10 Questions for Blowin Bubbles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What do you dislike about cruising that surprised you?

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

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

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

Kyle: That is Shelley's job.

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

Share a piece of cruising etiquette

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

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

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

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

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

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What kind of cruiser are you? 

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

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

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

Where is your time spent?

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

Read the full interview

10 Questions For Totem

Jamie, Behan, Niall, Mairen, and Siobhan Gifford sail on Totem, an S&S designed Stevens 47 (47’) hailing from Eagle Harbor – Bainbridge Island, Washington, USA. They began cruising in 2008 when their children were 4, 6 and 9. The kids are 8, 10 and 13 at the time of this interview.

They say: Departing Puget Sound in 2008, we hopped down the US west coast to Mexico. We explored much of the Pacific coast of Mexico and a hurricane season up  in the Sea of Cortez. In 2010 we sailed the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands, Suwarrow in the Cook Islands, Vava’u Group in Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Lifou in the Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, and on to Australia. After parking in Australia for a bit to recharge the cruising kitty, we sailed north to Papua New Guinea in 2012. Early 2013 finds the Totem crew heading west through Indonesia. We keep our position current and our ruminations semi-current on the blog.

Anything else readers should know about you?

We met sailing. Behan sailed a little growing up, but college dinghy racing got her hooked. Jamie grew up sailing in Mystic, Connecticut, and has broad racing, coastal cruising, and sailmaking experience. In 2002, we began family cruising in Puget Sound with our children, then a 3 year old and a 14 day old. Seasons didn’t matter, family time together on the water did. As our family grew (with a 3rd child), so did our family boating experience - one weekend at a time.

What mistakes did you make in your first year of cruising?
 
I am sure we made many, but the lingering memory was that we believed everything onboard Totem needed to be perfectly prepared by departure day. When our milestone day arrived, project lists remained uncompleted. We were ready enough and cast off without hesitation, but with some trepidation; especially after exhausting months of preparation. Jamie’s  image of being perfectly prepared grew out of calibrating our budget to the right safety gear, the right sailing gear, proper systems with full documentation, generous spares and tools, and common comfort amenities. All of this is well and good, but everything onboard is a compromise in one way or another; and there will always be work onboard fixing things. Even high quality, expertly installed stuff can and does fail prematurely. What we realized is that lots of time spent weekend and vacation sailing is the closest you get to perfect preparation.

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

“Stop and take your own pulse first”: From a physician and friend Curtis Edwards, who taught us wilderness first aid. The context is of a first responder to a medical emergency, but the notion definitely applies to cruising. In a stressful situation, take a little extra time to calm yourself and really assess the situation.

“Be able to fix it yourself, live without it, or don’t bring it”: From Jim Jessie, our cruising mentor, marine surveyor, racing sailor, circumnavigator, and salty dog. As a typical cruiser’s onboard systems continue to increase in both quantity and complexity it may appear that less skill is ok and comfort is easy to come by – but when things break, do you still feel as comfortable and secure?

“Listen to other cruisers, but don’t trust a word of it.” From an unknown fellow customer in Downwind Marine in San Diego. It’s not a paranoid stance, rather a reminder to be open minded. Very often we’ve heard about how awful or great a place is, and yet we found it to be just the opposite. A town or an anchorage or a situation is created by countless variables easily changed; making it different for the next person.

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

Be prepared, e.g., it may be a picture- perfect, protected, glassy calm anchorage- but put everything away, keep decks clean and be prepared for a 2am squall that throws it all to hell. Be prepared enough to readily get away in the middle of the night so that in the rare even that it occurs, you’re ready.

There are dangerous herds of group-think that form around major passages. When you choose to leave the harbor, remember that it was YOUR choice. Similarly, when you enter an anchorage and see two boats at one side of it, their presence does not indicate “the best spot.” Use your judgment (and give us some room!).

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

In no particular order:

• Cabin fans. We’d never go the A/C route and the fans are great for comfort level… probably present at the moment because we’re only about 25 miles from the equator.
• Cockpit shade. It seems like you can’t get enough.
• Fish finder, because you not only know where the fish are, but the topography of the bottom- great for spotting bommies in the tropics. Cheaper than depth sounder and doesn’t require putting a hole in the hull.
• A dinghy with some oomph. We know lots of cruisers love to love their rowing/hard dinghies, but you miss a whole lot of exploring if you don’t have at least 15hp to jam to the outer reef. We also have a 3.5hp to sip fuel when we don’t need the extra zoom, and like the redundancy. It sucked when our 15hp died in French Poly and we finished the Pacific run with a shared 2.5.
• Cocktail shaker. We don’t even make ice on board but this is an essential part of the Crew Morale Package.
• Proper plates and glasses, because plastic stinks for many reasons.
• Rock solid anchor and ground tackle. Too much depends on it.

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

We love the camaraderie, the fact that we can know someone we’ve just met in an anchorage better within a day or two than some of our immediate neighbors from land life. We love the bias between cruising boats to offer mutual aid, although it seems to be on the wane as cruising becomes more accessible and a rapid-fire circumnavigation something money can more readily buy.

What we try to distance ourselves from is the group think that tends to occur when a group of cruisers are gathered with a similar goal (e.g.:  at a jump off point before a big passage engaging in weather analysis paralysis, at those ports around the world were cruising boats tend to get stuck to the bottom).

What advice would you give to parents thinking about taking their children cruising?

