10 Questions for Blowin Bubbles

Kyle and Shelley Benger left Canada on Canada Day (July 1) 2014 aboard SV Blowin Bubbles a 45' Dufour CT12000 hailing from Hamilton, ON, Canada.

They left Lake Ontario via the Erie Canal and entered the Atlantic Ocean at New York City. They then sailed down the eastern USA to Cuba, and then the Caribbean. They traversed the Panama Canal in February 2016 and are currently in Fiji.

You can read more about their cruise on their blog and about the educational charity they run while they are cruising on this site.

Tell me your favorite thing and your least favorite thing about your boat

Kyle: The best - The sturdiness of it. I believe we would give up long before the boat would. And it is paid for!   The least - 30 year old boat so constantly something to fix.

Shelley: Pilothouse ketch design, can stay dry and helm from inside if needed and the sails are small enough for me to handle on my own. The least - is that the paint and engine are getting old - that means money output.

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

Kyle: A windvane but it was just too expensive and complicated given the design of our boat.

Shelley: We completely refit the boat for two years before leaving so all my wishes were granted. The only thing I can think of is the Toughbook computers we now use. We broke a couple laptops before realizing these were a way better option.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?

Kyle: People anchoring too close. It is like the store parking lots at home, you purposely park way away and walk and come back and someone is right beside you.

Shelley: What I call "Grotty Yachties". Everyone warned about locals in certain places but they did not warn you that a lot of theft comes from sailors who "shop" at your boat.

Finish this sentence. "Generally when I am provisioning..."

Kyle: That is Shelley's job.

Shelley: I feel like I can find everything I need. And am always interested to try local foods.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette

Kyle: Be respectful with your dingy around other boats. They make wakes too. Someone in the boat you are making jump around might be cooking with hot oil or down working in the engine compartment uncomfortably already.

Shelley: Leave a long painter on your dingy at dingy docks and NEVER side tide to the dingy dock.

Both of us: Learn flag etiquette It is really rude to fly a giant pirate, state or country flag of your own above the flag of the host country you are in

In your experience how often do you think cruisers spend sailing vs. motoring, coastally vs. on passage?

Kyle and Shelley: We sail 90 % on passages. If we start going slower than 3 kn we start the engine. But we use those opportunities to make water and/or charge things. We are in the South Pacific and here people seem to wait for wind. Fuel is often hard to get. It we just want to move a hour or two we will use it as a water making run.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?

Kyle: Palmerston Atoll in the Cook Islands because it was the first time I had felt welcomed by locals as one of their own, not as a tourist. They were the most giving caring souls and made me think that was what I left home for.

Shelley: Tuamotus Atolls in French Polynesia because they were my first real Pacific experience. I am a Newfoundland girl, east coast Canada. These atolls were the stuff dreams were made of and they were full of pearls!

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you found particularly accurate?

Kyle:  Fatty Goodlanders books were the best for me. Many of the cruising sources were dated but he is still living this life. Unfortunately countries rules and things change constantly. Noonsite is a great source.

Shelley: Being "girlie" I read about provisioning and such. My best read was The Boat Galley Cookbook. I was very worried about getting enough supplies in remote places but I was reminded by others that people eat everywhere. And a watermaker is essential in the South Pacific.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?

Kyle and Shelley: We researched a lot, read, watched videos. Took weather courses and sailing courses. We sailed a 36 ft sloop on the great lakes for 10 years before we left. So we felt pretty prepared.

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

What kind of cruiser are you? 

We have found there are some very diverse groups of people out here. Some for a set period of time or purpose.  We have met:

• wealthy retirees
• single handlers 
• families
• younger 20-30 somethings - friends or couples
• bucket list people on a time line of some kind
• rally joiners
• couples age 40+ 

We are full time cruisers with no house to return to and no set timeline. We are totally committed to this life!

Where is your time spent?

Over the past three years. We have spent 70% time moored or anchored. 10% of our time at sea and 20% of our time in a marina at dock. 

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Tranquility Bay

Scott, Kimberly and their ship cat Allie have been cruising since 2005 aboard SV Tranquility Bay, a 38' aluminum Groupe Finot Reve d'Antilles hailing out of Detroit, MI, USA. They have spent the last twelve years sailing up and down the east coast of America and throughout the Caribbean.

They say: "From the glass towers of NYC to the steamy jungles of the Banana Republics, we've been pondering escapism and searching for a more connected and meaningful way of life.

You can learn more about their cruise at their website and their YouTube channel.

Tell me your favorite thing and your least favorite thing about your boat

We take it for granted that our boat is incredibly strong. It always brings us feelings of security when the going gets rough. Something that appeals to us more regularly, however, is it's uniqueness. A lot of people – especially in the States – don't know what to make of it. It may as well be a spaceship with its unpainted aluminum topsides and bubble. People are usually very surprised when they come inside and settle into its cozy wood interior.

Our least favorite thing about our boat is that it is often difficult to go unnoticed. Its rugged fishing boat-like appearance has always appealed to us because in our minds it has a simple look, and not a yachty one. When we arrived in Panama, however, where most of the indigenous population paddles dugout canoes, it was hard to ignore the frequent amazement of many of the locals. They pound on the side grinning and say, “Aluminio!” Then they chuckle about scrap prices and the equivalent amount of recycled cans that they'd have to collect to make as much money as they could get by cutting off a chunk of our hull. Sometimes they make us nervous.

What is the next piece of gear you would add to your boat if it were free?

We'd love to have a set of lithium batteries. They're so light weight and put out so much juice. It would be a huge boon to our cruising comfort and if we ever ended up shipwrecked, we'd be carrying our own extensive prescription for depression. However, considering that lithium is a limited resource and witnessing the roadblocks faced by the electric car industry, we don't have fuzzy feelings about any big changes coming soon. But we'd sell our soul for a set of those babies! (hello sponsors?)

In your experience, how often do you think cruisers spend sailing vs. motoring, coastally vs. on passage?

The percentage of motoring vs. actual sailing is hard to know, but what we certainly can say from our own experience is that there is a lot of impatience in the world. If you've just abandoned a thirty-year mortgage or walked away from an unfulfilling career and hopped aboard a sailboat, it can be hard to restrain your excitement. The wind isn't blowing, but you're anxious for the 'real' adventure to begin so you crank up the iron genny and head off, despite a forecast of glassy calm. Or in our own case, you start out making the mistake of jumping at the first stormy opportunity, puff out your chest and call yourselves 'real' sailors. Then you take a severe beating, and spend the next week shore-side looking for parts to replace everything you broke.

