10 Questions for Leander

Paul Robertson, Sima Baran, and Alexander Robertson have been cruising since 2007 aboard Leander, a Bristol 41 hailing from  Boston, Massachusetts, United States. They have taken a circumnavigation route, starting in Boston, heading down the U.S. east coast, through the Panama Canal, through the Pacific Ocean and Islands, visiting New Zealand, Australia, SE Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and are now in the Eastern Mediterranean. Readers can read about their adventures on their website.

They say: Paul is originally from Boston, and Sima from Istanbul, Turkey. We met when we were both working in Boston. We had only modest prior sailing experience, and we started cruising as a husband and wife team of two shortly after we bought the boat, our first, and got married. We’ve since been joined by a third crew member, our young son Alexander, who was born in November 2010. 

Why did you decide to cruise?
We were both working long hours, Paul as an attorney and Sima a management consultant. We thought that our all-enveloping careers were causing us to miss out on other meaningful aspects of life. For two non-sailors, the prospect of sailing across oceans to far-away lands posed a particularly exciting challenge, and would be a good way for us to see a bit more of the bigger picture.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Most marine vendors do not share your goal of having quality work done at a reasonable price. Learn to do as much as possible on your boat, and be vigilant in those situations when you must pay for parts or services. Time and again we’ve paid for work that was both overpriced and deficient, and typically found we have no recourse after the fact. Who cares about you – you’re sailing away to the next port! With a little bit of practice, reading, and speaking to others, you will ALWAYS do a better job than someone with less of a vested interest in the outcome. When others must be called in, define the scope of the work as concretely and narrowly as possible, get things in writing, and watch the work like a hawk.

Over the time that you have been cruising, has the world of cruising changed?
Useful information available for cruisers on the Internet has exploded. Sites like IWAC, “Wiki Cruising,” and the numerous blogs and photos posted by other cruisers are providing a more complete picture of the cruising life and potential cruising grounds.

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited?
The people on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, were exceptional. In the place of TV, the internet, and consumerism, there were nightly kava rituals, community meetings, and a family garden. And the islanders reached out to us. During our three-week stay, Paul drank kava and played soccer with the local men and Sima learned to weave mats with the local women. It was pleasant, relaxing, and magical.

What is something that you were dreading about cruising when you were dreaming, that is as bad or worse than imagined?
The amount of work we need to do to keep the boat in shape. Non-cruisers sometimes don’t get it, and when we tell them of how much time we are spending on fixing this or maintaining that, they wonder if our boat is a “lemon.” But we’re all out here doing the same thing. The ocean environment beats on things, and although our boat is one-tenth of the size of the house that we lived in before we left, it is ten times as much work. Really.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
Traversing Pirate Alley – the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the start of the Red Sea. We made the passage in 2010 after concluding that the odds were strongly in our favor. But our hearts were still in our throats for the month and half it took to get through. In light of the subsequent attacks, we wouldn’t do that that trip now. And as we think back, maybe all the preparation we did gave us nothing but false comfort, and was an attempt to control things over which we had, in retrospect, no control.

How has cruising affected your personal relationship?
We figure that one year of life together on the boat is the equivalent of about seven years of life on land. All the time together has accelerated the pace of our relationship. Challenges that might have developed five or ten years down the line had we been together less, have become manifest more quickly. But we’ve also been able to develop tools to anticipate and resolve problems at the same quickened pace. So, in the end, we’re in a better place. (Said another way, laughs Sima, although I’ve become more accurate at throwing frying pans, Paul has become just a little more adept at ducking them!)

What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?
We have found that watches of less than four hours are not practical for us because we each need sleep in chunks that are at least that long. We are both on watch during the day. Sima takes watch from 8 p.m. to midnight, Paul from midnight to 4 a.m., Sima from 4 a.m. until Paul awakes in the morning, and Paul from that time until Sima awakes later in the morning. But this was before young Alexander joined us, and we will perhaps need to modify this.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette.
Bend over backwards to be polite to others. You’ll find people on the water who are willing to mix it up with you if you’re game, but it is a draining game. Try to assume the best. Smile and wave at the next boat you encounter, even if the three before didn’t return your greeting. Accept that the boat has anchored a little close. They couldn’t find a better spot, probably. And don’t you remember? Last time that was you.

