10 Questions for Pelican

Jonas first started cruising when he was 24, on a 32 ft Pearson Vanguard, "Tabasco". He completed a two year coastal cruise from California down to Costa Rica and back in 1995-1997.  In 2006, he found Pelican, a Pearson Alberg 35, in Seattle.


He says: I left on what turned out to be a nearly five year single handed circumnavigation.  The route was Mexcio, South Pacific, refit in New Zealand, Melanesia, north of Australia, up to the Andaman side of SE Asia, Sri Lanka, East Africa, Cape Agulhaus, Brazil, north coast of South America, Caribbean, Panama Canal and back to Mexico.  In my homeport of San Francisco I am an active member at the Cal Sailing club in Berkeley where I regularly volunteer teach sailing. 

You can learn more about his circumnavigation on his website.

Have you found "trade goods" to be useful on your cruise? If so, what kinds? Yes, in some areas they can still have value.  Cell phone digital cameras are popping up everywhere but a printer with photo quality paper to actually print the pics out (especially family portrait photos as gifts) is great to have.    22 caliber bullets in the Marquesas and you will be treated like a king.  Plain old aluminum oxide sandpaper in Tikopia got me praise from the chiefs!  Cheap dive masks in any underdeveloped island community.

What are your impressions of the cruising community? Too much money in the cruising scene...  The go now and go modest philosophy isn't popular at all.  There is an informal club out there called "under 40".  It isn't just about being out cruising while under forty years of age but also having less than forty thousand US invested in the boat.  This is rarer than being younger.  When you came across another member, the "club" is always a topic of conversation as it is pretty rare to meet young cruisers on a budget. The community makes one feel that cruising is not a lifestyle to get
away from the "real world" as much as it is a reward for having done well in it...

What is a tip or a trick you have picked up along the way? When you get to an anchorage off a village and you need to figure out where to put your dinghy, instead of locking it up or paying money for someone to watch it, loan it to a local that wants to go fishing. Initiating that sort of level of trust and sharing will open a lot of doors and in a small village everyone knows everyone else.

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why? Storm trysail and separate track if single handling on a small boat. The reality I found is that by the time you want to set it up, the motion of the boat is so much that it is unsafe to set.  A deeper third reef in the main is a better solution.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad? The saying that it is much safer offshore than close to land in a blow is really true.  I was in an anchorage in the San Blas when a strong squall ripped through in the middle of night.  It was literally airborne dinghies, a lot of screaming on the VHF, and so much rain you couldn't see who was dragging and who wasn't.  Luckily most squalls don't last long so no boats were lost.  Some boats scrapped against the reef and there were destroyed windlasses.  The same squall offshore would have been nothing serious.

What mistakes did you make in your first year of cruising? I made the mistake of not taking enough chances. During my first season through the South Pacific, the lagoon passes with descriptions like  "outbound currents up to 9 knots", or "not visited by author" or
"even the locals respect it" were skipped.  I chose destinations that had reliable charts, that had facilities and were not too tricky to get in or out of.  I should have done a bit more of the opposite... In the trades, you only get one downhill pass so you need to make it count.  Get over the fear of losing the boat and you will see places few do.

How do you learn about the rules and regulations of your next port of call before arriving or do you just arrive and find out? I remember being in Chagos when the Seychelles were surrounded by Somali motherships.  About half the cruising boats in Chagos that were originally west bound decided to not go any farther and instead went
back to Asia.  A handful of boats that were bound for Madagascar, including myself, took a huge detour to go south of the Salha de Maya Bank and ended up in Mauritius or Reunion.  From there we made landfall at Saint Marie on the windward side of Madagascar.  The entire exchange of information from rules and regulations of checking in to the latest on locations of the recent pirate attacks was handled by SSB and nets that were set up by boats in the area.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise? Most people who dream of cruising have usually only daysailed in pleasant conditions and need to have a major reality check before taking the plunge.  At my homeport of San Francisco it is consistently
25 knots and 7 to 8 foot seas right outside the Golden Gate Bridge.  I recommend all local wanna be cruisers to leave the protection of the bay, find a spot outside the shipping lanes and heave to for 48 hours
before coming back in the bay.  If this sounds like a crazy and senseless masochistic sort of torture session then you aren't ready for cruising.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer? Being single, full of youth and out cruising on your own boat was a place that I could have stayed a little longer!

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

Have you ever wanted to quit cruising while still in the midst of doing it? 

Yes, a couple of times.   It got miserable enough that I ended up making a vow to never set foot on a boat or go to sea ever again.  The worst loneliness, extreme physical discomfort, and plain old gut wrenching fear can get to you. These are not true tragedies though and can be put into perspective.

I think those low moments when it doesn't seem like it is worth it happen to anyone who has been out long enough. The feeling always passed...

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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.

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10 Questions for Exit Only

Dave, Donna, David, Sarah, & Wendy have been cruising since 1997 aboard Exit Only, a 1993 Privilege 39 Catamaran. They have completed a trade wind circumnavigation with two trips to New Zealand, two trips to Australia, and a passage through pirate alley and up the Red Sea. You can read more about their travels on their website including information about a DVD of their voyage up the Red Sea, or contact them via email (email@maxingout.com).

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

1. Winds will be less than 30 knots 99% of the time.
2. Watch out for squash zones because they can contain hurricane force winds in a fairly localized area.
3. Watch out for black holes on weather faxes where there is incomplete and possibly inaccurate weather information. The zone between Fiji and New Zealand is an example of such a black hole. Neither Fiji nor New Zealand weather faxes may adequately tell what’s happening in that region.
4. Hurricanes are not a worry as long as you move with the seasons.
5. A seventy pound Beugel anchor sticks to the seabed like superglue and guarantees a good night’s sleep.
6. Motoring will make up a large portion of your time at sea.
7. Motoring extends cruising range and increases safety.
8. Bigger fuel tanks are better.
9. Watermakers are nice, but not necessary.
10. Mast steps are an awesome way to inspect the rigging before sailing offshore.