Tip toe in, and if it’s working, then run with it. Friends, family, and fellow sailors will give you many “great” reasons why you shouldn’t go: safety issues, irresponsible parenting, ruined education, financial doom; your kids are too young or old, etc. It’s true that cruising isn’t financially enriching, but be it a yearlong sabbatical or longer sailing lifestyle choice for some it sure beats the routines of mainstream life.

What we’ve found is that it gives us a strong bond as a family, is providing our children with excellent learning in many more dimensions then a conventional education, and- well, it’s just a lot of fun! We think it provides a tremendously fulfilling childhood. Despite my fears, their education has not suffered. At some point, it won’t work for everyone on board, and then we’ll stop…but for now this is as much a joy to the kids as part of their identity, and we see no sign of stopping soon.

In reality there are a so many individual reasons/dynamics why cruising will work or fail for a family. My optimism about what worked for us may be just as unsuited to your situation as the pessimistic opinions you’ll get. Spend time as a family unit afloat, and find out for yourself.

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

Being shorthanded and with kids, we lean towards the crews’ conditional awareness more than formality. A crews’ rested condition is like the daily balance on a credit card. Sleep is the asset that keeps your balance in check. Or lacking sleep is a liability from which you barrow against and can pay big for with fatigue.

In daylight boat chores are much easier. So we have no daylight watch schedule and a strong emphasis on keeping up with, or catching up on sleep. We have some structure to night watch, worked out to fit our natural sleep tendencies. Behan can stay up late and get up early, but isn’t as happy in the middle. Jamie does fine in the middle and is ok waking early. So we setup for that schedule, though watch change vary somewhat based on conditions. When it’s colder or rougher, watches are shorter – 3 hours or less depending on severity. On nice nights when rested, we’ve done 4, 5, and 6 hours watches.

Our method works well for us because we can each “read” the others conditional state AND neither wants the other person to get fatigued. It also helps that we have trusted Niall, now 13, to stand a short daylight watch since he was 10. Or, if Jamie’s feeling sleepy on a night watch but want to let Behan sleep longer, he’ll wake Niall with the news that we have dolphins around the boat. Sometimes they may not be there by the time he is tethered in cockpit, but his enthusiasm is always energizing!

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget.

Cruising seems to cost whatever you have. We scale expenses to work with our budget with an eye on local rates. We could afford to eat out in Mexico and Fiji because it was delicious and cheap. In pretty much the rest of the Pacific, it didn’t fit our budget to go to a restaurant. We try to avoid environments that suck money from you, like posh towns or marinas. There’s a lot of extra gear that we have shunted into the “luxury” column: we’d love to add a lot of discretionary items, from sat phone to SUP board, but we don’t need them. Ultimately, we parked t work when it was time to refill the kitty- but a pause, not an end, to adventuring afloat.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?

This is one of those impossible questions- but that’s the good news, right? Jamie and I both keep coming back to Suwarrow, in the Cook Islands, as a favorite place, for two reasons: partly the wild remoteness and natural beautify of the place, but also because of the great experienced shaped by the rangers who were stationed there during our visit. Their active involvement in helping us really understand the nature of life in an atoll made it truly unforgettable.

We both agreed as well that some kind of special mention has to be given to the Sea of Cortez and to Papua New Guinea. They are all very different places, but like Suwarrow, the affinity draws from a combination of raw beauty and remoteness. It takes work to get there, and to stay there, but if you’re into that kind of thing- the rewards are tremendous.

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

What is it about the cruising life that drives and fulfills you?

• Meeting other people in the countries we visit: sharing stories, making them as welcome on our floating home as we have been made in theirs ashore
• Living a leaner, greener life. We tried to live with a light footprint ashore, but it’s impossible to compare with the way we’re able to live on the boat. We reduce, reuse, and reuse again: with limited space, every item is considered before acquisition. With no garbage service or utilities, you think more about unnecessary packaging and what goes overboard
• The opportunity to raise our children in an environment that helps them internalize from their earliest days the beauty of our planet, and the importance of taking care of it for foreseeable generations

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Silas Crosby

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Banking , taken care of by Herself at Home.

Mail : what mail?

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

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

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

How do you fund your cruise?
Savings.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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10 Questions for Nuage

Nuage is a Philbrooks Fast Passage 39 cutter rigged hailing from Vancouver, Canada. Nuage left Vancouver in 2005 sailing offshore Vancouver to San Francisco and then coastal cruising to San Diego, through Mexico, the Sea of Cortez, Central America and Panama, to Ecuador in South America.

Her owners say: We are a retired couple who began sailing in 1990. We joined the Bluewater Cruising Association in Vancouver to meet other wannabe offshore sailors and educate ourselves about the lifestyle and skills needed.  We started our trip in 2005 and have returned to Vancouver each year for the summer.

What is the next piece of gear you would add to your boat if it were free and why? We are equipped to suit our needs so it would have to be something frivolous like a generator to satisy the Captain's ongoing quest for power, but space is the issue here rather than cost.  Or perhaps a satellite phone but we don't know who we'd call (!).