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

What has it been like cruising with an infant son?

Challenging! We figured that with Alexander, we’d have one less person with a free hand, but he often takes us both out of commission. So things take twice as long as before. For us, an “early” start now means 10:00 a.m. And we don’t do drinks with others at sundown so much anymore. But he loves to hike with us, and we can strap him to our back and go explore, one of our favorite things to do. We certainly wouldn’t want it any other way.

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10 Questions for Shiva

Jeffrey Orling cruised from 1990 to 1994, single-handing 90% of the time through Maine, Southern New England, Bermuda, the Caribbean, and Canary Islands aboard Shiva, a Contest 36 hailing from New York City. He can be reached by email (jsandero@gmail.com).

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
Begin by doing a lot of reading about cruising. You can learn a lot from the many books written by cruisers about their boats and what is involved. Nowadays you can find this info by "cruising the WWW including blogs of sailors who have done it and are in the process. There are sailing forums to learn all sorts of things. You take it in and then go for what suits you - your budget and so forth. Things WILL change so be prepared.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?
Most places offer more if you invest the time and penetrate into the culture and ... land. Hanging on the hook gives one a limited perspective on the place you are at. My favorite place was Antiqua and Guadeloupe. The Canaries were interesting (culture) by not the greatest for snug harbors.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette
Show respect and consideration. Anchor with lots of room and try to be invisible (audibly) to your neighbors. As you are part of the scenery, try to keep your boat in a good appearance.

How has cruising affected your personal relationships?
If you have a sailing mate, it's the cat's meow. Very close (working) relationship - mutual dependence. Landlubber mates simply don't get it nor care to. They prefer to let others do it for them.

Describe your first sailing experience
It came when I was in my mid to late 30s and I was fascinated by the clever little boats and how they were a world unto themselves. A world that intersected the world I lived in and most people do. These compact efficient, modern yet ancient vessels have the potential to take a single person anywhere on the planet that touches the sea - and that's a lot of the world. I sailed with a friend on my inauguration down Long Island Sound.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time?
Sailing can be many things. When you have time and money you are free to go explore and move about. When you are stuck on land it is a delicious escape you never tire of, despite the work required to maintain a sailing boat. Don't like planes anymore, and much prefer to sail if I could... Like a turtle who takes him shelter (home) with him wherever he goes.

Over the years, how much time do you think you spend at anchor, at marinas, sailing and motoring?
Over 25 years I have spent only a few weeks in total tied to a dock (except winter wet storage). A few days in Bermuda following the Marion Bermuda Race in 91 and one night in Portland ME when my wife took the bus up to join me for a ME cruise. I use a seasonal mooring when I am land based and when I leave it I am on the hook. Anchoring is where I spend most of my time when I am not making way.

How do you fund your cruise?
My 4 year cruising was funded by a combination of savings, selling my home and a small inheritance. When it was all spent I came back broke and began to work again. Kept the boat.

How did you secure your valuables (in and on your vessel) while going ashore?
I don't have anything valuable except money itself and the boat and gear. I don't lock usually (only the dink) and only sometimes. Only been robbed when I wintered in water in a marina and someone stole my running rigging. And your dinghy? We lost a new RIB and OB several yrs ago in RI. It was either tied to the boat, or not well tied as my wife probably assumed I would tend to this and I may have simply assumed she secured it. We don't recall. But it was gone in the AM and nowhere to be found in the area. If it was found the finder decided to keep it. And if it was stolen, that was the intent. We use a stainless steel chain and padlock, but anyone with a smallish bolt cutter could easily defeat this.

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

How do you get hands on experience?

