This year the conference is about women extending their range. That [...]]]>
The Women’s Sailing Conference, held each June in Marblehead, is great fun. I’ve been involved one way or another many times. It amazes me how many women come back year after year. It also astounds me how quickly and enthusiastically women learn from each other.

This year the conference is about women extending their range. That might mean different things to different participants:

• First overnight cruise
• Doing all the navigating for a short trip
• Going to Maine for two weeks
• Crossing the Gulf Stream
• Moving aboard

The one-day conference – Saturday, June 1, 2013 – will be moderated by Beth Leonard, long-time and long-distance sailor and Technical Editor for BoatUS publications.

Panelists are

• Capt. Sharon Renk-Greenlaw, owner of Women Under Sail in Maine;
• Capt. Nancy Erley of Seattle, founder of Tethys Offshore who has twice circumnavigated with all-women crews;
• and me, Betsy Morris of Marblehead, a long-time cruiser.

There’s more information available at www.womensailing.org, including the registration form. There’s a nice discount for those registering before May 15th.

I can’t wait to see who’ll attend this year.

It was clear: never darken the [...]]]> The captain put me in charge of getting us from point A to point B. I was responsible for upping anchor, route planning, navigating and dropping the hook at our destination.

My cruising life started and nearly ended in 2007. It just wasn’t what I thought or hoped it would be.

It was clear: never darken the boarding ladder again, or find out for myself what I wanted from cruising. My own approach to living in this watery world for months at a time.

I wondered what other cruising women were thinking about and doing on their boats. So I started to ask them. One of the areas we talked about was educating ourselves.

Common amongst the women I spoke with was a learning style based on doing.

Explanations, instructions, words, only go so far. Perhaps it’s my own conclusion but the women seemed similar to me in this regard.

Crawling into the engine room to clean the shower pump filter. A small but vital job.

I sensed, too, that explanations and instructions could be an obstacle to learning – especially when offered by a spouse. Not to be negative about the spouse’s efforts and intent. It can simply be a mismatch of teaching and learning styles – a situation I’m familiar with.

It is absolutely necessary to immerse myself in whatever subject area of sailing that I wish to learn. I cannot standby and hope to learn. Some observation is important but I have realized that unless I force myself to read weather books so I can be part of weather discussions; take time to pour over charts; pay attention to local knowledge when it’s being shared; I cannot really be part of route planning.

An impediment to learning shared by more woman than just me is a spouse who is more knowledgeable.

The Captain agrees to dock lines and duct tape to restrain himself from taking over.

It’s sometimes easier to abdicate and let the more competent person do it. And sometimes the more competent person has a hard time letting go and giving the student space to learn. It can be a difficult balance to find. When something needs to be done now and done right, it’s not a time to chance a mistake.

However, most moments on the boat are not like that and there is room for learning from one’s mistakes.

The challenge is for the student to be persistent in their own learning. Watch, read, talk to others, and try. Don’t stop trying. Insist with yourself and others that you will keep on trying. Above all, resist berating yourself for not knowing or making a mistake. Lock your successes firmly in your mind and touch on them often.

There are a few key knowledge areas that came up in my discussions with women.

Sailing

Two women I talked to really stand out for me.

The first one, a single hander, learned to sail on the 25 foot sailboat her and her husband bought when their kids were young. They would head out to their boat on weekends. Saturday morning was her time to take the boat out alone. She’d try this, that and everything in between as she figured out how to set the sails, manage the lines and navigate. Later, she’d talk to her husband about her morning solo experience and sort out any questions she had.

Years later the marriage ended. The husband didn’t want the sailboat but she did. She continued to take the kids out on sailing weekends. Her sailing and boat handling knowledge continued to grow – as it’s bound to when you spend time with the boat on the water.

Today, one of her grown sons owns a boatyard. And she single hands her 42 ft sloop throughout the Bahamas and Caribbean, taking crew on board for passages as needed.

I’m wowed. But I totally get it. I could see myself taking a small sail boat out alone on the lake we live near at our land based home. I could mess around and if I couldn’t get myself back to shore I could radio for help. (Always good to have a fall back position!) I could practice reading the wind, setting the sails, tacking and jibing, coming along side bouys, to my heart’s content. No one to critique or offer up a flow of words (well meaning advice) that I just can’t process when I’m in my “experiential learning” mode. I could bask in the glory of making and solving my own mistakes. It’s what I do best. So why not do it on a sailboat?

