Early summertime is the time of year, when boat owners start getting back on the water. I am speaking about pleasure boaters, those who use their boats to make a living fishing are on the water when the fish are under it.

It's the time of year when boaters need to look at what maintenance that their boats need and make sure that everything is in order like their licensing fees and boat insurance. Now boat insurance and licensing fees aren't the reason somebody gets a boat, unless they are a masochist, but it is an important part of boat ownership.

People would rather slap another coat of varnish on or replace all the lanyards than think about the financial aspects of boat ownership. That is perfectly normal, part of the reason we get boats is the freedom. We see the boat as an escape from our normal humdrum life especially all those reminders of our day to day responsibilities.

This is especially true in late Spring and early Summer when our thoughts start turning from progress reports and daily production logs to nautical maps and tidal charts.

Nothing is better than being out on the water, far away from the cares of the world. The feel of a clean breeze blowing through our hair while we go about our tasks on a boat drops years from our age.

Still we wouldn't neglect to do any of those physical things necessary for safe and fun boating so we shouldn't neglect any of the financial aspects like boat insurance. Nothing could be more important than protecting your assets especially those assets that bring us pleasure.

A boat is not just 'a whole in the water that you pour money into', there is far more pleasure than duty involved. A boat is one of our earliest forms of transportation and there are literally thousands of years of history and tradition associated with boats.

We all would like to touch some history; take our place on the stage of the world with our real heroes. We just need to remember that our safety comes first then the pleasure.