PLOT NUMBER EIGHT: ETERNITY

According to the 2004 book by Christopher Booker, The Seven Basic Plots: Why we Tell Stories, there are only seven plots. God knows how many caveats the author drowned in, or if he came to blows with those who quite fervently maintain that there are 3, 26 or 36 plots. It’s a matter of sensitivity in the end, how much detail you tune out in order to broaden genres. If, however, we take it as playful sophistry, these seven plots relate perfectly to classic boat ownership. The seven plots are these: Overcoming the Monster; Rags to Riches; The Quest; Voyage and Return; Comedy; Tragedy; Rebirth. We’ve had ‘em all in these pages over the years, altered respectively to Overcoming the Keelbolt; Riches to Rags; The Quest (wooden boat ownership); Voyage and Return (of course); Comedy (see Keelbolt); Tragedy (See Riches to Rags). As for Rebirth, it’s our stock-in-trade, as in all magazines like this, from classic cars to house renovation. But both our lead boats in this issue – Cuilaun and the Folkboat – represent a new, eighth plot. I’m calling it Eternity… So Far.