10 Questions for Delos

Christine Myers and Stephan Regulinski are on their second Amel SuperMaramu 2000 (53’ ketch). The first was Delos hailing from San Francisco, CA, USA and now Hanalei, hailing from Kailua, HI, USA. They cruised from 2000-2005 and will begin cruising again in 2012. On their first cruise they visited Turkey, Mediterranean Europe, Atlantic Europe, North Sea, British Isles, Ireland, Scandinavia, Canary Islands, Morocco, Gambia, Cape Verde, Caribbean, Panama, Galapagos, South Pacific, & New Zealand. You can read more about them on their website or at their blog.

What do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?

• Colleges are going to love that your kids made this trip.
• Your family will become very close.
• This is not a vacation; it’s a way of life. Save something for the next trip.
• It takes six months to adjust.
• Don’t rely so much on the internet in port or e-mails at sea.
• Just about every port in Europe has a different kind of plug.
• What happens at sea does not stay at sea.
• Tahiti is overrated, overpriced and overcrowded.

What has been the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive?

Turkey was least expensive, along with La Gomera (Canaries) and West Africa.

Norway; Porto Cervo, Sardinia; and French Polynesia were the most expensive.

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?

Solar panels.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?

We sort of won the lottery the first time; this time we are selling the house.

What is something you like about the cruising culture and something you dislike?

I love the openness, friendliness and mutual support of the international cruising culture. I dislike the focus on alcohol, especially in the Caribbean and South Pacific.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long-term cruising?

More energy-efficiency. But having said that, we just bought another boat and it’s exactly the same. I would consider length vis-a-vis European dock length pricing.

Describe a ‘typical day’ on passage on your boat.

It takes us about three days to adjust to passage time. Before that we’re all a little spacey while adapting to passage time. Typically I would stand the early morning watch, put out fishing lines, then do roll call on the net at 8. Kids will be up later. They’ll do schoolwork or read, depending on how rough it is. Back to sleep until noon or so, then up for the next watch. Chop vegetables in the afternoon and work on meal prep, check fishing lines. Dinner at 6. Everyone except watchstander goes to bed early, soon after dinner.

How did you gain offshore experience prior to leaving?

We crewed on friends’ boat from San Francisco to Santa Barbara.

What advice would you give to parents thinking about taking their children cruising?

DO IT! DO IT NOW!

When you meet another compatible kid boat, change your plans and hang out together. They don’t have to be the same age. Social interactions become incredibly important.

Try to get some homeschooling experience before you leave, and at least make sure you have good supportive resources. Don’t get stuck with set curriculum or try to recreate a classroom.

Adapt curriculum to your cruising experience and kids’ learning style.

Be flexible and creative about when ‘school time’ happens.

What question do you wish I had asked you … and how would you answer it?

How did your kids adapt? What were their challenges?

Here I’d point you to the blog because the topic is too big.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Reflections No. 1

Alex Kao sailed out of Vancouver BC in the Fall of 2007 on Reflections No. 1, an Alexander 30. He now owns a Moody Salar 40 with his wife Leah and they plan to fix her up, save money for the next two years and take off again.

Alex says: I moved onto a Cheetah 26 when I was 20 and lived and sailed around Vancouver. 5 years later I sold her and I spent 2 months backpacking Venezuela and Tobago then lived in an apartment for 4 months. I missed the boating life so I bought and moved on to "Reflections No. 1". I spent the next  5 years sailing the BC coast and testing and fixing her up. She is a Alexander 30 sail boat. It is like an Alberg 30. The builder took a Gulf Island 29 mold and raised the freeboard about a foot. It has a 3/4 full keel. It is 29'6" long.  My first leg was Victoria to San Diego. I took 2 crew: Greg and Jen. We did the trip in September. I left the boat in San Diego and returned to Vancouver to finish the work year. I returned on Dec 20 and  solo sailed from San Diego to Puerto Escondido, Mexico stopping along the way.  Then met a surfer named Jeremy and sailed to El Salvador. I wanted crew to cross the Gulf of Twanapec. I put the boat in a boat yard in May 2008 and returned to Vancouver to work. I returned to the boat at Christmas 2009.  I did a lot of inland travel, ran a small boat yard and did a lot of fishing trips off the coast of El Salvador. Greg came down again in 2009 and sailed from El Salvador to Costa Rica with me. Leah, my now wife sailed from Costa Rica back to El Salvador in 2009. I also solo sailed from El Salvador to Nicaragua in 2009.  I put the boat is storage again in May 2009 and returned to Vancouver to work. Leah and I came down together on Jan, 1 2010 and sailed from El Salvador to Costa Rica, Panama, Galapagos, Marqueses and Hawaii. I sailed solo from Hawaii to Port Renfrew BC and back to Vancouver in a August 2010. 

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you didn't find to be true?
That you need all of this equipment and toys. We got by with out a water maker, radar, sat phone, our SSB only received and had a safe and great time but some other cruisers thought we were nuts. At every port I saw someone fixing or cleaning a water maker. If I remember right I could get 5 gallons of bottled water for $2.50 a most places.

How do you fund your cruise?
I worked along the way by fixing other cruisers boats and returned to Canada to work full time. I am a Marine diesel mechanic and worked along the way and when I ran out of money or hurricane season  I returned to Vancouver to work.

What is your biggest lesson learned?
I learnt a lot about weather and how slow a hurricane travels. When we were sailing from Marquises to Hawaii. There were 2 hurricanes off Mexico, 1000 miles away from us. We saw them on weather fax and were nervous until we found how slow they move.

Finish this sentence. "Generally when I am provisioning..."
I buy too much canned food and not enough fresh. I forget how long fresh food will last.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation
We stopped at a island in Northwest Panama and had it to our selves for 5 days and never saw anyone else. It was so desolate I could get coconuts with out climbing trees.

What do you think is a common cruising myth
We had some smooth passages on a 29 footer (Galapagos to Marqueses - 24 days). Sure it would be more comfortable on a bigger boat but you sure don't need a 45-50 footer like most of the boats we saw out there.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
We had a freighter sneak up on us. We were doing 18 min watches. It was Leah's watch and I was awake reading. I heard the VHF buzz and since we we 1000 miles from anywhere I knew there must be another boat around. I went up and scanned the horizon. The sun was setting and we had the main out all the way on a broad broad reach. The freighter must had been in the sun and I didn't see it. I went back down below, 5 min later we were hit by a bigger than normal wave. I commented to Leah about it but didn't get up. 1 min later we were hailed by the freighter, I popped up to the deck and it was a quarter mile away after passing in front us.

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
After that freighter scare I bought a AIS receiver in Hawaii. I love it and wouldn't go off shore again with out one.

What was the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or cheap about each area?
In Panama beer in the grocery store was 35 cents but every cab driver charged different prices for the same ride. In Marquesas restaurant food when available cost a lot but you could trade for fruit and veggies. Galapagos burgers were $3.50.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Freya

Barb Peck and Bjarne Hansen cruise aboard Freya, a  Vogel-Hunter 30 ft, fibreglass double-ender, hailing from Victoria, Canada and built in Vancouver in 1976. They cruised outside of Canada from 2004 – 2006 and will go again. During their cruise, their route was: Victoria - Hawaii - Marquesas - Cook Is - Nuie - New Zealand - Tonga - Fiji - Samoa - Kiribati - Hawaii - Victoria. Readers can learn more on their website. They say: We quit our jobs to go sailing for two years whilst in our 30's, and have no regrets about the experience. We're back at our old jobs, sailing coastally when time permits, and intend to cruise again in a few years.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
"Sailing all the time is hard work."  Actually, someone (Tony Gooch) did say exactly that but it didn't really sink in until we were out there ourselves, covering 8400 miles in 4 months.  Happily we were able to slow down and really enjoy the scenery the following 20 months.
 
Routing also seemed more straightforward when reading about it than in reality.  Unpredictable details like weather and currents made some of our choices more challenging than we had intended.