Describe a typical day at anchor?

There is no typical day at anchor because each destination places different demands on the crew of Exit Only. Different things need to happen in each port around the world. Each day is unique. Some days are for checking in or checking out. Other days are for cleaning the boat, scrubbing the bottom, engine maintenance, checking the rigging, doing laundry, provisioning, and then there are those chilling out days where you snorkel, write correspondence, update websites and mostly relax. Daily activities usually center on fixing what broke while sailing to our destination, and preparing for the next passage. There are no boring days at anchor. And if the boat work is done, then it’s time to explore ashore.

What spares do you wish you had more of/less of?

The only spares we used on Exit Only were alternator belts, impellers, back up alternators, water pumps, and a complete backup autopilot. I also had spare Sta-Lok rigging terminals. I carried plenty of fuel filters and oil filters and used them freely. The rest of our spares were never used.

Can you think of a sailing tip specific to offshore passages?

Get two spinnaker poles and double headsails for downwind sailing. The double headsail downwind rig with two spinnaker poles carried the crew of Exit Only around the world on a trade wind circumnavigation. Life is good when the mainsail is furled, and spinnaker poles are out to port and starboard with double headsail rig pulling us along at a comfortable eight knots. It’s no bruising cruising at its best.

Is there something from your land life that you brought cruising and feel silly about bringing now?

We didn’t bring many unnecessary things from land life to Exit Only. We had done extensive camping in the Empty Quarter of Arabia and had a good understanding of what is needed to survive in a reasonably comfortable fashion. I left my job in Arabia and flew to Fort Lauderdale to get on board Exit Only. We didn’t have a house in the USA, and so there was no temptation to take things from a house and put it on a yacht. We were not trying to create a floating condominium with all the amenities of shore side existence. We were going cruising around the world, and the shore side stuff stayed behind. We had no sense of loss about moving on board because we were not giving anything up. Instead we were getting something better. We were going sailing, and sailing isn’t about stuff.

What do you miss about living on land?
Very little. The biggest advantage of a land-based existence is that weather does not affect your life nearly as much. Houses don’t have anchors that drag. Although a house may suck you dry financially, the weather outside rarely is important like it is on a yacht. When it’s storming outside, I don’t even think about it when I am in a house. On a yacht, I need to check the anchor and make sure there is no problem with chafe in the bridle. And then there are other yachts that may drag down on me in bad weather. Bad weather is a hassle on a yacht, and isn’t too much of a problem when living on land.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?

Cruisers come in two major flavors. The first type of cruisers is hard core expatriates, and their boat is their home. No matter where they are in the world, they are comfortable and happy to be there. They don’t long for the time that they will be able to return to the place of birth listed in their passport. The second type of cruisers is adventurers on a trip. They are not hard core expatriates, and they never develop an expatriate mind set. For them, things are better, nicer, safer, and cleaner back home. Although their yacht may be in Bongo Congo, there heart is someplace else – from whence they came. Home is where their heart is, and their heart frequently is not on their yacht. Hard core cruisers feel at home on their yacht because that is where their heart is.

What is a common cruising myth?

It’s dangerous out there! There are pirates, storms, tsunamis, floating containers and lots of other nasty things that threaten your daily existence. The truth is just the opposite. There are more guns and homegrown violence in my own city than anything I encountered during our circumnavigation. Common sense and kindness carry 99% of sailors safely round the world. If you don’t do stupid things, cruising is safer than living in major metropolitan areas. Drug abuse and violence are simply not tolerated in most desirable cruising destinations.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?

I worked as an eye surgeon for eleven years in Saudi Arabia to earn my Freedom Chips to pay for my voyage around the world on our Privilege 39 catamaran, Exit Only.

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

How do you manage storms at sea?

Storm management for cruisers is mostly common sense and is within the ability of ordinary people who venture offshore in seaworthy yachts. (Editor’s note: Exit Only has an article on storm management on their website.)

Storm management is all about energy management.  Large storms have lots of energy, and you need to learn how to deal safely with all that energy if you want to stay out of harm’s way.  Storm management is actually energy management.  If the energy in a storm gets transferred to your yacht - coupled to your sailboat - then you have to safely dissipate all that energy so that nothing bad happens.

Most people don't understand the physics of storms and how they couple energy to your yacht.  The basic concept is this:  A storm contains massive amounts of energy, but if you don't let that energy climb on board your yacht, you will fare well during a storm.  Conversely, if you sail in an uncontrolled and dangerous manner allowing the storm to couple its destructive energy to your yacht, then don't be surprised if you or your yacht are hurt.

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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.

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10 Questions For Coconut

Lesley, Trond, Camilla and Colin Åsdam are a family who cruised from 2005 – 2008 aboard Coconut, a 1985 Contest 41S hailing from Oslo, Norway. They cruised Northern and Southern Europe, the Caribbean, and the Pacific. Trond says: I have sailed since I was a little boy. Lesley however had her first sailing trip in 88 when we met. That trip was from Knysna in South Africa to Turkey. For 7 years prior to the 2005 – 2008 trip, we sailed professionally. I was the captain and Lesley the cook. Our cruising grounds followed the yearly cycle of the Med in the summer and the Caribbean in the winter. A couple of times we sailed north to Scandinavia as well for the summer making sure to be in the Med before the cold weather. 