We see a lot of people out here trying to girdle the globe during one year sabbaticals. We also see lots of retirees deep into the final chapter of their lives – frequently complaining about there being “too much wind this year.” Of course people that have been out traveling longer tend to be tuned in closer to Mother Nature's frequencies, but really, the true percentages of sailing/motoring are all over the map. I don't think there is a science or study to accurately describe what percentage at any given time choose to motor or sail. Maybe chaos theory?

Spending days on end deafened by a throbbing engine, and enveloped in a cloud of soot isn't so magical. On the other hand, beating your brains back and forth and not making it into an anchorage before dark just to lay claim to some kind of sailing prowess certainly isn't smart either. Everybody wants to paint the perfect picture of their sail through paradise, but sometimes, you just have to eat it – with torn sails or a bruised ego. So … .. . 50/50???

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?

There is always a lot of talk about the cruising community. The number of people actually going someplace in their boats is probably equivalent to the population of a small town, so it seems like a fitting analogy. It's remarkable how often we cross paths with the same people flitting about on sailboats.

We've had friends on boats deliver generous loads of medical and school supplies to third world villages. We've met crazy wandering gypsies that have told us stories about parts of the globe that we've never heard of. We've also met folks on shore that have welcomed us with open arms thanks to the many ambassadors of good will that have traveled before us. And then, there are the Hamburger Cruisers.

There are a lot of Hamburger Cruisers out here. Most of them are pretty friendly. Don't get us wrong, many of them have been wonderful to us, but it often seems that their main priority is to eat hamburgers in every country they visit. On an extended progressive dinner party, Hamburger Cruisers travel great lengths, at great expense and discomfort, seemingly, only to find their next patty. Sometimes, however, when there are no burgers to be found – things can get ugly.

What is a cruising tip or a trick you learned along the way?

Slow down and open yourself up to new experiences beyond sampling some local food and taking a tour. Ask yourself why you've signed up for this adventure. We often meet new people trying out life on a sailboat that think they're subscribing to some kind of special 'lifestyle' that they've caught a glimpse of on YouTube, but living and traveling on a boat isn't easy. It takes awhile just to get comfortable with your floating home and develop an understanding for how things work.

We've lost count of the number of times we've met cruisers committed to crazy accelerated plans – things like two year circumnavigations. They often have scarcely enough time to even say hello, much less keep their boat together before rushing off to the next spot. From what we've seen, it's a horrible way to see the world. What is the sense of traveling thousands of miles at great expense and a snails pace, only to do a waterfall tour and head off to the next place?

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?

Probably the most common reason we find people bailing out early is that they've discovered traveling by sailboat was much more difficult and uncomfortable than they had imagined. It never occurred to them what it might feel like to get beat up for days on end. It continuously amazes us how many people – young and old – we watch head out for the first time after lengthy preparation, only to call it quits after they've had their first rough experience. Old age, and difficulties coping with the simple drudgery of operating a boat and living on it is another reason. Sometimes, the missus just wants to be with her grandchildren.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?

It's hard to pin down one place, but we do have fond memories of our time in Venezuela. We entered the country shortly after their president called ours the devil. Despite some positive reports we heard before departing Grenada, we had reservations. More than one couple tried to convince us that “Hugo Chaves will confiscate your boat.” While we thought this was foolish, we did debate flying a Canadian flag to save face. Later, we thought that was foolish as well.

The Venezuelans were some of the friendliest people we've met in our travels, and the diverse scenery there was otherworldly. There was a serious crime problem everywhere we went, but thanks to a howling black market currency exchange, we remained somewhat blind to the dangers. Trading a personal check for a backpack full of money was unbelievably exciting. It was like living in the old Wild West.

Over the coarse of a year, we rode a towering wave of economic collapse. Fuel was thirty cents a gallon – delivered. To our surprise, in addition to discovering that Venezuela was indeed a democracy, we learned that the island of Margarita was full of top notch shopping centers where we loaded up with goods at pennies on the black market dollar. We filled shopping cart after shopping cart full of quality liquors, exotic brands of chocolate and giant wheels of cheese. Lomito, Spanish for tenderloin, cost less than ground chuck, so we ate it like hamburger.

We had a great time in Venezuela, and we've never regretted taking advantage of the economic situation there. We were even given free health care as visitors. What's most interesting, however, are people's reactions to our stories about this amazing place. We tell stories of many of our friends that still live there, and of all of the starving Venezuelans – still being crushed by the world oil economy. But the most striking response we ever get back at home is, “gas only cost thirty cents a gallon?!?!”

Over the time that you have been cruising has the world of cruising changed?

Venezuela seems to no longer be an option for cruisers. It is now the world's largest remaining oil reserve – and an economic war zone.

Cruiser rant: What is something that drives you crazy?

People that tell us, “it must be nice to live like you do.” They say it as if they themselves have somehow been cursed. It drives us crazy how people complain about their hectic lives in America. They often hear only what they want to from our stories. We fish. We swim in paradise. We drink cocktails at every sunset.

After meeting so many happy families that live in palm thatched huts with dirt floors – people that swim in the oceans, eat fresh food out of the jungle, and breathe the fresh air – it's really hard to listen attentively to some our friends or relatives complaining incessantly about the horrible complications of their material worlds.

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

So I hear you guys have started a YouTube channel, what do you hope to achieve?

We'd like to share what we've learned in the last twelve years of our sailing experience and inspire others to follow their dreams. Currently we are completely overhauling/reconstructing our boat to outfit it for travel to colder climates. It has always been our ambition to travel to the edge of the icepack to see with our own eyes how the world is being changed. We'd like to take anyone else interested in the conversation about the future along for the ride in hopes of increasing awareness of the current situation. Come along for the ride at Sailing Tranquility Bay. 

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Journey

Wayne Seitz & Dana Greyson cruised from 2012 until 2017 aboard SV Journey, a 1977 Pearson 365 ketch, hailing from Portland, OR, USA (though Journey's never been there).

They bought Journey in St. Lucia and sailed up the Caribbean chain, back to Florida. From there they spent time in the Bahamas before returning to Florida, before continuing on through to the Panama Canal. They crossed the Pacific to New Zealand, then spent another season in the islands before finishing their cruise in Australia where they sold their boat.

They say: "We do see ourselves returning to cruising down the road, though not likely making a trans-Pacific crossing. Wayne, a savvy mechanic, is still a frequent contributor to the Pearson owners forum.  We're incredibly humbled by and grateful to the many Pearson owners generosity to us.  I've published a number of Cruising World shorts, the most recent in June/July '17, a heartwarming story about an island dog in New Caledonia supported by cruisers via Cat Impi's GoFundMe campaign."

You can learn more about their cruise on their blog.