What is something you think potential cruisers are afraid about that they shouldn't fear? And what is something potential cruisers don't worry about that perhaps they should? Cruisers, both dreamers and doers, worry about weather and breakdowns.  Preparation is more useful than fear.  We try to evaluate weather information available onshore before making a passage, and at sea we monitor daily weather updates via GRIB files downloaded through SSB.  We carry a plethora of spare parts and David is capable of fixing almost anything on the boat.  Not all offshore cruisers have learned to maintain their boats and this should be a BIG worry.  Even if you have access to and can afford qualified tradesmen in port, you still have to be self reliant at sea.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why? Our finest cruising grounds between Vancouver and South America were the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.  White sand beaches, beautiful blue, warm water, snorkelling, spear fishing, day sailing and good weather forecasts.  For onshore exploration, backpacking in South America is fascinating with each country different from the next, and very cheap living and travel.  We camped in Tierra del Fuego, on the Beagle Channel at the tip of South America and luckily found a last minute cheap(er) exploration cruise from there to Antarctica.  We like taking our time and exploring the countries we visit.

What is a tip or a trick you have picked up along the way? We learned Spanish.  It's a work in progress but, apart from being an interest and a lot of fun, it allows us to travel with confidence and enjoy the local people so much more.  It's good for bargaining too!

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time? We didn't have an opinion before we left but we are definitely cruiser/travellers and, although passages can be a zen experience, we are always pleased to be at anchor in a new destination with exploration ahead of us.

What is something about the cruising culture you like and what is something you dislike? We like being part of a community and having an entree to meeting new people with the minimum of formality.  The sociability of cruisers in Mexico is outstanding;  however, as you venture out into more challenging sailing areas among a diversity of nationalities, there is not as much boater interaction.  Panama City is an example, being the crossroads of the world where boats are in preparation mode for either a transit or a crossing.  Dislike - cruising is a lot of physical work - more than is generally realized and in hot countries this can be wearing.

What is the most important attribute for successful cruising? Attitude - stay calm, be outgoing, respect and appreciate your crew, be open minded, be generous, have fun.

In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
At some point cruisers can get tired of the level of work involved with sailing a boat offshore and want to move on with land-based interests.  Or people can be attracted to the travel but not enjoy the passages.  Many young people can't afford more than a targeted one or two year cruise.  We know of only one boat which returned home after one year due to the crew's nervousness on the water.  You have to remember, it's OK to give it up - at least you tried.

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult? For my husband it was being away from family.  For me it was ensuring that business back home was being taken care of.  Neither are boat related - the first year was not a challenge to our enthusiasm for cruising.

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

What skills are necessary prior to casting off?

We crewed offshore prior to our trip and we preceded this with many years of coastal sailing and navigation in British Columbia in a variety of conditions and locations.  My husband installed most of the equipment on the boat, becoming completely familiar with her in the process.  What he didn't know, he learned, which has proved invaluable to us offshore.  We also rely heavily on HAM/SSB radio and contact with other operators while on passages so getting the HAM licence is wise.

Read the full interview

10 Questions for Arctracer

Jerry & Nina are currently cruising on Arctracer, a Fastback 43 (Catamaran) hailing from Norwich, Vermont, USA. Since 1994, they have cruised through the East Coast USA, Caribbean, Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, & Southeast Asia. They sailed a traditional 45' steel gaff-rigged schooner from Maine to Australia, and then traded it in 2001 for their catamaran. Readers can learn more about their voyage on their website or through email (ninajerry@arctracer.com).

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult?
Most difficult was being away from our families and out of contact with them, especially on our first Thanksgiving aboard. We got together with other cruisers for a pig roast, but that wasn't as good as a family reunion. In those days we had no mobile phone and no email aboard. Now it is much easier to keep in touch with friends and families, so this transition should not be as difficult for new cruisers today.

How would you recommend that someone prepares to cruise?
Read everything, talk to cruisers, join SSCA and sail as much as possible. Once you move aboard you are still learning and preparing so take easy steps at first. Don't plan big adventures until you have adjusted to
cruising.  Make your lifestyle fun. You are cruising so don't adopt racing attitudes. Reduce sail in rough seas to keep things comfortable for everyone aboard. Don't get trapped into doing something you'd rather not
just to meet a deadline. (For example, sailing into weather you don't like in order to meet someone on a particular date.) We spent three years along the East Coast and in the Caribbean learning to cruise before we did any long-distance sailing.

Describe a positive experience you have had with local people somewhere you have visited?
Getting to know local people, their customs and beliefs has given us great pleasure in almost every place we have visited. We've had many positive experiences, especially on Pacific islands where we got to know the people and could help them in various ways.
Here are some examples: We shared meals ashore and on our boat in the Marshall Islands, drank kava with groups on several islands in Fiji, played with children, sang with locals, taught school children in Indonesia, picnicked with locals in the Cook Islands,  learned how to collect shellfish and prepare them the local way  in Kiribati, traded clothes for local produce in Guadalcanal, sponsored a model outrigger canoe race in the Louisiades, and repaired a solar power system and other equipment in Tikopia. We took locals aboard from several islands for overnight fishing trips, to visit their ancestral atoll in New Caledonia, took a family for two weeks to a Melanesian Arts Festival in Vanuatu and slept on crowded ferryboat decks on the Irrawaddy River in Burma.

In your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
Most people are reluctant because they do not understand the risks of cruising and are afraid of unknowns. Education and experience are needed to change their minds. Don't push too hard. Think long-term. Read about people who have gone cruising and discuss their experiences. Gather cruising information of all sorts and make it available to your partner too. Take tiny steps if that is all your partner can handle. For example, rent a rowboat on a lake for an afternoon and you will be essentially learning to use a dinghy. Take sailing lessons in a school where everything is safe. As your partner gains skills and knowledge you can take bigger steps such as chartering a boat for a few days with more experienced friends. The key is to proceed slowly enough for you both to be comfortable with what you are doing. Consider everything to be a trial. Don't commit yourselves to doing anything for a long time until you've actually tried it for a while. Getting a really solid cruising boat can be a big factor in relieving a partner's fears.