I have in fact met another female single hander moored at St. Augustine, Florida who subscribes to the trial and error learning method herself. And she knows other women single handers that do, too! I’m not alone! I want to sail away with these women! I ask her if she was afraid of running into stuff. She tells me it’s a foregone conclusion that you will hit things. And she has run into things. So have her single handing friends. No major catastrophes ensued. It’s ok. (If you think about, many male captains have at least one story of running into a dock, shallow spot, wall, boat, etc. and have lived to laugh about it.)

The second woman that stands out in my conversations about how women learn to sail their boats, took a sailing course. It was a very good course, she says, and co-ed. When it came to the hands on sailing, an interesting – but not totally surprising – thing happened. The men wanted to step up and do all the “heavy” work. She had to literally elbow them aside saying “I came here to learn”. It was the right thing – the only thing – for her to do, in my books. At the same time it takes courage and decisiveness. Hmmm, yes it does.

Many other women have talked to me about the value of the women only sailing courses they’ve taken. I intend to do that one day but, as yet, have not had the time and money. And I’m getting more interested in the idea of a small sailboat on our lake back “home”.

Charts, Route Planning and Navigating

Consulting the charts and cruising guide before setting out on the next leg of our trip.

At first, sea sickness kept me from studying the charts. Charts are key, though! (And in this digital age, many would argue that so is the chart plotter.) Charts are to sailing as road maps are to driving and topographical maps are to wilderness travel.

So I started looking at the charts when we were at anchor or on a very calm passage. I discovered that my background in using topographical maps for hiking and canoe trips, compasses, and latitudes and longitudes gave me a good start with the charts.

Charts can’t be read in isolation from weather (primarily wind direction and speed), low and high tides, and sunrise and sunset. All these factors are woven into an intricate blend of information for sailors’ decisions. And provide the fodder for a favourite cruiser discussion – where and when to go next.

I found, too, that I use the charts slightly differently than my spouse. For example, I rely more on latitude and longitude readings, and topographical features. I wouldn’t have discovered this if I had tried to use charts exactly the way he does.

My friend Jo on s/v Serenade works out her routes with paper, pencil and straight edge – a skill she acquired in the classroom and with practice.

A woman sailor told me that she preferred to rely on one source of information for navigating. Multiple sources just confused things for her.

She relied on a handheld Garmin and sight, along with paper charts. She had navigated from Florida south to the Jumentos in the Bahamas and did not appear lost, so her system worked. (I think of the costly chart plotters I’ve seen at the West Marine store. They look like flat screen TVs to me. I will allow that perhaps they are worth every penny to some, but at present they seem like overkill to me.)

I’m glad to hear about the good service her handheld Garmin has done. We have one on board for back up to the modestly sized chart plotter mounted at the helm station.

Electrical Systems

The charger/inverter controller is where it’s at if you want to know how your system is charging. Ours is installed by the electrical panels. There is no shortage of dials and switches.

One woman I talked to is reading a manual on marine electrical systems to educate herself on how things work! Impressed, my eyebrows raised, all I can say is ‘wow”!

For the first few years, my knowledge was limited to understanding that batteries are recharged when the engine or generator is running and that we need a couple hours a day of either (or a mix) to keep electricity flowing. And I understood – as I do now – that electricity conservation is a must. Perhaps that’s the first thing to understand about electricity.

Another woman I spoke to dealt with electricity knowledge by not needing it. She owns a boat with her grandfather. Together, they set the goal of not turning on the engine. She is the first woman I’ve met that is nearly exclusively wind powered. She has a solar panel to power the vhf radio for communication, and a single side band receiver and am/fm radio from which they try to get weather information. Simplicity. Of course, the trade-offs are less weather information opportunities, and no cold beer, butter, and hot showers. Some days I bet the trade-offs are worth it, and some days not.

I’ve started reading books about electricity, batteries, inverters and chargers. Last week I went to a boaters’ seminar on electrical systems. (Before the seminar started a man sitting beside us said to me I was probably there to learn how to use the blow dryer. He had the good grace to realize he probably shouldn’t have said that.)

