10 Questions for Silas Crosby

Steve Millar on Silas Crosby completed a self-interview in the Newly Salted style. You can read the original interview here or the perspective of another crew member, his niece Meredith, in her interview.
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At age 56, I am in the middle of another long (metaphorical) cruise.

I started sailing at age 9 just south of Vancouver in a 9′ dinghy, then, in high I school built a 17′ catamaran and cruised the Gulf Islands of BC. My parents didn’t sail or know anything about it.

After several years of race boat crewing, I helped sail a 40′ cutter from Auckland to Vancouver over 6 months in 1974. A good taste of the South Pacific. After a hiatus of about 6 or 7 years of not much sailing, my wife and I bought a Spencer 35 named ‘Cor Leonis’ in 1986. We did an initial trip to Haida Gwaii, then took off again for a classic 3 year trip to Mexico and on to New Zealand , where our son was born.

Returning to BC via Samoa and Hawaii, in 1991, we settled in the Comox Valley, sold the Spencer 35 , had another child , and built the Brent Swain 36 steel twin-keeler, ‘Silas Crosby’ . The construction was a joint project with my brother John , and took 2 yrs and 4 months. After launching in about 1994 we cruised far and wide on the BC coast.

In 2001 the 4 of us did a north Pacific triangle cruise over a year, to Mexico, Hawaii, and home to BC again.

About a year ago in Sept 2010, we set off again to try to fulfill a long held dream., to explore the cruising grounds of the channels and islands of southern Chile and Patagonia. This time the crew was Steve (56) , my brother  (69), and niece Meredith (25). John sailed with us as far as La Paz in the Sea of Cortez before returning to Vancouver.

The idea of sailing from cold water in BC to colder water in southern Chile did not appeal to my wife Barb, so she elected to stay home and live the good life, untroubled by boat fanatics.

We are now in Valdivia, Chile, reaching the end of the austral winter. We arrived about 4 months ago via Easter Island, Galapagos, and Mexico.In the next week or two we plan to continue south eventually reaching Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino sometime around March 2012.

Tell me your favorite things about your boat.
Steel hull , twin keels , continuous tube liferails.  We pay a little bit for the twin keels when hard on the wind , but we still had a good passage from Galapagos to Easter Island with the wind forward of the beam the whole way.

The solid liferails are very sensible. I think only Amel installs them as standard on a production boat. Recommended safety item.

Tell me your least favorite thing about your boat.
Concern about rust. Not too big a problem in the first 17 years , but one does have to pay attention, despite flame-spraying during construction.

I would have loved to be able to justify the expense of a folding or feathering prop. Probably good for 1/2 knot on the wind , maybe more in light winds. The right deal has never come up in a 17 x 15″ 3- blade prop.
Of course, we need a 50′ boat to live aboard in rainy weather but only a 36′ boat to sail and pay for.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
Our worst weather was the last week coming in to Chile. We were really psyched up to get some bad weather, and would have been surprised had we not. So the two fronts that passed over us were uncomfortable, but OK.

Until that time I had used the storm jib and trysail only once before to slow down in strong winds coming in to New Zealand in 1987.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?  
This is interesting. We really use our whisker pole a lot, and try to sail wing and wing as much as possible because it is so comfortable, steady, and just generally easy on our boat.  When we arrived in Valdivia we have found several cruising boats that don’t even own a whisker pole and make their way downwind by jibing. These are all boats that have sailed thousands and thousands of miles to get here.

Another interesting thing we’ve discovered is how many crews do not keep a watch system. Many of the solo sailors just go to bed and get up whenever. Also some of the couples both turn in at bedtime and get up for breakfast. Some have AIS and radar watches but some don’t.

We tend to generally enjoy the night watches, sort of for private time.

Over the time that you have been cruising, has the world of cruising changed? 
Starting in 1974 we navigated the old, scary , approximate way. The last week coming in to Cape Scott with an RDF and DR was sketchy. GPS is excellent .We have occasionally dug out the sextant, mostly to look at it in wonder, but we don’t push the ‘off’ button on the GPS.  But really, the fundamentals have not changed at all. The people are still the same, great and friendly and helpful. The wilderness areas are still wild.
People still run up on reefs

Navigation is a lot easier, and much less stressful. That’s good.

Engines are more reliable. Sails are stronger and more durable.