Across a year, what do you spend the most money on while cruising?
Boat maintenance. That includes haulouts for antifouling, new equipment, new rigging and new sails.

How has cruising affected your personal relationships?
This life has greatly strengthened the relationship between the two of us. One cruiser expressed it as one brain in two bodies. We often know what the other is thinking before a word is spoken. We know we can depend on each other completely, and know how we will each react in almost any situation.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
The electric windlass has made pulling up the anchor quick and easy, compared to the manual windlass we once had.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you didn't find to be true?
That it is very dangerous. We feel cruising is less dangerous than driving on Interstate highways. We also found more food available in more places than we expected.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
This is impossible to answer. Almost every place where we have stayed for a while has some favorite aspect such as weather, scenery, wildlife, local people, culture, history, food, and the other cruisers who were there. We especially liked small places in the Pacific which were off the beaten path, but also liked the modern facilities of countries such as New Zealand and Australia.

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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 Driver

Dave, Jaja, Chris, Holly, Teiga cruised from 1988 until 2003 first aboard Direction (Cal 25 hailing from Seattle, WA, USA) and then aboard Driver (Chattam 33, hailing from Oriental, NC, USA). They completed a circumnavigation plus a trip to the Arctic. You can read more about their trip on their website or reach them via email (jaja@midcoast.com).

What advice would you give to parents thinking about taking their children cruising?

Don’t over-prepare. For someone who is currently living a land based life, it’s difficult to know exactly what will be needed on the boat. Living aboard ifs extremely different than a land based life. Entertainment, education, privacy, cleanliness, space constraints, noise and discipline are a few of the everyday things that might be concerns.

On board life with children is incredibly rewarding. Each day presents new learning opportunities and bonding moments. For us, being able to spent so much time with our children was incalculably valuable for us and our children. Often boat kids are precocious and adult savvy. Since they spend so much time with adults, listening to and understanding conversations, they are able to contribute in mature ways. On our boat we almost always included our children in decision making in one capacity or another. Because we became such a close family unit it was important to each person to have a say in major decisions - even when our children were very young.

Some of the challenges to bringing up children on a boat are noise, space constraints and privacy. Each person has a unique threshold of noise level tolerance. Although I was rarely bothered by loud, excited children, Dave sometimes needed a little quiet time to think. The problem was finally solved one day when I came home with a pair of industrial ear protectors used by people working in airports. This was a wonderful and easy solution.

The biggest difficulty often concerns space - there never seems to be enough. Toys can take up an amazing amount of room and become a bone of contention when they’re strewn around a small cabin. To prevent toy overload think about bringing toys that can be used in conjunction with other toys as well as everyday hardware - like Lego. Lego also stows well. Depending on your boat storage capacity, it might be a good idea to have a  designated toy locker. Whatever fits is all the kids can have. If they only bring a few toys, and the locker is half empty, there will be room to get new stuff. Also, cruisers often trade toys to keep things interesting.

Biggest advice - Have fun with your kids everyday!!!!

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?

This is a hard question to answer because the criterion for what constitutes a “favorite” place morphed for us over time. Before we had children we loved the places where there was solitude and beauty, like the Tuamotu atolls. It was paradise for us to walk hand and hand, naked along an endless, deserted beach. White sand, sun, turquoise water and palm trees - it makes me want to go back just thinking about it! When our kids were little, they shared our love for deserted beaches. We spent hours beach combing, playing in the sand, swimming snorkeling, and walking. Australia and New Zealand stand out as being “favorite” places at that time, with low key, cool people and welcoming play groups for the kids.

When our kids grew to school age we loved each of the communities we settled in. Iceland, Norway, and Newfoundland were all places where the people were unbelievably accepting, kind and supportive. All three of those places have natural beauty and opportunities to experience raw nature. It would be impossible to leave out Spitsbergen. This was one of the most unique and captivating places we visited.

But when we’re pressed to answer which place we loved the best we usually come up with Cocos Keeling in the Indian Ocean. The reason? Well, it is a beautiful island with protected bays, deserted white sand beaches and a small community. But the reason we remember it so well is because it was a haven in a storm. We crossed the Indian Ocean early in the season and subsequently we experienced very rough seas and strong winds every single day. Cocos was a brief and welcome respite.

Describe your first sailing experience

The first time I went sailing was on the Shrewsbury River in New Jersey with my Dad. I was eight at the time and my father was new to sailing. He had joined a small club that had half a dozen 420’s. Sailing was the best thing I had ever done. I loved it from day one. I wanted the boat to heel farther, the wind to blow stronger, and I wanted to capsize and go swimming.

Dave's first sailing experience took place on the Cal 25 at age eight. He went out on Seattle's lake Washington with his mom, dad and sister. He hated it. Every time the boat heeled he screamed! At age 22, he rebuilt this same boat and renamed it "Direction".

My first ocean passage was on Direction with Dave. We crossed the Bay of Biscay in November. This was the best thing I had ever done up till that point. The passage was rough, windy, chilly and everything my heart could have desired.

What do you think is a common cruising myth?

