Last week, Green Yachts was on site in Washington helping a new owner of an electric Salona get to know their vessel and the systems on board.
Over the course of a few days, we saw other boats in the marina that were being cleaned, maintained and operated.
And how we experienced other boats brought home to us just how wonderful electric boating is.
On the first day, a power boat with a gas internal combustion engine (ICE) was started and running in the slip. It was awful to walk by. The noise was irritating, but the fumes were overwhelming. It was disgusting to walk by and breathe the thick, overpowering fumes in. It bothered the asthma of the client we were with and it was disagreeable to our olfactory senses and the cleanliness of the air we breathed into our lungs. It also disrupted our enjoyment of the tranquil and serene morning and the quiet and sublime natural beauty that surrounded us.
It wasn’t the only time this happened. Every time a boat with an ICE was run at the slip or motored by, one couldn’t help but look. Not because a craft with exceptional lines worth noticing went by, but because the sound and the fumes were disruptive.
Then, a blue powerboat about 4o feet long passed by. We only noticed it when it was directly off our stern going by. We didn’t hear it. We didn’t smell it. We looked up in appreciation
at a boat called Electric Philosophy and said to each other, “I think it’s electric.” We called out to the owner and asked and they replied, “Yes, it is.”
We proudly replied back, “So, is this Salona!”. It was a rare exchange between two electric boats, each admiring the other. It was so wonderful to experience someone else providing us with the benefit of quiet, no fumes propulsion that our boats provide to everyone else. The reciprocity of another boat not detracting from the gentle lapping of water, the soft wind through the tree tops, the fresh mountain air around us was greatly appreciated.
When we got back to the office, we googled the boat and found an article about it. So, if anyone sees this blog and knows Ed and Eileen Pauley, the owners of Electric Philosophy, please tell them thanks from us for making our boating experience better with their quiet, fumes free electric boat. And, may many more boaters join them so that once again, we mariners are at one with the sea without interference from the noise or fumes of an internal combustion engine. May every boater reading this blog commit to making their next boat electric as the transition to a better world starts with each of our individual decisions.