10 Questions for Cloverleaf

David Feiges, chief mechanic, Beverly Feiges, chief helms-person and Navi-guesser began cruising in 1977 aboard Cloverleaf, a Krogen design built by Treworgy Yachts hailing from Sioux City, Iowa, USA. They traveled the East coast of the USA from Maine to western Florida, most all of the Bahamas, all the eastern Caribbean, Venezuela, Jamaica Caymans and western Caribbean from Honduras through Mexico, the Mediterranean from the Balearics to Turkey, south to Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt.  You keep track of them on their blog or via email (cloverleaf@cloverleaf.com).

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Not to worry about not having our lives wrapped up with the three couples we were so close to in Iowa, and that we could become addicted, and I really mean addicted, to constantly meeting new people with new stories to tell.

What is your most common sail combination on passage?
When we sailed, (for the first 21 years of our cruising life) we used jib, main, and mizzen. Downwind we used spinnaker and mizzen staysail, We consider a pole to wing out either the jib or spinnaker to be an essential. Check my article "If You Really Want To Sail" in an SCA bulletin a few years back.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
I hate to even admit this, but one night anchored in the offshore island of Aves, with no other vessel even in radio hailing distance except what I thought was a suspicious Venezuelan boat. Dave refused to worry and he was right; we later learned from the area ranger, this was a Venezuelan buy boat, which explained all the small boats coming and going.

What is your biggest lesson learned?
Don't be afraid to alter course when conditions warrant. We learned this, and it took twice, on rough passages from Caicos to Dominican Republic, and the Virgins to St. Martin. In both cases there were alternate harbors, and falling off to reach them would have turned an exciting and rough upwind slog, to a pleasant, exciting reach.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
I love the long slow breakfast times when we are not rushed, can take our food and a full pot of coffee to the cockpit or what I now call "the back porch," enjoy the scenery, have plenty of time to talk and even read a chapter out loud from our current book. Then we will each go to work, doing chores, housekeeping, whatever, and if the water is warm, a swim, in fact on really hot days, multiple swims. If we are lucky, we will meet some neighbors and share the sundowner hours with them. We end the evening, now since we got the dish, with some evening TV. It doesn't get much better than that.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
Get it as big as you can afford to maintain. Bigger is easier, it is more stable, there is room for more goodies and more room to do the maintenance. Life is more pleasant, but only if you can afford the bill. Bigger is for sure more expensive, it is not harder to handle,but don't buy more than what you can comfortably afford. Whatever you buy, if you don't keep it up,it will be dangerous.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
We had to think long and hard about that one, since with good maintenance, there is usually nothing repetitive, except when we foolishly try to keep old equipment running long after its used by date, as happened with our old generator and windlass. Otherwise, I would have to say toilets, both electric and hand pump variety, often related to having guests.

How do you fund your cruise?
Dave's quick answer is he calls our boys, who took over the business, and tells them, "Trip costing more than expected, WORK HARDER." In truth, we are retired now, but Dave did not really leave the working world when we first bought the cruising boat. We did it in short chunks, built around school vacations, and did not consider himself fully retired until 65.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
I love the people we meet, the joy in sharing their adventures and ours, the openheartedness of almost all the cruising community. On the negative there are a few, you hear them on the radio, usually someone who has not been humbled by mother nature yet, who can say the most awful things. Fortunately very seldom, but the Jersey Shore seems an area you are most likely to hear this sort of thing.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
Maybe a question about favorite books, especially cruising books, like the Saga of Cimba or Fair Winds and Far Places, or favorite entertainment equipment, like satellite radio, and TV.

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10 Questions for Exit Only

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

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

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

Describe a typical day at anchor?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What are your impressions of the cruising community?

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

What is a common cruising myth?

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

What did you do to make your dream a reality?

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

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

How do you manage storms at sea?

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

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

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

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10 Questions for Berlin Express

Stefan and Chloe plus about 50 other crew over 3 years have been cruising since 2007 in Berlin Express (or BE for short), a small boatyard Folkes in Canada, 39ft hailing from Berlin, Germany although they have never been there by boat. Since 2007 they have cruised from Melbourne, Australia to Fiji (eastwards) then to Europe (westwards, of course). You can read more about their travels in their website or contact them by email (stefan_huebbe@hotmail.com).