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
We decided early on in our preparations to Keep It Simple, for the good reasons of reducing costs, shortening prep-time, and minimizing failures at sea. No fridge, no watermaker, no shortwave transmitting
radio. We were generally very happy with that decision.  The only item I (Bjarne) really missed was roller-furling on the genoa. We had removed Freya's antiquated and undersized furling before leaving, opting instead for the bulletproof hank-on method.  Sometimes, during the 13th sail change on a given day, I could be heard over the sound of the sea cussing my failure to embrace this marvel of modern sailing: roller-furling.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
Spinnakers on dark nights can be tricky - the swell can wrap one around the forestay in a jiffy when you aren't able to keep an eye on it. Like most folks we tended to be more conservative about sail area at night; it allows the off-watch person longer sleeps with fewer interruptions to assist with sail changes. Of course, had we had roller-furling...

Share a piece of cruising etiquette.
Go introduce yourself to the villagers ashore (if there is a village). You are, after all, anchoring in their front/back yard.  It's also a great way to meet new friends and perhaps get some fresher provisions.

What do you miss about living on land?
The expansive room of a house, where you don't need to put away all your hobby/tool/writing/repair items before making dinner. I suspect now that had we taken a break from cruising midway through the two years
I might have suffered less from cockpit-fever.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
Take enough courses (CPSS, CYA, BCA all put on good ones) to be competent; outfit your boat to be safe; and then GO!  You can always add more gear later if you decide you need it. There are also aspects of mental and emotional preparation - what are your reasons for going cruising, what do you hope to get out of it, and are they compatible with your partner's goals?  We had embarked on shorter sailing vacations before
going cruising so we were pretty sure we'd get along fine.

What was the most affordable area you have cruised and the most expensive? What was affordable or cheap about each area?
I'd say Fiji was the most affordable.  It has an excellent mix of remote islands and villages where you can't spend any money if you tried, though you might part with a few boat supplies in trade.  Fiji has decent medical and dental services at low cost, which we needed to avail ourselves of (though nothing too serious). We had our liferaft repacked/certified at 1/4 what it would have cost in New Zealand, and the service work was competent (as confirmed by the Victoria Zodiac dealer who bought our raft when we returned).

The most expensive was Hawaii.  We stayed at the Ala Wai Harbor for several months, and while the dock fees themselves were not outrageous (especially considering that Waikiki beach is mere footsteps away),
Honolulu has hordes of shops, entertainments, and tourist-traps making it easy to empty the wallet.  We did have medical insurance while in the USA, but happily didn't need to use it.

Throughout the S. Pacific one can spend plenty of money buying imported foods - we generally tried to avoid that except for the occasional treat, like broccoli at Kiritimati Is.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
It's an entertaining mélange of people: young, old, loners, stoners, carefree, careful, rich, poor, etc, etc. Most everyone is helpful, and many exhibit the cruisers' disdain of schedules: this makes it easy to get together for impromptu beach parties and potlucks. Because of the transient nature of cruising, people tend not to get too deep/serious in their relationships with other cruisers, at least not at first. You can usually find someone you click with in an anchorage, and if you are lucky you will remain friends through many miles.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
Pointed our boat west.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it? 


What non-essential gear do you get the most happiness from having on board?

An underwater camera (Olympus with housing rated to 30m, but there are other models too).  We also brought our dive gear and two small scuba tanks. The underwater scenery is so fascinating! Whether you snorkel or dive, there's life of all sizes and colours to behold. Our favourite experiences include a moonlit snorkel at Minerva Reef, a red & yellow coral wall in Fiji, and Mariner's Cave in Tonga.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Magnolia

Bill Dietrich has been cruising since 2001 aboard Magnolia, a 1973 Gulfstar 44 motor-sailor ketch hailing from Miami, FL, USA. Over those years he has cruised the Florida Keys, Bahamas, USA East Coast, Turks, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. He is single, started cruising at age 43, is now age 52, and Magnolia is his first vessel owned. You can read more about Bill on his website.

What is something you think potential cruisers are afraid about that they shouldn't fear? And what is something potential cruisers don't worry about that perhaps they should?
I guess everyone is afraid of piracy or attacks these days, with them in the news so much.  There have been some incidents in Venezuela and Honduras recently, I think, but other than that I think the Caribbean is pretty safe. If I were a potential cruiser, I wouldn't worry about that.

Maybe people worry about being seriously ill while on the boat and outside the USA.  Recently I had a kidney-stone attack while on the boat in Martinique, and I don't speak French. I spent 8 hours in an Emergency Room, got care as good as any in the USA, and the total bill was $250.  Now, being seriously ill in a more isolated place, and especially if singlehanding, would be worse. But I'd worry more about getting hit by a car in the USA than about getting ill on a boat while cruising.

People should think more about the little things that can bite you. On a delivery a couple of years ago, I slipped on a wet, rolling swim platform with no handholds, crashed down on my back across the edge of the platform, and ended up in the water.  I got away with a badly bruised back, but I could have broken vertebrae, or hit my head and drowned.  Everyday activities such as raising anchor or operating the dinghy could cause major injuries if you're unlucky.  About eight years ago, I met a couple in the Chesapeake who had sailed up from South Africa with no problems.  In the Chesapeake one day, the lady was on the foredeck to take down the jib.  A jib-sheet wrapped around her leg and yanked her into the air, upside-down.  She got away with deep rope-galls to her leg, but she could have had her brains bashed out against the deck.

What do you find most exciting about your cruising life?
The most exciting thing is just that I've "broken out of the rut" and am living a new lifestyle.  At age 40, I found myself living in apartment and cubicle, doing the same old things at work and the same mostly-fun things on the weekends.  Now, I have totally changed my life and lifestyle, am seeing new places and learning and doing new things.  And there are a hundred other possible lifestyles waiting out there if I ever get tired of cruising.  The sense of freedom and possibilities is pretty exciting.

And it's fun to hear from family and friends and strangers who marvel that I am doing this.  Some of them say "we plan to be cruising too in another 5 years or so".  Many of them have a "that's really cool, but I'm glad you're doing it instead of me" attitude.  And my Mom still thinks I'm crazy for giving up a career and paycheck and medical insurance, and doesn't see why anyone would create a web site and expose their life to the public.  But that's Mom.

In your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
I'm not the best person to answer this, being a single guy.  I had a reluctant girlfriend follow me onto the boat for a few months, and she left both because she didn't like cruising, and because our relationship was not that solid to begin with.  I was ready to end my career, and she wasn't ready to end hers.  She had created a nice living situation back in California, and I hadn't.  She had an aging father to be with. Lots of reasons.

I'd guess your relationship with your partner would have to be pretty solid to overcome reluctance.  Of course, money might cure a lot of the problem.  An expensive boat with lots of amenities would make the reluctant partner happier.  Frequent plane-trips back to see family and friends would help.  Lots of wining and dining and excursions would help.

Be very careful in this area.  Buying and then having to sell a big boat not long afterwards could cost you a lot of money. Ending up with an unhappy wife would be very bad.  Finding that the guy loves cruising and the wife hates it may be fairly common.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time?
I'd say my highest focus is "living comfortably", followed by "seeing new places", followed by "sailing".  I'm perfectly happy spending a month or two somewhere with a comfortable and safe anchorage, nice weather, a little snorkeling, maybe some decent radio, lots of time to read books, some internet, a supermarket nearby, decent prices. I'm living my life most of the time, just being "everyday me".

But I get itchy after a month or two, and it's fun to move to somewhere new, explore it a bit, meet some new people.  So the "travel" part of it is fun, but secondary to the "living comfortably" part.  Frankly, new islands are interesting, but they're kind of limited.  Not a lot of history or museums or libraries or culture, compared to the USA.  Yes, they each have their own share of each, but not in the quantity and depth you'd find in the USA or Europe.  In my opinion, in the whole of the NE and E Caribbean down to the Grenadines, maybe the really good historic sites can be counted on one hand: old San Juan PR, the forts of St Croix, English Harbor Antigua, the fort at Iles des Saintes Guadeloupe. And the local people are nice, but frankly they're not as interesting as the other cruisers !  Many of the local people haven't been out of their own country, maybe they're not very well-educated, and they're living the conventional kind of life that us cruisers left behind.
Further down the list for me is "sailing".  Yes, it's a rush to turn off the engine and sail, and a feeling of accomplishment when you arrive. Maybe if my boat sailed better, I'd be more interested in the sailing aspect of this life.  But I probably spend 10-20 days at anchor for every 1 day moving.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you didn't find to be true?
Before I started cruising, I read everything I could get my hands on, and such a variety, that I think I had a fairly accurate picture of cruising. So I can't say that I had any major misconceptions.