Everyday is a holiday.

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

• Price
• Cruising destination
• Hull integrity
• Sailing performance

What is something you think potential cruisers are afraid about that they shouldn't fear? And what is something potential cruisers don't worry about that perhaps they should?

Be fearful of getting stuck on land, and not going!

Things I wouldn’t worry about:

• Don’t try to bring everything with you - it’s easy to find stuff along the way. - Don’t worry overly much about medical problems - there are good doctors everywhere.
• Don’t try to bring every type of medicine along - pharmacies exist in most places.
• If you have kids don’t worry about education - living on a boat is an experience that surpasses almost anything they can learn while sitting behind a desk.
• Once you’re out there and committed to a long passage, don’t worry about adverse weather - most boats are designed to survive extreme weather conditions. Sometimes the boat does better than the crew.

Describe the compromises (if any) that you have made in your cruising in order to stay on budget.

We swam under our boat and scraped the bottom weekly instead of buying bottom paint. Never used paper towels, or disposable diapers, and rarely used a laundromat. Stayed away from marinas and restaurants.

Basically we spent as little money as we could. We worked often. We never felt deprived. We never felt that we were making compromises. It was our lifestyle, and we loved it (even scraping the boat!)

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?

We had our share of storms. Some were pretty bad. Two that come to mind are our passage between New Zealand and Fiji (we experienced 50 knots for several days with our 5month old and two year old as crew). The other, was our passage between Northern Norway and Spitsbergen. It was blowing a gale and the seas were large, stacked and confused.

In your first year of cruising, what transitions did you find the most difficult?

When I first started to cruise with Dave, I was in my young 20's and all my belongings fit in a backpack. Dave and I met in the Virgin Islands where we were both working for a resort giving out snorkeling gear and teaching sailing. After a while, when I moved aboard Direction I wasn't really changing my lifestyle and didn't have to figure out what to "pack". And, cruising to bays where the wind blew us was what I had been doing metaphorically since college. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the transition to cruising life for me was fairly seamless. I was cruising through life on a boat instead of on land, which was actually easier in many ways.

Space could have been an issue, but I didn't have much stuff, and Dave and I spent most of our time outside. Given the warm, tropical weather we never felt cramped. I had no ties or commitments to shore other than writing the odd letter to siblings a few times a year. All that I owned was on the boat. Dave and I had no house, apartment, insurance, bank account, bills, stuff in storage, cars ... nothing. I believe, at that time in our lives, we truly experienced freedom. Probably, the hardest transition was trying to figure out how to make a phone call from different ports. Back in the 80's you had to go to a post office to place a long distance call. If you were lucky and your call went through you were directed to a "cabin" to talk. Between the business hours of the PO and the time differences between countries it was sometimes a challenge to get a line through.

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

How did you deal with diapers?

I hand washed cloth diapers for all three kids. Every morning I washed out dirty diapers (10 - 12 of them) using two buckets, a pair of gloves, a scrub brush, and as little water as I could get away with. Dave carried the water aboard in heavy five gallon jugs so I tried hard to conserve. I used solar power to dry them (i.e. the sun) a clothes line and clothes pins. Consequently, all three kids were potty trained, both day and night, by 14 months. We rarely had an accident. When at sea, it was more tricky but we managed. Using salt water to wash diapers doesn't work. I never even considered trying it, although it was advise frequently given to me. "Imagine washing your underwear in salt water" was the observation I would throw back.

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10 Questions for MoonSail

MoonSail is a Catalina/Morgan Center-cockpit 38 hailing from Kemah, TX, USA.  Chris Mooney (Captain) and Barbara Leachman (self-titled 1st mate/galley slave) cruised aboard MoonSail from 2005 - 2009 through the Caribbean, Bahamas and US East Coast. They returned for a few years of work and hope to resume cruising in Fall 2011. You can find more details on their website or send an email (Barb@moonsail.com). Barb says:  Cruising was not my idea nor was it my dream but I am now hooked and love the lifestyle.  I moved on to the boat from a 2000 sq ft house with 2 suit cases.  I had no problem selling my house and just about everything I owned.  I was ready to leave the corporate life and go on an adventure.  I am extremely lucky to have found a very accommodating and easy going mate to teach me and learn with me the life of a cruiser.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?
Chris: How much we would motor-sail. For a 38 foot sailboat to go from island to island during daylight
hours, you almost always have to run the rhumb line.  There is no time for tacking and using the wind.  A 45 foot or larger boat goes fast enough to sail it.

Barbara: I can’t think of anything specific that I wished someone told me before we left.  It was a lot of fun learning from other cruisers as we went. They are all such fun loving can caring people. A lot of people asked if I was scared and thought there were pirates everywhere.  I was nervous but I can honestly say I was only scared a couple of times and that had nothing to do with pirates.

What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you found particularly accurate?
Chris: That security in the Caribbean (as far south as Grenada), for the most part, is not an issue.  The constant worry about security is overblown. Common sense and practical precautions will keep you out of trouble. Trinidad & Venezuela are a whole other story and in my opinion to be avoided.

Barbara: The most accurate statement I would say we found to be true was that all plans are cast in Jell-o or sand. 

What was the most affordable area you have cruised and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
Chris: Northeast US was most expensive.  $40-60/night for a mooring.  Crowded during the summer, especially weekends, since the local boaters have a short season to play in. Caribbean was not cheap, but could be done reasonably.  Food, especially US style food is expensive, as was electricity at the docks, rum & beer are cheap.  Plenty of ability to anchor as much as you want to save dockage costs.