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult?
To stop spending money. I was so used to earning money and my cruising kitty seemed kind of endless that I still hit the club bar and went far to often to these money-traps called ship chandleries. Thousands of shiny stainless shackles later, I slowly realized what is really important and I probably sailed for the last 2 years on the same money I spent in the first 6 months.

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
Speaking for myself, it was the need for money and the desire to discover something other than empty beaches.  I also wanted some new challenges. However well knowing that this will just make me miss cruising again, which is kind of good, because otherwise over time I may not appreciate anymore how amazing the sailing life can be.

Hard to say about others. Reckon there are many who see cruising more as sight seeing and as a proving ground. They haste around the world in flash boats, take photos for the web page and then are happy to return home with some adventures stories. And this is more than fine, too. Only a few find a sustainable long term-stimulating lifestyle in cruising, I guess... looking into any anchorage you will also see these two groups of sailors.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?
The Pacific! Leaving Australia, I sailed there first and had no idea what I had there until I left 6 months later. I am looking forward to the day I'll be back there with heaps of time sailing all they way east to west.

Why did you decide to cruise?
I always sailed and loved the sea. I just needed to do it 100% to fully be one with this amazing energy. Especially passages and remote places are my thing because they give you something you can never experience on charters or weekend sails. I believe cruising is the only way how you can actually
find real freedom.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
Sleeping-in avoiding any thoughts about a dragging anchor. Long breakfast ignoring the long list of maintenance needing to be done. Just doing nothing and ignoring the clouds that could make this peaceful anchorage very uncomfortable. Finally arriving at the happy hour and realizing that this is actually heaven! maybe a little occasional scream of joy depending on if we are alone in the anchorage or not.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
Saved like there is no tomorrow.

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget
I always did everything myself on the boat which really helps to save money but in the beginning I still treated myself to some upgrades here and there like a newish Spinaker, a Pactor-modem, new chain when the old one was still doing the job or overpriced 'International' paint, etc. Later I discovered so many alternative ways to get these things much cheaper. A sail can mostly be fixed even and there are good second hand ones, there is an alternative to Pactor and Satellite-phone, chain doesn't fail just because it starts slightly to corrode and the fishermen always know where to get the cheapest and best paint.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation
When you feel that the boat is perfectly balanced and running fast with great easy in a fresh breeze with an unobstructed horizon around you. Playful in tune with the nature's forces, cutting through the water like a dolphin. You feel the movements through your whole body and know that this is very special. (Again maybe a small scream of joy as there is no one around for hundreds or thousands of miles other than your friends...)

Finish this sentence. "Generally when I am provisioning..."
I think the huge pile of Asia-noodles and cookies will last at least for half a year... only to find them all gone in a month.

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

Do you think cruising has changed over the decades?

Yes! I can only envy the pioneers who sailed when most islands had no resorts and another boat in an anchorage was a pleasant surprise. Working with essentials on a small boat and being closer to the real thing looking at the barometer and not Navtex. But on the other hand,  I am still out with the sextant by over 50miles, so I will quietly sit down and just be grateful for what we still can experience out there.

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10 Questions for Cherokee 2

Peter and Renate Zedalis began cruising in April 2004 and say they plan to continue into the distant future. Cherokee 2 is a 1973 Morgan Out Island 41 hailing from Miami, Florida, USA. They say “We have lived aboard for over 15 years in the Florida Keys and love being on the water. My husband Pete worked many years as a professional captain, and spend many years cruising Florida waters whether it was teaching sailing, learning to live a board or fully crewed charters, which we enjoyed doing together. We also managed a charter company together as well. Our retirement dream was to cruise farther a field. In April 2004 we sailed from our homeport of Marathon Florida for Key West to wait for weather conditions for our first leg which would take us to Isla Mujeres Mexico. From there we cruised down the Mexican coast to Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and the Bay Islands, around Cabo Gracia a Dios down to Isla Providencia and Isla San Andres, then on to Bocas del Toro in Panama. After that with stops in between at Colon, Portobelo, and Linton Panama came the fabulous San Blas Islands and Cartagena Colombia.”

