Bev Feiges, aboard Cloverleaf, a 61-foot custom Krogen motoryacht, shares a list of some things she wouldn’t want to live without, and some pictures of great things about living aboard.
Lets start with the great things about living aboard.
Mostly it’s about the people you meet.
Everyone will tell you that.
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| Evening dinner in the cockpit. Mixed bag of friends from sailboats and motorboats, some Americans, some Israeli, taken in Turkey. One of those magical evenings we just can’t recapture on land. |
For us, with a boat large enough to accommodate a crowd, we love having groups aboard for long visits, usually with some food and drink thrown in.
We can have people who were strangers to us earlier in the day, or ones we’ve known and continue to run into over the years, but they all have unique stories to tell. What better form of entertainment?
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| Tchiko and Ted from Japan, Dave and I, E.M.Y.R. pirate party on Cyprus. |
Sometimes the parties ashore are arranged by other groups.
This is an annual Pirate Party with the Eastern Med. Yacht Rally (E.M.Y.R.).
We still keep in touch with Ted and Tchiko by e-mail as they continue to cruise Turkey on their Grand Banks trawler.
We love our big tables and our apartment-like galley
- Our big galley table makes dinner for 6 to 8 possible right there in the galley, and keeps it simple.
- Our back porch table pulls apart and an additional piece flips up enlarges the table to seat 8 people. It has been worth its weight in gold, and cost peanuts.
- Our table in the cockpit (see top picture) will also expand to seat 8.
- Occasionally we pull out all the stops and an elegant pot luck is spread out in the main salon.
- Some of the most fun occurs in the process of preparing the food. Having a really apartment like galley makes it possible for lots of hands.
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| Our big galley table | Our back porch table |
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| A pot luck spread out in the main salon. | Our apartment-like galley |
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| Other things we have added to the boat just for pleasure include a ‘tube” for giving the grandkids a thrill ride. |
My book case
I also am so glad we found the space to put in a book case, so my treasure trove of books can be there to lure me into the joys they have to offer, instead of being buried in a drawer and often forgotten.
The TV satellite dish, Sirius Radio, and my digital camera
Among the toys we have bought for ourselves that we really truly use a lot are the TV satellite dish, Sirius Radio, and my digital camera.
Taking those pictures of where you have been, what you did, and the people you did them with, allows you to relive those moments and recapture the joys forever.
Most of my pictures are of flowers and flower gardens, and any time my computer is turned on and not being used, it displays constantly changing scenes from my album called Flowers.
The ancient sites we visited in the Med
The wonders that are scattered all over Turkey, so many, they may seem like your own private ruins.
This is Aphrodesias, well off the usual tourist route, but close to many of the major marinas.
The beautiful scenes
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| Could anything be more inviting than this beach scene in Turkey? |
No lack of beauty in the Bahamas either |
Finally, I wouldn’t want to leave home without all my navigational tools.
I can sit very comfortably for hours at end in my Stidd Chair, and within easy reach is the autopilot, which does 99 per cent of my work, my VHF, the old radar, soon to have a big brother broadband radar that should not lose sight of boats as they actually get within striking distance, a separate depth sounder, windshield washers and wipers, weather station, stabilizer controls, engine displays, and a couple of chart plotters. The smaller, and very much out of date Simrad chart plotter will be replaced by a newer one that will be able to read the broad band radar.
You have to be the one at the helm to appreciate how exciting all this “stuff” can be, and we are constantly carrying the message to women, that they should be the ones at the helm, just pushing the little buttons around, and let macho man make the heroic leaps to the dock, or try to keep his hands from being mangled in anchoring.
Every few years it seems we are adding or subtracting something, and we are always pleased with the changes because there are always so many improvements in the newer equipment. The framework for the equipment is just black formica, so Dave can shift things around with only a small effort on his part!
Dave and Bev Feiges
Aboard Cloverleaf
Abaco, Bahamas
About Bev Feiges
After 21 years on a Cal-46-3 sailboat, Bev and her husband moved aboard Cloverleaf, their second cruising boat, a 61-foot custom Krogen motoryacht.
Self-described “coastal cruisers”, they have traveled the eastern seaboard from Canada to Florida, much of the Caribbean, and with a little help from Dockwise Yacht Transport, much of the Med, from the Balearics to Turkey, south along the coast to Egypt, through the Suez Canal, as far south as Abu Tieg.
You can read Bev’s blog, “Cruising with Cloverleaf“, at www.feiges.blogspot.com.
Bev is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column.
Read also on this website
- What Do Women Like Most about Cruising…15 Women Speak
- Gardening for cruisers, by Bev Feiges
- Handholds, handholds, handholds, by Bev Feiges
- Bev’s contribution to our feature article “Refitting the Galley: 12 Experiences”
- Bev Feiges makes her case for an electric galley aboard
More information (external links)
- Bev and Dave Feiges’s blog: “Cruising with Cloverleaf“
With 60 years of boating experience, Bev and Dave Feiges have seen it all. From racing inland lake scows, to cruising and living aboard sailboats and trawlers for the past 30 years, they have developed opinions on almost every aspect of life on the water, especially with an eye toward the needs of older boaters
What do you like best about cruising and living aboard? What items do you really appreciate aboard your boat?
Let us know.
Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.
Very nice snapshot, Bev!