I will say that cruising magazines focus way too much on new boats, and cruising guidebooks focus way too much on marinas and restaurants.  Maybe I'm outside their target audience; I have plenty of money but I'm trying to live on my savings for the rest of my life, so I try to live cheaply. I suppose the magazines and guidebooks get their advertising from boat-builders and restaurants, so they follow the money.

I guess a surprise to me was how little exercise I get while living on the boat, unless I make a big effort to go exercise.  On land, I played tennis and hiked and bicycled.  On the boat, I find myself sitting and reading. Tennis is out, many island roads are too dangerous or hilly to bike or run on, and hiking is hit-or-miss.  Snorkeling isn't very strenuous.  Often the effort of closing up the boat, launching the dinghy, getting ashore, then having to reverse the process, is enough to keep me vegetating on the boat.

On the other hand, raising anchor by hand from 30 feet can leave the heart pounding, there are nice hikes on some islands, and I eat more healthily than I used to. I biked a fair amount when I was cruising the USA and Puerto Rico. I walk a lot on islands, not having a car, but distances aren't great.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation.
I'm striking out a bit on this one.  Dolphins playing under the bow as I motored down the inside of the Florida Keys ?  Sitting in Baltimore harbor on July 4th and watching fireworks from half a dozen different cities ? Cruising down the Mississippi and feeling the Civil War history and the travels of Mark Twain ?  Anchoring my sailboat in Jamestown VA, next to the replicas of the sailboats that brought the Jamestown settlers across ? I've had those experiences.

I'd love to see whales from my boat, but I haven't.  Always wanted to see a space-shuttle launch from my boat, but I was never in the right place at the right time.  Would like to see a nuclear submarine in the wild.
Lots of smaller, quiet moments.  Nice sunset while sitting on the boat in a comfortable anchorage, full of a good dinner and a little buzzed from a rum-and-coke.  Satisfaction of figuring out something and accomplishing a repair job.  Reading a book picked at random out of a book-exchange and finding out it's a great book.  Having a really nice conversation with a couple of cruisers you just met and probably will never see again. Snorkeling and seeing squid hovering in small packs.

What has been the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
The USA was the most affordable, except that river or ICW trips mean a lot of motoring.  And of course I stayed out of marinas and off moorings.

In the Caribbean and just north of it:  Bahamas are expensive (govt fees, food, fuel, everything).  Dominican Republic has expensive govt fees.  The French islands have expensive fuel.

But you can save by being smart.  My boat has a big fuel tank and lots of storage space, so I can buy fuel and food where they're cheaper. I catch rainwater, so I don't have to buy water.  I stocked up in USA before going to Bahamas; I stocked up in St Thomas before going to British Virgin Islands.  [That's one reason it's hard to answer the "how much does it cost ?" question; some months I'll spend a lot of money while stocking up, then spend nothing for a while.]

Another big expense: plane flights back to USA a couple of times a year. They get more expensive as you get to more isolated places. And sometimes two adjacent islands will have hugely different airfares to the USA, maybe a 2-1 ratio.  [I've found I need a "vacation from the boat" twice a year: once at Christmas and once in the summer.  Great to get off the boat, to reconnect with my family, and to enjoy modern conveniences.]
The bigger factors are independent of where you cruise.  Stay out of marinas and restaurants and bars, and stay off paid moorings.  Do as much of your own repair work as you can.  Those strategies will save you TONS of money; savings on fuel and food pale by comparison.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
I had an easier time of it than most people.  I was single, living in an apartment, with lots of money saved up.  So for me, the biggest hurdle was the sheer willpower needed to make a major change in my life.  It's a big, scary change, no doubt about it.  Ending a career, giving up steady paycheck and medical insurance, moving across the country, moving onto a boat.  I was a bit wacky, mentally, the first couple of months aboard the boat.  Had I made a big mistake?

I've met people who say they plan to cruise, and they have a family and pets and a business and two houses and mortgages and eight vehicles. I don't know if they're going to do it.  The hurdle may be too high.
And full-time cruising on a big boat is not for everyone.  There are lots of ways to have fun with boats.  Maybe day-sailing, or trailer-sailing, or kayaking.  Maybe occasional chartering.

I'm very glad I started cruising when I was fairly young, age 43.  I've met older people who want to cruise, but their health just won't allow it. And the change from conventional life to a new lifestyle can be traumatic; now I know why guys retire at 65 and die from a heart attack a few months later. I met a nice 65-ish couple on a boat in Miami harbor.  He had retired six months earlier, they'd started cruising, and then he'd had two heart attacks. Their cruising plans were in ruins.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
I tell people: as soon as you start even thinking about going cruising, start simplifying your life.  Sell everything down to the bare minimum, and then sell beyond that.  Ideally, sell the house and move into an apartment. The process could take years.

And at the end of it, suppose your dream changes and you no longer want to go cruising ?  You now have a much simpler life, and that opens up all kinds of options you didn't have before.  Now you can decide to travel by plane or RV, volunteer a la the Peace Corps, or any other life you choose.  You are free from the burden of all those possessions you used to have.

Another thing: stop spending !  The best way to save money is to not spend it. Stop going to restaurants and bars, stop buying clothes, quit smoking, stop buying CDs and magazines and books.  Cook your own meals, drink at home, use the library, take up cheap activities such as running or hiking or bicycling.

Get a boat later, rather than sooner.  You don't want to have a big boat sitting in a marina slip for months or years while you try to sell your house and simplify the rest of your life.  A big boat demands a lot of your time; juggling a boat, house, job and family at the same time won't work. You can repair and upgrade the boat as you do your first short cruises; it doesn't have to be perfect before you can move aboard and cruise.

I took sailing lessons for a year in SF Bay, and then used the school sailboats for another year.  That was very worthwhile, and I'd recommend it.  But getting the boat to move and navigating it aren't very difficult, really.  I spend more of my time cleaning the boat and repairing things.  Now and then I hear from would-be cruisers who are nervous about navigation; they shouldn't be.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

What is it like to live and cruise on a boat?

It's a very individual thing, and it's what you make of it.  It depends on your circumstances (marriage, money, personality, health, skills) and your choices (location, boat, lifestyle, interests) and chance (weather, daily experiences, adventures, adverse events). Probably no two cruisers cruise exactly the same way.  And you can change the way you cruise, as needed.  Maybe you'll acquire a partner, lose your existing partner, decide to change boats, change locations, maybe decide you can afford to spend more, maybe you'll run short of money.

Some things are harder to change than others.  I dread the day I ever try to sell my boat; some people seem to buy and sell as if it's a casual activity, but selling seems really hard to me.  Money is as much of an issue for cruisers as it is for everyone else.  Your personality won't change overnight just because you start cruising; don't expect to suddenly become a "party animal".

Before I started cruising, I thought I might be tired of it after five years or so. But I've found it's getting better and better.  I'm close to the 10-year mark, and I don't foresee giving up this lifestyle any time soon.  I've seen maybe 10% of the Caribbean, so there's plenty of new territory left.  [I have no desire to cross oceans.] Cruising has lots of ups and downs, like any other lifestyle.  Sometimes it's hot and humid and buggy and the anchorage is rolly and it seems like half of the stuff on the boat is broken.  And as I said earlier, it's not for everyone.  But often it's wonderful, and it's changed my life for the better.  I'm very glad I'm cruising.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Sarana

Eric & Sherrell have been cruising since 2003 aboard Sarana, a Pacific Seacraft / Mariah 31hailing from Seattle, WA, USA. Over that time they have traveled through Alaska, Canada, from the US down to Ecuador and everywhere in between. You can read more about their journey on their website. They say: We write electronic cruising guides for Central America that covers dozens of areas that have been completely unexplored by previous guide books.  Our Central American guide books are here and we have some free guides including the first guide ever written to Pacific Colombia. Also we forgot to mention our two cats (Jezebel and Jordan) as part of the crew...but they don't really crew very much.

What is something you think potential cruisers are afraid about that they shouldn't fear? And what is something potential cruisers don't worry about that perhaps they should?
We were at first worried about finding fresh food and water when we left developed areas for more remote locations.  Even if you don't have refrigeration or a watermaker (like us) you'll always find at least basic produce and fresh purified water.  And we've been surprised how much water we can catch during a rainstorm.  Naturally you'll need to practice conserving water use if you don't have a watermaker to extend your range.  We average 1 gallon per day per person.