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
Our favorite places to cruise so far are the San Blas Island of Panama. They are still remote with beautiful coconut palm covered islands and sandy beaches. The waters of the San Blas are wonderful for snorkeling and diving. There are two seasons here; dry season and rainy season. Dry season brings predominant NE winds with higher sea states. During rainy season the winds vary and at times will be very light and the seas at this time are flat calm making it possible to snorkel the out side of the reef. This is our favorite time of year even so it does get a lot warmer with out the breeze.

One of the best things about this area is that it is a land with out hurricanes. The local Kuna people inhabit many of the islands. They are small in stature, are great sailors and fishermen. So we never have a shortage of lobster or crab. We also enjoy the fishing here and have caught large Wahoo offshore and big Grouper near the many reefs that can be found here in these beautiful waters. For provisioning civilization is 43NM to 75NM away. Depending on whether we choose to provision from Linton by bus or go all the way to Shelter Bay Marina in Colon. Panama City also is not far, and we can get almost anything we need there.

So, we are still here and have not yet decided where we want to cruise to next.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
The cruising community is wonderful. Fellow cruisers are always willing to land hand or even offer up their spare parts to some one in need. We are always making new friends and enjoy potlucks, book and dvd exchanges or hosting a small gathering on our own vessel. Even getting together for games. It is like living in a small community and knowing all your neighbors.

The only thing that I dislike is the fact that we are all on the move, so there fore we have to say goodbye to some truly wonderful people and friends. Some we see again with others we are only able to stay in touch via e-mail.

What is the key to making the cruising life enjoyable?
We think the key to making the cruising life enjoyable is the same as anything else in life. You have got to want to do it and give yourself a few amenities. Living like you are camping out is not the answer.
If a small thing like a microwave oven is important then that is what should be on the boat. Good refrigeration is very important to us. Whether it is that or some other item the secret is to be comfortable and feel safe on your boat.

How do you recommend securing your vessel while going ashore, and your dinghy?
First of all we make sure that the boat is securely anchored. There is nothing like coming back from shore and discovering that your vessel is no longer where she had been left. Than before going ashore we close and lock all hatches and companionways.

Some people use alarms such as motion detectors. We do not have either since we cruise with our cat Sam, and he would set them off constantly.

As for the dinghy, we have a special bar that locks the motor on to the dinghy. We had ours made out of stainless but thy are available in most marine stores. We also have a cable to lock the dinghy to the dock. Most places we have left the dinghy we have not had to cable it to the dock. If we do not feel comfortable with a certain anchorage or dinghy dock we try to avoid it and look for an alternative.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
We really can’t give a sailing tip because each passage is different and each vessel sails and handles differently. We use the main sail at all times because it gives stability to the boat. We also have a staysail, which is used more than the genoa. It is better for going to weather, and it is self- tending. But what sail combination works best depends on the boat and weather and sea condition.

The most important thing is to pay attention to the weather. If conditions are not right, wait. We are cruising we are not in a hurry. As for swells; if they are far apart and the boat is moving well they can be comfortable even if large.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat.
Our day begins with on or two radio nets that keep us in touch with the cruising community. I am also a net controller for the Panama connection net one day a week.

We are early riser and usually have our breakfast before the net starts at 08:30 hrs. After the net there is always boat maintenance. After maintenance and cleaning it might be a laundry day. I am lucky to have a washing machine now at that makes that little chore a lot easier.

When we are in San Blas I spend a lot of time baking. We like fresh bread. There is always something to do, and some item that needs fixing.

After the chores are done we like to go for a dive, and rest of the day is for reading, relaxing or spending time with friends. I can honestly say we are never bored.

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult?
The transition was an easy one since we already lived aboard for several years on a mooring, and went to the dock only to install new rigging, new engine, generator and a new refrigeration system. We actually prefer living away from the dock. At times it is necessary to be in a marina for a while.

What mistakes did you make in your first year of cruising?
I can think of three things.

The first - we should have bought a new mainsail before we left. Our main blew out on our first passage from Key West, Fl. to Isla Mujeres, Mexico. Which made last few miles a lot harder with deteriorating weather conditions.

The second thing is not being security conscious enough. We had left our dinghy with the motor on in the water overnight and it was stolen. We were lucky to find the dinghy the next day but the bow compartment had been punctured with an ice pick in an attempt to sink it. It had 50 holes. We were able to patch and did use it until last year but it never really did hold air well after that and of course we had the expense of another motor.

