10 Questions for TimeMachine

Editor’s Note: There are actually 14 questions answered (my fault – the readers’ gain) and TimeMachine introduces themselves: We are Cheyenne & Joshua from s/v Time Machine. We left San Francisco in 2005 and sailed down the Pacific, through the canal, and up the Caribbean back to TX, landing in 2007. I had never sailed before but Joshua grew up in and on boats and had tons of sailing experience; his father built a 40-foot version of our boat in the late 70s-80s. Time Machine was a 31' Jim Brown Searunner (trimaran), home built out of plywood, fiberglass, and a crapload of epoxy. The boat looked kinda Star Wars and sailed beautifully. We bought it with the initial intention of toodling around the bay but that immediately turned into "Let's quit our jobs and go to Mexico!" and six months later, we did, and we just kept going. We are taking time now to raise a kid but are planning the Next Trip as soon as the toddler moves beyond the highly volatile tantrum stage and becomes more predictable. We started a blog when we purchased the boat and chronicled our trip through June 2007.

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget
I guess this sounds weird, but we really didn't have a budget. Cruising was the cheapest way we had ever lived, and we always lived fairly conservatively. We could easily have halved our expenditures if we had cut out the booze, but we like booze. Part of this might have been because we sailed a fairly small and spare boat: no refrigeration, no windvane, no radar, no through-holes in our hull of any kind, no SSB radio, no inboard motor (though we had a 6-horse outboard), no oven, no dodger, we did our dishes in a bucket at the edge of the boat, and we did not pull up alongside a dock or marina after leaving the US until we landed in Texas 18 months later. There just wasn't a whole lot that could go wrong. We did break the rudder though off Honduras; we jury rigged it with some rope.  

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why? I had a few things packed that I didn't end up ever using--and of course which took up precious real estate. As one example, I envisioned us dining upon Caesar salads nightly (I actually brought along a small salad spinner.. I know!) but this notion was shot all to bits when we discovered romaine to be nearly nonexistent in Mexico. Furthermore, lettuce of any kind doesn't keep worth a damn onboard in the tropics. Ditto cilantro, but that's another story. About 14 months in, we had a lot of little expired tins of anchovies to attend to... Things got creative then.  

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle? My absolute least favorite part about cruising was the possibility of having to pull anchor in the middle of the night and get out of there because of prevailing wind change, sudden lee shore squall, etc. For example, we were happily sleeping nestled amongst the gorgeous Murcielagos off Costa Rica when we had a sudden and alarming wind change at 1am. Fearing the start of the dreaded "papagayo" wind, we beat upwind until we were somewhat in the lee of the mainland, trying to get coffee started on a bouncing boat, all of us grumpy as all get-out (we had a guest with us).  

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why? Handheld backpacker's waterproof GPS (our primary). It was blue and sparkly and the size of a cell phone. It was also tough, easy to carry around with us if we felt like taking a land excursion, and it did well with batteries. Other things I could not have survived without: Really good knives and nice general galley gadgetry. It is a pleasure to cook in a confined space when you are dicing with a Shun santoku, on a beloved mesquite cutting board, with some good rum in an actual stemmed glass next to you... We went with the theory that when one is paring down to the essentials, one should select really excellent essentials. I would also have to nominate the kayak for a favorite piece of gear (we had an inflatable due to space issues). It's so lovely to be able to slink around the ocean silently, efficiently, discretely. You get to sneak up on so much wildlife this way, fit through narrow channels, up streams and rivers; the kayak was our dinghy most of the time.  

What piece of gear seems to break the most often? The citrus squeezer. Seriously; you'd think limes were made out of acid or something.  

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad? We were very conservative sailors (my doing, most surely) and did not budge unless the weather was favorable. That said, we did not always encounter following seas and fair winds. We had 15-18' seas and a gale rounding Pt. Conception, of which I had no idea until after since it was 3am, I only had two days of sailing experience under my belt when I took over watch/driving, and all I could see anyway was glowing green foam (whoa, groovy). We got 50+ knots of wind along the Tehuantapec, which was so unpleasant I had to change clothing to skin-tight things lest I get shirt-burn (shirt burn is serious business!). We had the worst sea conditions coming around Punta Mala (Point Bad, and it was) into the Bay of Panama, where we played frogger all night long with the tankers in large and confused seas. And finally, our very last day sailing crossing the Gulf of Mexico, we got hit by the nastiest squall we had ever seen. It was raining lightning bolts everywhere and Joshua saw balls of lightning racing along the wavetops. It all sucks pretty badly while it is happening but once you are through it, you remember it as just another wild story.  

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising? We met many people who had started off on their around-the-world cruise but had stopped along the way. Every single port we visited (starting with Ensenada) had at least one boat that just found what it had been looking for and needed to go no further. And there they stayed, three, ten, twenty years.. They always had good stories and LOTS of advice. We never met any of the people who had stopped cruising for other reasons because they had apparently gone home.

In your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how? I started out being afraid of open ocean, deep water, tipping over, sharks, of being along sailing a boat at night, of sea monsters... basically everything one could possibly be afraid of on a boat. I didn't know how to sail when we left, but it turns out that it's really pretty easy, and boats like ours don't easily tip over. Once I was forced to actually do all of the things I feared: be miles offshore in the ocean in the dark at night by myself sailing the boat, with sharks and sea monsters surely lurking beneath, it wasn't actually bad at all. I had just never done it before. Joshua always said we could call it quits when it stops being fun. We decided to take our break when I discovered I was pregnant but I wouldn't necessarily say we have quit yet.  

What is a tip or a trick you have picked up along the way? You can keep cheese for a long time if you put it in a jar covered with oil. You can buy the cheapest, plainest, most tasteless white cheese, pack it under veggie oil of some sort, and after three weeks to a month, it starts to get sharp. The longer you leave it, the sharper and better it tastes. I also kept ginger in vodka for a long time (ginger always went bad immediately otherwise).  

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer? My favorite places were the Sea of Cortez; we were there in the winter and so had to split for hurricane season (we decided to go south). I would like to spend a spring and summer there as well. Then we loved the western Islands of Panama. So much to see and so many deserted islands. We were down to half an onion and some random tubers by the time we got to Panama City.

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? We had various cruising guides (i.e., Charlie's Charts) that listed the basics, but regulations and procedures change quickly everywhere. We always brought everything we thought we could possibly need and then expected to be directed from there. Usually we ended up crossing town a few times to visit various auxiliary offices for random stamps or additional copies, etc. We ended up with amusing stories with every check-in and check-out, so I'd say it was always worth the hassle.  