Also we worried about breaking something important.  As it turns out things always break.  Worrying about it doesn't help.  We try to keep everything as simple as possible so that we can make our replacements and keep going.  There are a lot of talented mechanics and machine shops out there to help you in a pinch.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Don't read all those sea disaster books.  They scare you more than help you.

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?
On a small boat this isn't usually a problem.  You don't have much space for “extra” stuff.  But if we weren't sure about something we would try to bring it as you can easily trade or sell it to other people along the way.

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
Common reasons the people we know who quit:
1. Don't like cruising.  It can be laborious, uncomfortable and lacking stimulation provided by the rat-race.
2. Need money.  Big expensive boats, poor budgeting, expensive equipment failures, too much partying, providing for kids are some of the reasons cruises have a limited duration.
3. Family needs.  Aging parents who need care.  Pull of new grand children draw grandparents home.
4. Ego collapse.  The work environment provided immediate feedback for your work.  After decades of work=rewards it can be difficult to adapt to work=nothing.  Whether people liked their jobs or not, the sudden
lack of any type of acknowledgment (money) can be difficult.  Many people return to their careers.
5. Medical problems.  Sometimes people have physical issues that develop during their travels and they can no longer cruise.

We were shocked to discover that in this age of jet travel few people live on their boat year round.  The majority of people we know fly “home” once a year.  Perhaps this helps relieve some of problems that
has caused others to quit.  There are a lot of cruisers that only live on their boats for part of the year.

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult?
Training our family that we can not always be available took many months if not years.  The internet has helped make us more available however this is still an on-going problem.
Sadly we lost a few friends because they were unwilling to accept our new lifestyle whether through lack of understanding or envy or whatever.  They quickly drifted away.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time?
Eric:  I started off racing.  So I love sailing especially in a competitive fashion.  However I wouldn't want to just sail round and round like Benard Motissier.  I love going new places, learning new languages, and experiencing different cultures.  In a way I'm a xenophile.  I am much less interested to go someplace I've been than to go somewhere new.

Sherrell:  I love traveling and experiencing new cultures especially through the small local villages that I would otherwise never experience without a sailboat.  Sailing between these places is an added bonus.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
Sherrell:  I like the independent minded and spirited individuals who make up this culture and the unique things they bring to my life's experience.  What I don't like about the cruising culture is in large cruising populations such as in Mexico there tends to be cliques with group activities.  They tend to create an insular world and don't mix with locals or learn the language beyond “Una mas cerveza por favor.”

Eric:  There are a lot of knowledgeable people who are willing to help out if you are stuck on a problem.  The downside is there are a lot of knowledgeable people who are too willing to help out if you are stuck
on a problem.

What has been the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
We've been able to stick to our budget even in the USA, but you have to make sacrifices like not eating out or staying in marinas.  This goes true for other countries too.  You can spend lots of money even in the cheapest countries.  A better strategy for controlling your budget is to just live within your means and spoil yourself once in a while.  Saying that, we have found all of Latin America in general to be inexpensive with some variations between countries.

Have you found "trade goods" to be useful on your cruise? If so, what kinds?
We haven't traded anything other than technical skills for services. However there are some very remote villages where gasoline, d-batteries, school supplies and some clothing are appreciated more than currency.  These places are very few as most of Latin America is fairly well industrialized.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

Eric:  What is one piece of advice you have to people who want to go cruising?

Stop making to-do lists.  Go use your boat as if you are cruising.  Use the crap out of it.  Your priorities will do a 180 degree flip as you find more important things to worry about than the color of your sail covers.  Practice staying on a budget, anchoring out, repairing everything yourself, using your alternative energy, using your navigation gear, your running rigging and all the little things of living on a boat that you can't do while sitting at a dock. Forget the books, websites, forums, etc. and get some personal time with your boat.  It will do a world of good to help you filter out the noise and find the important things in your life – even if that answer is that you don't like cruising.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Infini

Michael, Susan, and presently their son, Matt cruise aboard Infini, a Westsail 43, hailing from Tampa, FL, USA. They moved aboard and began full time cruising in 2007 leaving Florida and traveling through: Belize,  Rio Dulce, Guatemala, Honduras, various Columbian offshore islands, Caribbean side of Panama and the San Blas Islands, Cartagena, Panama, transiting the Panama Canal in 2009, Balboa and the the Perlas Islands, Galapagos Islands, Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, Gambier Islands, central Tuamotus, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas and Hawaii.  You can read their travelogue for more information. Michael is the author of "Your Offshore Doctor - A Manual of Medical Self-Sufficiency At Sea" published by Sheridan House Publishers. Although presently out of print (and Michael says it's in sore need of a revision), much of its information is still relevant and informative.

Why did you decide to cruise?
Michael & Susan: Full time cruising has been a long-time dream of ours for many years. We've always "messed around" with boats, and have worked hard to make our circumnavigation plans become reality. Staying focused and keeping that goal in mind has been paramount to finally casting off the docklines.  We were sort of brought up in the old fashioned age of sextant navigation (before GPS - can you imagine!?) and read many books about those initial cruisers who, to us, were true adventurers, and find it interesting and a challenge to integrate our more traditional marine upbringing with the realities of modern live aboard cruising. We hope to inspire others to follow in our path and explore the world by small boat.

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
Michael & Susan:  Well, that's actually a difficult question. We felt we were very well equipped when we departed Florida, but we find the comfort items aboard do, to us, make a difference. Example: a large capacity watermaker. Of course, with complex boat systems comes expense and maintenance, so keeping things relatively (lol!) simple allows more days sailing and exploring rather than repairing and hunting down boat parts.

Tell me your least favorite thing about your boat.
Michael: That would have to be the engine compartment. Bill Crealock designed the Westsail 43 and we find she handles quite well and is comfortable with a kindly motion, but when it's time to do any sort of engine maintenance, it's a hassle. The engine compartment is not a stand up one, it's located under the cockpit floor, access is designed for a very small person, and to service it I have to crawl in on my side and frequently work one-handed. We are definitely envious of walk-in engine rooms!

Share a piece of cruising etiquette
Susan: We bring our own glasses, dishes and silverware, drinks and a dish to share with others when we're invited for Happy Hour or Cruisers Potluck.

How did you secure your valuables (in and on your vessel) while going ashore?
Michael & Susan:  We have a steel combination safe aboard. And your dinghy? In those areas known for theft, "Lock it or lose it" is the cruiser's motto. Also, we hip our dinghy at night, and use a steel tether and good quality lock thru the outboard motor handle to attach to a point ashore or to the boat at night. It's a discipline that needs rigid adherence to, but we feel it's a theft deterrent.

When asked to clarify "hip the dinghy": Hipping the dinghy is a method for those of us who don't have davits on the stern of the boat which would allow the dinghy to be lifted out of the water. It is an anti-theft deterrent, as well as keeping the bottom of the dinghy clean and not as readily fouled. Hipping is done by lifting the dinghy on a bridle which is usually attached to three lifting points in  the dinghy (one bow and two transom), thereby triangulating the load, and lift is most commonly done by the spinnaker halyard. The dinghy typically ends up resting alongside the boat, a few feet out of the water thereby above the reach of casual thieves, and forward of the beam, and is prevented from moving around by fore and aft lines from the dinghy to the vessel. 

Finish this sentence. "Generally when I am provisioning..."
Susan: We tend to carry too many stores...it's like Michael thinks nobody else in the world uses toilet paper or eats snacks!!....

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
Michael & Susan:  Like: camaraderie of fellow cruisers, exploring and meeting new people who live in those areas we're visiting... Dislike: cruisers who assume too much (the few folks who assume unexpected stuff would never happen to them, so are totally unprepared when it does) and take other cruiser's generosity for granted; the "herd instinct" of cruising.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you found particularly accurate?
Michael & Susan: We haven't read it in these terms, but we call it "TDP" - which to us means "Two Different People."  A boat is a small, controlled  environment, and an effort has to be made to consider other opinions, respect other's privacy and react accordingly. Also, we feel cruising should be done slowly; that's why we mosey along, giving ourselves plenty of time to enjoy the local people, explore the area, and attempt to learn a bit of the language and culture of those places we visit.

What was the most affordable area you have cruised and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
Michael & Susan:  Many of the less populated islands we've been to are places where it's very difficult to spend any money other than buying basic necessities. On the other hand, many of the metropolitan areas we've visited are "sticky," and it's easy to spend money on dining out, shopping, and incidentals while we're having such a good time.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

Michael & Susan:  What drives us to continue cruising?