The third is having purchased inadequate davits. We removed them in Guatemala, and had an arch built. It is very strong and we can carry the dinghy on the arch even in heavy seas.

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget.
We have not had to make any compromises, because when we decided to go cruising we sold our house and car so that we would not have the extra expense of maintaining them. We are full time cruisers, and that simplifies our lifestyle and budget.

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

In your opinion what is the most important piece of equipment on your boat?

Personally that would be the engine. Any cruising boat should have good, reliable strong engine. It can get you out of trouble in adverse wind direction or trying to claw of a lee shore. With a high output alternator it will also give your batteries a good charge. Even with today’s wind generators and solar panels is this part of the world we have many day where there is no wind and no sunshine. So invariably the engine has to be run to supply the vessel with power.

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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
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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 Sea Life

Sea Life is a Beneteau Oceanis 393 (39 feet/ 11.62 meters) captained by Mark Jensen and hailing from Sydney, Australia. Nicolle Jean completed the first 25,000nm and has since returned home. Sea Life was purchased in April 2008 in the Caribbean and has since cruised from the Caribbean, through the Pacific, Australia,. Asia, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Mediterranean, and Atlantic.  Mark will complete Sea Life’s circumnavigation at the end of 2010 in the Caribbean and then plans to do it again – slowly. More information and contact details can be found on the website.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
We were extremely lucky to be able to buy a production boat ex-charter. Production boats have put good cruising boats at a price-point low enough so many people can set off, and ex-charter boats are even cheaper.

We love our long ocean passages and I have just finished my first 1,500nms solo and have a 3,000nm single hander coming up so cruising boats need a great emphasis on the living attributes. Our boat has a kitchen, bathrooms, bedrooms, headroom and storage. We didn’t want some ‘sailors’ boat with galley, heads, bilges and black holes.

So look to lifestyle and how the boat will let you achieve it. The only major thing that would be truly wonderful would be a big watermaker.

Cruising is about visiting exotic places, but there is a sheer enjoyment to be had when on a voyage with more than a thousand miles to go and a thousand already covered. Every moment at sea is a wonder we are so lucky to experience in comfort, dryness and with great hot food and ice cool drinks.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike?
I love the comradeship and the help given by the cruising folks. What goes around comes around so you better be willing to help everyone else too.

There are very few grumble bunnies on boats. Pretty well anyone will ask you aboard for a cup of tea and have an interesting story to tell.

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
I have a set work roster. Only one hour per day boat work. Lots of days off too! The rest is for leisure. If I can’t maintain my boat in 365 hours per year then I need to work smarter, faster and harder within the time given. 

What else happens is dependant on location. If it’s a good provisioning port then stock up and get out. If the transports good we just jump on a bus to anywhere – and hope we can find the one back…

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
By stopping dreaming and setting achievable goals.

After the goal was set we were on our own boat cruising within 14 months.

If you set a goal and associated deadline the things that can hinder it will fall by the wayside. I just keep my eye on the goal.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation
We had arrived at an anchorage 2 days previous and this morning I woke early stretching as I climbed the companionway into the cockpit I thought I heard a snuffling sound. Wiping my sleepy eyes I quietly went aft and looked over onto the swim platform to be greeted by two eyes!  Big, soft eyes of our very own Sea Lion pup! Quickly waking Nicolle we went and watched our Sea Lion. A few weeks later as we pulled up the anchor and motored out our pup swam after us imploring us to stay just a little longer. The Galapagos Islands captured our hearts forever.

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
The Red Sea is a notorious 1,000 nms with a strong wind right on the nose. When headwinds get too strong just pinch the boat a bit far to windward. The boat speed falls off, the motion becomes more comfortable and it’s a bit more relaxing. The leeway increases but that’s OK. You’re not hove to and still headed in the right direction.

What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?
Any piece of paper that appears to look like a chart. Go electronic with backups. We have 3 plotters with 3 GPS units on 3 battery systems.

Do you have any specific advice for couples cruising?
Funny you should ask that because Nicolle has just gone home to take a ‘normal’ job to achieve some of her other goals.