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?
We have a 10 1/2 foot Portabote, a 7 1/2 foot inflatable , two 13′ solid plastic kayaks with sprayskirts, drysuits etc, and a 2 hp outboard. We haven’t actually used either of the dinghies since sometime in Mexico. It is a lot of gear to be hauling around. I expect we will need the inflatable in Patagonia for shoreline etc.

What do you miss about living on land?
My family.

While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
DAN emergency health insurance and 2 yr coverage from BC government health system. I went to medical school to prepare for cruising , probably overkill (!) but it is helpful. I was offered a pre-emptive appendectomy , but declined , and brought injectable antibiotics instead.

Banking , taken care of by Herself at Home.

Mail : what mail?

Why did you decide to cruise?
Reading Slocum , then Chichester as a 10 or 12 year old.

What did you do to make your dream a reality? 
Became Obsessive.

Finish this sentence. “Generally when I am provisioning…”
I think that food (any food) is important. Also I am associated with experts in the form of Barb and Meredith.

How do you fund your cruise?
Savings.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time? 
The romance of voyaging under sail in a small capable vessel to interesting and far-off lands has not faded for me in the least. Miles Smeeton was the first writer that conveyed that to me. It is the travel across oceans under sail. Sailing is important.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
As a general lesson, for me, when the ‘Cruising Blues’ set in, it is time to leave town. It happens more often, but not exclusively, in the cities.

I have been back to the Baja side 3 times and around Vancouver Island 6 times, so those must be my favorites.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
After several voyages without an HF transmitter on board , I am really enjoying blabbing on the SSB and Ham nets , and on informal scheds. I find that there is still lots of time for watching the birds , the waves, and the insides of my eyelids. The 2 x 85 watt solar panels are plenty to power the radio and the little Engel fridge(also a first for us)

The crude windvane, built to an old design is invaluable.

What is the next piece of gear you would add to your boat if it were free?
Fluency in Spanish. It isn’t free, though. I has cost me many, many hours to get to the early intermediate stage.

What is a tip or a trick you have picked up along the way?
Mast Up and Water Outside. Hot tips.

How much does cruising cost?  
$17,345.43 per year, plus or minus, depending on beer.

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10 Questions for Blue Sky

Jim, Emma, Phoebe (13) & Drake (11) began cruising at the end of 2005 and stopped in mid 2011. They cruised a Westward Trade Wind Route aboard Blue Sky a DownEast Ketch 45 hailing from Redondo Beach, California, USA. Readers can learn more about them on their website.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Emma: You must stock up on provisions when inexpensive and or available. If you see it buy it.
Phoebe: Knowing what will not be available in the next cruising area.
Drake: Happy that it was all a surprise.
Jim: How much work was involved with Boat/Home schooling.

What is something that you looked forward to about cruising when you were dreaming, that is as good or even better than imagined?
Phoebe: The various shades of blue the ocean can be.
Drake: Seeing animals in their natural habitats.
Emma: The beauty of the people & their countries.
Jim: The pure joy of being on the boat under full sail when all conditions combined to creat the optimum sailing experience. The best was 48 hours in the coral sea covering 348 nm.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
Emma: Not often, Because we always checked the weather.
Phoebe: Did not notice as I was usually down below if conditions were not perfect.
Drake: Less than 2% of total 5.5 year voyage. Not bad.
Jim: Downwind passage 95+ % so even squally, rainy 25+ knots of wind was comfortable. Upwind, current & swell on the outside of Baja, California was the most unpleasant.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
Emma: Watermaker.
Phoebe: Portable DVD players.
Drake: Headphones.
Jim: Hoseclamps.

What do you think is a common cruising myth.
Emma: Less work than Home/Profession.
Phoebe: Mermaids.
Drake: Sharks are scary.
Jim: It's always sunny & warm.

Across a year, what do you spend the most money on while cruising?
Emma: Provisions.
Phoebe: Ice Cream.
Drake: Toys.
Jim: Preventative or replacement parts for the boat.

How did you recommend securing your vessel while going ashore? And your dinghy?
Phoebe: Closing hatches & windows for rain.
Drake: Removing the engine kill key from the dingy.
Jim: Very rare to lock the vessel, make certain that dingy is above the high tide line ashore and hoisted in the davits EVERY night.
Emma: Only once did we need to keep a watch on the vessel while crew went ashore to perform check in/out procedures. Same watch person also dropped crew ashore via the dingy and returned the tender back to the vessel.