What literally drives us along is local and regional weather patterns; cyclone season in the southern hemisphere being a prime example. We feel that as long as we're in good health and having a good time, we'll continue cruising. Our hope is that ours will be one of the slower circumnavigations recorded and others will find value in sharing our experiences and perspectives....

Read the full interview

10 Questions for BeBe

Bill & Judy Rouse named Bebe, their 2003 Amel Super Maramu (16m) hailing from St Thomas, because it was their granddaughter’s nickname. They left Texas, USA on May 1, 2006 and are still cruising. Over the years they have traveled the Caribbean (2 circles) from USVI to Trinidad, across Venezuela to Bonaire & Curacao, Cartagena & Panama; Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia, Niue and Kingdom of Tonga from Vava’U through Hai’pai to Tongatapu; south to New Zealand; north to Vanuatu & New Caledonia, Australia; Indonesia; Singapore; Malaysia (37 countries total including SE Asia land travel). You can learn more about them on their blog.

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
No. Our boat was fully equipped for round-the-world cruising when she left the factory. This is the standard quality of Amel. The only thing we added was an AIS receiver in January 2008, which was new technology since our boat was built in January 2003. The AIS receiver is not a necessity, but it certainly is nice to know exactly where that big ship on the horizon is going to be in 10 minutes so you can adjust your course accordingly.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
The standard recommendations are still the best advice.

1) Get your captains license or sailing school training or some kind of certification. Some places, like New Jersey and Greece, now require proof of competency or special licensing in order to operate a vessel in their waters. Having your captain’s license also usually provides a discount on insurance.

2) Attend training class for the specific engine in your boat. Even people thoroughly acquainted with diesel engines can benefit from a class geared specifically for their model engine.

3) Obtain offshore medical training, even if just a weekend class. The emphasis in this type training is quite different than standard EMT training. The offshore class teaches you what to do in case of an emergency when no help will be arriving anytime soon. The standard EMT training assumes you will arrive in a hospital emergency room within 20 minutes. The scenarios are entirely different.

4) Get going ASAP. Once you have the first 3 items mentioned and are sure your boat is seaworthy, start cruising. Don’t spend time trying to make your boat perfect; just go. Then don’t make any changes on your boat until you have been cruising for at least a full year. It takes that long to know what is important to you.

Have you found "trade goods" to be useful on your cruise? If so, what kinds?
Only once. Before heading out across the South Pacific we purchased numerous items with intentions of trading in the remote islands. We carried ladies sandals, lipsticks, nail polish, sewing items, fish hooks, men’s shirts and similar items. The opportunity to attempt trading never happened. In the Hai’pai Group of the Kingdom of Tonga we gave the men’s shirts to a man whose home had burned and he had lost everything. We ended up giving the rest of these items to people in Indonesia who approached our boat requesting “gifts.” No one wanted to trade; they just wanted gifts.

The only opportunity we encountered for trading in the South Pacific was at a small atoll in the Tuamotus of French Polynesia. A small boat containing 3 men approached our boat at anchor. They spoke only French and we spoke only English, but they managed to convey that they wished to trade black pearls for rum. (After all. the French word rhum sounds just like the English word rum.) We did not have rum to trade, but we did have cases of beer. We ended up trading 3 cases of beer for 21 black pearls. We had purchased the beer in Panama for only $10.50 per case, so this was a good deal for us; and the men were delighted to receive the beer. All forms of alcohol are extremely expensive in French Polynesia. At the local price equivalent of $60 USD per 6-pack for beer, in their opinions they had received $480 USD for the 21 black pearls. Yet our cost was only $31.50.

What do you think is a common cruising myth?
A common cruising myth is that this lifestyle is inexpensive. There continues to be a myth that people can cruise for as little as $500 per month. This is totally unrealistic unless you are eating nothing except beans and rice and letting your boat fall into ruin by failure to do routine maintenance. Our costs have been much, much higher. A complete breakdown of our cruising costs for the first 4 years can be found on our blog.

Another common myth is that you can “self insure” the boat rather than carry proper insurance. That might have been true in the old days, but that is very unwise today because all countries are more environmentally conscious. If your boat is involved in any type accident, you will be responsible for any environmental damage. That cost could quickly exceed the cost of insuring a boat for years. One boat we know was lost when they hit a reef at a small Pacific island. Not only had they lost everything, they were not allowed to leave that island until they paid $10,000 for damage to the reef, plus the cost of  removing the boat.

What is the key to making the cruising life enjoyable?
Having a boat that is designed and equipped for round-the-world cruising. We are spoiled with a watermaker that produces 180 liters per hour, a washing machine and 2 large lockers than can be set as either freezers or refrigerators. These items make all the difference in creature comforts when cruising. We cannot imagine cruising without these conveniences. Also equally important is enjoying the full-time company of your partner and learning to kick back and enjoy quiet times alone.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
Nothing. Hope this statement doesn’t jinx us, but none of the normally problem-prone equipment such as generator or watermaker has caused us any problems. We almost feel guilty as our cruising friends work on their boats and we continue to have almost no problems. Amel makes a quality boat that comes direct from the factory fully equipped for crossing oceans in comfort. We have had only 3 pieces of equipment fail during our 4 ½ years of cruising. Our Furuno GPS antennae failed once; we had numerous GPS back-ups so it wasn’t that big of a problem. Our NMEA multiplexor failed once when crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria; replacement also solved that problem. The linear drive on our autopilot failed during one long passage; but Amel had installed 2 drives with an A/B switch, so we simply switched it to the chain drive and continued on. We almost felt guilty when this problem was so easily solved for us. Three other boats we know also had their autopilots fail during this passage north from New Zealand, and they had to hand-steer for days. We solved the problem by simply flipping a switch.

What do you enjoy about cruising that you didn't expect to enjoy?
Meeting people who have become lifelong friends. Having the time to read as much as we like. And occasionally playing games with other cruisers. Neither of us is a game person. But we have learned to enjoy playing Mexican Train Dominos and Rummy Cube; not because of the games themselves, but because of the camaraderie spending a few hours with friends.

Which spares do you wish you had more of? Less of?
We are fine in terms of spares. We had asked someone who was 2/3rds through his circumnavigation in a sister ship for his list of spares. He gave me his complete list reflecting deletions and additions. We followed that list and have been happy with the results.

What was the most affordable area you have cruised and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
The most affordable areas were the San Blas Islands (Kuna Yala) of Panama and the Kingdom of Tonga. The San Blas were inexpensive because there was nothing to spend money on except moderate anchoring fees and molas for souvenirs or gifts. Just beautiful anchorages to enjoy. In Tonga there was very little to purchase so we spent very little. The most expensive place we have cruised was French Polynesia. Literally everything was expensive. The only things we found affordable in all of French Polynesia were the baguettes, which are price controlled. We grew so tired of the high prices of everything in French Polynesia that we left Bora Bora 2 weeks before our 90-day visas expired. Many cruisers want extended visas or multiple visits to French Polynesia. This beautiful expensive place was not a highlight for us. The second most expensive place was Australia. If we had it to do over again, we would skip Australia altogether.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

When you first set out cruising, did you have a cruising plan? If so, has it changed?
 
We had no specific cruising plan when we started. Bill would have been quite happy to spend years in the Caribbean, but by the second year in the Caribbean Judy wanted to seek out new horizons. So we headed farther westward in spring 2008 and should complete our circumnavigation in 2012 or 2013. Then we plan to sail the Caribbean for several more years or until we no longer enjoy cruising – and that might take many more years!

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Sage

Connie McCann and Tony Gibb are currently cruising aboard Sage, a Wauquiez 38 Mk1 hailing from Victoria BC, Canada. They began cruising in 1983 onboard their first boat Hejira, a Vancouver 27, on which they sailed through the Pacific (Mexico, French Polynesia, Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia, Mexico, Solomons, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Philippines, Japan and US). They began cruising again in 2010 aboard Sage. You can keep track of their current voyage via their blog. Editor's note: Because of an error on my part, there are more than 10 questions. Bonus for the readers!

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
Tony: One of the most important criteria is seaworthiness.  The boat has to be well constructed, well rigged and perform well under sail.  The additional add ons such as electronic gear is not so important nor critical for safe offshore passage making.  It does make it easier but it's better to go sailing now then wait till you have the money to buy all the fancy electronic gear.
 