What is your most common sail combination on passage? 
I think we did them all with regularity and probably averaged 2-3 different jibs per day. Maybe we were finicky with our sails but our boat was very lightweight and touchy. We did not have a roller furling but rather a hank-on system. We had four jibs: the mule, the 170, a gennaker, and a storm jib for those exciting moments that are only really exciting when you look back later, you know, knowing you lived through it and all that.   

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?
Sharks. Whales.  

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 part about cruising?

Arriving in an anchorage after a passage--more so of course if a nasty passage, but even the smoothest passages were best ended with a lovely quiet cove in which to rest. We didn't draw much so we always had the pick of the place as to where to drop our anchor. First we would sit for a moment, soaking in the calm. Then we would start wandering around the boat, picking things up, stowing the sails, tidying up things that got knocked around. Maybe jump overboard to cool/rinse off and check the anchor. Once things were relatively squared away, the rum would come out and we'd sit on the top of our cabin checking out at our new temporary home. We would talk about how to spend the remaining day, where we would go tomorrow. And plan something awesome for dinner.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Gallivanter

Kirk, Catherine & Stuart began cruising in 1994. They have cruised in two vessels since that time: Polly Brooks, a Worldcruiser Pilothouse 37 and Gallivanter, a Hylas 47 they turned into a 49 by adding a new style transom. They started in Hawaii and sailed west on an "Orange Peel" course across four oceans. They have yet to cross their outbound track in 40,0000nm. Kirk’s former career involved manned submersibles.

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

Anchor Windlass, chart plotter, autopilot - like having a strong crew (physically & mentally) who are always eager to help, don't eat much, get in the way or complain.

What is your biggest lesson learned?

Make your own choices & decisions - avoid the "Pack Mentality".

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?

Caribbean, Fiji, SE Asia, Turkey, Malta, Spain - Interesting cultures, affordable, availability of services & supplies.

What do you think is a common cruising myth?

That it's always easy and cocktails are served at sunset every evening.

In your experience, how much does cruising cost?

It costs everything you've got.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?

Go now. One can never be fully prepared.

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited.

STARGAZING with traditional navigators on the beach of an uninhabited atoll in the Caroline Islands. Dancing with savages in Papua New Guinea.

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

Choose a strong boat purposely built & designed by a reputable team. One-off racing boats do not necessarily make for a comfortable cruising boat.

What is difficult for the parents of cruising children and what is difficult for the children themselves?

Kids add another level of enjoyment. I have found no difficulty added when our son was born and joined the crew. Lego is his one best entertainment.

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

What has been the hardest part of this lifestyle?

Having to learn how to say "Goodbye" in so many languages.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Aliisa

Lauri cruised from 1998, joined by Annina since 2008, aboard Aliisa, a John Pugh Moonwind, backyard built steel sloop 32 ft / 9.75 m hailing from Cairns, QLD, Australia. Aliisa cruised locally until 2000, around Papua New Guinea in 2001, and world cruising from 2004 until they recently returned home on November 2010. You can learn more about their travels on their website.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Nothing. I always wanted to find out for myself. Nobody can tell me what my experience will be.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
These things are always specific to the yacht in question as well as to the style of sailing. On long tradewind passages I often keep the mainsail double reefed and let the genoa (on furler) to do most of the work. Squalls are easy to deal with as you only need to pull in some of the genoa and not touch the main. This also takes a lot of  pressure off the helm which in a small budget is an important way to extend the life of the autopilot. It’s not the fastest combination, but lazy and comfortable.

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
For me it was always money. Everything else is easy.

Departure from home port is probably the most difficult aspect of the entire cruising life. After that the only difficult aspect for me was money. There is no long version of this answer. Apart from financing the lifestyle, I found everything in the cruising lifestyle easy. Stress and the sense of difficulty comes from the inside, not outside. Someone might suggest that dealing with tens of corrupt officials during a three-day battle with red tape in order to clear into some third world country is “difficult”. I would call it an adventure and a fantastic opportunity to meet local people and learn about their customs and culture.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
Fridge – because life is too short not to enjoy cold drinks, cheese and butter.

One line reefing – because I mosly single hand the passages.

SSB + Pactor  – ‘cause I like to communicate and I love studying the weather.

Autopilot – Any type of self-steering will do, as long as it’s not myself.

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
Everyone would have their own reasons and it’s not an important question to others. It is a private decision. Whether the reason is  family, money, career, kids, old age or whatever, the important thing is that we all make our own decisions.

That’s called FREEDOM. Cruising is only one way to express freedom. Stopping it is another.

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult?
Learning to fix things and learning about tools, materials, electrics, electronics, mechanics, paints ... the list is almost endless.

Becoming self-sufficient is a long road.

What do you miss about living on land?
Seeing friends face to face, not just on facebook. Being  part of a community where your existence matters, knowing that your friends are not far away.

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget
Every imaginable compromise whenever needed. Generally it has come down to departing with what you have and not worry too much about what you don’t have.

I find it difficult to answer this question. In a sense I feel that I have been a very uncompromising person. I spend until it’s all gone and then go to work to get more. I left Australia 2004 and ran out of money in South Africa, 18 months later. My old man bailed me out and I arrived in Finland late 2006 with 36 bucks in my pocket. Obviously I have always struggled to even HAVE a budget, let alone stick to one. So my answer to the question is: “I didn’t stay in any budget and if I ever had any, I broke them all.” Compromises I made? Well, to stop for 20 months in Finland and working 2 jobs while doing a complete refit before and after work, that surely was a compromise but not the first one.

Departing Australia without insurance, without a life raft, without a radar, without a log, without SSB radio and without much money was also a compromise. I went with what I had. Not spending 10 or 15 years cruising but instead returning to Australia by the end of 2010 order to find work again was also a compromise. We’ll be living on land for some time now – probably several years – but we haven’t stopped cruising, we’re just compromising for a while.

“Waste your money and you’re only out of money, but waste your time and you’ve lost a part of your life.” (Michael Leboeuf)

What do you find most exciting about your cruising life?
I’m a xenophile, so the answer  must be the different people, different cultures and  flavours. The chance to learn a little more about the world and to understand why it is what it is and why people are what they are.

Local people in the destination have always been more interesting to me than other cruisers in the anchorage.