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?
Phoebe: Simplified our lives but wished for better shower facility. Ours was on deck.
Emma: To see the world through the children's eyes. Amazed at the lack of solitary free time. We were called the floating chandlery, even so we would have purchased more spares at home (because of availability and low cost) to prepare, prevent or protect components from breaking down.
Drake: Our home moved. All the chores like knocking back the slimy anchor chain.
Jim: Breakfast, Lunch & dinner as a family every day. During the re-fit I was talked into re-using equipment rather than purchasing new. These were the items that most often failed.

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was overrated (not as good as you had heard)?
Emma: Carribean.
Drake: The silty brown water in Singapore/Malaysia.
Jim: The Great Barrier Reef - disappointing after the South Pacific.
Phoebe: Aruba. Expensive tourist trap, overrun, large military presence because of Venezuela & South American drug cartels.

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

What about insurance? Including: vessel, health & emergency evacuation. 

We had vessel insurance the whole way around the world. Now with hind sight we would have self insured ourselves once we left Mexico and would not have reinstated it until we returned to Mexico and the US (the only two countries that asked for it.) Health insurance is unnecessary as health care and dentistry around the world is available and affordable. However, we were fortunate and did not have a major incident. For emergency evacuation, we utilized DAN. All cruisers we met we told them about this service and we think for the cost/benefit this is an absolute must have!

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10 Questions for Bika

Henrik Nor-Hansen and Nina Kristin Nilsen have been cruising since 2005 aboard Bike, a Contessa 26 hailing from Stavanger, Norway. Since 2005 they have cruised through Europe, Africa, Caribbean, South America, North America. The boat is currently in Mexico and they have an upcoming Pacific crossing. You can follow their journey on their blog or website or by email (sybikaAThotmail.com). Henrik & Nina say: We spend short stints on land in between, but have no plans of moving back ashore. The freedom of the cruising lifestyle is too addictive. Also, the questions are answered by Nina only.
 
Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
Oh oh. Uneasy question. Brought up as a good Norwegian social democrat, I have a hard time singling out favourites. As there's no escaping the Scandinavian mode of thought, as a cruiser I must give every place equal opportunity to charm me with music, stun me with scenery, I must look upon each stranger as an unknown friend. But I'll work around your trick question by picking out this one: Bika. Our boat is my favourite place to be. Because the scenery constantly changes, new friends are always to be had, I'm travelling the world with my best-friend-husband, and I wake up aboard every day feeling immensely free.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
The one-big-family aspect of cruising is both a blessing and a minor curse. It's wonderful being able to knock on any hull, for whatever reason, just because we are fellow cruisers. The strong sense of sharing among cruisers is what makes it possible to live wonderful lives at the edges of society. Money can't get you that lifesaving spare part in a remote anchorage, but a fellow cruiser can. Then there's the sense of belonging. None of your friends and family living on land can truly understand what it's like to live afloat. But other cruisers do.  And the minor curse? Because you find so many friends among fellow cruisers, you find less local friends.

Across a year, what do you spend the most money on while cruising?
Food and drink. A flight back home to visit family and friends. The boat. Generally in that order, but as we recently have done a major refit, the boat expenses have taken a temporary lead.

While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
We've had health and boat insurance while cruising in the US, but generally do without both. We have some buffer money for whatever emergency may arise, trust local medical services (for prevention we live a healthy lifestyle and carry our own remedies), we use internet banking and have most mail delivered electronically.

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
Like the average cruising couple, I was the rookie while my husband had grown up sailing. To find out if cruising could be for us, we went on an eight week long sailing trip along the Norwegian coast. We went offshore to see if I'd freak out from loosing sight of land or heeling over, we navigated by lighted buoys through dark nights, we ran out of butter and bread. And loved it. Henrik had sailed since he was a baby, even crossing the North Sea and Skagerak, while I only had one year of mostly coastal cruising when we took off.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Skip the plans, skip the prearranged route (we had them, but soon dumped them).

What is the most difficult aspect of the cruising lifestyle?
Having to go back on land to earn a little money now and then. Office work, set hours, TGIF, all that.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
Our pressure cooker, as it saves time and gas, doesn't give off steam, has a lid that stays on in bumpy seas and cooks healthy food. Radio podcasts (Radiolab! This American Life! The Moth!) on our mp3-player, for night watches. The newly installed AIS receiver, for peace of mind, and because ships reply more if you use their name. The SSB receiver for weather offshore. The sailmaker's bag for offshore repairs. Our laptops, for almost everything.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
We set a date, May 15th 2005, and stuck to it. Our decision was based on trust and enthusiasm. Trust in the seaworthiness of a small and affordable boat, and in us as a couple. And enthusiasm, as you can just do it, if you really really want to.