Connie:  Performance. Shoal draft. Solid construction. Our Vancouver 27 certainly had 2 of those but lacked the performance factor.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
Tony: For us the cruising community in every port has been incredibly supportive. Everyone pitches in when help is needed and when emergencies require everyone to work together.  The downside is that it's hard to say goodbye to people one has spent time with. It seems to be always saying goodbye although the longer one is out cruising the more frequent those chances at reunification are in some small out of the way place where one can once again spend time getting to know and enjoy each other.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
Connie:  I truly am thrilled and always newly amazed at finding an island with a sextant and may miss that thrill as we have joined the electronic navigation world. Landfalls are very special, searching with your eyes for land then seeing it at a great distance as in the case of Attu in the Aleutians or searching and searching and not finding it until you are almost on top of it as in the Tuamotos is not something that can be easily described to land based folks.

I don’t like not being able to talk about politics with most folks and relish the days when I can. I have spent a large percentage of my life working in the political realm and am always keen to know what is happening politically in both my home country and in the country I am anchored in.

What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?
Tony: Usually use 3 on 3 off although now with a larger boat we do expect to have more people onboard and have been using 2 on 4 off for Sage when crewed by 3 people.  This has worked very well providing consistent watches within the 24 hour period.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Tony: Sailing between the San Bernadino Straits and Okinawa we were followed by a Taiwanese (?) fishboat with no-one on deck and no communication.  This fishing boat followed us for about 3 hours and was never more than 50 metres from our starboard aft quarter. All we could do was keep sailing and hope that they were not interested in such small pickings from a very basic boat.

Of the changes, choices and compromises you had to make along the way, which were you happiest and most satisfied about, which do you wish you had chosen otherwise and why?
Tony: Going when we were young and poor.  This provided us an opportunity of working and living in other countries to try and pay the bills and keep the cruising life alive.  We never understood when meeting people 55+ when they said they wish they had done it when they were younger.  Now that we're out sailing again we can understand why.  The compromise in the above was the fact that we had to choose a smaller boat than we would have liked but it was affordable.  I can't think of anything at this time in terms of choosing otherwise.

Over the years, how much time do you think you spend at anchor, at marinas, sailing and motoring?
Tony: Anchor (80%), at marinas (5%), sailing (10%) and motoring (5%)

In your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
Tony: By providing the tools for the reluctant partner to be able to manage the boat on his/her own resources.  Every person on the boat should be knowledgeable and have the ability to handle every aspect on the boat on their own.  This sense of empowerment may provide the reluctant partner not only the ability to manage the boat but also the confidence that should something happen to the other person that they're not helpless.  It doesn't mean that the person has the interest in all the aspects of running the boat but they will learn where their strengths are, focus on their strengths to complement the team while also understanding where their weaknesses are and not ignoring them but at least having a basic understand and knowledge about how to manage them when necessary.

What has been the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
Tony: Most affordable - Philippines - food is plentiful and cheap.  Facilities and land travelling are reasonable. 

Most expensive - the U.S. - food and marinas are expensive.  The temptation to tie up to a dock is enticing and difficult to resist as the marinas are usually located in prime locations for services and land touring. 

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
Connie:  When we moved the coast within 3 months we bought a small inexpensive sailboat but we sailed it extensively here in the Pacific North West, mostly during the winter season. We sailed obsessively – on the boat from Friday night at 5 pm until very late Sunday. Took weeks in the winter season to sail longer distances. We propped up Eric Hiscock’s Cruising under Sail and practiced everything, from sailing out the anchor to sitting in the Juan de Fuca straights hove to. We made lists (and after 3 boats still making lists) especially the list for the boat that would take us across oceans.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
Connie:  Always saying goodbye. Tony and I are both outgoing sorts of people and we make new friends easily. It became difficult to say goodbye. Having to work. From 1983-1990 during our Pacific circumnavigation we had to work – we would work for one year and sail a year. By the end, in Japan 1990 it became a touch labourious. This was one of the primary reasons that we returned – to have an income and not have to work. We enjoyed our work sojourns but it was the sailing that we really wanted to do.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Connie:  This will be different for Tony but for me it is about seasickness – I wish someone had told me about Sturgeron. I finally found out about it in Australia and my sailing life became a touch less violent in the first three days! I know that people told us of the need for sun protection but perhaps because we are from the North and the sun does not have quite the same strength – we just didn’t take sun protection seriously enough. Our new boat is much better at sun protection while we are sailing.

Which spares do you wish you had more of? Less of?
Connie:  Never too many spares. Engine parts are problematic – do you carry an extra transmission? We don’t but did have that discussion when a spare one became available.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time?
Connie:  I may have been attracted to the travel aspect prior to offshore but I came to enjoy the sailing just for the heck of it. I did not come to sailing naturally – I had to work at it. However I love the aspect that I am traveling with my home – that is a very special relationship and so very different from land traveling.

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was underrated (better than you had heard)?
Connie:  Everywhere I have sailed to was underrated. Too often travelers tell you ‘oh you should have been here xxx years ago – it was better’. I simply don’t believe that – yes, it is different than it was xx years ago but it is just fine. I do not long for the days when it ‘looked’ different. I am just thankful that I am there.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
Connie:  My body. Now that it is in its 5th decade it may break even more often! Our Vancouver 27 had very little breakage but we also sailed very simply on that voyage. Sails wore, mostly from the UV. And, we never pushed the limits on our sails except maybe sailing into Wellington NZ….

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

Tony: How much does it cost to cruise? 

I know this all depends on one's pocketbook but it would be interesting to see what people's responses are.
 
Having just left our our new (old) boat we're not sure what it's going to cost this time.  In the 1980's we could get by quite comfortably on $12,000 U.S. dollars/year.  This would pay for everything such as land travel, repairs and replacement to required equipment, food, communications etc etc. However, with a larger boat, 20 years added on we're not quite sure what to expect but hope we can do it on $24,000/year.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for MoonSail

MoonSail is a Catalina/Morgan Center-cockpit 38 hailing from Kemah, TX, USA.  Chris Mooney (Captain) and Barbara Leachman (self-titled 1st mate/galley slave) cruised aboard MoonSail from 2005 - 2009 through the Caribbean, Bahamas and US East Coast. They returned for a few years of work and hope to resume cruising in Fall 2011. You can find more details on their website or send an email (Barb@moonsail.com). Barb says:  Cruising was not my idea nor was it my dream but I am now hooked and love the lifestyle.  I moved on to the boat from a 2000 sq ft house with 2 suit cases.  I had no problem selling my house and just about everything I owned.  I was ready to leave the corporate life and go on an adventure.  I am extremely lucky to have found a very accommodating and easy going mate to teach me and learn with me the life of a cruiser.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Chris: How much we would motor-sail. For a 38 foot sailboat to go from island to island during daylight
hours, you almost always have to run the rhumb line.  There is no time for tacking and using the wind.  A 45 foot or larger boat goes fast enough to sail it.

Barbara: I can’t think of anything specific that I wished someone told me before we left.  It was a lot of fun learning from other cruisers as we went. They are all such fun loving can caring people. A lot of people asked if I was scared and thought there were pirates everywhere.  I was nervous but I can honestly say I was only scared a couple of times and that had nothing to do with pirates.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you found particularly accurate?
Chris: That security in the Caribbean (as far south as Grenada), for the most part, is not an issue.  The constant worry about security is overblown. Common sense and practical precautions will keep you out of trouble. Trinidad & Venezuela are a whole other story and in my opinion to be avoided.

Barbara: The most accurate statement I would say we found to be true was that all plans are cast in Jell-o or sand. 

What was the most affordable area you have cruised and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
Chris: Northeast US was most expensive.  $40-60/night for a mooring.  Crowded during the summer, especially weekends, since the local boaters have a short season to play in. Caribbean was not cheap, but could be done reasonably.  Food, especially US style food is expensive, as was electricity at the docks, rum & beer are cheap.  Plenty of ability to anchor as much as you want to save dockage costs.

Barbara: The cheapest area was the Dominican Republic, but it was also the poorest country.  I was not comfortable in that country and have no desire to return. The Dominican Republic is a beautiful country, but the officials are very corrupt.  The sanitary conditions left a lot to be desired and you have to continually use hand sanitizer after touching anything that was in the water you are anchored in.