Barbara: The cheapest area was the Dominican Republic, but it was also the poorest country.  I was not comfortable in that country and have no desire to return. The Dominican Republic is a beautiful country, but the officials are very corrupt.  The sanitary conditions left a lot to be desired and you have to continually use hand sanitizer after touching anything that was in the water you are anchored in.

I would say Grenada was very affordable and easy to live in. Grenada is affordable in for both marine services and goods.  They have one of the best open air markets in the Caribbean.  The people are still so thankful to the Americans for aiding them in the conflict in the 80’s that they will come up to you and shake your hand and say thank you to your face.

The most expensive area was Martha’s Vineyard/Nantucket/long island sound area. The Northeast of the US around Long Island sound and NYC is the most expensive place we went.  The mooring balls were $60 per night and that didn’t include launch service to shore.  In many areas that was an additional $10-15 per person 1 way.  The area is beautiful though and we are very glad we spent time in the area.

I n your own experience and your experience meeting cruising couples, can you convince a reluctant partner to go cruising and if so, how?
Chris: I think usually not well.  In our case, the dream was mine and Barb got drawn into it.  I had the plan when we met.  She had never sailed before.  She jumped in whole-hog, learned everything about the boat without having to be taught, and loved it.  I couldn't have asked for a better cruising partner.  We met many other couples where it was his dream and she went along, but there were frequent trips home or other concessions to her in order to keep her aboard.  We met some who it flat wasn't working for and it was painfully obvious that she wasn't happy.  Some of those just were annoyingly vocal about it, and several went home (some with the spouse some without).  I wouldn't try and go with a reluctant partner.  If you did, I think the frequent trips home are a must, whether to visit grandchildren or the mall.  Also pay what it takes to have good communication so they can call home frequently.

Barbara: I wouldn’t ever attempt to convince anyone to live the life of a cruiser unless they already had a desire to do so.  If one person on a boat is not happy, the whole boat is not happy.

What is your biggest lesson learned?
Chris: Be flexible.  You are going to new places with different foods, customs, music, dress, etc.  Don't expect things to be just like home.  If you want things just like the US, only cruise in the US.  Every day you just take what your given and make the best of it.  Whether that's the weather, or dealing with officials, or fixing the boat.  Getting frustrated and bitching about things won't change them.

Barbara: I feel that if I had to, I could navigate and drive the boat by myself.  I would never want to be in a situation that I had to do that, but it’s a good feeling to know I could do it.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
Chris: The most common question people ask, and the hardest to answer.  I can't say there is one best place.  There were several best places for different reasons.  There were almost no "bad" places.  So here are several answers and why:

• St. Maarten - great for boat fixing (duty free and availability) – great food on the French side - good if you like restaurants and development.
• Dominica - Great for the opposite reason.  Least developed. Beautiful geography and friendly people.
  Guadeloupe/Martinique - great for the French food & wine.  Much better infrastructure than other islands due to support from France.
• Grenada - Excellent for long term stay during hurricane season.  Developed enough but not over-developed.  Extremely safe and friendly. 

Barbara: We have been asked this question so many times and it’s so hard to decide.  We really enjoyed Bequia at Christmas time.  There were a lot of community lighting events and they are so cruiser friendly there.

How often have you faced bad weather in your cruising? How bad?
Chris:  You "face" the bad weather every time it happens, even if you're not out in it.  You are basically living outside after all.  So, even at anchor or at a dock, you have to be prepared properly for bad weather.  We experienced one tropical storm and numerous heavy tropical waves while at the dock in Grenada.  You just prepare accordingly.  A properly prepared boat shouldn't have trouble even up to a Cat 1 or 2 hurricane.  Boats that make the TV usually weren't prepared.

As for weather underway, the trick is to not be there.  In the Caribbean, there is little excuse for being out in very bad weather.  Most passages are day trips or a one-night overnight, so you wait for the conditions you are comfortable with.  Every person has a different level of comfort underway. You do need to have proper resources for knowing the forecast.  There are lots of options, too many to name here, but you need to have access to several, and then make your own decision based on their input.  Asking your buddy boat should NOT be your primary forecast resource.  Make your own decisions and interpretations of the data.

Barbara: Weather is the number one ruler of a cruisers life.  We live by it and give it a lot of respect.  That said, we have been chased by 3 hurricanes along the US coast.  We were on the leading edge of Alberto in 2005 going north from St. Augustine to Charleston and that was the only time we tethered ourselves to our pedestal in the cockpit and talked about hailing the Coast Guard to just to report our position every 30 minutes.  We ended up not hailing them but that was one of the scariest passages.  While at the dock in Charleston a day later a water spout passed over the boat. We were lucky it didn’t cause any damage.

Are you attracted more to sailing itself or cruising-as-travel and has that changed over time?
Chris: Easiest question- cruising-as-travel.  I first got the idea of buying a boat after visiting a marina a little before Christmas and seeing the live-aboard community close up.  I have had the boat for 13 years now, lived aboard until a year ago, and actively cruised four years.  I still could take or leave the actual sailing most days.  I love being able to take my whole home from place to place at my whim though.

