A messabout is an event where a group of people get together to discuss and "mess about" in boats.

The term is derived from the children's book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.^[1] In the story, Mole and Rat are rowing up the river in Rat's boat. They are discussing nautical things and life in general when Rat is heard to utter the following:

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... about in boats — or with boats. In or out of ’em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not.^[2]

Messabouts are usually attended by a group of people who have taken up boat building, boating and all things boat-related as their primary hobby.^{[citation needed]} "Messabouts" is replaced in UK especially on canals by "banter" and the emphasis will be more on talk and camaraderie than actually doing anything constructive.^{[citation needed]}

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Duckworks magazine, with information on scheduled messabouts.
• The Traditional Small Craft Association, with 24 chapters around the USA hosting messabouts to celebrate the virtues of traditional rowing and sailing craft.