The next day I took notes as my husband set up the generator to charge the batteries. My next challenge is to do the set up myself. (All boats are set up differently – ours is moderately complex.) I can now have a basic conversation with my spouse about our own system aboard. Last year, I crawled into the far reaches of engine room to check the water level in the batteries. Not rocket science but, hey, it’s a start. (At the same time I made a foray into plumbing maintenance. I removed, cleaned and replace the filter basket in the line that drains the shower. )

At this point in my conversations with women, I know I’m in good company when I say I need to learn about this sailing life by doing, more so than watching or being told.

It can be a struggle to not sit back passively and let others do the things that right now seem too challenging. For me, though, learning is the only way I’m going to really get into this cruising life.

About Karen Bergman

A caricature of me my former colleagues gave to me when I retired last year. Sailing /cruising seems so exotic to those who haven’t done it.

I was born and raised in southern Alberta, Canada. For over 22 years I lived in Canada’s Arctic where my children were born and raised. My first adventure on the ocean was in an open boat to fish and hunt seals. In early spring we travelled on the frozen ice by snowmobile and komatik (a sled with runners). (No, we didn’t live in igloos! And, yes, we had electricity and running water.)

When I was young, I had romantic dreams about sailing around the world. I didn’t really think about how that would work given I get motion sick on a swing. My first adventure on a sail boat in 2007 saw us traveling around the Florida panhandle in a 32 foot Pearson, Island Breezes. I remember the heat, nausea, lightning storms and a water spout bearing down on us when our motor was disabled. Our max speed was 1 knot. I was terrified.

And unimpressed by the whole thing. I thought there had to be more to this cruising life. Next year we cruised in the Bahamas. That was more like it and I found enough in it to stick with cruising. We’ve been back to the Bahamas several times and also cruised (as crew on another boat) in south and central America. Currently, our cruising platform is m/v Popeye, a 42 foot Tolleycraft.

I retired from a wonderful public service career in 2011. I live now in southern British Columbia, Canada with my partner Dwight on 5 acres of solid land with mountains, lakes and rivers nearby. Between us, we own 9 boats, including the canoe and kayaks. I have three children and two granddaughters.

I’ve just started blogging again: Karen Blogs Again.

More on this website

• Debbie Leisure learns to sail her boat single-handed: Learning to handle the boat alone after a husband’s death.
• All posts in “How we learn” : Women tell us how they have learned the skills they need to sail and cruise.
  
• “Learning to sail”: Women & Cruising resources
  
• What do women like most about sailing their boats? by Karen Bergman
  

I didn’t need the doctor to check me out; I wanted her to check out my list of  First Aid supplies for our boat.  Paul and I were going [...]]]>

Under the guise of a routine checkup, I set up an appointment to see our doctor before we quit our jobs and lost our medical benefits.

I didn’t need the doctor to check me out; I wanted her to check out my list of  First Aid supplies for our boat.  Paul and I were going to sail around the world and I had no idea what medical emergencies we might face.

Dr. Smith smiled when I confessed the real reason for my visit.  A sailor herself, she gamely reviewed my list, took some notes and then handed me a catalogue of first aid kits for Emergency Medical Technicians.  She suggested that I order one of these First Aid kits as they were more complete than the average camping kit.  She also asked me to return in a week, with my husband, two oranges and 2 pigs’ feet.

A week later, during her lunch hour, she taught Paul and I how to give the orange injections.  Apparently injecting an orange, with its tough outer peel and soft interior, was similar to giving a person a shot.  Then she made slits in the pigs’ feet and showed us how to sew basic sutures before passing the feet to us to stitch up.  I was surprised at how rubbery and impenetrable the skin was, and each haphazard stitch I made marked my struggle.  Paul’s stitches, on the other hand, were evenly spaced and neatly done.

When Paul saw my needlework, he exclaimed, “I hope I don’t need any stitches!“  Then Dr. Smith pulled out her pen and pad and wrote us eight prescriptions, mainly for broad-spectrum antibiotics and eye/ear ointments.  She also recommended two books we should have on board:  The Merck Manual of Medical Information (Home Edition) and the PDR Nurse’s Drug Handbook.