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
Not really. We wanted to keep it simple and feel that is good advice. Don’t add too much complexity, remember you'll have to fix it when it breaks and maintain it so it doesn’t.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?
Yes, many places. We would like to mention the San Blas Islands which are very very lovely. The people are fascinating and welcoming. Then of course you have Polynesia which has so much to offer, and the Cook Islands and Vanuatu and.... The world is full of lovely places and lovely people. The most beautiful place on earth however is Moorea!

Tell me your favorite thing about your boat
Coconut is very safe and comfortable and reliable. She never let us down! Her centre cockpit with a fixed dodger is great. You are always safe and dry in her cockpit. Also the cockpit benches are long enough to sleep on. She has three cabins and two heads, one on each side of the boat. That is very handy.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
Nothing really. We have done the trip before a few times and sort of knew what was in store for us. Anyone with romantic ideas of quiet solitude will have to think twice however. There is a lot of people around in the Caribbean! Also many seem surprised that it is so windy and that the swell is so large. Sailing between the islands is pretty much offshore cruising. The Med is very crowded in places as well. By carefully planning you trip you can avoid the masses however, if that's what you want. You see, most yachts follow the same time schedule.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
Sail conservatively, check chafe and think safety. Never sail with a boat with a cockpit that's open in the stern as seem to be the fashion.  Choose your boat carefully. Remember it is a very different thing sailing for days and weeks on end offshore than sailing for a couple of hours every day. Choose a boat with a smaller mainsail. Most of your sailing will be downwind and a large main with a large boom is dangerous. Sail wing on wing at night. Use two headsails and drop the main. One can be set without a forestay. The spinnaker boom can pole out the one to windward. The main boom can pole out the other one to leeward. You attach a block to the end of the boom and run the sheet through it. Then strap the boom down with a preventer. This way you avoid having a dangerous main that might take your head off and you move the centre of effort forward. Your boat will then most likely keep her course nicely without the need for much action from the autopilot. Try it. We love this rig. Remember to always lock things down with ample preventers.

While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
We had insurance and my family took care of any business.

Why did you decide to cruise?
To show our kids the world and experience it all together as a family.

Sailing has been a big part of our life. My wife and I met in the Azores when she was sailing to Turkey from South Africa and I was on my way home to Norway from the Caribbean. Since then we have crossed the oceans together. It was important for us to share this lifestyle with our kids. We hoped to teach them that the world is a large and wonderful place. That the people that live in it are friendly loving people and not what you hear about in the media. The special camaraderie you experience being part of the sailing community is also something that we wanted our kids to experience. This are friendships that disregard age, nationality or sociocultural background. It was as natural for them to approach someone that was 60 as 6 to play or chat, all depending on their needs at the moment.

The journey we had together has influenced us as a family tremendously, and had a large impact on the kids personalities. We are very close. We are used to having to rely on each other and to share experiences. The kids have learned that whatever hits you you can find a way. That there are many different ways to live your life and that you can actually choose. You do not have to think like everyone else or to do as they do. They have developed their social skills and are comfortable and assertive when meeting new people.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
Great people! Every one of them resourceful and interesting, helpful, supportive. These are people who have managed to break out and live differently. People are pack animals; it takes guts and character to break out. We have found some of our dearest friends cruising. For our kids, and for us, it is amazing what a great leveller cruising is. Age, culture, socioeconomic background doesn’t mean much on the high seas, but your character does.

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
Most do their trip and then when completed go home. Apart from that grand children and family issues rank high. Of course many need to go back to work. Also life ashore is not too bad. We are just very lucky we can do both! For us also the kids education is very important. Homeschooling worked very well, but as they get older it becomes more difficult. Also the social development that they get by interacting with their classmates is valuable.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
Oh, this is a tricky one. There are many interesting angles into cruising; the psychology onboard, the boat and the route. I feel much is said about cruising routes. Some is said about boats but no one has thoroughly investigated what actually works for long distance sailing. The psychology of the whole thing interest me being a psychologist myself. Who makes it and who doesn’t? As you sail through the ports of the world you find many that did not make it. I don’t think the dream comes alive for quite a few. They underestimate the stress, the planning, the weather, the repairs, the expenses.... How many actually enjoy it? Don't know but far from everyone, perhaps as much as a third do not find what they were looking for.

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10 Questions for Raven

Jan & Signe Twardowski cruised from 1999 - 2005 aboard Raven, a Sundeer 64 hailing from Gig Harbor, Washington. They cruised Alaska, British Columbia, US West Coast, Mexico, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti & Society Islands, Rarotonga, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand, & Fiji. Readers can find more information on their website or by contacting them via email (jands@ravencruise.com).

What is your most common sail combination on passage?
Single-reefed mainsail (1,000 square feet without the reef, a handful) and 150% code-zero/reacher. But we also had the asymmetric chute up for five days and nights on the 15-day passage from Mexico to the Marquesas, and used it on other passages as well. We often found ourselves tacking downwind in light apparent wind, needing as much sail area as possible.

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
We had no true offshore/bluewater experience before departing Puerto Vallarta for Hiva Oa in March 2002. We did have coastal sailing experience, sailing from Gig Harbor (near Seattle) down the West Coast to San Francisco and south as far as Zihuatenejo. We had to cope with plenty of wind off that coast at various times, and in fact the highest winds we saw throughout our cruising years -- 45 knots -- were 20 miles off the capes of northern California. Oh wait, I take that back . . . we had 50 knots while tied to the dock in the Bayswater Marina (affectionately known as Blowswater) in Auckland Harbor!

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
Mornings, if there was no shore hike, dive, or tourist visit planned, usually involved projects like changing the engine or generator oil, backwashing the watermaker, diving to clean the prop and shaft, replacing yet another broken pump, and so on. The adage that "cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places" is no joke. Then, if we were anchored near a village or town, both of us might pile into the dinghy with our canvas ice bag collection and head for the local market or -- joy of joys -- a supermarket. Friends back home who asked the inevitable "Whaddya do all day?" question were always shocked that food shopping always involved both of us for several hours of bus rides, lugging full ice bags, dinghy rides, bus rides, and removing cardboard to avoid bugs, and so on. Or maybe the dinghy trip into town was to schlep bags of laundry if we happened to be fortunate enough to find a laundromat. Signe says she often thought she should write an article about "Laundries I Have Known."