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

What gear or gadget do you cruise happily without? 

Ha ha, most! Inboard engines are not essential for small boats, you can charge your battery from solar power, and sail into harbours (as, being sailors on a sailboat, really makes sense). Chart plotters, well, paper charts never fail, and need no electricity. Fridge or freezer? We do like our grandparents did, we salt and dry fish and meat, top our butter off with brine, wax cheese and know that eggs stay almost forever. But we wish we had a dinghy we could sail, and a sat phone, just in case.

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10 Questions for Mico Verde

Tanna Island, Vanuatu

Warren Johnson and Stephanie Parry cruised from 2004 to 2007 aboard Mico Verde, a Westsail 32’ hailing from Seattle, WA, USA. They left Washington, heading down the US Coast through Mexico as far South as Zihuatanejo and then across the South Pacific from the Marquesas to Australia and through Indonesia and Singapore. You can learn more about their travels on their website or via email (micoverde@gmail.com). They say: We started cruising when we were both 29, and ended when we were 33. We stopped cruising in Singapore where we sold Mico Verde. Two months after leaving the boat, we moved to Beijing, China where we worked, got master’s degrees, and had a baby (not necessarily in that order). Still in China as of December 2010.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?

Bought a small, cheap 25’ boat on which we practiced sailing and moved aboard so that we could save on housing expenses. We moved aboard in the spring and had all summer in Seattle to enjoy living on board but with fall and winter looming, we wanted to be living more comfortably aboard the cruising boat by the end of summer. So we kicked our research/shopping around into high gear. We decided on a Westsail because of the price (at the time they could be had for ~$50k), the offshore seaworthiness, and the look. Warren visited a few Westsails on the west coast and we decided on one that was in San Diego, CA. We had her put on a trailer and towed up to Seattle. She had been cruising in Mexico relatively recently so was in great condition and we really didn’t have to do too much work on her through the winter and summer. We had always planned to leave Seattle sometime in August 2004 and get down the west coast to California by September, and we were able to stick to that schedule.

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

I have been in the country I’m provisioning in for a couple months, and the port I’m provisioning in for a few weeks, so I know what is available. I list 15-20 meals that can be made with items in the local markets and then build a matrix assuming that we will feed ourselves from those meals for 3 months. The meals I plan are usually the main meals you’d consider for dinner planning, so I also have a list going of what we’ll need for breakfast and snacks. Lunch stuff just seemed to come together on its own and was less of a planned affair.

Then, I make a massive list and it usually takes a few trips that result in several full carts. Warren came along as a pack mule but I wouldn’t let him influence my list or decisions once in the store or he would try to cut back, always thinking that we were buying way more than necessary. But in the end it was usually just about right. Sometimes we would buy too much of something that in the end we didn’t like (canned broccoli – sounded so practical, tasted so awful) but we could usually find people that would trade for it.

I’d often cook from my meal plan, especially on passage, but in port dinners were much more improvised based on local restaurants or whatever was available fresh.

Over the years, how much time do you think you spend at anchor, at marinas, sailing and motoring?

Lizard Island, Australia, anchorage

This is hard to answer because different cruisers have different lifestyles. Some ports have people living aboard their sailboats that are anchored, and have been so for years. Those people will say they spend 100% of their time anchored. But does that sound like the kind of cruising life you’d like to lead?

Our cruising style was generally not to be in too much of a rush. We were very careful to make sure weather would be favorable, we had the charts for our destination, and that we both felt up to making a passage. Warren also loved to get to know a place, whereas I was always champing at the bit to see the next anchorage. But because Warren was the captain, his pace generally won out. So I would say we generally were at the end of the pack during the cruising season, and might not always get to the most remote or un-charted anchorages.

With that said, on passages we sailed as much as we could – if we had 8 knots of apparent wind, we’d sail unless we wanted to reach an anchorage before night and needed to move faster in order to do so.

If anchorages were comfortable, we’d always choose to anchor. We only pulled into marinas to make life easier, for instance if we needed to do some work on the boat or if the anchorages were non-existent or extremely uncomfortable. But if an anchorage is really uncomfortable, we’d usually move to a better one unless there was some reason to go into shore, like to check in or get provisions.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?