Barbara: We were more attracted to the cruising life style and not sailing purists.  We had no problems running the engine to get from A to B before dark.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear on your boat and why?
Chris: Furling sails - makes it easy to single hand and good as your physical strength lessens with age. Stout auto-pilot.  A wheel-drive auto-pilot doesn't belong on an offshore boat no matter what the manufacturer tells you. Great custom davits/arch - dinghy can be raised or lowered with one person, engine hoist, place for antennas, solar panels, wind generator. Biggest RIB-type dinghy you can carry, with largest motor it can carry. It's your car out there.  Engle freezer.  Low electrical draw and make having a freezer easy.

Barbara: We bought a soda machine our second year out and it was probably one of the best purchases.  We stocked spare CO2 canisters and syrup.  They pretty much lasted 3 years.  Just before we left the boat we found (through other cruisers) that there is now a place in St. Martin that will refill the CO2 canisters. 

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
Chris: Firearms onboard? - Not worth the hassle in the US and Caribbean.  You have to either lie about it or surrender it in most places.  The risk of needing one is no worth the hassle of having one. Pets aboard? - Wonderfully fun (assuming you are a pet lover in the first place).  But, they add another level of complexity to checking in and out of some countries, you have to deal with their needs, whether that is a litter box or daily walks ashore, getting proper food and supplies in the islands can be challenging, vet availability is limited, and traveling home is more complex and expensive.

Barbara: How often did you see or keep in touch with family?  We were lucky that when we were in the US keeping in touch was easy, especially while we were in the Northeast.  While in the Caribbean, you would be surprised at how readily available the internet has become.  Using Skype you can call home and talk pretty much whenever you wanted and it was cheap.  As far as visiting family, we only had 1 visitor in 4 years and I only flew back to the US once in the 2 years were in the Eastern Caribbean.  We kept a website up to date and posted quite often, so most of our family kept up on where we were through that too.

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10 Questions For Moonshadow

George Backhus and Merima Dzaferi cruise aboard Moonshadow, a Deerfoot 2-62, 62 feet hailing from Reno, Nevada, USA. George began cruising in 1994 and Merima in 2005. Since 1994, Moonshadow has traveled through the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Hawaii, South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, SE Asia, Indian Ocean, Red Sea, & Mediterranean Sea. Readers can find more information and contact details on their website.

Is there a place you visited where you wish you could have stayed longer?
Just about every place we've been!  We have enjoyed almost every place we've visited but the two places we most long to return to are Malaysia and Mexico.

Tell me your favorite thing about your boat
She meets our criteria of the "ultimate cruising yacht."  She is safe, comfortable, fast, and easy for the two of us to sail and maintain.  While every yacht is a compromise to some degree, we feel Moonshadow is less so than any yacht we  have seen in the same price range.

When you are offshore, what keeps you awake at night (that is, what worries you most)?
In normal conditions we worry about a collision with another object such as a container, unlit boat, reef or fishing net.  In heavy air, we worry about gear failure.

What is your favorite piece of boating related new technology?
Mobile broadband which allows us to access weather and other information and stay in touch when we're coastal cruising.  In most cases we can use Skype with our mobile.

What was the most affordable area you have cruised and the most expensive? What was affordable or expensive about each area?
The most affordable was SE Asia and the most expensive is the Med. Everything (marinas, food, diesel) was very affordable in SE Asia.  In the Med, marinas are very expensive.

What is your biggest lesson learned?
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Where was your favorite place to visit and why?
Undoubtedly our favorite place to visit was Penang, Malaysia.  The marina wasn't too flash, but the town was fun, interesting and a delightful place to hang out.  If you go, don't miss the Friday & Saturday night buffet at the Eastern and Oriental Hotel.

What piece of gear seems to break the most often?
The autopilot.

What is something that you looked forward to about cruising when you were dreaming, that is as good or even better than imagined?
Seeing faraway places and experiencing different cultures.

What question do you wish I would have asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?
 
What are the five biggest mistakes made by novice cruisers?

The biggest problem for many of us when we start out cruising is that we are “unconsciously incompetent.” That is, we don’t know what we don’t know. We then must learn by making mistakes, watching other’s mistakes, or reading about other’s mistakes. This can end up costing a lot of money…or worse.

1. Buying the Wrong Yacht - The first and usually biggest mistake people make is buying the wrong yacht for the type of cruising they want to do. Many people step onto a yacht at a boat show or on the broker’s docks, pop down the companionway and fall in love with the interior of their cruising home while it is sitting placidly in flat water. Dreams of distant ports of call and the romance of sailing in tropical South Sea waters overtake all common sense, and all one wants to do is sign on the dotted line and sail away. Issues like sea berths, ventilation, galley layout, systems accessibility, storage, sail handling systems, safety and sea kindliness are farther from their minds than a South Pacific atoll.

Many production yachts available today are, at best, a very average compromise between racing and cruising. Once one buys the yacht and moves aboard, they soon discover that they just don’t have the storage space, if not proper layout, for long-term living and passaging. I can’t tell you how many people I have known who have purchased a yacht, then spent years of their time and loads of boat bucks (1 boat buck=$1,000) trying to make the boat work better for them. In the end, they may have spent more than if they had purchased the right boat in the first place.

I think the most practical solution is to do your homework before you even look at a yacht. I suggest one read as many books as possible on cruising and yacht design and then talk to as many cruisers as possible about what they like and dislike about their yachts. Armed with this information you should have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t, and then be able to choose the sort of cruising yacht that best suits your budget and requirements.