I think our 2 ½ years cruising through some difficult situations such as Cyclone Hamish ( a Category 5 Cyclone/Hurricane) and the Gulf of Aden ‘Pirate Alley’ past Somalia, has given her the courage to know she can do anything in life. One thing she wants is a farm – with lots of animals. We can have that together in 10 or 15 years time, but this way she can achieve it herself in the next 2 or 3 years.

Being on watch alone and at night guiding us and protecting us with courage and tenacity has earned her the right to say: “I need to leave Sea Life to achieve my other goals”.

One thing younger people should take note is that most cruisers are retirees and to find people of different age groups is not easy. Nic was 25 when we started 27 at the end and her cruising friends were splattered across the oceans and not close enough to give her ‘girl time’ - the simple ability to go shopping or having coffee and a natter with another girl her age.

For many our brains need more than a boat supplies, perhaps prior to cruising taking course in history, geography, biology or photography would be good. Even keep a study regime and do courses while aboard.
Even now I sail past a bird or dolphin and I don’t know what type it is, where its from, how it breeds…. I’m cruising, but I need to be learning more.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you didn't find to be true?
Yes, almost everything we hear from cruisers is wrong! “Your boat will be crushed in the Panama Canal!” ,“You can’t visit the Galapagos unless your engine has broken down” , “There’s no free anchorages near Cannes in France!”

Don’t be afraid, just have faith that you’ll receive better information as you get closer. Or just arrive – you will find someone happily there before you.

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

Why have you done your circumnavigation so quickly? Only 2 ½ years you must have missed a lot?

Our plan was to do one fast one and one slow one. The first lap gives an overview of the world and the second can be spent lingering in the really great places.

Many cruisers have been on their voyage for 10 years or more but I can’t wait a decade to see everything. I want it all and I want it now! The first one is nearly completed there is so much more to see and I better not slow down too much – there’s all South America, North America and a few more Mediterranean visits in the next few years. Then a slow one through the Pacific…. Then…. Southern Africa?

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10 Questions for Patron

Ted & Honey have cruised aboard Patron, a Whitby 42 hailing from Vancouver, since 1999. Over those years they have sailed through the Pacific Ocean, Asia, South Indian Ocean, Across the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. They say: Cruising is of course hard work & some bad weather but it is mostly fun & rewarding!


Why did you decide to cruise?
Seemed like a good idea at the time

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat.
Breakfast, listen to BBC shortwave, a couple of hours of matenance chores, a couple of hours of snorkeling or walking, a trip to town for fruit veg supplies

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
No comment

Describe a negative experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited?
Robbed by 6 men at knifepoint in South Africa

Have you found "trade goods" to be useful on your cruise? If so, what kinds?
No but other boats have

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
Nothing less than 42 ft, with lots of fuel and water

Was there anywhere you visited that you thought was overrated (not as good as you had heard)?
No

How did you secure your valuables (in and on your vessel) while going ashore? And your dinghy?
We have done nothing, in most places we have not even locked up. Exception is the Caribbean, lock everything.

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?
We have really enjoyed our trip so far (12 years).

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
Something about equipment. A good autopilot and a high output wind generator to run it. AIS is a must have. We do not have, but would recommend a Pactor modem and sailmail.

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10 Questions for Hawk

Evans Starzinger and Beth Leonard sailed Hawk, a 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt Samoa sloop hailing from Annapolis, MD from 1999-2009 for their second circumnavigation through the high latitudes eastabout by way of all the Great Capes. Their first circumnavigation was from 1992-1995 and was a tropical westabout circumnavigation by way of the Panama Canal, Torres Strait and Cape of Good Hope aboard a 37-foot ketch named Silk. You can learn more about them as well as access many of their published works on their website.

