milne takes a look at some of the new technology around electric and hybrid boating. Several manufacturers, including Quebec-based Princecraft and watersports expert Nautique, have launched models in their lineup powered with this emerging propulsion.

Mike Gridley has pulled together a piece exploring what’s new and exciting in the area of marine electronics, chatting with several boaters over the summer about their choices for electronics on their cruisers. As a compliment to this article, Brian Kelly of Bayland Enterprises explains NMEA 2000 (or N2K) in our regular electronics column.

So, my New Year’s resolution this year is to get out of my own way and try new things. Will you join me? If so, who knows what’s in store around that next bend – or on the lake, for that matter!

Amanda