Afternoons tended to be more relaxed: swimming, reading, writing emails or website entries, or organizing photos. We found that cruising was pretty social, with someone often inviting the anchorage over to their boat for drinks in the evening. Where else in the world can you organize a 6pm party by making an announcement on the VHF at 5:30, and not have to do anything to prepare because everyone knows to bring their own drinks and a nibble to share? And at night when the propagation was good there might be a ham radio net to check into. It gets dark early in the tropics, so lights were usually out pretty early.

What is your impression of the cruising community?
We found that cruisers, at least in Mexico and the South Pacific islands, were surprisingly social and community-oriented. After being part of it for a couple of years, we wrote on our website what appeared to be the tenets of "The Cruiser's Code": 
- We have no plans and we're sticking to them.
- No one has a last name; your boat name is your last name.
- No one ever asks the old cocktail party question: "Whaddya do?" It's a bit like the French Foreign Legion, and no one cares who you are or what you used to be.
- Everyone needs a little help sometimes, and everyone pitches in to help those with boat problems. If you can fix autopilots or refrigeration, you're going to be the cruisers' hero.  
- Respect the local people, which is part of the "leave a clean wake" ethos.

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
No. In fact we had too much gear installed. Inmarsat C and Mini M turned out to be expensive and not useful, a waste of money and effort. If you want a sat phone, Iridium is hard to beat at a buck or so a minute, from anywhere on the planet. Phoning Mom from mid-ocean, when you haven't seen land for weeks, is a kick for everyone. Oh, and the Interphase forward-looking "sonar" could only be used when moving at about one knot in flat water and over very short ranges -- not very helpful when we smacked a couple of coral heads in Tonga's Ha'apai Group.

One item we highly recommend is the hardware to download NOAA weather images directly to your laptop as the satellites pass overhead: it's getting cheaper all the time, and nothing was more valuable for our passage planning than up-to-the-minute infrared and visible light images.

While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
We were able to stay in Jan's company's medical plan after he retired, but had to pay the full premium: expensive, but comforting. But in fact, we found that good medical care was a bargain in Mexico and New Zeland, both times we needed it. We were lucky enough to have our boat insurer continue our coverage when we went cruising, after we made a detailed written case why we had enough experience, training, and preparation. Our mail was sorted by our house sitter, and she gave the bills to our banker, who emailed the payment list for our approval. The wonders of dealing with a hometown bank. We cleared up the rest of the mail on trips home once or twice a year.

What was the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or cheap about each area?
Mexico  can be amazingly cheap, as long as you anchor out. And French Polynesia is unbelievably expensive -- you might as well be in Paris. New Zealand was a nice bargain when we were there (2002-2004), but it might be less so now with the US dollar's slide.

Marinas on Mexico's West Coast are even more expensive than in San Diego, which is saying something, but otherwise it was cheap. We enjoyed the Mexican people, had wonderful meals for low prices, and never had any security issues. French Polynesia, on the other hand, has higher-than-European prices in the South Pacific. The only things cheap there are the delicious and heavily subsidized French baguettes. How about paying $9 for a few lettuce leaves on Fakarava atoll, when were were becoming desperate, not having seen fresh vegetables since Mexico two months earlier? That week we held movie night in Raven's cockpit, and three couples dinghied over to watch "When Harry Met Sally". At a key point in the film, one of the livelier women burst out: "The hell with the sex, I want that salad she's eating!" By the time you get to Tahiti, the Carrefour "hypermarket" in Papeete is an exquisite sensory overload, but you need careful budgeting to afford groceries. If money gets tight, move along to Rarotonga, which has New Zealand-level prices.

Do you have any specific advice for couples cruising?
Yes. The most important element of successful couple-cruising is the personal relationship. Before we left, a couple of Jan's male friends simply could not get their minds around the idea that we could survive being together for years at a time, cooped up on a boat the size of a living room. We knew -- well, we were pretty sure -- from many years of chartering overseas and cruising the Pacific Northwest in our own boat -- that'd we'd be fine. So be sure to try out the intense "togetherness" on your boat long before you commit to going cruising full time. We also never said "We're going to sail across the Pacific to New Zealand." There are so many reasons that cruises get cut short that it just seemed to us like tempting fate to make declarations like that. It was family health issues that brought us home, when we would happily have cruised for a few more years, to Vanuatu, Australia, and Asia.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Signe: That we'd survive!

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
 
Yes, a question on sailing your boat well, especially downwind.

It's critically important to know how to make your boat go as fast as it possibly can in all conditions. Very few cruisers think a shorthanded ocean passage is a relaxing picnic in the park. After a few days of keeping 24 hour watches, you're deeply fatigued, sometimes dangerously so, with no way to recover. You just want to GET THERE, as quickly as possible, so you can have a good night's sleep and stop walking like a drunk in your pitching home afloat. So the best advice we can give prospective cruisers is to get lots of sailing practice in your own boat. Local informal races are probably the best way, especially if you can get an experienced racer to crew and give you a lot of pointers on sail combinations and trim. The main cruising routes of the world are mostly downwind, often with modest breezes, so it's critical to be able to hoist enough sail area to go fast off the wind. It's not enough to just pole out a jib or two and head straight downwind: that's slow and incredibly rolly in any sort of seaway. An asymmetric chute, a big overlapping lightweight genoa, there are lots of ways to get it done, but you need to have the right sails for your boat before you depart. And you need to know how to use them best.