Suwarrow, Cook Islands, was probably the only single anchorage where we wish we could have stayed longer. Because of weather and visas, we had to leave French Polynesia, but we’d go back to all the island chains in FP again in a heartbeat. Wish we could have seen more of the Puget Sound.

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

There were so many, it is hard to just list one. In Indonesia, we stopped at a town called Bima. A man and his son approached Warren and asked him if he’d like to come home with them. Warren went home with them, met the rest of their family and their pet monkey, and agreed to come meet the man’s class of students at the local business vocational school. The next day both Warren and I went with him to his school where we each gave short talks to the students (who all had a fair understanding of English) about what we did in our careers, and then took questions from the students. Some students asked very thoughtful questions, like “How can we attract more tourists to Bima?” while others asked some questions exhibiting their curiosity about other cultures, like, “Do you have children? Why not?” It was a lot of fun to be able to interact with this small sampling of Indonesian teenagers.

What do you miss about living on land?

We missed: a rectangular mattress, steady flow of electricity, showers, being able to walk on land without a dinghy ride first.

What do you do about mail?

When we knew we’d be in a place for a while that had a post office or an address we could use (e.g., a marina), we’d ask our mail service to send us everything that had accumulated to that point. Our mail service was really bad and would often not send us mail even after we’d requested it, so eventually we learned to deal without mail. Occasionally friends or family would want to send us something, but I suspect now you could get away without mail at all, or very rarely, as long as you can get email or an Internet connection every once in a while.

How did you secure your valuables (in and on your vessel) while going ashore? And your dinghy?

Padlock on the main hatch of the boat, and closed the rest of the hatches from the inside. We had a padlock on the outboard that made it difficult to remove from the dinghy. The dinghy itself we usually didn’t lock up, though I seem to remember once or twice we had a really clumsy system with a chain and a padlock securing it to the dock. After Cabo San Lucas, we never left anything in the dinghy. Someone stole our flashlight out of it when we went ashore there at night. Our last night at anchor (in Indonesia, before heading for Singapore) someone stole Warren’s flip-flop shoes out of the dinghy. We had the last laugh because Warren’s feet were so big we had a really hard time finding shoes in Indonesia that would fit him. I’m sure the thief got home with his new pair of shoes and realized they were several sizes too big for him, or anyone, to wear.

What do you enjoy about cruising that you didn't expect to enjoy?

Warren working on the engine in Darwin, Australia

For me (Stephanie): the sailing. Don’t get me wrong, I never liked the sailing all THAT much, but when conditions are in that perfect state – downwind, calm seas, fair weather – it can be pretty awesome. I’m not sure what Warren would say – he’d probably say the satisfaction of knowing his Perkins 4-108 intimately and being confident that it would see us through thanks to his hard work.

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

After 3 years of living on land, do you still wish you were cruising? 

We were pretty burned out when we decided to stop cruising. We went cheap and low-tech so we could do it sooner rather than later. But after a while, modern convenience started to look really nice. We have no regrets about it, and of course the hard times recede into distant memory while the good times stand in stark contrast to the every-day-ness of living on land. But that cruise did teach us that living simply is possible and desirable, that being close to nature is something we both love and miss, and that missing a shower or two isn’t that bad if you can live in a bathing suit most days. We’re starting to talk about the next cruise and how important it is for our daughter to get to experience some of it. We’re still in the negotiation phase (Warren later, me sooner), but I think it made such an impression on us that we do want to do it again. It’s a great life.

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10 Questions For Coconut

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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10 Questions for Raven

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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10 Questions for Bondi Tram

Bondi Tram is a Beneteau Cyclades 50.3' (15.67m) hailing from Sydney, Australia. Peter and Sandra Colquhuon have been cruising aboard since 2004 through SE Asia,  the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, Mediterranean, and Atlantic. You can find more information about them on their blog.

They say: “We bought our boat new and had to make a lot of decisions about what to add to the basic boat for cruising.  While I think (as a novice) I did a reasonable job, there are a number of things I would now like to have done. However, this is a wish list, and we have managed very well without them: furling reacher instead of asymmetric spinnaker and sock, feathering propeller, 120 litres per hour watermaker instead of 60 litres per hour , wind generator and solar panels, and powered jib furler.”