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

For the money, we still felt we did well with our Pearson 365; safety -- a solid blue water boat on a budget was our driving criteria.  Journey definitely delivered.  With a bigger budget, a boat with a "man cave" and a better alternative to our v-berth for sleeping would've been excellent.  We were very tempted partway into our cruising to switch to a Manta 37 catamaran for its more comfortable layout, but decided it was outside our budget and felt more confident we would recoup our buying price more easily with a lower cost boat, like our Pearson.  We'd still have preferred a cutter rig over a ketch.

Bottom line:  better speed and more comfort would've made long passages less stressful.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?

Get new sails -- at least a new mainsail -- before you go if you plan to do substantial cruising, even if what you have is in okay condition.  We figure we spent more money fixing what what we had than we would have for new sails, and we would've sailed much more efficiently, too.

While SSBs are slowly being replaced by satellite technology, we wish we had a working SSB setup not only for safety, but also to be more connected with cruiser nets, especially for the Pacific Puddle Jump (PPJ)

Buying your boat outside the US offers greater than expected challenges when it comes to getting your boat cruise-ready (especially when it comes to getting the parts you need affordably - or at all). After we sailed to the US, we left with a LOT of spares for the rest of our journey and they served us well.

We actually did this - worked at West Marine part time to enjoy the awesome employee discount on our boat gear.  We thanked West Marine every day for the gear we'd never have had the budget to buy full retail.  We also got fabulous advice from Milltown Sailing club (in Everett WA), Wendy Hinman ("Tightwads on the Loose" and "Sea Trials" author) and Seattle Women in Boating.  Connecting with the sailing/boating community (experienced folks who are not connected with selling you stuff) and the Pearson forum was invaluable.  We also crewed on three boats before we left, which taught us some good lessons.  Wayne read just about everything he could get his hands on online about cruising (including Interview with a Cruiser).

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?

Our oversized Rocna anchor.  We got it after our first season and slept much better after that.  The only time we dragged once we got the 42lb  Rocna anchor was because our windlass broke so we scarcely put down any chain.

CPT autopilot.  Not fancy or integrated but incredibly more robust than other more popular wheel pilots.  Incredible customer service, too.

An illegal propane instant-on hot water heater for a darned nice shower for a boat as relatively small as ours.  Even in the tropics a hot shower just makes you feel more human afterward.

Iridium Go! wifi hotspot with Predict Wind. Getting accurate relatively forecasts in middle of the ocean was pretty awesome, as was keeping in touch via texting from it (the latter really helped me feel less isolated on long passages like the 32 days it took us to go from Galapagos to the French Marquesas).

Soda Stream soda machine- great way to keep drinking water interesting without having all the extra soda bottles or lugging them shore-to-ship.

How much does cruising cost?

We paid $30,000 cash for our sturdy 1977 Pearson 365 sailboat.  We chose to aim for a fairly lean cruising budget of $1500 month for everything - from boat repair, to food, customs and immigration, entertainment  -- everything.  In places like Fiji we had no problem coming in under budget. However extensive boat maintenance and repairs in New Zealand and overall cost of living in Australia put us over budget in those areas.  We also chose to not insure our boat or carry health insurance, which we knew was risky but also prompted us to take less risks.  We also trusted fate and were willing to pay out of pocket for any medical needs.  We rarely stayed in marinas.  On the backside, after all our import and pre-sale and commission costs (~$10K USD), we sold our boat for a net of ~$46K USD. That net included putting in some extra work to save 5% duty on the valuation price (for a US-built boat under the thanks to the US Trade Act Agreement) and selling off boat accessories (ex. Iridium Go!, life raft, backup autopilot, etc. for $3.5K) not required by Journey's new owner.  Our boat sale was not really a $16K profit!  We spent a significant amount of money on maintenance, repairs (like this one) and gear well beyond $16K, and we were pretty frugal.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you? 

Too many long, uncomfortable passages -- and relatively speaking ours were fairly benign.  Thanks to doldrums, contrary winds (often despite what was forecast), currents that behaved differently than anticipated, torn sails, etc. most passages took us longer than expected.  Having a genuinely pleasant sail, however, was exceptionally rare for us.  Also, with the two of us as sole crew, we missed quality time together while on long passages.  There's no sleeping together when one of you always has to be on watch.

What is your most common sail combination on passage? 

Jib only, followed by main and jib.  We had a mizzen which we rarely used.  Our autopilot was very prone to weather helm, which led us to a very cautious approach on how much sail we put up.

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

Panama's official check-in rudeness and cost soured us when we first came to the country to a point it was difficult to overcome (though Isla Contadora, our last Panama stop was a great place to relax).

Bora Bora's over-commercialization turned us off

Vanuatu's cruise-shippy Efate was also an area where it seemed little could be enjoyed for free.

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was underrated (better than you had heard)?  

New Caledonia was a pleasant surprise, refreshing us after we'd felt somewhat burned out.  The sailing was easy, anchorages plentiful and varied, with lots of well-maintained hiking trails and islands with great snorkeling.  We appreciate the ease of checking in and out of most French territories and New Caledonia was no exception.

Spanish Virgins were charming, far more interesting and less commercial ashore than BVIs or USVIs

Maupiti was a sweet place, unplanned to end our stay in French Polynesia with our favorite lookout point view.  We were fortunate to catch a good weather window in; we saw how nasty its narrow reef entrance can get the day after we arrived.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette  

When you socialize with other cruisers in an anchorage, consider casting your net wider to invite the whole anchorage.  Make a point of at least saying "hello" and introducing yourself to other cruisers in the anchorage, even if your default is to just stick with the folks you're buddy-boating with.  You never know just how much being inclusive is appreciated, or how much being left out can sting.

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?

In our case, we stuck to our plan, a budget enough to cover 5 years of cruising, and we were reticent to tackle the sailing challenges between Australia and the US to finish a circumnavigation.  We completed our goal; even if ours was halfway around the world (others stop when they circle the whole blue marble).  Missing our friends, but especially parents, especially those who don't travel and are in their late 80s and 90s, also prompted our return home -- all the more so as our budget didn't include trips home to visit friends and family. We've observed cruising parents needing to usher their children into college are one call to end cruising.  Health issues, among cruisers themselves, or with other family members are prime reasons to stop cruising.  An empty cruising kitty is often easier to replenish with a long break from cruising, and a return to more traditional work for a while.

Particularly for frugal cruisers like us, at some point the clarion call of a queen-sized bed you don't whack your head on when you sit up and endless hot showers is darned compelling.

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

What scared you?  (specifically, we were often asked about "pirates" and "storms" as well as other "I wouldn't go because" questions....)