I was sort of dumped in the water and forced to sail. I got the sailing bug from a friend who induced me into a partnership and then backed out. So I went to the broker and asked for a smaller boat.. after having taken a 3 day sailing course. So, in short order I purchased the boat I would cruise on, live and and still own 25 years later. I pressured my friend to help me sail the boat out to a summer mooring and then to come with me for the first few sails. Then I was on my own and worse I had a wife at the time who was not a sailor. So the first 5 years of ownership I sailed the boat as much as I could, even in the snow one Fall. During my learn to sail period I fitted the boat out with the gear and upgrades to go offshore and live aboard. My final tests were to sail to Maine (1000 mile trip) and to do the Marion Bermuda race with a crew of experienced sailors including, you guessed it, the friend who got me into it all.l Once I got to Bermuda I was ready to go. So the total learn to sail from absolute novice to sailing solo about the Caribbean was just under 6 years. Key to my experience was the notion that I had to do everything myself and alone if need be and that turns out to be the case 98% of the time. I've set the boat up for single handing and it's the only way I can imagine being comfortable on a sailboat - knowing everything about the vessel. Because... you never know when you need to know.

How do you know when you have enough?

When your confidence exceeds your fear you have reached the level where you can go for it, whatever that "it" is. You always need to be prudent and have a healthy bit of fear about what could happen and so running all the what ifs... book learning, some trials and so forth and preparation will give you the necessary confidence that dominate the fear. Fear is basically the absence of experience and so the more experience you have both practical and books the better off you are. But you can waste your life in preparation and there comes a time when you just have to go or it and accept the risks and that you have taken reasonable measures to mitigate risk.

How do you prepare for the bad stuff?

There's two kinds of bad stuff. Stuff you could have prevented by preparation and maintenance and the stuff that mother nature hurls at you. It's hard to practice hurricanes or lee shores. But you can read and apply lesser experiences to when the shit hits the fan. Each one of those build confidence and it's mostly in the boat which will take it a lot better than you will. When I think about the conditions I sailed in in my early years either weather has moderated or I am just not sailing in what I cut my teeth on back then. But every once in a while you find yourself in nasty weather and the only thing about it is, you've been there before and you know you and the boat can make it. So you need to go out in heavy weather close to shore if you plan to deal with it offshore... where at least there are no lee shores!

How do you cope with fear?

Experience is the only way. You need to fall back on your training and experience and the knowledge that others have faced far worse with far less. You don't dwell on it and instead take care of business and the mission to get thru to the other side. This keeps you pretty busy. Shiva's a great boat and a lot tougher than I am. I take care of her and she takes care of me. That's the deal.

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10 Questions for Malua

Harry and Denny Watson Smith cruise aboard Malua, an Adams Bluewater 42 hailing from Sydney, Australia. On their current boat they've been cruising since 2003 including Australia, the Pacific, and Mediterranean. More information can be found on their website and blog and they can be contacted via email (harryws@malua.com.au). Harry says: I have been sailing most of my life in the area of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. This has influenced by outlook to sailing and the type of vessels I will sail on. Since 1986 I have sailed along the east coast of Australia which has similar weather and sea conditions. Malua, my dream boat, was built to suit these conditions however after cruising the Pacific I decided I need more culture than nature so I shipped her to the Mediterranean where we have sailed for four summers. We return after six months crruising to Australia during the northern winter. I volunteer at our local Marine Rescue where I am a coxswain of the rescue lifeboat so I spend quite some time afloat each year. We still maintain our home while cruising.

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

I set about selecting a boat for cruising off the Australian east coast. My previous sailing experience was off the Cape of Good Hope so naturally I chose a very seaworth design. Because I wanted to fit out and rig the vessel myself there were only a few builders in Australia who would only build the hull and deck within my budget. That limited the selection however I chose an Australian designer Joe Adams and had the 42 foot vessel built then transported to my home for completion. I then set about completing my dream boat within three years. Some of the attributes of the boat are;

* Able to sail it single handed with all lines, halyards and controls including reefing all sails to be run to a deep aft cockpit.
* Adequate tankage for water and diesel so that it does not become an issue and water desalination is not a requirement.
* Hard dodger for protection from waves, rain and the wind. This I added after the initial build and cruise.
* Large navigation station with comfortable chair in which one can doze.
* Independent power generating capacity either through a generator, in my case DC or solar panels.