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
We have had several breakages, but none seem to be repeating frequently.  Breakages/failures include:
- Burnt out starter motor (with 80 hours on the engine!).  Fixed by a Thai guy who took it way, rewound it and delivered it back in two hours, for $20!  And it still works perfectly!
- Burnt out engine starter solenoid points (fixed in 10 minutes in an automotive shop in the back streets of Aden)
- Seized windlass causing windlass motor to burn out (rewound in Malaysia, still going strong)
- Spinnaker halyard snapped, Indian Ocean
- Jib halyard snapped, Indian Ocean
- Main halyard snapped, Croatia (all these halyards were less than 3 years old).
At one stage we were going through an excessive amount of generator impellers, but that may have been caused by a bad batch of impellers as we are going much better now...touch wood.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
We were motoring in the Sea of Marmara on the way to Istanbul.  The wind got up, and we put the sails up and started to heel.  Fortunately, Sandra went below at that point and found a lot of salt water in the cabin..the bilge boards on the lee side were starting to float!  I started the motor and dropped the sails and went below to find the source of the leak.  I had trouble getting in to the aft starboard cabin because a floating bilge board was blocking the door.  The water was halfway up the batteries.  Sandra operated the bilge pump, but I realised quite quickly that now the boat was up upright, the water had stopped coming in and I soon found the problem.

We had turned one head into a laundry with a washing machine.  We removed the head, put in a platform, and t-barred the washing machine intake to the sink/shower tap.  For the outlet, we use the toilet water intake hose.  The toilet outlet was not used, and was just lying inside the cupboard below the sink.

Normally we turn all the sea-cocks in the laundry off, but the unused toilet outlet sea-cock, the biggest pipe, had inadvertently been turned on.  When we were motoring, all was fine, but as soon as we heeled, the pipe was below water and in it gushed.

So we were nearly sunk by a washing machine! If Sandra had not gone below when she did, I reckon the starboard batteries would have been under water in another 2 or 3 minutes.
No damage was done, I just spent a day cleaning up with fresh water
.
While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
Most of our regular expenses are handled with automatic payments.  ATMs and internet access has made managing financial affairs relatively easy compared with the past.  All our mail gets delivered to our daughter, but with email there is very little snail mail any more for her to worry about.  She is an accountant and takes care of our tax returns as well.

Across a year, what do you spend the most money on while cruising?
Food, fuel, insurance, tourist activities, airfares home for the winter and maintenance.  We spent relatively little time in marinas in the Mediterranean, apart from two winters. Both times we went home to Sydney for the winter.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
A lot of that depends on what part of the world you are in.  In the Mediterranean, at nearly every anchorage we spend part of the day ashore sightseeing.  During the summer we were on the move a lot, and any time we spent in one place we did washing and boat chores.

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
We raced a dinghy on Sydney Harbour for many years.  To get bigger boat experience, we bought a yacht and put it in charter with Sunsail in the Whitsunday Islands.  We went on the ferry trip from Sydney to Hamilton Island with the ferry crew and this was our first big experience.

Our arrangement with Sunsail gave us 4 weeks use of the boat every year, as well as 'swapping time' at other Sunsail bases. This allowed us to spend 2 weeks a year in the Whitsundays, and another 2 weeks at various Sunsail locations - for example we cruised in Thailand, French Polynesia (twice), Tonga, and  from Auckland to the Bay of Islands.

What do you miss about living on land?
Not a lot really.

Finish this sentence. "Generally when I am provisioning..."
...I leave it to Sandra!  She does an excellent job and we mostly eat on board.  If we go to a restaurant, it's more for entertainment than the food.

Sandra keeps a spreadsheet of stores, which is handy for long passages.  In the med, you can shop every day if you want.

The longest we have been between supermarkets was 10 days .. Phuket, Thailand to Male in the Maldives.  Of course, with the Atlantic and Pacific coming up, I guess we will be a bit longer between shops.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
 
What can you expect as a cruiser?

Always expect the UNEXPECTED...whether its weather or breakages, you cannot assume that things will remain as they are!  Take care where when you anchor, make sure you power set....think about what might happen if 40 knots of wind arrives at 2  in the morning!

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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!

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10 Questions for Mist

Susan Travers and Elba Borgen are two women who have been cruising since 2005 aboard SV Mist, a Cape George 40 hailing from San Francisco, CA, USA. Over those years they have cruised more than 20,000 miles offshore through the US Pacific NW and West Coast, Mexico, the Marquesas, Society Islands, French Polynesia and Hawaii. They can be found on their website or reached via email (SV_MIST@yahoo.com).