I spent nearly a year in research before I purchased Moonshadow. I found both Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Survey and Steve and Linda Dashew’s Offshore Cruising Encyclopedia immensely helpful. I also found numerous excellent articles in Cruising World, Sail, Ocean Navigator, Practical Sailor and Latitude 38 magazines.

From this, I developed a “must have” list of criteria for any yacht I would consider. In my particular case, they were:
1. Safety-minimum Category I offshore standard with watertight crash bulkheads fore and aft.
2. Minimum of 50′ for comfortable offshore passaging and long–term live aboard and gear storage.
3. Speed–must be capable of averaging 200 miles per day on passage–at least 50′ of waterline.
4. Short handed capability–must be able to single/double hand as well as mostly maintain myself. And NO TEAK DECKS!

For budgetary reasons, I went to the second-hand market to see what was available that met my criteria. At the time, there were three Deerfoots, and one Amel available. I chose the Deerfoot and, after nearly ten years and 55,000+ nautical miles of sailing, still think I made the right decision for my own requirements.

2. Not Being Thoroughly Familiar with Your Yacht Before Going Cruising - I was as guilty as anyone of this one. I purchased Moonshadow in Ft. Lauderdale in July of 1994 and immediately put her into a yard there to do some refitting. She needed a new engine, as well as maintenance and repair to many of her systems, as she had been lying unused for nearly two years. By the time I finished all the work that I needed to do, I had only had the chance to do five relatively easy day sails before departing Florida to sail to San Francisco. Wow, what a learning curve! Shortly after departing Dry Tortugas for Isla Mujeres, Mexico, we encountered a gale in the Gulf Stream. This was not the place to learn about reefing and heavy weather sailing on an unfamiliar yacht.

I have seen this many times with new cruisers. They are so busy getting the yacht prepared to go cruising, that they have not had time to go out and do any sailing. Some literally finish the last project the day that they leave. When they start cruising, they might encounter a less than favorable experience due to lack of knowledge of the yacht’s handling characteristics, not to mention gear failures due to lack of any proper shakedown.

I would suggest some local cruising before heading out on the “big cruise.” Sail the yacht in as many conditions as possible so you can become familiar with reefing, heaving to, sail handling in adverse conditions, night sailing, docking, anchoring, life under way, etc. Spend enough time on the hook to become familiar with all the systems you will need when you are not plugged into a marina, i.e. battery charging, refrigeration, water maker, windlass, dinghy and outboard, etc. You will also need to be familiar with all your electronics and communication gear before you head offshore. Reading the manual while attempting to program the weather fax when you are bashing into a gale just doesn’t cut it.

3. Making Changes to the Yacht without Cruising Experience - Making changes to your yacht before cruising it would be like altering your clothes without having ever put them on. Get out, sail the yacht, live on board for at least a few months to a year, and then start to formulate a list of what works and what needs improvement.


My good friend Jeff Erdmann, owner of Bollman Yachts in Ft. Lauderdale and the person who sold Moonshadow to me, gave me this bit of advice. He suggested that I make only the repairs necessary to sail her to San Francisco. Once I had gotten there, I would be in a much better position to figure out what I would alter or improve. I can tell you that after three months and nearly 6000 ocean miles, my mindset changed dramatically from when I was in Ft. Lauderdale. He saved me lots of money, because a lot of things that didn’t quite seem right in the marina made a whole lot more sense when I put to sea and did some cruising. I also discovered a few things that I had not even considered until I spent some time at sea and on the hook.

4. Some Cruisers Haven’t Taken the Time to Learn Basic Maintenance- If you don’t maintain a yacht, it will wear out faster or break, usually when you least expect it, and probably when you are at the furthest point from where you can get it fixed. I think Murphy loves messing about on yachts! I like to joke that cruising is just “extensive repair and maintenance in beautiful and exotic places.” That said, if you spend just a few hours a week on maintenance, you are less likely to have to spend days or weeks stuck in some third-world hellhole while you await parts or make major repairs.

I have always been pretty handy, and owned another yacht for 13 years before I purchased MOONSHADOW, so I was pretty familiar with the drill. On the other hand, a full-fledged cruising yacht has many systems on board that aren’t found on a day/weekend sailor. It is important to become familiar with all the systems on your yacht. If you don’t know how they work or how to maintain them, get an expert in to do the work and at the same time show you how. You can also get lots of good information about systems from books like Nigel Calder’s Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual.

I also suggest you keep all the manuals for all your on board equipment handy. Mine are organized in three binders that I keep handy at the nav station. It’s also important to have a scheduled maintenance checklist for your yacht’s systems. I use the Cap’n Administration program to keep track of everything.Proper maintenance and a bit of D.I.Y. (do it yourself) repair capabilities, along with a reasonable inventory of spares can mean the difference between pleasurable cruising and costly, inconvenient and possibly dangerous breakdowns.

5. Waiting till the Last Minute to Organize One’s Affairs before Going Cruising - Many people seem to wait till the very last minute to get their personal and/or business affairs in order before sailing off in to the sunset. I’ve seen people trying to rent or sell their home, flog off the car and sort out other affairs with just a week to go before they depart. This invariably adds to the stress level already imposed by a significant lifestyle change, and can also lead to errors in judgment in the handling of one’s affairs, if not the yacht.

If you have your affairs sorted out a few months before your planned departure date, your mind will be free to focus on getting yourself and your yacht ready for the upcoming cruise, as well as to enjoy some quality time with the friends and loved ones who will remain behind.

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