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10 Questions for Do It

Angus & Ruth Ross-Thomson have been cruising aboard ‘Do It…’ since April 2005. Do It is a steel cutter rigged monohull, a Subrero Petit Prince, 12.5 metres (41ft), hailing from Portsmouth, UK. They have completd three quarters of a circumnavigation via the milk run (Europe – Caribbean – Panama – Pacific Islands – NZ/Australia) and are currently in Indonesia heading for Malaysia and Thailand. You can read more about them, warts and all, on their website.

What is the most important attribute for successful cruising?
Angus: For the crew, a team who has confidence and pride in each other, for the boat, a vessel in which the crew has confidence and pride.

Ruth: The ability to slow down.

Most cruisers have come from the world of work, where time pressures dominate. When cruising, the only schedule which must be followed is the change of the seasons – avoiding the cyclones/hurricanes. There is no need to dash between anchorages at full speed. If the wind eases, try sailing slowly. It is permissible to progress at less than 5k. It isn’t a race.

The clearance procedures on many islands are tortuous, long-winded, and may not appear completely relevant to sailing yachts. However, getting stressed and abusive to officials just ruins everyone’s day. Sit back. Relax. OK, the clearance process might take all day – so what?

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
Angus: The Aries wind vane.  It has reliably and uncomplainingly steered the boat for tens of thousands of miles at apparent wind speeds down to 3-4 kts with nothing more than the odd squirt of WD40, the odd new bush and some new control lines.

Ruth: Looking at my list of three pieces of gear, I realise they all provide us with an increased independence.

Sailrite sewing machine - These machines have a well-deserved reputation, being able to stitch through a dozen layers of acrylic canvas or sailcloth. The Sailrite has helped us save money by avoiding the dockside sail makers (some of whom are excellent, others are decidedly less so), however where it really scores is on passage and in remote islands where there is no sail maker. On several occasions the machine has been brought on deck to fix splits or tears. Without the Sailrite, we’d have been faced with long, long periods of hand sewing.

Aries wind vane - The Aries windvane is our stalwart third crew member, he never complains about steering 24 hours a day, requires no food (or electricity), and only asks for the occasional new retaining pin. The Aries has even taught us how to trim our sails better.

Pactor modem - The Pactor modem, linking our SSB and laptop, has enabled us to keep in touch with friends and family even when we are mid ocean. Of course it also enables us to access the info necessary for the business of sailing – weather forecasts.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you didn't find to be true?
Angus:  “To cruise, it is essential that you have...”.  Before we set off. we kept reading about all sort of things that were essential, watermakers, generators, RIBs, huge outboards, biminis, electronic chart plotters, various hull types, various rigs.  The most important things would appear to be a reliable boat, a good crew and a sense of fun and adventure.

Ruth: The nastiest shock at the end of the Pacific Ocean crossing was discovering that prices in New Zealand and Australia were certainly not similar to those in Pamama – as one leading cruising guide had indicated.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Angus:  Being rammed while we were at anchor by a short sighted 300 tonne tourist cruise vessel in Puerto Ayora harbour, Galapagos.  Just before impact my main fear was that the hull would be stove in and we would loose the rig as the impact point was around amidships by the upper stays. I was wondering how in heck we were going to fix the damage out here in the middle of the Pacific.  Fortunately being a steel boat, she took the impact in her stride, keeled over 40 degrees and bounced back with no damage other than bent stanchions and broken guard wires.  I still don’t understand why the rig was not damaged.  The ship’s Captain was most apologetic and offered to pay for the damage.  We were on our way 5 days later.

Ruth: During a passage from Tonga to New Zealand, we found ourselves in the path of a tightening depression, along with several other yachts. The radio scheds were alive with news from vessels which had already started to feel the effects of the increasing winds, with over 60k being reported. The anticipation of “violent storm” force winds left me terrified, despite assurances from my husband that the synoptic charts just didn’t support such conditions.

As the system passed, the winds never exceeded 35k. I have learnt that whilst the radio can be used to provide support and assistance, it also encourages the predilection of many cruisers to spread bad news.

What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?
Angus:  For the two of us, 3 hours on, 3 hours off, 24 hours a day.  The changeover timings (0100, 0400, 0700, 1000, etc) are based on my wife being on watch during the BBC radio soap opera “The Archers” so she could listen in when we were in the UK.  We haven’t seen the need to change the timings since.

Ruth: We always use a 3 on, 3 off watch system, with my watches starting at 0700, 1300, 1900 and the dreaded 0100. We find this works well for providing a shared time for lunch and supper.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
Angus:  Generally, a varied, community spirited, wonderful people.  There are the odd exceptions but they are a small minority.

Ruth:  The cruising community is as diverse as those individuals who make it up. There are those who are happy spending decades exploring one area, and those set on circumnavigating within two years, there are those who hop from one full service marina to another, and those who spend years at anchor. There is no “right” way to cruise.

We find that as the density of yachts in an area increases, the camaraderie decreases. I guess this reflects the difference between village and city living.

In general, we find the cruising community to be extremely supportive. Need a widget? Need advice? A call on the VHF will usually bring an answer.

Finish this sentence. "Generally when I am provisioning..."
Angus:  “…we try to have plenty of treats.”

Ruth: “… I am happy”

Firstly there is the monster shopping trip required to fill the lockers before departing on a long passage, working through the six page list of stores, filling multiple supermarket trolleys, and then trying to figure out how to get everything out to the boat.

Then there’s the first trip to the supermarket in a new country. Not looking for what you can buy at home, but seeking out the weird and unknown. Why not buy a can of “Sweat” instead of “Coke”? It may turn out to be your new favourite drink.