Describe your first sailing experience.
Evans doesn’t really remember his first sailing experience. He started sailing small dinghies on small lakes in NH and Vermont during his college years and gradually worked up to being a charter skipper in the Caribbean during the summer until he graduated from graduate school. But Beth has a vivid memory of her first real experience. She had floated around on Sunfish and other small sailboats in flat water and no wind a few times before her father bought a sailboat the summer she graduated from college. He kept the Bristol 24 near his home in Oswego, NY on Lake Ontario. He and Beth, along with Beth’s boyfriend at the time, decided to take it across Lake Ontario to the Thousand Islands. They beat their way into a 30-knot headwind for four hours and made good only 8 miles. They gave up, turned around and surfed back into the harbor a bit over an hour later. That night, they went out to dinner and toasted being safely back where they had started while the room still heaved and swayed around them. Beth had no interest in ever setting foot on a sailboat again. She did end up daysailing that boat with her father and boyfriend on summer weekends and took a few trips of up to a week in length. She did not always enjoy her time on the boat and certainly did not consider herself a sailor.

Why did you decide to cruise?
Evans and Beth were working as management consultants in Europe in 1990 and becoming increasingly disillusioned with corporate life. While their careers were addicting and all consuming, they both felt that they had too little time for the things that really mattered: family, friends, exercise, nature, reading, being together. They had been talking about doing something different but were having trouble coming up with something that would be as exciting, challenging and rewarding as their careers. On a trans-Atlantic flight, Evans read American Promise by Dodge Morgan (about a nonstop, solo circumnavigation of the globe), and he immediately decided he wanted to sail around the world, though not solo and not nonstop. He spent the next two years trying to talk Beth into it. Her lack of sailing experience made it difficult for her to picture what cruising would be like and uncertain of whether she could handle the challenges involved. But Beth had always wanted to be a writer. She decided three years sailing around the world would give her the best opportunity she was ever likely to have to make that dream come true. Both Evans and Beth were in the partnership election window and almost sure to be elected when they walked away from the corporate world. In retrospect, neither have any regrets. What they gave up in financial security, they more than gained in becoming the people they wanted to be when they grew up.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Most voyages do not founder on anything as solid as rocks or shoals, but on the intangibles of human frailties and interpersonal dynamics. The sea finds all weaknesses: in boats, in people and in relationships. You have to be sure you have the skills to sail the boat, to fix it, to navigate, to get along in foreign cultures. But you also have to be prepared to come face to face with yourself, to discover things about yourself that you do not like and to work to change those things. You have to be ready to confront any weaknesses in your relationship and to address those in a situation where you are together 24/7 in sometimes highly stressful situations where your lives depend on one another. Cruising will not fix a broken relationship – it is far more likely to rip it apart along the fault lines. But where a basis of true respect and caring exists, the experience of cruising together can create a real partnership and eventually transform that into the kind of soul-deep bond that most people dream of but only a handful ever achieve. In the toughest times, when you think that you can’t do it or that your relationship cannot survive it, commit and commit again, knowing it will be worth every moment of doubt, pain and discomfort. In the best times, which come far more often, don’t forget to dance on the foredeck under the stars, to make love in the cockpit caressed by the tradewind breezes and to say “It sure beats working,” at least twice a day!

Describe a "typical day" at anchor on your boat
We wake with the sun, which in the high latitudes might mean 4:00 in the morning but in the tropics usually means 7:00. We eat a simple breakfast of cereal and yogurt/milk. We do email and check the weather using our Iridium phone and answer any emails that need an immediate response. Then, our real day begins. Since “sailing around the world means fixing your boat in a series of exotic ports,” Evans always tries to do at least one little maintenance or repair job each day and one major one each week. Morning is chore/work time, so Evans goes to work on whatever he has designated as the task for the day (fixing a sail, cleaning a winch, changing the oil, etc.), and Beth helps if needed. Otherwise, Beth sits down at her computer and writes whatever magazine article she has due. We usually work until lunch when we eat something light. In the tropics, Evans will often lie down for an hour or so while Beth continues to work on the computer. When the heat of the day is past, we exercise. We might go for a walk, a swim, snorkel on a nearby reef, clean the bottom of the boat, or something else. If we need groceries or hardware items, we will go ashore together and find them. In the evening, we often go to other people’s boats or have others over on our boat. We may go out with a bunch of cruisers to a nearby restaurant. We tend to go to bed early, usually not later than 10:00.

When you are offshore, what keeps you awake at night (that is, what worries you most)?
When we are really offshore, 500 miles or more from land and nowhere near shipping channels, not much worries us. We trust the boat and each other, and the biggest excitement usually comes on squally nights when we get caught by a fast-moving squall with too much sail up. We both worry much more when we’re leaving or closing with land or sailing coastally. Then other shipping traffic is the thing that most concerns us. We did not have AIS on our last circumnavigation, but this is something we will add when we leave again for our next voyage.