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

What’s your favourite animal

Homo sapiens

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Location

James “J” Mills cruised aboard Location, a Calatline 470 hailing from Newport Beach, CA, USA from 2006 until 2010. In October 2006, with his wife LeDean, his dog “Escrow”, and two friends Terry & Jim, he sailed off for Mexico with the 2006 Baja Ha Ha. LeDean, Escrow, and “commuter cruised” the Sea of Cortez, primarily around La Paz for the next two and a half years. In March 2009, he set out single-handed and sailed from La Paz to Conception Bay, back to La Paz, and then across the Sea to Mazatlan, and from there south to Banderas Bay, Manzanillo, and finally back to Newport Beach in June 2010. Interested readers can find articles, essays, and stories of his years of cruising at his website, view his photo page or contact him via facebook. He has been an avid sailor, scuba diver, skier, entrepreneur, workaholic, life-seeker, most of his life. In 2006, after a long business career, he took a sabbatical to pursue his dream of sailing around the world, and to focus on becoming a writer. He is currently writing two books based on his sailing experiences.

What is something about the cruising culture / experience you liked and what is something you disliked?
Wow… there was so much that was positive, and wonderful, and amazing, and so little that I would describe as negative, at least in hindsight.

Right from the beginning, with the Baja Ha Ha in 2006, there was always a great feeling of camaraderie among the cruisers that we encountered throughout our travels. One of the things that always amazed me was how common our experiences were, or would become. If you stay out long enough, you’ll experience all of the good things, and most of the bad things that cruisers go through eventually. The VHF Cruiser Nets in the more popular ports are a great resource. If you start talking with other cruisers, and listen and learn from their experiences as you go you will certainly enhance your experience and in particular learn how to handle the rough spots more easily. When cruisers got into trouble, weathered a storm, or some other event, something broke on board, or whatever, the VHF Cruiser Net, or just talking with other cruisers in the marinas and anchorages where we were, almost always led to help and an eventual solution.

My last 18 months were spent single-handed, and that was probably more difficult than I had imagined it would be; not so much the loneliness (because single-handing was a choice), but the “lone-ness”. A lot of the culture is based on “couples” out there cruising, and it’s more difficult I think for a single-hander to bond with the “group”. There seems to be some apprehension from others about why you’re out there by yourself. I have my theories about that, both serious and not. 

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?
There were many variables in my life during the four years I spent cruising, too many things that could have been done differently, and it would be easy to have regrets, but I don’t really, and there’s not much that I would seriously do differently, all things considered.

I would have liked to have spent more time further up in the Sea of Cortez, but in between the hurricane season and winter you only have about three months of ideal cruising, so you have to decide how to spend the hurricane season, and whether you want warm water in the winter. My first year out single-handed I left La Paz in March with plans to stay up in the Sea through June at least, and maybe summer in the “hurricane hole” in San Carlos / Guaymas. I got into a gale one night in April near Bahia Conception that damaged my rig though, and after patching things up I had to go back to La Paz to make repairs. I took my time going back and really enjoyed that cruise down the coast of Baja, but it was late June by the time the repairs were complete. I had already spent three summers in La Paz so I decided to head across the Sea to Mazatlan. That summer in Mazatlan was very hot, humid, and uncomfortable, and I think I would have preferred to be in La Paz, but I was also very happy that I had not ended up in San Carlos, as I had planned, because it got hit by a serious hurricane that year. Still, my boat did sustain some damage from a hurricane that grazed Mazatlan, and a lightning strike. But if I hadn’t been there then, I might never have gotten over to that side of the Sea.

Ultimately, you never know what to expect. You just have to weigh all your options, evaluate the risks and rewards, and then step out there and do it, and deal with whatever comes your way. Most of it will be incredibly good.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation.
I don’t think that there is anything “perfect” about cruising (except perhaps some of the sunrises and sunsets, a cold beer over ice sitting under the bimini on a warm afternoon at anchor, a morning swim in clear, warm water, a spinnaker run in ten knot winds and flat seas, a full moon on a quiet night…..OK, maybe a few things!).

One of the more amazing experiences I had was after our second night out, going south on the Baja Ha Ha. We were sailing along the west side of Cedros Island, with our spinnaker up,  in fifteen knot winds and five foot seas as the sun rose, when we were suddenly surrounded by a large pod of grey whales. You could see their blow-spouts erupting all around us. I was up on the bow getting ready to drop the spinnaker in the growing wind and seas, when my wife at the helm yelled my name in a rather panicked mode. I looked back just as a huge whale, coming up behind us, rose up on the surface and then dove beneath Location’s stern with its tail raised, filling the air as if it would swat us from behind, and then disappearing into the sea, very close. We were sailing at nearly nine knots, and this big whale then surfaced right along-side us and rolled over on his side, and kind of waved at us with his big flipper, and I could see his eye looking at me. He was as long as we were, and he rolled under the water and the boat, and then came up on our other side, and took another look, blowing a gust of air and water over us, still moving right along with us in the big seas. We got so excited watching that whale as he watched us, literally no more than ten feet away, pacing us, that we lost the spinnaker and it wrapped on the forestay, which created another whole set of problems. The whale kept pace with us for another fifteen minutes, swimming along our side, diving under us from one side to the next, watching us as we struggled to unwrap the spinnaker sail, and avoid a collision, which was really pointless since the whale had a lot more maneuverability than us at that point. Finally, he swam ahead of us in a sudden spurt of speed and rolled up on the surface again, flashed his huge tail in the air about twenty feet off our bow, and disappeared beneath the water.

Another very truly evocative experience was waking up in Matanchen Bay to calm, warm water, tropical green hills, and golden warm sunlight, after arriving there in a very dark cold night, from a rather difficult 32 hour single-handed passage (made with no instruments or autopilot) from Mazatlan. That was about as “perfect” a feeling of peace and transition as I have ever experienced. Setting off on a passage was always exciting, being short or single-handed was always a challenge, arriving at a destination was always wonderful. 

What did you miss about living on land?
Provisioning was always a challenge. Not the shopping itself or finding what you want so much as the logistics of getting to and from the store. I missed the freedom of being able to just get in my car and go to the store. When we were commuter cruising in the early years, we would drive down to La Paz from Southern California most of the time, so we had a car, and it was relatively easy going back and forth from the marina and town. Later, when I was single-handing, and out on the Sea cruising from one anchorage or port to another, it became more of a challenge; first finding out where you needed to go, and then finding transportation, and handling all of the bundles and bags of goods and groceries. If I needed to go to more than one store, then it usually required more than one trip, which usually meant more than one day.
 