We never encountered pirates, because they're not that common and Noonsite offers excellent information on areas to avoid.  The only time we ever got "boarded" was by a confused homeless fellow in Jacksonville FL; he left without incident.

We never encountered sustained winds of over 30 knots or sustained waves over 4 meters (and >1-2 meters were most common) - boring but true

What scared us the most was our last long passage - two seriously nasty lightening storms coming into Bundaberg Australia. The first lasted about 2 hours, followed later by a shorter lightening storm in our last few miles in.  Both times, we dropped our sails, turned off our electronics and put all we could in our "Faraday cage" (oven) in anti-stat bags.  We didn't get hit, but sure thought we would.
Overall, we were incredibly lucky as well as well prepared.  We also can't help but wonder how many other boats cruise relatively unscathed... it just doesn't make as interesting "press" but all those scary stories sure do discourage a lot of folks from ever considering even getting into a boat, much less distance cruising.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Naoma

Nicole and Ryan Levinson have been cruising on their current voyage since 2014 aboard SV Naoma, a 1988 Ericson 38 hailing from San Diego, CA, USA. They left San Diego for Mexico and then made the jump to French Polynesia where they have been cruising since 2015. They have been sailing together since the late 1990's but started more seriously cruising the waters off Baja, Mexico and southern California in 2006.

They say: "I may seem like I have the maturity of a 10 year old but really it's more like a teenager..."

You can learn more about their cruise through their videos or on their Facebook page.

Cruiser rant: What is something that drives you crazy?

You mean aside from Nicole doing Yoga in her black bikini?  We don't appreciate when cruisers publicly post detailed information about some of the more remote or less commonly visited areas they've explored.  Especially in the Soggy Paws Compendiums or on personal blogs where they include names and/or coordinates.  We think the Compendiums and blogs are a valuable resource, especially for new visitors to an area, but we strongly believe they should be focused on information about the "gateway" anchorages.  In other words, anchorages that are generally already well known and commonly visited.  Once cruisers reach those gateways they can explore remotely or remain mainstream as they see fit!  We personally witnessed one particular spot in the Tuamotus that was more or less ruined (in our opinion) after detailed information about it was included in the Compendiums and shared widely via email.  One season we anchored there alone.  The next season there were a dozen other boats having endless beach bbqs (and leaving the fire pit residue) on the otherwise pristine beaches, disturbing motus that are bird nesting places, leaving the remains of trash burns, stomping all over the coral in the shallow water, carving their initials in trees, etc.  We heard it just got worse as the season progressed.  There are plenty of anchorages for that kind of behavior but precious few that offer a glimpse of "untrammeled" nature or the experience of true solitude.  If you "discover" a remote uncrowded paradise please don't share it with anyone except maybe a few trusted friends or you will destroy the chance for cruisers following in your wake to also have the special experience you had!  Certainly don't share it with the entire world on the internet or Compendiums!

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?

Many potential cruisers, especially from the USA for some reason, are afraid that if they have not adequately prepared for every conceivable contingency then they are doomed to certain death on the high seas.  It is up to each individual to decide what level of preparation is "right" for them but potential cruisers should know that no matter how much they prepare there is always something that they didn't foresee that could cause injury or death.  Accepting a level of risk is a fundamental part of cruising and a key part of adventure!  The thing potential cruisers SHOULD worry about is letting their fear and endless preparation become a reason for never leaving.  There's a great saying, "There are two types of cruisers - Those that leave without being fully prepared and those that never leave..."

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?

The location of good surf spots in French Polynesia...  :)  Kidding aside we feel we were given excellent information before we left and can not really think of any other particular thing we wished we had known.  On the other hand there was a lot of stuff we were told that we later regretted ignoring such as "have a gravity feed system pre-rigged for butane" or "you will want a bigger watermaker" There was also plenty of stuff that people told us or we read that turned out to be a bunch of garbage...  Consider the source!

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

We were not big fans of Nuku Hiva, especially when compared to the other islands in the Marquesas chain.  On the other hand we thought the Marquesas in general were underrated.  We only spent six weeks there our first time through but when we returned we spent six months and could have easily spent more.

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

We like the sense of community that we've experienced amongst cruisers, especially in the South Pacific.  There is a strong practice of looking out for each other and expressing genuine good will towards each other.

We are not fans of the packs of boats that travel en masse like locusts swarming anchorages with a sense of entitlement since they are part of this-or-that rally or whatever.  Luckily the rally clones tend to blaze through, always in a hurry, and once their trash is picked up and whatever damage they caused is repaired, life usually returns to normal.  :)

Nicole adds that she thinks it's an unfortunate tendency for many cruisers to crowd into certain anchorages and just endlessly socialize with each other rather than seeking a deeper connection with the local place and people.

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

At the risk of sounding glib I'll say that the main requirements for a boat for safe fun long term cruising are the boat must be likely to stay afloat, can move, and can hold food/water.  Anything else is just layers of comfort and increased margins of safety.  I think too many people stress about what is a "blue water" boat or whatever even though they plan to follow relatively easy trade wind routes.  Those people often end up in somewhat unresponsive expensive tanks built to survive cyclones despite never seeing winds over 30 knots...  Thor Heyeredahl "sailed" from South America to the Tuamotus on a bunch of logs tied together!  People cross oceans in kayaks, paddleboards, whatever.  Think of it this way, what are the chances you will simply drop dead or become gravely ill in the next three weeks?  Fairly slim, right?  The same is true of a blue water passage!  In many places if you sail during the right seasons you have extremely little chance of experiencing a major storm.  If you can stay afloat, keep moving, and have food/water the chances are you will be fine even if "extra" stuff breaks like your chartplotter, computers, etc.

With that in mind, and the benefit of hindsight, if I were to start over I'd likely pick the same boat but possibly modify her to have fewer through hulls and possibly more secure hatches and portlights (enhances the "stay afloat" factor!)  Our boat is fun to sail, she is responsive, handles well, is fast in wide range of winds, and is well built.  She would probably not be our first choice for sailing in high latitudes or long off-season passages in a cyclone area but those are not our intended routes. We see a HUGE variety of boats out here, from cheaply built coastal cruisers (some don't even have toilets) to top dollar luxury ocean sailing yachts with all the latest gear.  The boats are all different but they have one thing in common... They all safely crossed the ocean to get here.

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

A programmable battery charger (versus one with a few pre-set programs) so we could more easily equalize our batteries. Possibly a charger that can handle both 110v and 220v.  When we left we did not yet have a Honda 2000 gasoline generator but it has become invaluable and has saved us from having to put countless hours on the engine.  We left with 400w of solar but have since increased to 700w.  Finally, a larger capacity watermaker would be nice.  Ours is efficient, small, and reliable (so far) but at 7-8gph it takes a looooong time to fill our tanks.  Sorry, I know you asked for one thing so consider this a 4 way tie...  :)

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?