Finally there are the produce markets, where a little of the local language goes a long way with the village ladies. OK the produce may not look as shiny and uniformly shaped as it does in supermarkets, but boy does it taste good.

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was underrated (better than you had heard)?
Angus:  The south coast of Cuba.  Wonderful friendly people, music, dance, cars, buildings and officials (if you treat them with respect).  The Government tourist industry (including the compulsory marinas sadly) is overpriced and of poor quality, you just need to use some imagination to keep away from the official system

Ruth: Top of the list must be Cuba. Haven’t you heard about the officials and the paperwork???

Yes, there were many forms to fill in, but all officials came to our boat with smiles, and all brought an assistant to fill in the paperwork. An afternoon for chat and formalities was rewarded with a complimentary Cuba Libre (rum & coke) from the marina. 
The music, people & culture of Cuba is unique, and certainly worth the effort of half a day of paperwork.


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?
Angus:  We were happiest about keeping the boat simple and not buying all the latest gizmos and toys.  The one mistake was the fitting of a PSS carbon face seal propellor shaft seal.  We could never get it to seal properly and removed after three months to fit a Volvo shaft seal which has performed faultlessly for 5 years since.

Ruth: Change/choice/compromise happiest with? The choice of yacht for extended cruising is the ultimate compromise. We opted for a steel yacht, thereby sacrificing speed for security. It would be nice to cruise at 7k in a light breeze, however when hitting semi-submerged logs at speed, in the dark, the security of steel is unbeatable. We have met a steel yacht which had spent weeks grinding on a remote reef, awaiting a rescue tow. The boat didn’t look pretty after the experience, but it was afloat and the crew were safe.

Change/choice/compromise wish chosen otherwise? We elected to visit Australia for a season to undertake some extensive metal repair work. We didn’t do sufficient research, and discovered that prices, regulations and weather were all against us. A better decision would have been to continue on to Malaysia or Thailand and undertake the work there.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?  
Angus:  “What is your top tip?”.  Keep the boat simple and inexpensive and go as soon as possible.  A disadvantage of this approach is that the endless cruiser conversations about how to fix/get spares for the generator/watermaker/chartplotter, air conditioning, etc will be very dull and of no interest.

Ruth: “How have you made the transition back to “normal” life?”  In 2-3 years time, we will be returning to the UK and will need to make the transition back to jobs, houses, and two-week summer holidays. Much is written about how to prepare for setting off, little about how to return. I have no answer to this question – but would love to know how others have coped with the transition.

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10 Questions for Zia

Christy, Joe, Cassie and Juliana cruised aboard Zia, a Sud Composites Switch 51 hailing from Annapolis, MD. Their cruise lasted from July of 2005 until March of 2010 and during that time they cruised through the US East Coast, Caribbean, Bahamas, Atlantic, and all through the Mediterranean. At the time of this interview's publication, their boat is for sale. More information about their cruise and their boat can be found on their website.

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

Kids are amazingly adaptable. They can do most anything you ask them to do and love to make you proud by doing it. The cruising life is great for developing a kid's sense of independence and their confidence. Make them part of the team. Give them as much independence as you can. Teach them to drive the dinghy and help sail the boat.

What is something that you looked forward to about cruising when you were dreaming, that is as good or even better than imagined?

The opportunities you have when you are cruising - to meet people, to explore places, to discover new things - are so much richer than I could have ever imagined. In fact, you find you don't always have the energy to take full advantage of all the opportunities that are presented to you. You learn to pursue the things that you enjoy the most, but we also loved to delve into new and unexplored territory. Learn something new every day - it keeps you young!

What are your impressions of the cruising community?

The cruising community is a mixed bag, just like every other group of people. It is always easier to meet other Americans, or Canadians or British, because of the language barrier. I would have liked to have meet more Europeans and embraced every opportunity to socialize with a more diverse crowd. Beware of taking advice from other cruisers. Other people's perceptions are always different from what you will experience. I can't tell you how many times we went someplace someone had loved and hated it or vice versa. They are usually right when they talk about the anchoring conditions but take everything else with a grain of salt.

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was overrated (not as good as you had heard)?

Georgetown, Bahamas. You hear so much about this cruisers' paradise but we found it to be an overcrowded anchorage full of busy bodies! Of course, our kids loved it, and it really is fantastic for socializing, and it is GORGEOUS, but too many people get stuck there and never venture beyond to the hundreds of spectacular anchorages within easy day-sailing distance.

What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?

Joe and I did plenty of five or six night passages ourselves. We stood long watches - Joe taking it from about 8 or 9pm until midnight or 1am and then I would be on until 7am or so. I went to sleep after dinner and then again in the morning and easily got my eight hours of sleep in two chunks. Of course, we had mostly mild conditions and if it had been worse, we probably would have shortened up the watch schedule. For our two Atlantic crossings, we brought along an extra watch-stander and divied it up into three hour shifts.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?

Our worst passage by far was our first ocean passage with the Caribbean 1500 from Norfolk, VA to Tortola, BVI. We had three or four days of 40 to 45 knot winds ahead of the beam. This perfectly illustrates the dangers of participating in cruising rallies. Although they say that they will postpone departure for adverse weather, there is a huge amount of pressure on the organizers to stick to the original plan. We left in no wind and by day three or four were pounding into it. When you plan your departures yourself, you can pick your weather window more wisely.

Which spares do you wish you had more of? Less of?

This is really a question for Joe as he always keeps the boat running in top form. I was responsible for keeping the galley well stocked and I took my job very seriously! We have a big freezer and refrigerator on Zia so are able to carry plenty to keep five well fed for a month at least. Of course, we had loads of cans too, just in case!

What is your biggest lesson learned?