In Mexico the bus systems are pretty good and easy, especially on the mainland. The buses will stop and pick you up or drop you off anywhere along their routes; they run consistently and you seldom have to wait long for the next bus to come by; they are cheap, but comfortable, and usually air conditioned; and riding the bus is a great way to get to know the cities. Taxis give you more freedom, but are far more expensive. Sometimes I would take a bus to the store, but since I had bought so many supplies and couldn’t carry them all, I would have to take a taxi back to the boat. I guess this is fairly common, since there were always taxis waiting outside or near the major stores. 

Did you find "trade goods" to be useful on your cruise? If so, what kinds?
We didn’t take anything with us specifically as a “trade good”, but at times we did barter and trade some of our supplies with local fishermen. Along the coast of Baja in particular, there are isolated little fish camps that the fishermen work out of and live at. These camps are often a long way from civilization, and so the fishermen, some of them with families, have a difficult time provisioning themselves.

Along the coast of Baja between Puerto Escondido and La Paz I came upon one fisherman who approached me at anchor and wanted to trade a couple of lobsters he had yet to catch for a six-pack of beer and fifty pesos. I agreed, and about an hour later he returned with two very nice lobsters for a total price of about 110 pesos or eight dollars.

On my way up the Pacific side of Baja (doing the Bash) I was anchored at Bahia Santa Maria, which is very isolated and hard to reach by both land and sea, waiting for a storm to pass. The fishermen were stranded as well, and a small panga with three men on board came by and wanted to trade either lobsters or fish they had caught for meat. I took two lobsters from them and gave them two cans of Chili Con Carne, two cans of Corned Beef Hash, and two bottles of water in exchange, which amounted to about eight dollars in cost to me. They would have preferred a couple of steaks, but I didn’t have any fresh meat on board then. They also asked for batteries, which they needed for their hand-held GPS and radios.

In Mexico at least, the locals can buy almost anything they want or need, and usually cheaper than we might pay for it, so we typically didn’t have anything onboard that might be a valuable trade good. In the more remote regions of the world, such as the South Pacific and Far East Islands, trade goods would probably be more valuable to have onboard. 

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?
Location was very well equipped when we left the States, and the only things that we didn’t use were probably the two heaters we had stowed away (until my “bash” back up the coast in 2010). We also had a portable ice machine that took up some space in the main cabin, and didn’t get used very much. It was a 110 volt model that required a lot of power, and so we never used it at anchor, and only occasionally while in a marina and hooked to shore-power. Ice was always available in the villages and marinas, and kept well in the freezer, and the freezer also worked well enough to make ice in some aluminum ice-trays that I had, so really the ice maker wasn’t needed.

In your experience, how much does cruising cost?
This really depends on your lifestyle. If you are staying in marinas and eating out a lot, which we did in the beginning in La Paz, then it cost about $1,500 a month for the two of us and our dog. We could have spent more if we had taken a lot of side excursions, but we stuck pretty much to the sea, and cruising the islands.
 
Later, when I was single-handed, and my funds were more limited, I spent a lot less time in marinas, and lived pretty well on about $500 per month, which covered five or six days a month in marinas, two or three meals a week on shore, and all of my food, fuel, and other necessities. Traveling back and forth from the States, boat maintenance while away, cell phone and satellite phone costs, insurance, and occasional boat repairs added more expense. Cruising full-time is cheaper than commuter cruising, because of the extra travel and marina expenses. If everything else is paid for then I would say that a couple can live very well, and experience the local sights in Mexico, on $1,000 a month, cruising and living aboard full-time.

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
As I mentioned above, provisioning was probably the most challenging regular chore that we had while cruising. Laundry and making repairs to the boat were also challenging and time consuming chores that had to be done regularly.

Dealing with sudden, and unexpected changes in the weather was probably the most difficult and challenging aspect of cruising overall, especially when I was single-handed. Yes, I always checked the weather, but the weather was not always as predicted, and once you’re “out there”, you’re out there! I went through a sixty knot gale with thirty foot seas on my first single-handed over-night passage, sailing from Puerto Escondido to Bahia Conception; the weather forecast had no clue of it. I weathered numerous late night blows at anchor with winds at thirty to forty knots that just came up with no warning, several “chubasco” thunderstorms along the coast of mainland Mexico, with winds up to seventy knots, and a “weather bomb” in Banderas Bay that smacked the cruising fleet anchored in La Cruz late one night with ninety knot winds and high seas. Location also weathered three minor hurricanes while berthed in La Paz and Mazatlan. All in all, these storms were few and far between, when you consider the four year time frame, but they kicked the @#$%^&* out of both me and my boat, and make you wonder at times what the hell you are doing out there. After you have been through a couple of fifty and sixty knot blows, thirty and forty knot winds don’t seem so bad, and you begin to trust your preparation and get used to the surprises. A couple of good days of fair weather and fair winds, and the storms were quickly forgotten, though the lesson was learned to always prepare for the worst, and relish in the typical calm.

In your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
Can you?..... Maybe. Should you?.... probably not! If your partner is reluctant then it is probably based on fear, either of what they know or suspect, or of the unknown, or they just plain don’t want to go; leaving friends and family can be difficult. You can’t train, or teach, or learn how to overcome reluctance. It won’t do any good to soft-pedal the experience; basing expectations on the “feel good” articles typical of the sailing magazines will surely turn any reluctance into staunch resistance once the reality of the cruising experience has struck.
 
Cruising is wonderful, exciting, relaxing, invigorating, frightening, marvelous, challenging, mysterious, and life evoking. It is not easy! It needs to be experienced to be appreciated. You can inch into that experience with weekend cruises, and weeklong cruises, and then two week cruises, but you can’t be afraid to experience the bad with the good, and if someone is not open to new experiences then cruising is probably not something that they will ever be comfortable with.

If you are out there full-time then you will surely experience some difficult times. If you are cruising seasonally you can reduce some of that exposure, but not all of it, and the bad will happen along with the good. In my case, I found myself single-handed after two years of commuter cruising, trying to convince my partner of the merits of a worldwide cruise…. It may have been my fault, since I have a tendency to push the envelope, but I don’t think that you can cruise without a certain amount of potential mayhem. I tried, but ultimately it just wasn’t in her, and our good experiences together did nothing to change her reluctance.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
 
Where was your favorite cruising area?


The Sea of Cortez is an amazing cruising area, and I would have to say that wherever I was at the time was my favorite area. La Paz was logistically the most convenient location for commuter cruising from the western US. It is a very friendly and comfortable city that always felt safe and secure, with great restaurants, and a very uncluttered, unhurried, family based ambiance.

