After decades of making cruisers feel like third-class citizens for the unforgivable sin of not being fixed in one place, the financial world has come abruptly around to a mobile mentality. Where we used to have to jump through hoops to maintain any kind of financial identity back home, now we can do almost all of it with a flick of a finger on the Internet keyboard from anywhere in the world. Likewise, where we used to have to carry a hoard of cash to swap with money exchangers for expenses in far-flung destinations, now all we have to do is to pop into an ATM and withdraw just what we need in the local currency. Electronic banking, miraculously turning up in some of the most out of the way areas, could well have been conceived with cruisers in mind. The cruising community has been quick to adapt. » Read full column
|
|||
|
Recently I was asked, “What should cruising women know about their engine rooms?” It’s easy to answer, “As much as possible.” But there are plenty of ladies who would exclaim, “As little as possible!” Most of us did not grow up mucking about with motors, electricity, or plumbing projects, and so the engine room on a cruising boat, where so much of this alien stuff is packed into such a small, inconvenient space, is easy to close the mental door on. » Read full column Keeping fit is not the automatic “gimme” from the cruising life that one might imagine. I know I was hopeful, that my plump bod, simply by moving aboard, would magically transform into one of long lean lines. That magic did not happen. My reality and the reality of most of my Admirals is that we live a life of reasonable activity balanced by a reasonable intake of food – very little of it the processed crap of American diets and almost none instantly available without cooking it ourselves. The lifestyle promotes flexibility as we are forever clambering up and down companionways and in and out of dinghies, and there is definitely an isometric toning going on simply by living on a moving, tilting platform. Even so, many cruisers have enough time to get lazy, and when we do we must resort to the dreaded “E”-word: Exercise. » Read full column It has been said that cruising is doing boat maintenances in exotic places. Well, the same can pretty much be said for the ladies of the fleet. Like the boats we sail on, some of us spend more time on “bright work” than others, but most of us spend less time than we used to. It’s simply a matter of differing priorities. Still, I don’t think any of us X-chromosome types ever give up wanting to look good. It’s just that our standards of looking good become shaped by the lifestyle and the opportunities we have to attend to them. When electricity, water and beauty salons run short, we must choose either compromise, self-sufficiency…. or a really big generator. » Read full column It’s hard to remember a time when starboard and port did not come instinctively, when I had to spin around and face forward and look at my right or left hand to know which term I wanted. These days fore and aft, bow and stern, topsides and below, hatch and companionway, galley and head, cabin and berth come more readily than their shore-side equivalents…often to the amusement of land-based family and friends! » Read full column To get in the mood for this piece we took our boat Tackless II on a round trip passage to the French island of Futuna about 250 miles north of Fiji. A friend visiting from the States was looking forward to his first open ocean passage. It should have been a nice reach up and back. It wasn’t. The north bound leg was an obnoxious slog by motor. In the anchorage, we were bewitched by baguettes, croissants and tiare blossoms into staying too long and got beset by nasty five-foot swells pinning us in (couldn’t get the dinghy up to escape). Once we did get out, we had 25-30 knots (the forecast was for 15-20) 50 to 60 degrees off the bow. » Read full column Being home for the holidays is such an ingrained concept that cruisers whose budget and geographical location allow often make this the time for an annual trek back “home” to see the family. When traditions are strong and generations spread far and wide, it may be the only time during the year that a whole family can come together. » Read full column If we cruisers got a nickel every time landlubbers asked one of the pirate questions – “Aren’t you worried about pirates?” we’d never have to fret about our cruising kitties again. The sailing world is certainly full of pirates: the ones singing along to Jimmy Buffet, watching Johnny Depp videos, and, of course, the ones running boatyards! The Jolly Roger signals to us not a nautical brigand, but a free-thinking, free-sailing anarchist, the sort of person who stands outside the strictures of the fixed world. » Read full column
|
|
||
|
Copyright © 2024 Admirals' Angle - All Rights Reserved |
|||