We did not gain any offshore experience before leaving but we were both already sailors with extensive coastal experience.  I (Ryan) have been sailing most of my life.  For over a decade I taught keelboat sailing at a few notable centers including J-World and as an adjunct professor of keelboat sailing at San Diego State University.  I have a masters license and have worked as mate and captain of large (120'+) luxury sailing yachts in California and Mexico.  I sailed on the US Sailing national team and was a former national champion (along with my teammates) for my class.  I am an Emergency Medical Technician.  Before this voyage I spent a few years studying extensively - stuff like celestial navigation, life raft survival, long distance communication, diesel engineering, electrical maintenance, marine firefighting, meteorology, and other related topics. With the exception of the rigging we did nearly all our own boat work and installations while preparing Naoma for this voyage.

Nicole is also a certified sailing instructor, although for smaller boats, and she has experience working on large sailing yachts including standing navigational watches.  She is an Emergency Medical Technician and is a former San Diego ocean lifeguard.

Having said all this we are often anchored next to people who literally purchased a boat having never sailed a day in their lives before heading out on their voyage.  I'm not recommending that, but it does help keep things in perspective...

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you? 

Cruising can create distance from your "community" back home, not just in a geographical sense but also because this is a truly life changing experience that few or none of your friends and family will never really be able to relate to.  We were not so much surprised by that fact per se but rather by the extent to which we find it's true.

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 your favorite YouTube sailing channel?

Two Afloat Sailing!  ;)

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10 Questions for African Innovation

Andreas Julseth and friends cruised from 2008 to 2010 aboard African Innovation, a FastCat 435 (43’) hailing from officially from Durban, South Africa but unofficially from Stavanger, Norway. He cruised through Europe, Caribbean, Central America, Galapagos, South Pacific and Australia. Readers can learn more through his website or through email (andreas@julseth.com).

Is there something you wish you had bought or installed before starting cruising?
More solar panels. I thought 430 watts would be enough, because I also had a Seabreeze wind gen, but boy was I wrong. Several times I contemplated sawing the pole off that held the wind gen and throwing the whole thing into the ocean, because it was such a disappointment. The solar panels on the other hand were silent, efficient and never let me down. It depends on where you sail, but in warm areas with lots of sun I would do without a wind gen (in a heart-beat) and add solar panels.

Once I got into the Pacific I wished I had an SSB to keep in touch with other boats over longer distances (using a sat phone becomes very expensive) and a larger dinghy with a more powerful outboard to increase my range from an anchorage, especially when thinking about exploring and fishing.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
Hardly ever. PPPPP = Proper Planning Prevents Piss-poor Performance ;-) I avoid the big storms by not sailing in hurricane and typhoon areas when they are in season. Before I set off on a passage, I check grib files and talk to other cruisers to find the most recent forecast and based on that I avoid getting stuck in bad weather. The only times I've been hammered are when squalls have hit. In the worst one, the winds picked up to 45 knots, rain reduced visibility so I couldn't even see the mast and I was almost knocked down. It only lasted about 30 minutes, so it wasn't too horrible. Experience teaches you how to avoid or at least predict squalls, so you can take measures early and either give them a wide berth, or reduce your sail area before they hit.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
That the World isn't as unspoiled as I'd like. It's almost impossible to sail away from it all and not have other boats around. I was also sad to see how poorly the environment is taken care of in many of the beautiful places I sailed to.

Tell me your favorite thing about your boat
The stability two hulls gives you. When monohulls are rocking and hating life in an anchorage, I barely feel any movement.

Is there something from your land life that you brought cruising and feel silly about bringing now?
Too much warm clothing. Once I hit Panama I didn't need them before I got to Australia.

Describe your first sailing experience
I bought a boat and took possession of it in Slovenia, a 3000 km away from where I lived. I loaded up a car and drove alone down there to take over the boat. My biggest problem was that I had never sailed before and it was a bit overwhelming to step on board the boat, not knowing how anything worked. In order to figure out how to set the sail, I had to spy on other boats with binoculars, because I couldn't figure out how the in-mast furling worked. Then once I got it out, I couldn't figure out how to get the rolling genoa in. After a few scary sea trials and a day circling outside the harbor, I cast off and sailed solo in the Med. for a year. It was a lot of fun, but I had a very steep learning curve.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
Don't prepare yourself to death. It's better to just go for it, because no one ever leaves fully prepared and most of the preparations you do, you normally end up changing afterwards anyways.

In your experience, how much does cruising cost?
Always more than you plan and budget with. If I didn't do the occasional charter and had friends and crew sail with me who contributed I would be dead broke long ago.

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited
We were anchored in Daniel's Bay on Nuka Hiva (In the Marquesas). The anchorage was off a beautiful beach and together with a couple of other boats, we wanted to do a BBQ there. There was a small cabin on the beach, which belonged to two local hunters. We asked them for permission to do the BBQ and invited them to partake. With their permission, we set up and did a very successful BBQ. The two hunters joined when we were well into our 3rd bottle of rum ;-) and they enjoyed our food, drinks and hospitality. They were so overwhelmed that the next night, they threw a BBQ for us. They hunted a wild pig and a goat in the morning, soaked it in milk and cooked it over the fire at night. That along with coconut soaked bread fruit made for some of the most delicious food I ate on the entire trip.
I have numerous other wonderful experiences with locals, but this was one of the top ones.

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

What would you do differently if you were doing the trip again?

Since I'm planning to do it again, this is something I'm definitely thinking about. I spent a lot of time in the Eastern Caribbean and to be honest I wish I would have moved on quicker. Western Caribbean has so much to offer and you won't be competing with quite as many boats for each anchorage. The real treat for me was the Pacific and to think that I only spent a season there feels like some irredeemable crime, that I have to remedy. You need at the very minimum 2 seasons to get from Panama to NZ or Oz, unless you plan to rush it. I might skip Galapagos next time, not because it's not worth it, it definitely is and it's fantastic, but because they are so strict as to where you can anchor, so in my view, you're actually better off flying out there and doing a 9 day cruise of the islands instead. Having said that, I might still stop by, just because it's a nice stopping point when you're sailing from Panama to French Polynesia. Once you get to the "South Pacific", you go from one amazing chain of islands to the next. I can't say that one is better or worse than the other, they are all unique and equally sensational. I just wish I had more time there to do it properly. When I do it again, I hope I can spend 3 seasons there, before I head on. We'll see ... First I need to save up money, buy a new boat ... etc. Most people ask me, "now that you've done it, do you have the sailing bug out of your system?" ... Not even close, now I can proceed into it knowing that there really isn't that much to worry about. You just have to get out there and do it.