Banderas Bay offered the best sailing, and it was not uncommon to sail completely around the Bay without changing tacks just following the typical shifts in the wind through the day. I also enjoyed La Cruz a great deal, with its friendly cruiser community and small town feel, and of course tropical and isolated Yelapa on the south side of the Bay.

Mazatlan was a wonderful cosmopolitan city, very “old Mexico” and cultural, and I particularly enjoyed visiting the Old Town Historical District with its renovated buildings, the Cathedral, and parks, and patio restaurants. It had the best bus system as well, and a great boat yard with very affordable and expert boat services from Total Yacht Works at the Fonatur Marina.

Weather was always a defining element of course. I spent a wonderful two weeks over Christmas anchored in Chacala on the mainland coast north of Banderas Bay. Matanchen Bay and San Blas were sublime, except for the jejennes at night (no-see-ems). And the entire Baja coast and the islands from Bahia de los Muertos to Conception Bay offered the best and most beautiful white-sand beaches and anchorages, and good fishing and diving, with the occasional challenge of a late-night Coromuel wind to keep things interesting.

I could easily have spent another two years on the Sea of Cortez and in Mexico, and still had more to see. Not once did I ever feel unsafe at any place or time while in Mexico, including the many drives we made up and down Baja, and while there are obviously some problems in certain areas of the country they are easy to avoid with a little common sense (there are areas in the US that you just don’t go to either, but the Press doesn’t talk about that!), and I would never hesitate cruising that area again.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Queen Jane

Kate, Jordan and Jonah Bigel cruised from 2000-2006 through California, Polynesia, Melanesia, New Zealand, Australia, & Micronesia aboard Queen Jane, a Shannon 50 hailing from Seattle, WA, USA. Readers can learn more about their cruise on their website or through email (queenjane@bigel.net). They say: When we left the US in 2000 our son Jonah was 4 years old. He is now 14 and a student at Venice High School. We continue to live aboard in Marina del Rey, CA and plan to return to cruising when our son goes to college. 

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
That food and fuel were easily available almost everywhere. When we were preparing to cruise, the books we had all were written 10-20 years earlier when supplies and diesel fuel were all harder to come by than they were in 2000, or now. As a result, we ended up with way too much canned food, which we eventually threw out years later!

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?
We installed a pneumatic tank level monitoring system (Tank Tender) which failed early on in our cruising and was totally useless.

In your experience, how much does cruising cost?
There is no one answer to that question except to say, it depends. Three things carry the greatest costs and managing these four determines the result; food, fuel, repairs and flying home to visit family.

I’ve known cruisers who purchase only basic staples like rice, flour, beans and catch their own dinner every day – their food costs are much lower than ours. I knew a couple once who spent 13 days making a 600 mile passage – they spent 6 of those days drifting in doldrums. We choose to burn diesel and arrive in half the time, increasing our costs accordingly. Finally, something is about to break. In our experience, cruisers who can fix anything on their boats don’t spend much on repairs, except for parts. We had to find and pay local refrigeration guys twice during the 6 years we cruised since we do not have that expertise (we know several friends who can and do work on their own reefers). We also had to haul and do bottom paint twice in 6 years (both times in Australia). If you are willing to do that work yourself, you can trim a good chunk of expense off your budget. Finally, some cruisers we know, including us, with aging or infirm parents (or with grandchildren) can find an annual or bi-annual flight home to visit family eating a big chunk of their budget.

So, to sum up, it all depends.

Is there anywhere you sailed to that was a disappointment?
No. We wracked our brains and couldn’t think of one. Some places we knew not to expect much, so we were not surprised, but most places we visited exceeded our expectations in every way.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Hand steering, at night, in a tropical storm. The source of the danger was exhaustion.

On a passage between Majuro, RMI and Pohnpei, FSM we encountered Tropical Storm Nan Midol, named after the ruins at the island of Pohnpei, for which we were bound. On this passage of 700 odd miles we had experienced 4 days of sailing bliss. But on the 5th day – about 120 miles from our destination – the TS formed nearly on top of us (our latitude was about 7N). By sundown we had a steady 45k from dead astern and had torn our mainsail. We were running under bare poles and making 6-8k surfing down the swells coming up from astern. Fortunately the storm was heading the same direction we were and moving much faster than us. By 2am the wind was gusting to 55+ (my wife put a rag over the instruments so she wouldn’t have to look at it).

By dawn the wind had eased to 30k and we had out a small bit of staysail (which is on a roller furler). But during the night we had to hand steer, partly due to fear of broaching in the big seas, but also because the autopilot was making a clunking sound which meant the tiller arm holding bolts were coming loose (which is a chronic problem on our boat which requires periodic attention). We took 1 or 2  hour shifts, shackled in with our harnesses on (which we rarely wear) in pouring rain and tropical chillness (ok, it was down to 68F – practically freezing!). I for one had a hard time staying awake, standing at the wheel, soaking wet, steering down 25ft+ waves in 50k of wind. You’d think in those conditions you would just be so in the moment, but I just stood there, wheel in hand, for hour on end and I nodded off several times. Each time would force myself awake just as we screamed down the next roller – hitting 10+k occasionally. We never worried about the boat – down below all was peaceful and calm – she was more than tough enough to handle this, but I worried about myself being able to stay awake and prevent a broach!

Share a piece of cruising etiquette
Always respect local customs (and in some cases dress). If the port captain insists on feeding you kava before signing the inbound clearance papers, just drink it! Also, don’t scream at your crewmate while anchoring!

What do you miss about living on land?
We live aboard at a marina since we’re no longer cruising. But when we were cruising, the only thing we missed was the presence of friends and family.

What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?
During the day we coordinated in an ad-hoc fashion, taking naps one at a time at some point during the day. At night we used 4 hour shifts except in bad weather when it would go to 3 or even 2 hours in severe weather.

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
Being separated from close family who are experiencing serious illness.

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

What are your two favorite non-essential pieces of equipment you have on board and why do you have them if they are not essential?

1.Desalinator Why? The ability to spend long periods of time in remote places that have either little or no fresh water resources makes a desalinator a must-have in our opinion. We’re always very careful about water usage and keep 100 gallons in reserve so when the watermaker breaks down, as it must, we get by fine until we fix it ourselves (with our well stock supply of spare water maker parts). When it’s working, it extends our ability to remain in remote and dry areas where we would otherwise have to head to a source of water to replenish. Am I wasting my energy writing this in 2010? Is there anyone left out there who DOESN’T have one (except Lin and Larry)?