When our First Aid kit arrived, I examined it before adding our prescription medicine to the huge fluorescent bag.  Then I headed to Walmart for an “over-the-counter” shopping spree, stocking up on items that we currently used, such as Blistex, antacid tablets, Advil, hydrocortisone cream, Benadryl, and Bandaids.  I also purchased seasickness tablets, in various formulations.  This completed our kit.

We seldom needed our well-stocked First Aid kit during our four-year cruise, which took us from Charleston, SC, to New Zealand and then north to Micronesia and finally back to San Francisco.  A little squirt of Bactine and an ordinary bandage took care of most of our injuries.

Here, the Katiu Kids as we called them swing on our mooring line. We believe Paul punctured his arm on the chain link fence that is attached to this concrete sea wall while goofing off with the children.

That is until we reached Katiu, an atoll in the Tuamotu Archipelago.

Paul somehow punctured his arm on a rusty chain link fence.  I applied my usual Bactine and Bandaid therapy to his small dot-like wound and figured I had fixed the problem.

A couple of days later, as we were sailing to another atoll 35 miles away, Paul complained that his arm felt numb.  And the numb feeling was spreading into his hand and shoulder.

Through satellite e-mail, I set up a SSB radio call to our friends on another boat a hundred miles away; the wife was a nurse.  Over the radio, she asked what antibiotics we had on board.  I pulled out our list and read them to her; she whistled in admiration when she learned how well-equipped we were.

Thank you Dr. Smith!  Our nurse friend put Paul on a course of penicillin and days later, his infection was gone.

Tahanea, the atoll we were sailing to when Paul’s arm became numb, is uninhabited. Thank goodness for cruising nurses!

Two more years passed before we needed our First Aid kit again.

This is the coconut tree that Paul climbed, where he got bitten by mosquitoes carrying Dengue Fever.

In Abaiang, an atoll in Kiribati, Paul got bit by dozens of mosquitos while climbing a coconut tree at dusk.  When he returned to the boat, he was so proud of the coconuts that he neglected to mention the mosquitos.

Days later, I found him kowtowing on our bed in pain, rocking himself and begging me to turn off the lights (which weren’t on).  I suddenly realized the downside of being off the “beaten path:” there were no friends to call over the radio.  Due to interference, we were too far away even for the SSB sailing nets.

I consulted our Merck Manual and thought he had the symptoms of a sinus infection; Paul had been spearfishing in Abaiang and he liked to dive deep.  But the course of antibiotics I prescribed to him did nothing to alleviate his pain; on the contrary, it seemed to be increasing.  He also developed a high fever.

This is the anchorage in Abaiang.

Thankfully, we had sailed back to Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, before his symptoms appeared.  So I dinghied ashore and phoned one of the island’s doctors who concluded that he must have gotten Dengue Fever.  She said I could bring him to the hospital to stay but there was nothing they could do for him.

I opted to keep him on board, where we had safe drinking water, a gentle breeze that kept away the mosquitoes and a mattress on our bed.   Trying to lower Paul’s high fever in the equatorial heat was not easy but I spritzed him – often! – with a water bottle which caused my husband to moan even more.  Days later, the pain became intolerable.  I reached into our large First Aid kit and pulled out the strongest pain relief medicine we had onboard.  It was a narcotic nasal spray that gave him temporary relief and, once again, I was thankful for Dr. Smith’s foresight.

We were the only yacht in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, so when Paul contracted Dengue Fever, there were no other cruisers around to help.

It took weeks for Paul to fully recover from his bout with Dengue and while he was ill, I played nurse and Captain.  We were anchored off of Betio, and whenever the trade winds shifted – as they frequently did that January – land became a lee shore.  Shipwrecked fishing boats littered the coral reef behind our boat and I was forced to maintain anchor watches.  That was in addition to the daily maintenance of living on a boat:  charging the batteries, running the fridge/freezer,  making water during an incoming tide, checking the snubber, and stowing items whenever the boat started bouncing around.

When I wasn’t tending to Paul or to the boat, I was looking after newest crew member:  a 2-month old I-Kiribati baby whom we were in the process of adopting.  So, in my “free time,” I washed diapers, sterilized bottles, fed and played with our beautiful daughter.

