An Old Salt's Sea Change

So jumping ship, and becoming a transvesselite, can be a decision fraught with second-guesses and deep questions about identity.

"Sometimes I think there should be a couch in my office," says Rob Poirier, vice president of sales and marketing at PDQ Yachts, a Whitby, Ontario, manufacturer that once built only sailboats but today has converted almost entirely to power.

His crossover clients "want to talk about all the glory years they spent sailing," Poirier continues. They worry that by giving up the intensity -- high winds, transatlantic crossings, the squall-braving need for foul-weather gear -- they're about to join "the gold-chain crowd." They fret: Does buying a motor yacht mean they're getting old?

"Do we have a really sharp knife up there?" Burgess calls to his wife from the water.

An old crab pot line has tangled the starboard engine of their 34-foot PDQ power yacht, tying up the prop and sending thick, black smoke out the back. So Burgess impatiently dives in, not taking the time to change. Fully clothed in cuffed pants, dress shirt, leather belt, navy socks and white-soled sneakers, he ducks under the boat, hoping to slice through the rope and free up the prop so they can cruise to Annapolis Harbor.

"Welcome to boating!" taunts their neighbor, Dan Billingsley, as he heads down the dock to his C&C 40 sailboat, the Jubilee.

Burgess nods grimly, gulps more air and heads back under, a brown leaf stuck to the top of his balding head.

"Well," says Mary Sue Burgess, who's still "not really happy about" the switch, "we broke it in for sure today."

Around them, at their dock just off the Severn River, the setting sun colors the sky and creek with a hazy, soft pink. Two ducks paddle past and another starts quacking on the beach. In the distance, downriver toward the Chesapeake, ospreys watch over the channel and dark manta ray wings slice the surface.

Burgess comes up for more air.

"So, how's it going there, Ace?" Billingsley asks.

"I keep cutting through," Burgess answers, holding up a fistful of rope. Motor oil darkens his shirt. He will not be deterred from tonight's ride: He's eager to show off.