2: Freezer. Why?  1)To  carry frozen meats/poultry, 2)To  freeze excess fish for future use and 3) To make ice. My family is happy to “rough it” for a few weeks, or even more. But for years? We actually turned off our freezer 4 years ago, when we became marina-bound. We prefer to shop for fresh food every few days. But when we were cruising, having a freezer was a luxury and makes cruising simply a more enjoyable overall experience, especially in remote areas where fresh meats cannot be had. I almost forgot the ice! I happen to feel that ice is a great civilizing influence and it is in important part of my day – frozen margheritas in the cockpit at sunset? Oh yeah, we got that.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Shiraz

Steve and Rene Slack cruise aboard Shiraz, a Fountaine Pajot, Venezia 42 catamaran hailing from Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. They departed the US in 2002, completed a circumnavigation in 2010 and are still living aboard. They can be reached by email (slackadventure@yahoo.com).

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool
There are many such moments but let us give you three examples:

1. Anchored in the San Blas Islands we join several other couples for sundowners. There was a couple from Austria, several couples from the US and a very accomplished jazz saxophone player from the Netherlands and his “significant other” a lady from Honduras. After a day of snorkeling in crystal clear water with an abundance of sea life, we were sitting back enjoying the company with the moon reflecting on the water while listening to some of the best jazz we have ever heard. You just reflect and wonder how lucky you are to be able to do what you always wanted to do and to find that there is a select community of people to share the experience with.

2. Arriving at Dolphin Reef in the Red Sea, our companion boat, a wonderful couple from Turkey, call us on the radio alerting us to a herd of dolphin nearby. We entered the water to see if we could get close. In about thirty feet of water we were surrounded by sixty or so dolphin as they swam around us and occasionally nudged us. The encounter lasted for about 30 minutes and we can all remember how difficult it was breathing through our snorkels with such wide grins on our faces. If you enjoy snorkeling, you’ve got to love it.

3. Arriving in the Galapagos we now had our longest passage under belt and we knew we were committed to continue to head west exploring places we knew very little about. Our visit to the Galapagos lived up to its expectations. We dove to see hammerhead sharks, visited the tortoises and enjoyed the interaction with the locals and other cruisers but mostly there we felt a sense of accomplishment and adventure we had not felt before.

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
Separation from your family. You love what you’re doing but you are missing so many events in your families life. You miss the celebrations of birthdays, weddings, holidays and you also feel the guilt that you aren’t there to help when you know you could. But the price of communication has been falling and you can certainly stay in touch without much effort and expense.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
We outfitted the boat with an AIS system in 2007 in Langkawi, Malaysia and it greatly enhanced our ability to determine the course and speed of nearby heavy traffic. The AIS provides you with the CPA (closest point of approach) and the TCPA well in advance of even seeing the vessel. This gives you plenty of time to maneuver if you need to. It took a great deal of the anxiety out of night passages but it is of course only a supplement to conducting a good watch.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
Reading about the experience of others and cruising guides are a good way to understand watch procedures, provisioning, clearance, boat repairs, and other aspects about the life style. We took radio courses, CPR, Spanish lessons, attended sailing school but mostly it’s OJT. The hardest part about going cruising is releasing the lines.

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited.
Everywhere we went we had positive experiences with local people and the international sailors we met along the way soon became our best friends. Once in Ismalia, Egypt we were wandering around looking for a certain restaurant. A young lady asked if she could be of help and guided us to the restaurant. Not only that but the next day she provided a guided tour of the local area. Our website (slack adventure.com) is full of such encounters in every country we stopped.

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
We had no offshore experience when we departed although we did have an experienced (?) crew member for our first ten days at sea. Our on board experience consisted of 10 days at the Annapolis School of Seamanship and 10 days at the Chapman School of Seamanship. I wouldn’t advise that everyone depart with such little experience but it worked for us.

Do you have any specific advice for couples cruising?
Go now. Too many people wait for all the dominos to fall before they decide to depart and that rarely happens. We know of people who lost their spouse while cruising and the surviving spouses always said these were the happiest years of their life. You’re not running away from problems or discourse but rather running to adventure.

Over the years, how much time do you think you spend at anchor, at marinas, sailing and motoring?
We have been living aboard for over eight years and calculated that three years were spent in marinas in order to travel inland, travel back to the US or to sit out the hurricane or cyclone season. We were at anchor or on a mooring for another three years and that leaves two years of sailing. Without time constraints we were able to avoided motoring whenever possible and in fact for the eight years we averaged purchasing only 400 gallons of diesel a year and most of that was to run our generator to power our water maker.

How do you recommend securing your vessel while going ashore? And your dinghy?
First it is imperative that you are comfortable with the set of your anchor. We are very patient when finding the right spot and we back down hard to make sure our anchor is holding but of course much depends on the type of bottom because even as cautious as we are we did drag a few times. We lock the main cabin door, leaving nothing on the rails like fishing poles and lock our dinghy when ashore. We never tow our dingy and we lift the dinghy every night. It’s a habit we got in to while in Venezuela.

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

Here are three questions everyone asks:

How fast does your boat go?   We don’t know and for the most part we don’t care.
Did you run into any pirates?    No, and we never had our car hijacked.
How much does it cost a year?     How much do you have?  That is how much it will cost.

We believe cruising is all about being comfortable. As your experience grows so will your competency and your comfort zone. A ten day passage is not much different than a three day passage. There is one thing that every cruiser should know how to do and that is to heave-to. It is an important skill when arriving someplace before daylight and if the weather is too rough for your autopilot to hold a course. Practice in calm weather and find out what works best for your boat and where the chafe points are.

Read the full interview

10 Questions For Raptor Dance

Bill Finkelstein & Mary Mack have been cruising since 2004 on Raptor Dance, a Valiant 50 cutter hailing from Tiburon, CA, USA. During those years they have done laps between Zihuatanejo Mexico and the West end of Vancouver Island including the inner waters to 51N. More information and contact information can be found on their website and blog. Bill & Mary are married and as two retired type A personalities, didn't know if they could stand each other 24/7.  After 6 years of cruising they still love it.

They say: “We've written a lot about cruising and what we recommend.  You can find many of our articles on our website. We've written on a wide range of topics from getting ready to cruise, to how to optimize your Winlink/Sailmail operation, we also collaborated on a free cruisers guide to the Barra de Navidad/Tenacatita area.  We invite you to check out the resources available and drop us an email (see "Contact Us" on our website) if you have any questions! Fair winds!”