Malua has turned out to be everything I wished for and I would change very little to meet my cruising needs however most of the features are for safety while accommodation, convenience and comfort may rank higher for other cruisers and different cruising areas. One can sail in almost anything with good judgment and planning.

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

I included, at the navigation station, a reclining, swivelling chair. It is ideal while sailing and at anchor. I should have included another executive style chair or easy chair for my wife to use while at anchor. The settee is comfortable but does not have arm rests and is not designed for a relaxing seat.

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

We generally sail shorthanded so the watch system varies depending on the duration of the passage. On anything longer than two nights, a three-hour on and a three-hour off schedule during darkness is followed. Anyone can sleep during the day as long as it works out about equal. I sail single handed on many passages and have a watch commander electronic alarm. In most offshore situations I set it for 27 minutes between alarms. If I wake before it goes off, I reset it for the next cycle and return to sleep. After a few days I get more than enough sleep each day.

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

We spend by far the greatest time at anchor and consequently the interior design of Malua reflects this. The galley is longitudinal but has a safe corner and a safety strap to hold the cook in place. Meals during rough weather are put together not created so there is no need for confined spaces. Many handholds are a requirement.

On passage is the next longest time. In the Mediterranean it is defiantly motoring while in the Pacific it was sailing.

Marinas and harbours play a very small part in our lives as they are expensive, the chance of damage high and they offer little advantage. If we wish to undertake extensive land travel in the area we use a marina for safety reasons.

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

On most occasions we spend as long as we need in a location to enjoy the surroundings. Port Davie in Tasmania, Australia is certainly the most beautiful cruising ground while Venice (at anchor at Burano) is the stand out cultural experience of our cruise.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette.

One should contribute to the cruising community in all possible ways. Physical resources are precious to any cruising boat so when you visit make sure you offer something in return for the hospitality. If a part is required offer your spare, it will be replaced many times over. Advice should also be shared when ever possible.

How do you fund your cruise?

Once the boat has been purchased and setup we find we go cruising to save money from the everyday expense of living. We are in the retirement age so we have put some funds away for the next few years. The rate of drawdown varies depending on where we cruise. We may die poor but rich in experience and cruising memories.

How has cruising affected your personal relationships?

The sea uncovers all the weakness in one’s boat, one’s self and one’s relationship. The most difficult is to confront your weakness not necessary when alone but in company with your crew or your partner. We have always used each other strengths to build the relationship which means on the boat I do most of the sailing while Denny’s calm demeanour and sound planning judgement is never at a loss. Having personal space is a very important aspect of a cruising relationship.

What is the most important attribute for successful cruising?

Tolerance is the most important personal attribute but a good practical mechanical understanding has to come second. Not only are you able to diagnose problems before they become issues but when something breaks having the ability to fix it on the fly saves money, time and heartbreak. I believe it can be learnt. I have taken things apart or fixed things all my life and this has given me a wealth of experience on which to call when confronted by a part not working or a design issue to be solved.

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

How do you manage your sleep?

I believe this is an import aspect of successful long term cruising. The number of times that we have been at anchor and had to get up in the night to attend to the boat or stand anchor watch because the wind has come up is uncountable. Having the ability to go back to sleep immediately or fall asleep as soon as one gets into the bunk is very important. We have a rule on Malua that we can sleep whenever we are tired, day or night. If after a few days passage and you can’t keep your eyes open we change watches and the person goes to sleep. Having a comfortable bunk is a prerequisite but also getting out of your wet weather gear into suitable sleep gear is essential.

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10 Questions for So It Goes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Of the changes, choices and compromises you had to make along the way, which were you happiest and most satisfied about, which do you wish you had chosen otherwise and why?
The work/cruising compromise has always been problematic. These days we have adapted our business (film/boat building/charter brokerage) so that we can work from wherever our boat happens to be so no more having to stop to build up cruising chips.

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

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

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

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

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