I would say Grenada was very affordable and easy to live in. Grenada is affordable in for both marine services and goods.  They have one of the best open air markets in the Caribbean.  The people are still so thankful to the Americans for aiding them in the conflict in the 80’s that they will come up to you and shake your hand and say thank you to your face.

The most expensive area was Martha’s Vineyard/Nantucket/long island sound area. The Northeast of the US around Long Island sound and NYC is the most expensive place we went.  The mooring balls were $60 per night and that didn’t include launch service to shore.  In many areas that was an additional $10-15 per person 1 way.  The area is beautiful though and we are very glad we spent time in the area.

I n your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
Chris: I think usually not well.  In our case, the dream was mine and Barb got drawn into it.  I had the plan when we met.  She had never sailed before.  She jumped in whole-hog, learned everything about the boat without having to be taught, and loved it.  I couldn't have asked for a better cruising partner.  We met many other couples where it was his dream and she went along, but there were frequent trips home or other concessions to her in order to keep her aboard.  We met some who it flat wasn't working for and it was painfully obvious that she wasn't happy.  Some of those just were annoyingly vocal about it, and several went home (some with the spouse some without).  I wouldn't try and go with a reluctant partner.  If you did, I think the frequent trips home are a must, whether to visit grandchildren or the mall.  Also pay what it takes to have good communication so they can call home frequently.

Barbara: I wouldn’t ever attempt to convince anyone to live the life of a cruiser unless they already had a desire to do so.  If one person on a boat is not happy, the whole boat is not happy.

What is your biggest lesson learned?
Chris: Be flexible.  You are going to new places with different foods, customs, music, dress, etc.  Don't expect things to be just like home.  If you want things just like the US, only cruise in the US.  Every day you just take what your given and make the best of it.  Whether that's the weather, or dealing with officials, or fixing the boat.  Getting frustrated and bitching about things won't change them.

Barbara: I feel that if I had to, I could navigate and drive the boat by myself.  I would never want to be in a situation that I had to do that, but it’s a good feeling to know I could do it.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
Chris: The most common question people ask, and the hardest to answer.  I can't say there is one best place.  There were several best places for different reasons.  There were almost no "bad" places.  So here are several answers and why:

• St. Maarten - great for boat fixing (duty free and availability) – great food on the French side - good if you like restaurants and development.
• Dominica - Great for the opposite reason.  Least developed. Beautiful geography and friendly people.
  Guadeloupe/Martinique - great for the French food & wine.  Much better infrastructure than other islands due to support from France.
• Grenada - Excellent for long term stay during hurricane season.  Developed enough but not over-developed.  Extremely safe and friendly. 

Barbara: We have been asked this question so many times and it’s so hard to decide.  We really enjoyed Bequia at Christmas time.  There were a lot of community lighting events and they are so cruiser friendly there.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
Chris:  You "face" the bad weather every time it happens, even if you're not out in it.  You are basically living outside after all.  So, even at anchor or at a dock, you have to be prepared properly for bad weather.  We experienced one tropical storm and numerous heavy tropical waves while at the dock in Grenada.  You just prepare accordingly.  A properly prepared boat shouldn't have trouble even up to a Cat 1 or 2 hurricane.  Boats that make the TV usually weren't prepared.

As for weather underway, the trick is to not be there.  In the Caribbean, there is little excuse for being out in very bad weather.  Most passages are day trips or a one-night overnight, so you wait for the conditions you are comfortable with.  Every person has a different level of comfort underway. You do need to have proper resources for knowing the forecast.  There are lots of options, too many to name here, but you need to have access to several, and then make your own decision based on their input.  Asking your buddy boat should NOT be your primary forecast resource.  Make your own decisions and interpretations of the data.

Barbara: Weather is the number one ruler of a cruisers life.  We live by it and give it a lot of respect.  That said, we have been chased by 3 hurricanes along the US coast.  We were on the leading edge of Alberto in 2005 going north from St. Augustine to Charleston and that was the only time we tethered ourselves to our pedestal in the cockpit and talked about hailing the Coast Guard to just to report our position every 30 minutes.  We ended up not hailing them but that was one of the scariest passages.  While at the dock in Charleston a day later a water spout passed over the boat. We were lucky it didn’t cause any damage.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time?
Chris: Easiest question- cruising-as-travel.  I first got the idea of buying a boat after visiting a marina a little before Christmas and seeing the live-aboard community close up.  I have had the boat for 13 years now, lived aboard until a year ago, and actively cruised four years.  I still could take or leave the actual sailing most days.  I love being able to take my whole home from place to place at my whim though.

Barbara: We were more attracted to the cruising life style and not sailing purists.  We had no problems running the engine to get from A to B before dark.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
Chris: Furling sails - makes it easy to single hand and good as your physical strength lessens with age. Stout auto-pilot.  A wheel-drive auto-pilot doesn't belong on an offshore boat no matter what the manufacturer tells you. Great custom davits/arch - dinghy can be raised or lowered with one person, engine hoist, place for antennas, solar panels, wind generator. Biggest RIB-type dinghy you can carry, with largest motor it can carry. It's your car out there.  Engle freezer.  Low electrical draw and make having a freezer easy.

Barbara: We bought a soda machine our second year out and it was probably one of the best purchases.  We stocked spare CO2 canisters and syrup.  They pretty much lasted 3 years.  Just before we left the boat we found (through other cruisers) that there is now a place in St. Martin that will refill the CO2 canisters. 

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
Chris: Firearms onboard? - Not worth the hassle in the US and Caribbean.  You have to either lie about it or surrender it in most places.  The risk of needing one is no worth the hassle of having one. Pets aboard? - Wonderfully fun (assuming you are a pet lover in the first place).  But, they add another level of complexity to checking in and out of some countries, you have to deal with their needs, whether that is a litter box or daily walks ashore, getting proper food and supplies in the islands can be challenging, vet availability is limited, and traveling home is more complex and expensive.

Barbara: How often did you see or keep in touch with family?  We were lucky that when we were in the US keeping in touch was easy, especially while we were in the Northeast.  While in the Caribbean, you would be surprised at how readily available the internet has become.  Using Skype you can call home and talk pretty much whenever you wanted and it was cheap.  As far as visiting family, we only had 1 visitor in 4 years and I only flew back to the US once in the 2 years were in the Eastern Caribbean.  We kept a website up to date and posted quite often, so most of our family kept up on where we were through that too.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Atom

Since 1984, James Baldwin has twice circumnavigated aboard Atom, his 28-foot Pearson Triton. He has worked as boat builder and writer, and more recently as voyaging consultant from their current home port of Brunswick, Georgia. Ten years ago, Mei Huang joined him in Trinidad and since then they have made several passages across the North and South Atlantic and worked together fitting out customer's sailboats for voyaging. You can contact them through their website where you can read James articles about cruising and his online book at his website.

Why did you decide to cruise?
I was driven by a search for adventure and, I'll admit, a touch of hedonism. A cruiser of today's generation
who reads my online book might say my sailing career has been as much masochism as hedonism. There is a touch of truth there in the sense that I learned to derive pleasure from self-denial as well as all the rich rewards a cruising life brings.

After some adventurous vacations with my parents when I was a child, from northern wilderness camping trips to island-hopping through the Bahamas by small single-engine plane, my mind opened to some of the more extreme travel possibilities. Further inspiration came from the sailing classics of Joshua Slocum and Bernard Moitessier, the Roths, Hiscocks and dozens of others. As a teenager in Detroit with little money and no sailing experience, I pursued my goal to see the world from the deck of my own boat with a dogged, single-minded determination.

By twenty-one I had my boat. By twenty-five I set out on my first circumnavigation.

What else did you do besides sail?
From my first moment under sail and ever since, the art of sailing has captivated me. Beyond the sailing, I've used my boat as a tool to provide a home base for seeing the world. I found I needed more than sailing, and set goals to get off the boat to climb the mountains and live among the islanders. I also enjoy kayaking, writing, photography, and working on boats, whether it's my own or paid work on other people's boats.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
Over the years I've often considered the pros and cons of having boat a larger or even a bit smaller than Atom.  As I list the attributes of a good voyaging boat - inexpensive, seaworthy, as small as can be comfortable, moderate draft, tiller steering - they keep pointing to a boat very much like the one I have.