I steer our 42-foot Tayana sailboat, Cherokee Rose, out of Tarawa’s lagoon while our newest crew member, Jessica, watches. We were excited to be sailing to Abaiang, not knowing what lay ahead…

I felt overwhelmed.  Then I realized how lucky I was:  at least we were anchored at an atoll that had doctors and a small hospital.  Imagine if his symptoms had appeared while we were on passage?  How would I have coped?  Would I have reefed the sails, heaved-to, returned to our last port or carried on?  Paul and I had never considered  this scenario.  But, if there is one thing that cruising has taught me, it is this: I am capable.  Somehow, I would have managed.

Here are my tips for First Aid Afloat:

• Take a couple of First Aid classes before you leave shore, and bring your textbook(s) on board for reference.
• Try to find a doctor with sailing experience to advise you on your First Aid kit. Ask around at your marina; ask your sailing buddies. Or talk to your usual doctor, but explain that you might be 20 days from land when a medical emergency arises so you – and your First Aid kit – need to be prepared.
• Buy a well-stocked First Aid kit as your primary one; buy a compact one for your grab bag, in case you have to suddenly abandon ship.
• Purchase the latest editions of the The Merck Manual of Medical Information: 2nd Home Editionas well as the PDR Nurse’s Drug Handbook.Both are invaluable. The latter one contains useful information about prescribing medicine that is not included on the prescription label; the Merck Manual (Home Edition) uses terms that a normal person can understand.The third most-consulted book I had aboard is Where There Is No Doctor: a village health care handbookby David Werner with Carol Thuman and Jane Maxwell (and published by the Hesperian Foundation). This gem offers basic first aid techniques using limited help and supplies.
• Consider how you might handle a medical emergency at sea or at anchor, with cruisers nearby or on your own. Make a plan. Hopefully you will never need it.

About Kelly Watts

Kelly Watts is the author of Sailing to Jessicaan account of her and her husband’s 4-year sailing adventure that took them halfway around the world…and lead them to their baby daughter on a remote Pacific Island.

Tania Aebi, author of Maiden Voyage, said “The details of Paul and Kelly’s journey will bring the reader aboard the roller coaster ups and downs of the cruising life, the seemingly endless frustrations mitigated by unforgettable friendships, joy and awe that make it all so worthwhile, an experience of a lifetime. Here is an inspirational couple who recognized an opening in their lives and seized a moment leading to the kinds of memories that only a life at sea can bring . . .”

After enduring a gale at anchor and nearly losing their lives, with baby Jessica on board, Kelly and Paul decided to return to life-on-land but the cruising spirit has never left them. They and their two children have lived in the United States, India and now reside in Australia.

Prior to writing her book, Kelly has produced and/or written articles for national magazines such as Blue Water Sailing, Better Homes and Gardens and Hometown Cooking. She also had a weekly food column for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the St Paul Pioneer Press for several years. For more information, visit the Sailing to Jessica website www.sailingtojessica.com.

Sailing to Jessica is available  on amazon.com (paper and Kindle edition) and iTunes.

Here is the book trailer:

More on this website

• The need to know (Admirals’ Angle column #17):Suddenly alone: A true story illustrating why women on boats need to have the skills and attitude to meet challenges
• Heath & Medical: Women & Cruising Resources
• Medical books recommended by Women & Cruising (from the Women & Cruising Bookstore – Reference Books)

More from the web

• The Merck Manual of Medical Information: 2nd Home Edition
• PDR Nurse’s Drug Handbook 2013
• Where There Is No Doctor: a village health care handbook, by David Werner with Carol Thuman and Jane Maxwell

Indeed, no  cruising cookbook I have ever seen has so deliberately set out to [...]]]> Although it is a hefty paperback, The Boat Galley Cookbook by cruisers Carolyn Shearlock and Jan Irons is likely to help raise your waterline, because it consolidates in one volume many culinary resources cruising chefs have previously felt obliged to carry.

Indeed, no  cruising cookbook I have ever seen has so deliberately set out to be a comprehensive examination of how to meet the challenges of cooking afloat.  “We each faced a huge learning curve when we first began cruising,” say the authors, “so, we’ve tried to pass on all the  things we wish we’d known!”

