Messabout

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.{{Cite web |title=The joy of puttering on boats |url=https://sailingmagazine.net/article-permalink-1751.html |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=sailingmagazine.net |language=en}} 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.{{Cite wikisource|title=Wind in the Willows (1908)}}

File:Shrike-port-beam.jpg-designed bald-headed knockabout schooner Shrike sailing to windward on port tack, near Kingston Ontario. The specific design is known as the "His and Her" or "Singlehanded" schooner.]]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.{{cn|date=March 2024}} "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.{{cn|date=March 2024}}