What is your most common sail combination on passage?
Mainsail (vertical stabilizer) and Engine!  Seriously along the Pacific Coast, you will do a lot more motoring than you think - especially if you want to get to the next anchorage before sundown.  When we do have wind, it's our 115 Jib and main.  If the sail angle is conducive, we LOVE to fly our Asymmetric Spinnaker.  When the wind really starts blowing (25+) We reef down and use our Staysail.  Our preferred heavy weather configuration is a double reefed main and Staysail.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
Anything we don't have a spare for!  And if you have a spare and it still breaks, it means your spare is the wrong size!  When you are cruising stuff is constantly breaking, so get used to always fixing something.

Actually the one item that broke most often was our hot water heater.  Surprisingly, most of the marine hot water heaters sold today have aluminum tanks.  If you are a live aboard cruiser who always keeps their hot water hot, the aluminum hot water tank doesn't last that long (a year or two at most).  We went through 4 hot water heaters in 7 years until we switch to a water heater with a true stainless tank (Isotherm).  Earlier we were bamboozled into buying a Stainless Steel hot water heater that we thought had a Stainless Tank - it didn't, just a Stainless cover!  It only lasted 2 years.

What do you enjoy about cruising that you didn't expect to enjoy?
The most enjoyable part of cruising for us is meeting all the fellow cruisers and socializing.  You get to meet people from all walks of live with a wide range of experiences and interesting stories.  That's the best part for us.

Also, meeting the local people and culture of the areas where you are cruising we found extremely rewarding.  Often we would be the only boat in an anchorage during Christmas or a local fiesta and celebrated with the local families.  Great fun and a very enlightening experience.

Yes, being in a tranquil anchorage is great - but once you get over your post work/retirement burnout it's great to have interesting folks to talk to.

What is your favorite piece of boating related new technology?
Automatic Ship ID (AIS) - we have just the receiver, but it's a great comfort on those night passages in areas with lots of commercial traffic.  Not new technology, but we consider a Marine SSB Radio to be a necessity and not an option.

In your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
In short, NO.  If you're partner has no interest and isn't "hookable" on the experience, forget it.  Try by taking them sailing or for short cruises and make it enjoyable for them, not a pain.  Get them involved in doing something, not just being a passenger.  Make sure you have sea-sickness medication on board!

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
Boat maintenance.  Even with a very well maintained vessel, stuff is still going to break and if you're in a remote area, you better have a spare or a good way to jury rig and have the skills to fix it yourself.  We do, but it is the major source of cruising stress for us.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
We're happy with our choice of a Valiant.  They are proven Blue Water Cruising Sailboats.  Even though some of the major brands produce more boats in a month than Valiant has in 30 years, more Valiants have circumnavigated than any other recreational vessel.   Our Valiant can take a heck of a lot more than we can!

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was overrated (not as good as you had heard)?
Cabo and Zihuatanejo.  We much prefer: La Paz, Nuevo Vallarta and Barra de Navidad.  Cabo is like Vegas - not a real experience and Zihuatanejo harbor is very "nutrient rich"!

While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
Medical: We have good (but pricey) health insurance back in the US and Medivac insurance from Divers Alert Network if we need it.  But generally the quality of health care in Mexico where we spent the bulk of our time is outstanding and the prices low enough to just pay cash and not worry about insurance.  We've had friends with major health problems taken care of in Mexican hospitals with first rate care for a tiny fraction of what the cost would be in the US.

Boat Insurance:  We have full coverage through IMIS (Jackline).  Cruising Couple worldwide is available and we had it for a number of years, but the last few we've saved money with one of their coastal policies.

Banking:  Not a problem.  As a retired Banking executive, I know that your best and lowest cost option is to just take money out of a local bank ATM using your US (or Canadian) Bank ATM Card.  You get the best rates and lowest fees that way.  That's all you need.  Credit Cards overseas are socked with generally a 3% Foreign Exchange fee and many overseas merchants charge up to 10% more if you use a charge card.  Also, with Internet Banking, you can pay bills and manage your finances back in the US safely and securely (I know, I invented Internet Banking!).  We've paid most of our bills remotely using either direct deposit or Internet Banking.

Mail: We use and are very happy with St. Brendan's Island.   They will scan the envelop of the mail you receive and have it available for your review on the internet.  You can then have them scan the contents of the envelope, forward it, hold it, or shred it.  You can also have them pay bills for you - unfortunately, they pay the bills with YOUR money ;-)

On request St. Brendan's will ship your mail to you in a big package on demand and as often as you wish.  They have a lot of experience so they know what works best for each country.  Note that we found this to be prohibitively expensive in some countries, like Mexico: our last 5 pound package of mail and magazines cost $150 via DHL.  So what we've done the last few years is find a fellow cruiser or relative coming back down and asked them to bring our mail in their luggage.

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

What do you wish you knew before you started that you know now?

Before we set out, we had the usual romantic notions of what cruising would be like. The reality was quite different. We found that we much prefer the social aspects and visiting local cultures. The passage making and sitting in remote anchorages quickly lost it's charm for us. So this caused a reassessment of our long term plans and a change in strategy. So be open to changes! You should be cruising for enjoyment! We found we were leaving the notion of achieving goals behind. In our opinion, goals belong in the workplace, not the cruising life.

Slow down and take your time. Our biggest mistake was only allowing a single season in Mexico before continuing on. A year later we came back and spent another 4 years in Mexico. The only schedule you should pay attention to is the weather.

People meet their basic needs around the world - you don't need to stock up with 6 months of food, 2 year supply of tissue, etc. Local provisions are fine. If you have particular gourmet likes, treat yourself and bring your favorite wine or chocolate along - but remember the local cuisine and drink is usually fantastic! Overseas the food tastes better than in the US as it's not the factory farm trash available in US markets. For example, chickens overseas actually taste like chicken, not Styrofoam!

Bring spare boat parts, they're hard to get or pricey to get in many countries.

Relax and have a great time! Leave your type "A" behavior at the workplace!

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Synchronicity

Dave, Mary, Leah & Jessica Kruger cruised from 1998 – 2002 aboard Synchronicity, a Fraser 41 hailing from Vancouver, BC, Canada that they bought as a hull & deck and on which Mark spent 1995-1998 finishing. They cruised in Mexico, S. Pacific, Australia, SE Asia, Red Sea, Med, Caribbean, Mexico, and the "Clipper Route" home to Vancouver. Mary (Mother) and Leah (daughter) completed the interview questions and are happy to be contacted by email (Mary - krugerfamily@shaw.ca & Leah - leah1@hotmail.com). Mary says: I would recommend cruising as a wonderful lifestyle for a family.