The Boat Galley Cookbook is divided into two main sections.  In the first – “A Galley Frame of Mind” – the authors present tips on how to adjust your thinking from land to sea.  They advise on how to outfit your galley from scratch, make good provisioning choices for your voyage (including figuring out options available in foreign markets), and effectively store and protect various foodstuffs for passages.

Possibly  the most important section in the whole cookbook is the one on how to make  intelligent substitutions when some important recipe ingredient – like  buttermilk or sour cream — is not available.  (I can’t tell you how many times in a remote location this chapter would  have been a godsend!)  Another chapter  summarizes all the measurement equivalents and conversions you’re likely to  encounter moving from country to country.  There is even a chapter introducing some less familiar cooking  techniques that we cruisers pick up – like cooking in a thermos or baking in a  pressure cooker.  Before The Boat Galley Cookbook cruising cooks had to collect this information willy nilly.

Two  other helpful chapters in the section zero in on the very pertinent issues of  planning meals for underway consumption and on the special concerns when stormy  weather is on the horizon.

The Recipes section of The Boat Galley Cookbook shows equal consideration  for cruisers’ needs.  The section starts “Meal  Ideas for the Boating Life” with nine lists of recipe “inspirations” for  different situations, for example, ideas for breaking the monopoly of  sandwiches for lunch, good one-pot meals, hot weather meals,  and five-minute appetizers.  They have even specifically cross-referenced recipes for creatively using such cruiser standbys as pasta and cabbage!

Finally,  running my eye through the recipes themselves, it seems like they have covered  almost everything anyone could ever want to do.  Nineteen sub-sections of recipes run from beverages and breakfasts right  through desserts, plus there’s a section on using canned meats and one on  meatless main dishes.  I was pleased to find  many cruiser favorites typically shared around the fleet like Chinese Cole Slaw  and Fish Sausage, and I particularly double-checked the recipe for the  “Tropical Painkiller” – what could be called the national cocktail of the  Virgin Islands (and so often over-looked) to be sure it was accurate.  It was!

About  the only remotely critical observation I could make on this wonderful  compendium is that the recipes seem based primarily on ingredients already  well-known to North American cooks without exploring the unusual vegetables,  fruits, products or dishes we encounter in the lands we have sailed to  visit.   Although the authors encourage  readers to be bold in asking about unfamiliar vegetables in open markets,  include some tips about shopping in Central American “mercados”, and provide a  useful key to deciphering cuts of meat in Spanish (you will need a magnifying  glass to read this section), they do not go much into specifics.  In a book this comprehensive about everything  else, this would have been a welcome inclusion.

On  the other hand, cruisers spend a lot of time trying to reproduce the flavors of  home in situations far from home, and The Boat Galley Cookbook will  prove itself a valuable aid in so doing.

The Boat Galley Cookbook: 800 Everyday Recipes and Essential Tips for Cooking Aboard  is available on Amazon.com.

More info

• Buy The Boat Galley Cookbook on Amazon.com.
• Learn more about the Boat Galley Cookbook: Boat Galley website
• Watch this video to meet the two authors (Carolyn Shearlock and Jan Irons) and learn how the book came to be:
  
• The Boat Galley Facebook page

More on this website

• All book reviews
• Galley Advice from 18 Cruising Women: 18 cruising women offer tips and advice for setting up your galley and cooking aboard, discuss the gear that they couldn’t live without, and invite you into their galleys.
• Carolyn Shearlock: Everything I needed to know to go cruising …
• Jan Irons: Plan ahead to make lemonade from lemons

If you have a book that
like us you would like to review,
let us know!

Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Seeing their enthusiasm for this, we parents agreed to assign the kids a group project as part of their [...]]]>
During our stay in Tauranga, New Zealand, the kids from two boats (Namani and Alouette) really hit it off. One activity they particularly enjoyed was learning to program computer graphics using a program called KTurtle.

Seeing their enthusiasm for this, we parents agreed to assign the kids a group project as part of their home schooling: to create a video documentary about life on a sailboat. The idea was for our children to learn new computer skills while producing an informative and interesting video, not to mention having fun.