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10 Questions for Om Shanti

Heather Bansmer and Shawn Breeding have been cruising since 2003 aboard Om Shanti, a Westsail 32 (LOA 40) hailing from Bellingham, WA. They sailed around Vancouver Island then south down the US coast and Baja peninsula. They have been cruising on the Pacific coast of Mexico and Sea of Cortez ever since. You can learn more about their cruising and publications on their two websites: Blue Latitude Press and Exploring the Sea of Cortez. (Editors note: Heather and Shawn have written several cruising guidebooks for the West Coast of Mexico.)

What do you think is a common cruising myth
I think the most common myth is that there is a only one type of "real" cruiser out there - a hard core old salt of a sailor with a truly minimalist boat sailing the oceans of the world, in which constant hardship is a badge of honor. I think the stereotype can probably be traced back to a time when we didn't have the luxuries that we do today. While getting from point A to point B has not changed greatly over the years in terms of boats, sails, engines, etc., the amenities that provide us comfort and safety have changed dramatically. GPS systems, autopilots, refrigerators, satellite phones, email, water makers, weather routers, EPIRBs, and even laundry machines are all available and widely used by boaters today. I have come to believe that cruising and being a cruiser is more of a state of mind and less about the gear you use. Whether I make lengthy ocean passages, send emails from a marina slip, chill beer next to an evaporator plate, or take daily fixes with a sextant matters less to me over the years as I think of what constitutes a "cruiser" to me today. To me, being a cruiser is about self reliance, being part of a wonderful and helpful community, being intimately in touch with the surrounding natural world, having an appreciation and acceptance for everything new - whether good or bad, and recognizing what truly has value in life. Some get caught in trying to live up to a stereotype of cruiser who existed years ago, thinking that they need to withhold some of today's modern amenities or travel the ends of the world in order to be considered part of the "club" but in truth cruising is whatever you want to make it.

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget
We are what we like to call "commuter cruisers" - we cruise Mexico for approximately four to six months out of the year and return home to Washington to work and replenish the cruising kitty. Because we continue to work each year, we tend to not pay too much attention to a fixed cruising budget. We live pretty simply by nature and much of the cruising we do is in remote areas of the Sea of Cortez where spending money or staying in marinas is not really even an option. I would say more of our actual budgeting comes into play when we are back at home in the US working. The less we eat out, the fewer bands we see, the fewer road trips we take, etc., the more we save and therefore the quicker we can stop working and get back to Mexico. If we have expensive maintenance or gear items on our boat project list, we usually end up working a little longer in the states in order to finance the items.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
Shawn was turned on to the cruising lifestyle when he crewed on a handful of boats throughout the South Pacific and New Zealand. During his travels he realized that he wanted to get out cruising on a boat of his own, and began asking the fellow blue water cruisers he was running into, what they thought were the most important qualities in a cruising sailboat. Returning from New Zealand, he was armed with a new a found passion, and moved from landlocked Kentucky to Washington state to begin his search for a boat. At 28 years of age, the most obvious restrictions to his cruising dream were finances. He determined through his research that his goals were 1) a good solid, safe boat, and 2) cruise sooner than later, therefore affordable to a single 28 year old. The result was a clean, stout, although fairly spartan, Westsail 32 named Om Shanti. Over the next five years, the boat loan was paid off and gear was added with the thought that safety comes first with comfort and cosmetics somewhere down the line. New rigging, sails, windvane and engine came before refrigeration, new cushions, shower, hot running water, etc. (we're actually still waiting for several of those comfort items to work their way up the list!).

Two years after Shawn's purchasing Om Shanti, we met and I was drawn to this new form of world travel that included taking your home with you. With no sailing experience behind me, we spent most weekends out on the water, while I learned a whole new language for boat terminology and the physics behind getting a boat to move under sail power. Shawn continued gaining offshore experience with multiple trips up and down the west coast of the US and a trip from the east coast to the Virgin Islands. We read every magazine and book that had the slightest bit to do with cruising (this was before the age of sail blogs). We attended boat shows and seminars, listening to talks on rig tuning, engine maintenance, heavy weather sailing, provisioning, etc. We lived simply and narrowed our budget by moving aboard the boat, downsizing to one vehicle, vastly curbing our entertainment dollars, and limiting travel to boat-based adventures in the nearby San Juan Islands. We sold all our household items, which at first was a bit upsetting, but in the end turned out to be liberating and furthered our excitement toward the "vagabond" lifestyle.

Having a fairly bare boat and being budget conscious, we installed and fixed everything that we could ourselves. We browsed swap meets and want ads in order to save on buying the more expensive new gear. As a result, we received intimate and invaluable knowledge of each working system on the boat. This knowledge ultimately helped us easily and inexpensively repair systems down the road when we were in remote cruising locations and outside help was not available, as well as building a thorough spare parts inventory.

With the boat nearly paid for, all important systems nearly complete, and a cruising kitty growing, we set an official "dock line cutting" date. We knew we could only be gone for a year or two at the most, but we decided we would deal with our "future" day by day and let life lead us where it may - not necessarily the career path mindset our parents had probably envisioned for us, but it was a lot more fun!

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
I would think the most common reasons people stop cruising is due to a lack of finances, completing their cruising goals, and missing family and friends back at home.

What mistakes did you make in your first year of cruising?
I can't think of any real mistakes that we made during our first year of cruising. Being our first time cruising on our own boat, we were entering unknown territory and took every experience as a learning tool. Without really knowing what to expect during our first year, I suppose we remained blissfully ignorant.

Do you have advice for having visitors?
We love to have visitors down to the boat as it is a great way to share our "mysterious" lifestyle with friends and family. Over the years, we have found that visitors are either most comfortable sharing our lifestyle via the comfort of one of our settees or via the comfort of an air conditioned hotel room. Figuring out which category of guest you have visiting before they arrive is very important to keeping everyone on board happy! For our friends who like to stay on the boat and cruise with us, we usually carry a tent and thermarest cushions for camping on a remote white sand beach if they would like (or we would like!) to have their own space for a night or two. For guests who prefer to visit Mexico via the comfort of a hotel room, we usually bring the boat into a marina in a city like La Paz or Puerto Vallarta where there are more shoreside tourist activities. In a marina slip, our guests can come and go from the boat as they wish while enjoying the privacy of their own bathroom and bed in a hotel room. We generally head out for day sails from the marina and anchor for the afternoon at a nice beach for swimming and lunch. That way they can still get a sense of the beauty of the cruising lifestyle and area, without having to abandon the creature comforts of shore.

