What could be more illogical than a love of boats, of sailing, and of the sea? No one knows this better than Bruce Myers, a Chesapeake Bay sailor and the owner of a 1978 Cal 2-27, named Getting There. Bruce’s songs about these issues express the sailor’s dilemma as well as any I’ve heard. To this he adds the ultimate illogical act: the not-for-profit life of a nautical balladeer. He admits to all these weaknesses but, like any addict, he is powerless to cease doing what he loves. And so Bruce continues to thrill his listeners with his songs of the sea – and we’re so glad.

Boat Logic is the second expression of Bruce’s need to be near the water and on boats. The first, Stinkpot & Rags, was produced in 1997 and is also available for $12 as a CD and $10 as a cassette.

What’s boat logic? Bruce’s songs tell you it’s the dream to get a boat, sell everything, and head off for the tropics . . . it’s the need to have a boat just six feet bigger than the current one . . . the longing to go out of sight of land. In Bruce’s case it’s also the need to keep on singing, even if there doesn’t seem to be any future in it. (Although – perhaps in Bruce’s case because he’s quite good at what he does – there is a future in it. If that’s the case, then perhaps there is a logic in these illogical boaters’ dreams and desires.)

I have a favorite song on each of Bruce’s CDs. Well, a couple of favorites actually. Before the creation of Good Old Boat magazine, Bruce identified something about good old boats that strikes a chord with me. It should be the Good Old Boat theme song, in fact. Called “Old Boats,” this song states: “Old boats have character, New boats do not. Old boats have stories in them; Old boats should not be forgot.” Those words on his first CD won my loyalty.

His title song on the new release makes you (even against your will) sway with the calypso beat: “He’s got that gleam in his eyes and he can’t look away; It’s not the first time he’s fallen so hard in just days . . . ” Think he’s found a woman? Think twice. This is about another kind of “boat-hook.” The ode to his boating mentor, Captain Dan, a skipjack skipper, is beautiful, too.

Bruce’s style ranges from the soft tropical calypso to rock and everything in between. A word of warning: Bruce can get you to do anything . . . even buy a goat (yes, goat). Get the CD; you’ll soon agree with me.

Boat Logic, A Nautical Music CD by Bruce Myers (BRM Records, 2002)