We thought it might take them one to two days, and they ended up taking four to produce quite a good five minute video. The video met all the requirements we set, which included a minimum length, use of different scenes / transitions / titles, as well as including a musical clip and credits. They decided that their audience would be kids who were familiar with sailing but hadn’t been cruising. The project also called on the organizational framework they usually call on for written reports: brainstorming, planning, outlining, drafting, editing, and finally, presenting their work.

As so often happens with boat kids, the three worked very well together despite only having recently met and an age range of 9-14. They worked very independently of outside guidance, taking advantage of a lounge room and power supply in the marina we were staying in while completing projects on our boat.

The assignment also met another important requirement: giving the kids something fun and interesting to do while we parents were occupied with repairs! Markus of Namani acted as tech support, but for the most part, the kids were able to figure out the home video-making program (“kdenlive”) through logic, trial, and error, and the resulting video is entirely their own work.

To follow up the assignment, each of the kids wrote a reflection on the project (what worked well, what we could have done differently, what was difficult, etc). Katie, Nicky, and William are quite proud of their work and justifiably so.

It’s great to let kids speak their own minds about cruising, and we hope that others will find their work interesting and informative.

• Watch the video on NAMANI’s website and read Nicky’s reflection on the movie-making assignment:
Boat life – the kid’s perspective
A video documentary about what it is like to live on a sailboat by Katie, William and Nicky

•  Watch the video on Vimeo:
vimeo.com/58241254

More:

• Nicky’s school projects (Nicky’s webpage on Namani’s website)

About Nadine Slavinski

Nadine Slavinski is the author of Lesson Plans Ahoy: Hands-On Learning for Sailing Children and Home Schooling Sailors.

Nadine is a sailor, teacher, and parent. She  holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University. She has been teaching in international schools since 1996.

A  lifelong sailor, she has taken two extensive sailing sabbaticals with  her husband and young son. Living aboard their 35 foot sloop Namani  for three years, the family sailed from the Mediterranean to Maine, and later,  from Maine to the Caribbean and across the Pacific.

Articles by Nadine Slavinski have appeared in various sailing magazines and websites, including Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, Caribbean Compass, and YachtPals. Her website, www.sailkidsed.net lists many free resources for home schooling sailors.

Lesson Plans Ahoy (Second Edition) is available from:
- amazon.com (Printand Kindleedition)
- and CreateSpace.com 
For details check www.sailkidsed.net.

More from this website

• Cruising children speak: Cruising children tell us about their experiences growing up aboard
• 6 Tips for home-schooling sailors, by Nadine Slavinski
• Nadine Slavinski answers 12 questions on sailing as a family aboard NAMANI

I’d like to let you know about the Cruising Women program that Pam Wall, Beth Leonard and I will be giving at Cruisers University on April 25-26 in Annapolis, Maryland.

Last April, as Pam Wall and I finished our second year as faculty at Cruisers University, (a fun weekend in Annapolis of in-depth courses [...]]]>

I’d like to let you know about the Cruising Women program that Pam Wall, Beth Leonard and I will be giving at Cruisers University on April 25-26 in Annapolis, Maryland.

Last April, as Pam Wall and I finished our second year as faculty at Cruisers University, (a fun weekend in Annapolis of in-depth courses to prepare people for cruising), we were approached by Paul Jacobs, the director of Cruisers University and manager of the Annapolis Sailboat and Powerboat Shows:

“I would like you two to put together an in-depth two-day program on cruising, just for women.”

TWO DAYS! Imagine what we could do in two whole days –MUCH, MUCH more than is ever possible in a one hour Women and Cruising seminar! Of course we were excited! But….

“We want BOATS – we don’t want to do this all in a classroom – we want to take women aboard several boats, and spend time aboard learning about the equipment and routines aboard. To see it, touch it, use it…”

“Fine”, said Paul.

“And”, we said, “We would like to invite our good friend, Beth Leonard, to join us – together the three of us would make a fantastic team. We want to give women a variety of perspectives to help each woman find her own unique answers.”

“Excellent”, said Paul.

Since then, Pam, Beth and I have been planning how to make the most of this fantastic opportunity to introduce women to, and prepare women for, cruising.

We women approach cruising from various perspectives. For some of us, it was first the dream of our husband, or boyfriend or partner, and our first question was “What is cruising like? Do I want to do it?” For others, it was an individual or joint dream – we LIKE the idea of cruising, but don’t know if we are skilled enough, smart enough, young enough, rich enough, brave enough to pull it off….