Slow down, take your time, ENJOY. That boat project will be waiting for you when you come back. I also found that we didn't have to do everything the way everyone else does it. We actually sail upwind when that is the direction our desired destination lies. We are spending this hurricane season along the Caribbean coast of Mexico so our kids can go to a bi-lingual school here.

How do you fund your cruise?

Joe and I owned our own computer business for 15 years. Never knowing how good the next year would be, we were always very conservative with our money. We sold the business nine months before we left cruising. We had a payment from that sale for the first five years of our cruising. We also own two rental properties that generate a monthly income. We are very fortunate not to have to worry too much about a budget. That said, you spend a lot less money cruising than you do living in the States. No car or car insurance, telephone or cable bill, electricity, gas, dry cleaning, etc. You need a plentiful wardrobe of bathing suits, shorts and t-shirts. It's wonderful.

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

Do you ever regret your decision to leave everything and go cruising? NEVER!

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10 Questions for So It Goes

Bob & Sheila are currently cruising aboard So It Goes, a Cal 34 which is they describe as a "Classic Plastic temporary boat we bought after losing our last one to a lightning strike. It's a kiss too small but is such a great boat. It just keeps hanging in there!". They moved onto their first cruising boat in 1988 although they had been living on the French canals for a few years prior. Since 1988 they have cruised Europe and the canals, the Mediterranean, Africa and the Carribean. Although their boat hails from Hilo, Hawaii, USA, they have been cruising so long that they no longer consider themselves from anywhere in particular. You can learn more about them at their blog.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation
While in the Med we had a group of dolphins swimming with us through the night watch and only when I stuck my head out after hearing the egg timer go off would they do their "thing" jumping the bow wave, showing off and suchlike. When I closed the hatch they would go back to just swimming along with us. Every fifteen minutes it was showtime for them and I was their chosen audience... Just does not get better than that!

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
When we left we went with the less is more mindset and pretty much got it right.

Which spares do you wish you had more of? Less of?
We've mostly been light on systems... Our first two boats only had an outboard and our current boat has Electric propulsion (which works great by the way) and as such we don't really need much in the way of spares. While not spares we'd love to be able to carry more film and boat building tools...

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
A lot of the cruising fleet bring their problems with them...

Over the time that you have been cruising, has the world of cruising changed?
Very much so. When we started it seemed the average boat size was less than 35' and now it is more like 45'+. People these days are a lot less handy and self sufficient so the costs of cruising for a lot of people we run into are out of control which makes for unhappy campers.

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?
The work/cruising compromise has always been problematic. These days we have adapted our business (film/boat building/charter brokerage) so that we can work from wherever our boat happens to be so no more having to stop to build up cruising chips.

How has cruising affected your personal relationships?
We just had our 30th anniversary and twenty-seven of those years have been afloat... Pretty much says it all!

What is the most important attribute for successful cruising?
Being able to roll with the flow.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
That's a hard one because there are really a bunch of different communities... But, most of the people we meet on boats are more like us than not so. Generally speaking we tend to get along with everyone.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
Where would you like to cruise now? More off the beaten path... We really miss being the only boat in an anchorage!

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10 Questions for Esper

Jamie, Liz and Millie The Cat have been cruising since 2003 on other boats and since 2005 aboard Esper, their Oyster 435 (ketch cutter, coach-roof version) through East and South UK, North Sea, Netherlands, Western Europe (France, Spain, Portugal, Canaries), Atlantic, Caribbean, East Med, Aegean, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea. You can read more about their travels on their website or contact them here.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Right now. At the time of writing we are in Salalah, Oman. Yesterday we overheard a VHF conversation between a coalition warship and a vessel that had just been boarded by pirates. It was stomach churning to hear first hand the duress in the skipper's voice. It happened just 30 miles off the coast of Oman, in the direction we are about to head.

Describe a common cruising myth
That we spend all day at anchor, drinking G&Ts!

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
Many and varied and overall helpful, friendly and resourceful. I do have a real problem with the inherent racism and sexism that pervades the older generation of cruisers though. The biggest joke I heard was when a sailing acquaintance, whilst propping up the bar in Marmaris, Turkey, started ranting about how there were too many foreigners in the UK these days. He'd been living in Turkey, tax-free, for the last five years!

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited?
One afternoon whilst photographing Massawa a group of ladies sitting down in a back alley, drinking coffee and combing each other's hair, invited me to join them. I'd been told never to point a camera at certain African women but these ladies were charming, polite and extremely hospitable. We sat and chatted for over an hour, the time it took one of them to roast, grind, brew and serve the coffee. This is just one of the many examples of how people we have met on our travels have treated us. It reignites ones faith in human kind.

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was underrated (better than you had heard)?
That's easy: Eritrea! It is supposed to be the second-poorest country in the world and has recently had UN sanctions placed upon it. Our preconceptions went out the window with experiences like the one I described above. It is clean, diverse, culturally rich and everyone wears a genuine smile. In terms of sailing, anchorages and nature I would say Sudan takes a lot of beating.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
Stopped talking about it and just did it.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
My patience. Another cruising myth is that sailing is a bed of roses. It can be hard work at times, especially if you weren't born with a spanner in your hand. When the going gets tough it's easy to lose perspective - and patience - and sometimes we have to sit back and remind ourselves of our privileged position.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
Get woken up by the cat licking my head. Tea/coffee and check email if we have internet. A boat maintenance job in the morning before it gets too hot. Then I spend a lot of my day editing my photographs and our podcasts. Liz enjoys jewelery making (silversmithing, not just beading!). If the water permits then a swim and perhaps scraping the prop/hull is in order. If it's a new location then walking boots are donned, or the bikes are put together, and we explore new places, always with the camera and podcast recorder in hand. We invariably end the day with a sundowner and might even treat ourselves to a film on the laptop. Plugged into our six-speaker set-up it's a real cinematic experience, especially under a ceiling of stars.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation
There was a crossing we did from Sinai to Hurghada a while back when we broke our fastest speed record and caught a big tuna, all whilst avoiding the many ships and oil wells in an F7 gusting F8. Our senses were on fire and Esper was sailing like a peach. Add to that the fact we had just entered the Red Sea and were about to embark on a huge adventure, that moment will stick with us forever. Other treasured moments would include finding a quiet anchorage in Turkey in Spring or Autumn, the best time to explore that wonderful country, and play tavla (backgammon) with a chilled bottle of red as the sun sets.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
What pieces of kit have been the most useful? AIS transponder, the best bit of electronic kit after GPS. Solar panels for obvious reasons and the wind pilot for giving us a break at the wheel. Plus the rather expensive watermaker. All genius inventions that have made our lives easier and more independent. They cost a lot though, which is why anyone looking to buy a cruiser should always budget for the extras as well as the boat itself. And if you are planning to live aboard don't just consider the things that help you sail faster: most of your time is spent at anchor so don't neglect the things that make life that little bit more comfortable.