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
If it were easy, anyone would do it. 

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
It is usually a chain of events. Everything breaks eventually.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Most dangerous to us is getting eaten alive by vendors in the major cities and in places like Port Townsend. Those places will clean out your cruising kitty in a matter of days.

While cruising, what do you do about health & boat insurance, medical issues, banking and mail delivery?
No mail. Email only or items shipped FEDEX or UPS if there is a reliable receive are in the country or just do without until we reach an area that has a reliable delivery system or where we can purchase what we need there, or have a fellow cruiser bring ‘something’ back from the States for you and pay him/her with a fine dinner upon delivery.

Why did you decide to cruise?
To travel at our own pace with our home to exotic lands.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation
Sitting at a quiet anchorage with maybe one other boat (or not) in crystal clear water, swinging in the hammock, sipping on a cold juice, watching the sea life swimming below you (giant manta rays, sharks, puffer fish, whales) on a warm (slight breeze) sunny day in the tropics.

What has been the most affordable area to cruise and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
The most affordable is to be at sea or at anchor in a remote area or Mexico. Most expensive is in any marina, anywhere.

Over the years, how much time do you think you spend at anchor, at marinas, sailing and motoring?
80% at anchor 20% at marinas. We sail 90% of the time and use our engine only as a means of charging our house batteries and running our electronics, navigation lights, occasional refrigeration as well as to get in and out of difficult passes, atolls, river mouths, narrow entrances, etc. Our vessel moves best and travels most comfortably while strictly under sail. There is nothing as wonderful as a sail boat moving with the elements of nature.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
Self reliant, thrifty, caring group of people who are independent and not afraid of the unknown. The part of the cruising culture I don't like....I can't really say that there is much if anything I do not like about the cruising culture other than some folks can surely tip the bottle a bit too frequently for taste, but what 'culture' doesn't have that potential?

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
 
Any regrets about living on a cruising boat or do you miss your former lifestyle?

Answer: HELLO NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This life is the most difficult and the most rewarding of anything we ever did professionally at land.

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10 Questions for Sereia

Peter, Antonia and Silas Murphy have been cruising for 5 years aboard Sereia their 1979 36’ Mariner ketch hailing from Richmond, CA through California, Mexico, Central America, Ecuador, Pacific, and New Zealand. You can read more about their travels on their website.

What is something that you were dreading about cruising, when you were dreaming about cruising, that is as bad or worse than imagined?
Seasickness. I managed to keep this in check with Scopolamine patches, but once I got pregnant, I couldn’t take them. Twenty-seven days across the Pacific is a long time to be throwing up!

Is there something from your land life that you brought cruising and feel silly about bringing now?
I didn’t need 80 different kinds of spices. They have spices overseas. Likewise, beans, pasta, and rice are all readily available to human beings who live in other countries.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
Sorry, can’t give sailing tips, because I don’t sail. I am sailed, by my husband Peter. However I do seem to recall him saying something about steering away from breaking waves.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Don’t get so worked up about bureaucratic regulations. In third world countries, a little patience and a smile go a long way. Also, I wish I’d learned how to fish.

Is there a place you visited wish you could have stayed longer?
The Galapagos islands were fascinating, and we could have spent a good deal of time exploring them. Unfortunately, they are hopelessly corrupt. So unless you enjoy smoking hundred dollar bills, you’ll probably have to limit your stay there.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette
I can think of about twenty, offhand. But the most important one, and the most critical one, is that cruisers help each other out. So if you hear about someone in trouble on the radio—whether they have run out of diesel or parmigiano reggiano—you go out of your way to help them. Besides, this is ultimately selfish. You never know when you’ll be in the same position.

Tell me your least favorite thing about your boat
She has no private submarine. Or maid.

What do you do about mail?
Who uses mail? Everything is electronic. For the IRS and other irritating pests, I just give them my mother’s address.

When you are offshore, what keeps you awake at night (that is, what worries you most)?
Those goddamned whales, always beeping and sighing around my boat. They sound like a New Age self-help CD.

What question should I be asking other cruisers besides the ones in this list and how would you answer it?
The two questions everyone wants to ask, and everyone is reluctant to answer, are: how did you afford to go cruising, and how much did it cost? If you can the cruisers to answer that one, the dreamers will definitely log on.

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