And for yet others, we KNOW we want to go cruising, we know we can do it, and we want to acquire the skills and knowledge so we can get out there and make a success of cruising.

This course is designed for all of these women, to answer their questions and needs. First of all, we are going to introduce you to cruising, help you learn what it is like, in all its variations – aboard sailboat and powerboat, cruising close to home, or to the Caribbean, or around the world – sailing with your partner, or family, or by yourself. We are going to cover the skills that you need to acquire and help you figure out what you know already and what you still need. We will spend time aboard several different boats, in small groups, learning about the equipment that we live with, discussing daily routines, what works and what doesn’t.

And most importantly, you will have LOTS of time to ask your questions and to raise your concerns about cruising. This is a very personal, and fun course. We will talk, laugh, tie knots, heave lines, poke around with equipment, discuss ALL your questions and practical issues – and come out of this whole weekend ready to understand the cruising life to make your dream come true.

We hope you can join us – the Cruising Women 2-day program will take place, during the Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show, April 25-26 in Annapolis, Maryland, as part of the 4-day Cruisers University.

Registration for this unique event is through Cruisers University. For those of you who might want to attend Cruisers University as a couple, there are programs on Diesel Maintenance or Weather (or other elective classes on Friday) that your partner might want to attend while you are in the Cruising Women program. And there are lots of elective classes that either of you can attend after the class on Saturday and Sunday – everything from outfitting to weather to cruising the Bahamas or Caribbean.

For more information, contact Cruisers University, or Nancy Grisham at 410-263-7802. You may also contact me, Pam Wall or Beth Leonard for more information on our program. We look forward to a fun and rewarding and empowering weekend with you!

Best,
Kathy Parsons

About us

Kathy Parsons

In 20+ years of live-aboard cruising, Kathy Parsons has sailed the US, Bahamas, Caribbean, Central and South America aboard four cruising boats ranging from 30 to 42 feet. Kathy Parsons is well-known in the international cruising community for her books Spanish for Cruisers and French for Cruisers – language guides used by thousands of boaters around the world to help them communicate as they sail in foreign countries. Kathy is also the founder of the Women and Cruising website and seminars. The WomenandCruising.com website provides resources, advice and inspiration for women sailors. Over a thousand women (and men) have attended Women and Cruising seminars, getting answers to the questions they have about cruising.

Contact: kathybparsons@gmail.com

Pam Wall

Pam Wall was raised in Chicago sailing summers with her father on Lake  Michigan.  While attending University of Wisconsin she became the first  woman president of the Hoofers, the sailing club at University of Wisconsin.  Pam had their honeymoon sailing her husband Andy’s 30 foot sloop across the  Atlantic.  Three years later they sailed home from Europe to begin building  KANDARIK their Freya 39, hull number ONE!  In 1985 Pam and Andy set out  around the world on KANDARIK with their two children.  Six years later they  returned to Fort Lauderdale, and Pam got a job at West Marine as the  Outfitting Manager and Cruising Consultant.  Pam can be seen at boat shows  across the country giving seminars with Kathy Parsons and her own seminars  on outfitting, cruising, product knowledge and more.  Check out her  web-site, www.pamwall.com

Contact: pam@pamwall.com

Beth Leonard

Beth Leonard is the Director of Technical Services for BoatUS and Technical Editor for all BoatUS publications. Before joining BoatUS, Beth and her husband, Evans Starzinger, completed two circumnavigations and logged more than 110,000 nautical miles. Between 1992 and 1995, they sailed westabout by way of the Panama Canal, Torres Straits and the Cape of Good Hope aboard their Shannon 37, Silk. They spent four years ashore building their 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt Samoa sloop, Hawk, before leaving again in 1999. They completed a ten-year, eastabout circumnavigation by way of all of the Great Capes that took them as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Cape Horn. Beth has written hundreds of articles for more than a dozen sailing magazines including Cruising World, Practical Sailor, Good Old Boat, and Yachting World. Beth is the author of three books: The Voyager’s Handbook, Following Seas and the award-winning Blue Horizons.

Contact: bleonard@boatus.com
Website: www.bethandevans.com