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10 Questions for Bumfuzzle

Pat & Ali Schulte cruised aboard Bumfuzzle, a 35' Wildcat Catamaran hailing from Chicago, IL, USA, from 2003 to 2007 on a tradewind circumnavigation. Pat & Ali were 29 years old when they decided to sail around the world. They had never been on a sailboat before they came up with the idea. Pat & Ali took 8 hours of Sailing 101 on Lake Michigan and then, six months after the plan was struck, were sailing the Bahamas and on their way to becoming circumnavigators. Pat & Ali's tale can be found on their website and you can contact them directly at bums@bumfuzzle.com

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Nothing. But if I had to tell somebody else something I would tell them simply to GO. Don't worry about what boat you have, what gear you don't have yet, or even where you're going to go. Just go. Once you are out there you'll make do with your boat, you'll get by just fine without that expensive forward sonar, and your sailing plan will simply evolve as you learn what you really like and what kind of cruiser you are.

Is there a place you visited you wish you could have stayed longer?
We sort of wish we could have explored the Red Sea a bit more. We really enjoyed our time there between Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt. We would have liked to be able to cruise the Saudi Arabia side a bit.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
Nothing really. We enjoyed it all more or less. We never became great sailors and actually sort of preferred motorsailing most of the time, but overall the sailing/cruising experience was everything we envisioned that it would be.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
The cruising community surprised us a little bit with their pessimism and somewhat elitist attitude. That's generalizing greatly of course, but near to home it seemed most people we talked with didn't put much stock in our ability to sail a small boat around the world. Further afield the long term cruisers we ran into seemed to be in some sort of competition revolving around how long they'd been out cruising. We never really felt we meshed with the cruising community. That may have been due to our age at the time, or simply to our differences in perspectives.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
After 33,000 miles in the tradewinds we've decided that the number one criteria that the success of a circumnavigation hinges on is comfort. Not upwind ability, not sail selection, not any of the technical stuff. Comfort. Our catamaran was not a good sailing performer (probably due to us more than the boat), but it was a stable platform with plenty of room onboard. We were comfortable on long passages and, more importantly, we were comfortable in even the rolliest of anchorages. That enabled us to be well rested and happy. And really, without those things you can't expect to sail very far.

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
We had zero offshore experience before leaving. In fact we had zero coastal experience before we left. We found that the Bahamas were the ideal cruising grounds to learn in. Soft sand bottom for running aground on slowly, great holding for the anchor, and protected anchorages that are never far away. We sailed through the islands for five months before setting out for Panama. By the time we did we felt totally confident in ourselves. We firmly believe that hands-on is the best way to learn.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
Virtually never. We saw 30 knots occasionally, 40 knots maybe three times, and 50 knots just once, and that was ten miles from Miami at the very end of our trip. The 40-50 knot stuff never lasted more than a couple of hours. We were more surprised by the amount of time spent becalmed out at sea. It seems to us that with today's weather forecasting that is available by e-mail at any time that there is little reason to get caught out in seriously bad weather. Especially sustained bad weather.

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?
We actually did a good job of not overpacking. Our boat broker was waiting for us at our boat when we arrived to move on. He looked over at our car and asked, "Where's your stuff?" We told him the few bags in the back were it and he was blown away. He said virtually everybody arrived in a U-Haul. The only thing I can think of that we'd leave behind next time were the two big plastic tubs we'd bought to do laundry in. We never used them and ditched them in New Zealand. Laundry service is available fairly cheaply in every single port around the world. Plus, it's not like you're wearing a lot of clothes out there.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat.
A typical day for us was to wake up, have coffee, download and reply to e-mails, and read for a bit in the morning sun. Maybe at some point try and do some little bit of boat work such as changing the engine oil or scraping the barnacles off the hull. Go ashore in the mid-afternoon and find a place to eat something. That would be "lunner", which was our meal of the day. Some cruisers love to cook, we are not one of them. Snorkel, spearfish, drink a beer while floating on a foam noodle. Sit out on deck and talk while the sun goes down. And then after dark maybe try to read a bit more, but more likely just fall asleep. Up with the sun, down with the sun. Our internal clocks revolved solely around daylight.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
I'd ask cruisers what they did to make a real and true effort towards making their dream a reality. It seems to me that a lot of the dreamers out there don't need to be dreamers. They have everything they need to get up and go, but they just can't make it happen. For us it was simply making sailing around the world a goal. Not a dream, but a goal. From day one we took the steps necessary to make it happen. We sold everything we owned. Literally. Our cars, our condo, our clothes, books, furniture, and on and on. By the end everything we had left fit in a small closet. This provided us with much of the funds as well as the freedom to walk away and commit to cruising.

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