When I decided to try something radically different, I added a F-27 folding trimaran to my little fleet. What I like about a small trimaran is the shallow draft available when the daggerboard is up, the low angles of heel and less rolling underway, and trailerability. Speed was not high on my list of requirements, but sailing fast can be thrilling. With its cramped accommodations and inability to carry much equipment and supplies, it is not well-suited for long-term liveaboard or extended voyages for most people.

Each of my two boats serves its own purpose. It would be impossible to find one boat ideally suited to all situations. If, like most people, you're confined to one boat, you need to make a realistic list of your own requirements so you can define the compromises necessary to get the best boat for your needs.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
Learn to sail on a small boat whether you sign on as crew or pay for lessons. Or buy yourself a small boat and do local cruising. Then prepare your mind by rethinking your priorities and considering what is it about your shorebound lifestyle that's worth taking afloat and what is better left ashore. Through online and face to face consulting with new cruisers I know they worry about having a boat that is "too small", how to get insurance for every potential mishap, how to finance their cruise, what will it all cost... These are valid concerns and the answers are different for each individual. Just as important is to consider what is the cost to their soul of continuing their current life ashore when the life they imagine is somewhere else. Some want to have their current life as unaltered as possible as they go on a fun cruise. They know what they want and that may work for them. Others, like myself, seek a radically different life than they had before. Being a seeker is always worthwhile.

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited?
With few exceptions, all of my thousands of experiences with local people have been positive. Off the beaten track, the world is generally kind to a traveler with an open heart, even if he has empty pockets. In many remote places, the poorer you look the better you're received. Throughout the isles of the Pacific, Asia and Indian Ocean I was taken into peoples homes, joined in their celebrations, worked alongside them in their gardens, even fell in love.

What was the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or cheap about each area?
In the 1990's Madagascar was and probably still is, one of the nicest and cheapest cruising grounds. Another favorite inexpensive cruising area was the Philippines. The idea is to buy locally produced items, not imports. Things change from place to place, year to year, but in general, the most expensive places are the more developed, Westernized or European subsidized countries such as French Polynesia. Even so, lifestyle choices determine your expenditures as much as comparing local cost of living indexes.

I spent the most time in inexpensive countries and did major provisioning there. In the expensive ports, I either worked or traded goods or kept my visit brief. My choice to spend eight years in Southeast Asia and no time at all in the Med or Europe was as much to do with the cost of living as it was my cultural and climate preferences.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
Passage planning is always my main concern in order to keep the wind on my beam or at my back as much as possible. A whisker pole on the jib has been essential. I avoid passages with headwinds or high storm frequency. I reef early and sail conservatively.

Speed is not a concern because I'm comfortable at sea and most often arrived at my next port refreshed in body and mind. If you're uneasy being at sea, you drive the boat harder to arrive sooner, which exhausts you further.

How do you recommend securing your vessel while going ashore? And your dinghy?
I often use two anchors set 180 degrees apart with both secured to the bow, the primary with all chain rode. This way my rode is not dragging all over the bottom as the boat shifts to every tide or wind change, reducing the chance of upsetting or fouling an anchor. I've left my boat for long periods unattended and always returned to find her where I left her.

I use security bars in the companionway to allow ventilation. My dinghy is a small plywood/fiberglass pram that is considered unworthy of theft, which I consider my best defense against losing it. To prevent children from rowing it away, it's always locked alongside Atom with a cable at night, and when ashore, preferably locked to a dock or a tree above high tide mark. An outboard motor on your dinghy is like a "steal me" sign in many places. If your situation requires a motor, the smallest and oldest looking one will serve you the longest since thieves will turn up their nose at it and take a bigger, faster, more valuable one from your neighbor.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
A partial list of my essential cruising gear in roughly their order of importance is: windvane self-steering, unshaded solar panels, a lightweight home-built dinghy, dodger/bimini, handheld GPS, manual anchor windlass, Sony SSB reciever, all LED lighting, a large battery bank and a 750-watt inverter. If I can't power it from solar panels, I don't have it aboard. I've always preferred the big view and inexpensive dependability of photocopied paper charts, but now that small chartplotters and MFD's are low-powered and less expensive, I've added one to my trimaran. I've used AIS on recent deliveries for collision avoidance and plan to put one
aboard Atom.


What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

I have a page of frequently asked questions that can be read on my website.  One of the 22 questions I address is:

How much does it cost to go cruising?
 
The short answer is: as much as you've got. I've met people cruising on every conceivable budget and I do not think the enjoyment they got out of cruising had much to do with how much money they spent. Actually, I did not meet any people cruising on a high budget that looked like they were getting anything near the priceless experiences of some people who know how to make the most of life afloat. People ask "Can I afford to go cruising?" when they should ask if they can afford not to go. With careful choices it costs less than half as much to voyage around the world as it does to maintain a typical Western lifestyle ashore. We can calculate the dollars it costs, but how do you count the value of a life fully lived?

I left on my first circumnavigation in 1984 with just $500 in savings. That got me across the Pacific in five months without noticeable hardship for a healthy 25-year-old. When the money was nearly gone, I took a job for three months at a boatyard in New Guinea, the proceeds of which carried me across two more oceans and back home a year and a half later. Since then, tremendous inflation in costs associated with cruising, such as the 1,000% increase in fees for the Panama Canal and various extortionate government rip-offs for "cruising fees" (the $150-$300 fee per boat for entry to the Bahamas is becoming typical nowadays), mean these days you'll need to spend much more than when I first began cruising. Also, when I started earning and saving more money, I sometimes was tempted to buy more optional boat gear and spend more money on all manor of things.

As of 2003 we spent an average of about $800 a month for the two of us, including all travel, food, entertainment and boat expenses. This does not include the very occasional but unavoidable big expenses like replacing sails or major overhauls to the boat. We could spend less if we needed to and easily spend more if we're not careful. The "average" cruising couple spends at least double that, particularly when you factor in all their various insurance and marina expenses. I find when I have more money available I'm tempted to spend it on "optionals" and when I have less, I tighten my belt, so to speak. During most of my cruising years I've kept my spending down to the point where I need only work an average of three months a year. For over 20 years I never worked longer than about two years at a time without stopping for an extended cruise and have gone up to three years without earning any money other than a few small payments for articles. Not that I'm particularly lazy, but life is not all about work and wages. Another benefit of a small boat, especially an older boat like the Triton, is that your investment is small enough that you can more easily replace the entire boat if disaster strikes.

Part of how much you spend depends on what the cost of living is in the areas you cruise, but an even larger portion depends on the choices you make. Will you stay at marinas or anchor out? Eat at restaurants or onboard? Travel by plane to visit relatives or wait to see them until you finally sail home? Buy insurance for every conceivable threat or take your chances? Have a boat full of electronic gadgets that require frequent repair and replacement or become self-sufficient and choose only equipment that is essential and learn how to maintain it yourself? Will you buy imported foods that you are used to or learn how to use cheaper locally produced foods? Will you buy a new budget-busting inflatable dinghy every third year or knock something together out of plywood? The list of choices goes on and on, even to the little things like the crew giving each other haircuts to reusing washcloths for cleanups instead of buying paper towels. Mastering the art of frugal cruising means you have found how to live aboard independently and happily and perhaps even indefinitely.
This brings us back to choice of boat. A big boat is likely to cost so much that you feel compelled to buy boat insurance. A smaller, less expensive boat can be sailed without insurance and be replaced if needed through modest savings kept in reserve. For example, say I had 40K to get started cruising today. I'd rather self-insure by putting 20K into a bank CD and use it to buy another Triton-type boat if I lost mine than to buy a 40K boat and stay home working to pay for the insurance to replace it. My point is not to criticize those on bigger boats that have found a way to make it work for them. They're doing it and that's fine. My goal is to give the beginner - the undecided and inexperienced cruiser - another viewpoint to consider before getting in over his head financially. You did say you want to sail, not work, didn't you?

There is a Low Cost Voyaging forum which can help you with ideas on cutting costs. You can also read books for descriptions of how others cut their expenses. Pete and Annie Hill cover the subject in their book, Voyaging on a Small Income. Other books on the topic include, Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach by Don Casey, Cost Conscious Cruiser, by Lin and Larry Pardey and many others. It's great if you can help support these authors, but I suppose the truly frugal sailor just borrows books from friends!

Read the full interview