What is the next piece of gear you would add to your boat if it were free?
The responsible, safety-first cruiser in me would say AIS, but the comfort-seeking cruiser in me would say a custom built v-berth mattress.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
I wish someone had told me how difficult passages can be in colder, wetter climates for women in foul weather gear. It seems like a silly thing, but I can't say that I heard much mention of this topic in sailing magazines or cruising guides. Maybe it didn't bother others like it did me, but I remember having enough frustrating moments that I would seriously consider altering my foul weather pants for our next trip down that cold, wet coast. My ensemble included the following: numerous layers of thermal clothing, foul weather pants with suspenders that did not breathe or leaked resulting in damp clothing, foul weather jacket, combo life jacket and harness. Coupled with lots of hot coffee to keep you awake during late night watches and ramen soup for late night munchies, trips to the head seemed frequent and cumbersome. In the middle of a rolling ocean, one hand is always needed to secure yourself, the other is left having to tackle the removal of the life harness in order to remove the jacket in order to removal the suspender pants in order to pull down the tight fitting, somewhat damp thermal pants. This ultimately puts you in a compromising position: your pants down around your ankles on a pitching and rolling boat trying to reverse the cycle to dress once again. After enough times of bursting through our head doors with my pants down, I can say that next time I'll be looking for better suited non-suspender foul weather pants.

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
Dislike might not be the correct term, but I was surprised to be so sad each time I had to say goodbye to cruising friends we had really connected with due to different cruising schedules or destinations. Even though you know that you're both going to continue on with wonderful future adventures ahead, it is many times difficult to say goodbye after sharing many exciting adventures together. I did not realize the close friendships you can form over a fairly short period of time in the cruising world that would make it so difficult to say "until next time."

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

Having left earlier in life and being forced to cruise simply, would you prolong your departure date in order to have a better boat/bigger kitty?

No. Too many people end up not going because they think they have to recreate their land lives on the boat and it becomes prohibitively expensive. We tend to think of our lifestyle on the boat as luxury camping instead of trying to recreate the life we are leaving. A safe and seaworthy boat is all that is needed to go. It's amazing all of the gadgets that seem so necessary when armchair sailing are so quickly forgotten when the first dolphins appear under the wake of the bow.

The most common thing we hear from many of our retirement age cruising peers, is that we are "Doing it right... experiencing the cruising  world before life gets in the way and before you know it, it's too late". We have taken this wisdom to heart and have no regrets at all.

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10 Questions for Ventana

Rob and Dee Dubin cruise aboard an Island Packet 40 named Ventana hailing from Conifer, Colorado. They moved aboard in November of 1995 – still cruising and living aboard full time. They cruised from 1996- 2001 mostly in the Caribbean but also as far north as Maine and covering the entire Eastern and Western Caribbean including Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, Central America and Mexico. In 2001 Rob & Dee departed for another trip through the Caribbean and then through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific.  They spent several years in Australia and several more in Thailand. In 2009 they sailed from Thailand to the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean and expect to cross back to the Caribbean completing their circumnavigation in December of 2011. You can read more about them as well as information on outfitting a boat, passage planning, weather, seamanship, sail trim and most of the issues they discuss in this interview on their website or you contact them via email (ventanaweb@aol.com).

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Two things:
1.   Learn everything you can about fixing everything on the boat before you take off.
2.  Despite a lifetime of owning businesses, directing others, being a group leader and decision maker and even being a pilot with others’ lives in my hands- sometimes command on a boat is a lonely business.

Be aware there will be a significant weight on the shoulders of the Captain.  Spending every day at the whim of wind and wave and weather and boat breakdowns you have to get used to not always making the best choice and sometimes paying for it with the discomfort of your crew and yourself.  Just think things through well and do the best you can, then compare your experiences to others so you can keep learning and improving.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?
Many places - especially the Tuamotos, Fiji, Vanuatu and the Red Sea.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
I know you have to ask this question and everyone spends lots of time fretting about safety gear and storm sails and parachutes and sea anchors.  You need the gear and you need to know how to use it, BUT this is rarely an issue.  If you cruise the usual trade wind routes you have only 3-4 passages that are longer than the weather predictions and many circumnavigators never see a major storm. Get good weather forecasts and be patient enough to sit in port until a good window is at hand.  The only weather you control is the weather you leave port in.

Having said that we have had only three really bad storms at sea in over 50,000 miles.  The first one when we were crew on another boat and that experience gave us lots of confidence for when we faced a rough storm on our own.  As one of our sailing mentor’s Steve Black, founder of the Caribbean 1500 Rally says, “You need to know the difference between life threatening and extremely uncomfortable.”  Most bad storms are just really uncomfortable.  Our boats can usually take much more than we can.

On our own boat we have had one bad storm in the So. Pacific between Tahiti and the Cook Islands and one in the Indian Ocean between the Maldives and Oman.  In the Pacific storm it was raining so hard seeing another ship would have been impossible and radar was useless.  We hoisted a strobe in the rigging and went below with double reefed main and part of the staysail.  We went slowly on course and never needed to heave to or to revert to our storm trysail.  The autopilot steered the entire time.  We were off the wind.

In the Indian Ocean storm the wind and waves were also just aft of the beam.  In both cases waves were about spreader height and some broke on and over the boat, with green water on the coachroof.   The waves that broke onto the boat would often shove us sideways through the water 5-10 feet.  I would have worried for the safety of the rudder on a spade rudder boat, but our Island Packet has a very sturdy steel support at the bottom of the rudder. 

In the Indian Ocean storm we used the same sails and tactics continuing slowly on our way.  The slow speed prevented us from falling off of any waves which is usually what damages boats.  AIS gave us some comfort that we would not be run down by a big ship.  In this storm a few times my wife had to hand steer while I adjusted sails to balance the boat so there was minimal helm and the autopilot could handle it.  Mostly we stayed below in our berths with lee cloths and let the autohlem 6000 steer the boat. 

The main bits of advice I would suggest is to get experience on other’s boats if possible.  Also practice heaving to.  You should first do this on a light wind day so you can practice, but then also do it on a day of 25-35 knots so you see how your boat really handles hove to in rough weather.  It is also good to go out for a short sail on rough weather days.  Much better to experience this when you can do it for 2-3 hours then get back to the marina, rather than your first experience be for 36 hours offshore. 

We also went through a hurricane at anchor during our first year of cruising.  We could have left the boat and stayed ashore but chose to stay aboard.  Next time we probably would make a different choice.  There is detailed coverage of all of the hurricane preparedness as well as all sorts of advice on our website.
  