 What advice would you give to parents thinking about taking their children cruising?
Mary: I would say DO IT! I think it is best to take kids once they are out of diapers, though I've seen folks do it with babies/toddlers. My kids were 6 and 10 when we left and that worked out great. It was tough when my oldest was 15 because she was so tired of having to say goodbye to friends that she had just met. Kids open the doors to all the countries and other cruisers. They are a universal language of their own!

Leah: I don't know if this is obvious but I would just say make sure each kid has their own personal space... my sister and I shared the v-berth, but thanks to the two cushions we each had our "own room" (my room was the port-side cushion, her's was the starboard). Sometimes when we were sick of each other we'd tape a sheet to the ceiling and literally "divide" the room in two... this never lasted long, but did a good job of giving that itsy bit of privacy I especially wanted sometimes!!

What is your biggest lesson learned?
Mary: That no matter where you are in the world people are really alike. They smile, they love, they enjoy life. Also, that you don't have to have money to be happy. Some of the poorest people we ever saw- Mexico, Indonesia, Africa - were also the most content and happiest.

Leah: Because I spent those years surrounded by adults who had given up the "typical 9-5" for a cruising lifestyle, the biggest lesson I learned was when friends of ours came to visit for a few weeks and then had to go back to work... I'd never realised that some adults actually have to go to work -- I just figured they must really love their jobs, or they'd be out sailing too :)

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
Mary: Probably being away from family at home. Also laundry! I had calluses on my hands from all the wringing of laundry!

Leah: From the local kids who showed us their awesome local swimming hole, to the Omanian kids we spent two days playing non-stop with (through hand-signals only, since we didn't speak each other's languages!) to the four or five kid-boats that we developed life-long friendships with but had to leave eventually... Hands-down the hardest part is leaving behind the people you meet.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
Mary: I loved having my home with me, so that if we had a bad day I could retreat inside and feel like I was back in Canada. I disliked being seasick and sometimes the constant motion that wouldn't end when on a passage.

Leah: I dislike the (at times) fairly intense competition that can crop up -- "Oh you've only been to Mexico?" "You mean you don't have a watermaker??" etc etc etc... I recognize that we all want a chance to share our stories, but I think sometimes the jostling gets a little too serious. I like the immediate sense of community -- especially as a kid, if you saw another boat with kids on it you knew you were going to be instant best friends... there wasn't time for anything else!

What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?
Mary: My husband and I always maintained a 2 hrs on, 2 hrs off schedule. During the day, it was a little more slack as both our daughters took a turn at a watch of an hour or two.

Leah: Mom and dad always did strict 2-hours on, 2-hours off, with me doing an afternoon watch so they could both have a break. The only time they broke from this schedule was when our windvane broke in a storm... then the three of us did 1 hour watches through the night.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Mary: Off the coast of Australia in a storm, where we had to hand steer, including my daughter (she was only 12) for an hour at a time. We had a gale, and lightening hitting everywhere.

Also during a storm off the coast of Columbia - self steering went again and we were dangerously close to losing our mast - in the end we tore a couple of wires in one stay. There were very large waves and 30-35 knots of wind. We tore a huge rip in our main sail. Of course, the worst always happens during the middle of the night in the very black dark.

Leah: As a kid, I looked to my parents for their reactions. So long as dad didn't look worried, I wasn't worried. The one time this failed was when dad got a serious staph infection in his leg (in the middle of the Indian Ocean while we were on passage)... he wasn't able to stand, and mom had to take complete control of the boat. To see dad (our Captain) completely unable to do anything was incredibly scary. Luckily for us we were travelling with friends who used to be doctors... they were about 50 miles ahead of us, but they turned around and did a "house-call", where they scraped out the rotting flesh from his leg and put him on strong antibiotics.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette
Mary: When you are in an anchorage and a new boat comes in call them on the radio or drop by in a dinghy and offer them to come over for coffee or a drink.

Leah: If there's a shared dinghy dock, put really long ties on your dinghy so lots of boats can get in and share. "If you're out sailing and there's another sailboat in good-photo-range, I think it's excellent cruising etiquette to radio them and offer to take their picture and email it to them. It's so hard to get great shots of your boat under sail, this is an offer that is generally very well received!!

Tell me your favorite thing about your boat
Mary: My galley, I can make cakes, buns and a pretty nice dinner from it. It's huge for a boat. They called me the Martha Stewart of the sea!!

Leah: Now that I sail without mom and dad, I appreciate many more things about her... I guess my favourite is that since Dad built her things are very well thought out... such as easy access to the engine & bilge, cupboards that fit our dishes, storage in every possible nook you can imagine, etc etc etc..

What was the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or cheap about each area?
Mary: Indonesia and Turkey by far were the cheapest for food and great anchorages. Lots of ruins in Turkey to see and no cost unlike Greece. Italy's food was outrageously expensive - we ate out once.


Leah: Most affordable was probably Turkey -- we anchored everywhere, ate out for about $1 / person, and hauled the boat (in a boatyard strewn with ancient Turkish ruins and gorgeous flowering bougainvillea) for about $200.  Most expensive I would say Israel -- my perspective is skewed a bit since I wasn't really in charge of finances, but I do remember that a McDonald's hamburger cost $12 and we did not eat out at all while we were there!

What question do you wish I would have asked and how would you have answered?


Mary:

Why did we do it?
We wanted a simpler life, and a life where we could spend more time with our two daughters. We got both. It was a very cheap way travel in relative comfort. I loved seeing all the countries and loved doing it with my family.

We are a very close knit family and I believe it is because of the trip. Plus our girls got to see how fortunate they were compared to so many poor people out there. Our girls are mature and very independent, I'm sure because of the trip.

What equipment do you wish you had?
A water maker and a washing machine.

Biggest fear?
I was terrified that my husband or one of the girls would go overboard. I always feared that when I came back on watch during the night, that he would be gone.


Leah:

What do you think about sailing to places that are in "strife" (ie Israel, Sri Lanka, "Pirate-Alley" etc)?
Again, this is from my younger perspective, but when I think about the times that we went places other people were warning us not to, we often had the best experiences. Where we were moored in Israel was 7 miles from Gaza Strip... we could hear the bombs going off day & night. Ditto Sri Lanka -- we could hear the depth-charges being fired every evening. But what I realised is that no matter what the political situation, there are always people who continue their daily lives... the butchers continue to sell meat and the restaurants continue to offer meals... and I think the upside to visiting some of the more "dangerous" places is that as a tourist you are much more of a novelty, and people are often very anxious to show you that their country is still beautiful and wonderful, and that there is more to the Red Sea than pirates and more to Israel than war.

Read the full interview