What is your most common sail combination on passage?
On our tropical circumnavigation aboard a 37-foot ketch, our most common sail combination by far was double headsails – a roller furling 135% jib to leeward and a 110% running sail poled out to windward. In the tradewinds, the winds were aft of 110 degrees apparent more than 80% of the time, and that was by far the best sail combination for running downwind – no chafe on the mainsail, no chance of an accidental jibe, almost perfect balance on the helm. On our high latitude circumnavigation, we had the wind forward of 110 degrees apparent half the time and wind speed varied much more than in the tropics, so we used a much wider range of sail combinations with no one combination dominating. Very roughly, we used double headsails one quarter of the time, the mainsail and blade jib one quarter of the time, the mainsail and a large genoa staysail one quarter of the time and the mainsail and a 1,000 square foot Code Zero reaching sail on a removable furler one quarter of the time. ((Editors note: Their website has details on the sail combinations used on their 37-foot ketch, and their 47-foot sloop and Beth’s book, The Voyager’s Handbook, includes charts showing the average winds speeds and directions they experienced over the course of 110,000 offshore miles and describes the implications for sail inventory on various size boats.))

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
When we reached Durban in South Africa toward the end of our first circumnavigation, we arrived with a three-page list of things to fix only seven months after leaving a boatyard in New Zealand with everything on our to-do list complete. When we fit out our second boat for our second circumnavigation, we decided that anything that was broken in Durban we simply wouldn’t put on the new boat. That meant that our second boat was much simpler than our first, with much less to break. We do not carry many things that other cruisers complain about maintaining and fixing: refrigeration, watermaker, diesel generator, pressure water, hot water, air conditioning. On our second boat, the most problematic piece of equipment has been the instrument system, though it is tremendously more reliable than the one we had on our first boat which we replaced twice over the course of a three-year circumnavigation.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?
We spent a bit over a year in the Chilean channels at the beginning of our second circumnavigation and loved it so much that we went back at the end of the same voyage and spent another ten months. This is one of the most remote and beautiful cruising grounds anywhere in the world, but also one of the most challenging.

With the benefit of hindsight, what are the boat selection criteria you would use to purchase a boat for long term cruising?
After completing our first three-year circumnavigation on a 37-foot fiberglass ketch, we appreciated many of her attributes including: secure U-shaped galley for cooking at sea, excellent sea berths, handholds always within reach above and below decks, well-designed anchoring platform. But those weren’t enough. When we set about looking for a boat for our second voyage, we also wanted:
1. Hard dodger
2. Head or wet locker at the base of the companionway
3. Separate cabin for guests/sea berths
4. Easy access to every part of the engine
5. Workbench and tool room
6. Reefing system that could be managed by one person without leaving the cockpit
7. Extra water/fuel tankage (we carry 200 gallons of each)
8. Aluminum construction to minimize leaks and increase strength
9. No teak on deck
Hawk has all of these attributes, and she has proven a near-perfect vessel for the high latitude voyage we undertook. That said, most of these attributes have more to do with comfort and convenience than safety. We have seen people successfully complete voyages in every type of vessel imaginable. The specific boat matters far less than being determined and resourceful.

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 the hardest thing about cruising?

Transitioning back to shore life. We know many people who have gone through severe depression when they returned ashore. When we returned from our first circumnavigation, it only took us a few months to decide that we had to go again. We had changed too much, and the US had changed too much while we were gone, for us to want to figure out a way to fit in again. It was too difficult to hold onto the things we had most come to value about ourselves ashore. We are once again in the midst of that transition after ten years aboard our second boat, and this time we’re handling it better. We’re not trying to return to who we were, but trying to find a way to bring our cruising values ashore, to live more simply with less consumerism, to do only what we really want to do, to find ways to contribute to a community. Cruising frees you by forcing you to pay off all your debts and then teaching you how little money you really need to be happy. That’s a lesson worth holding onto when you finish your own voyage and decide how to live your life going forward.

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10 Questions for Esper

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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10 Questions for Bumfuzzle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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