What is your most common sail combination on passage?
Unfortunately the combination most cruisers use far more often than any one ever thinks will be the case is the sails stowed and the engine on with light or no wind, or wind on the nose.  We have also sometimes found light winds and huge swells on the beam.  The big swells cause you to roll side to side terribly so the sails fill and empty on every wave slatting then popping, filling then emptying which takes a terrible toll on them in no time.  In these instances we use the engine and our staysail only which we sheet in very hard so it is flat and dampens the roll a bit. 

Having given you the downside we have also experienced day after day of perfect beam reaching with no need to even touch a sheet for 5 days or nights.  In strong winds from astern  (approaching 30 knots) we can often go hull speed with just our genoa or even part of the genoa.  In slightly less winds we use the genoa and the staysail both poled out.  This double headsail rig provides a completely flat steady ride and is far superior to main and genoa, which causes most boat to waddle side to side  as they go downwind.  

We also often use a poled out genoa and the main on the same side if the wind is medium to light and a bit aft of the beam.  This provides a fantastic trade wind ride and we have enjoyed dozens of days at sea zooming along comfortably with that rig.  (We think a whisker pole is essential for cruising boats).

We are firm believers that a cutter is the BEST rig.  We have found our 130% genoa ideal though you MUST have a rope or foam luff in it so it gets flat enough for having good shape when it is reefed and you are hard on the wind as you will almost always be sailing the eastern Caribbean. 

The staysail gives lots of options and is much superior to a reefed genoa in strong winds.  We especially like Island Packet’s with the Gary Hoyt designed staysail boom.  We also find our full batten main with Harken batt cars and a Dutchman system perfect.  With minimum effort I can raise the sails to within a foot of the masthead by hand from the cockpit and only use the winch to tighten the last foot.  The battens provide MUCH better sail shape than in boom or in mast sails.  Reefing the main takes less than a minute as does dropping it and all is done from the cockpit. 

We feel a ketch rig adds a huge amount of complexity, rigging, weight and expense for almost no benefit. 

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?
How much time is spent repairing the boat.

In your experience, how much does cruising cost?
As much as you have to spend.  When we started in 1995 we tracked our budget very carefully and spent about $2,200 per month.  At the time we knew others cruising on budgets from $ 1,000 per month to $ 7,000 per month.  It is still possible to cruise very inexpensively if you avoid marinas, do not eat out often, do your own repair work, don’t travel inland and do not make visits home. I would guess the average well off retired cruiser on a well equipped 45 foot boat who does all those expensive things in reasonable moderation spends about $50K per year. 

One important lesson we learned was about boat maintenance.  We bought our boat new and after the initial outfitting expense did not spend much on the boat our first years out.  But then after 6 or 7 years we had a few years of large outlays to replace equipment. 

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
DECIDE.  If you want to go cruising you need to simply DECIDE to go cruising. That is - stop wishing or wanting or talking about going cruising but rather DECIDE to go cruising.   After that you will figure out HOW to make it happen.  

Another important step is to set a date.  This is especially important for people who spend years getting a boat ready then never leave the dock.  (The “to do” list never gets done.. you will have items on it from the moment you leave the dock.. just get the big stuff done and GO.)

How did you secure your valuables (in and on your vessel) while going ashore? And your dinghy?
This is a pretty low priority item I would think. The dinghy- lock the outboard to the dinghy.  Have a loooong chain or cable bolted into the dinghy and chain it up when you go ashore.  Thieves are lazy- if you make your dinghy and outboard hard to steal they will take one from another boat.   DO NOT paint the vessels name on the dinghy transom.  They see the dinghy ashore and know the boat is likely vacant. 

Most boats have some good hiding place for money, but leave $20 bucks in some obvious place too. Ashore I guess pepper spray might be carried. 

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
AIS receiver- our new best friend.  I rate AIS as almost as big an addition to sailing as GPS was when it first came out.  Do not leave home without one. We use electronic charts almost exclusively.  Since you will also have guidebooks with harbor charts you do not need much paper backup.  Just a few small scale charts to help you find land- from then on you can use your guidebooks.

Cruisers depend on their SSB radios to keep in touch so get a good installation.  A good watermaker is essential for the Pacific and Red Sea.  Make sure you have good comfortable well lit places to read for each crew member.

Carry good heavy anchors and chain.  We make recommendations on our website.  And make sure you have a powerful windlass.  We consider our anchors, chain and windlass by far our most important gear on board.  MUCH more important than ALL the other safety gear.  Often you will anchor and when you settle you may be closer than expected to a rock, reef or other danger.  If it is hard to raise anchor you will not do so.  If it is a matter of stepping on a toe switch for a minute or two and effortlessly moving a few feet to a safer spot you are likely to do so.  I cannot stress the importance of this enough.

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


I guess the best advice I can offer cruisers facing the challenge of jumping off is to get in the habit of asking what if? 

What if I tack now will I clear that obstruction?
What if we don’t make landfall before dark?
What would I do if my mainsail tore?
What would I do if my partner was injured?
What would I do if the roller furler jammed?
What would I do if the fresh water pump broke?
What would I do if the anchor dragged or snagged on a rock and would not come up?
How would I raise the anchor if the windlass quit?
Where would I move to if the wind changed and made this anchorage a lee shore?
What would I do now if my mate fell overboard?
What would I do if the wind builds to 30 knots?
How would I escape this cabin if there was a fire near the main companionway?
Which fire extinguisher would I grab if there was a stove fire?

The exercise is NOT designed to scare you off from cruising.  Rather it is designed to do just the opposite.  
The unknown is fearful.  The known is not.  By identifying the possible challenges in advance you prevent many problems from happening, and for those that can’t be prevented you can pre-solve them in your mind.  By having a plan in advance you turn the unknown into the known and it becomes less fearful.  Just knowing in the back of your mind that you already have a solution to almost any problem can remove much of the anxiety.   It also plants a seed in your mind that ALL problems are solvable- and knowing this you can usually come up with solutions for the problems you did not anticipate.

Another bit of advice:
In my observation most people start off learning about sailing by going on other people’s boats until they really get the bug and buy their own boat.  That is when their learning curve flattens out, as from then on they are the captain and they only learn by trial and error.  I think it much better to sometimes leave your boat at the dock and sail with others just to see how they do certain things differently.  Or invite experienced hands onto your boat and listen to their suggestions.

Closing thoughts:
Someone once told me that when you start sailing you have two buckets.  One labeled “luck” and the other labeled “experience”.  Hopefully you fill up the second bucket before you empty the first.  Every time you get up at 2 am to check the anchor for dragging, or buy a spare part or learn a new technique or practice heaving to or man overboard drills, you are filling up the second bucket.  Keep filling it and you’ll do fine.

Looking forward to sharing an anchorage with you soon.

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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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