My question, as we start to stock our boat, is:

I always thought [...]]]> We recently purchased a Com-Pac 23 (an upgrade from a Com-Pac 19). We take many extended stays on the water throughout the summer, hoping to someday take off for the big blue waters.

My question, as we start to stock our boat, is:

What organizing tips and tricks do your contributors have for us rookies?

I always thought it was Ben Franklin who coined the phrase, “A place for everything and everything in its place.“

But not surprisingly, according to Phrase Finder, several early citations are from nautical contexts. Here’s an example from Frederick Marryat’s Masterman Ready or the Wreck of the Pacific, 1842: “In a well conducted man-o-war, every thing is in its place and there is a place for every thing.”

Unorganized organization

I have my own version of this: “There is a pile for every thing and every thing is in its pile.”

I am a “pilot”. I pile it here and I pile it there.

However, on the boat that is not an option. We have to be able to put our hands on what we need quickly. So it is imperative that everything on the boat has a designated spot and is returned to that spot when not in use.

Anybody remember what we put in there?

We even tell each other where we are putting something new so that, hopefully, one of us will remember where it is.

Over the last several days we have been stocking Wrinkles. Storage on this boat is completely different from our previous boat. There is significantly more storage but in different configurations from the CP-19.

We have shelves with doors along the port and starboard sides of the cabin that we didn’t have before. There are also two long compartments under the side berths that provide room for the larger items. However, we lost the galley that Mike made for the CP 19 that had two pull-put drawers.  Now we get to find the perfect places for all the things we carry.  We need to remember that just because there is more room doesn’t mean we need to carry more stuff. Well maybe one more ……

Storage behind doors by side berths

I’m sure there will be a trip to the local discount store to find containers that will fit the various shaped cubbies.

The compartment under the side berths is long and narrow with only an 18″ square opening for access.  The previous owners used a system we had heard other sailors mention – rectangular plastic tubs hooked together by a rope in a train-like fashion.  The tubs can be slid back and forth so that the needed item is positioned under the opening.  I think this might be the perfect spot for canned goods, coffee press, pitcher, etc. on one side and water cannon, slushie mobile, flashlights, etc. on the other.

I’ve had to retrain myself for life on a boat.  I try very hard to not just set something down – I take the extra couple of seconds needed to make sure the item is returned to its correct spot.  Now if I could only accomplish this on my desk! (and my bathroom counter, and…)

Brenda

About Brenda Greene

Brenda is new to sailing. She and her husband Mike (high school sweethearts) began sailing five or six years ago. They started out on a Sunfish and were instantly hooked. They bought a Com-Pac 16 to learn more about sailing and then moved up to the Com-Pac 19 for more room. Last summer they spent 30 nights at anchor.

Brenda is definitely not just along for the ride when it comes to sailing. She splits time at the tiller, hanks on sails and handles the anchoring duties. Sailing as a team ranks high on her list. Recently they upgraded again to the Com-Pac 23 (Wrinkles). The goal, now that they are empty nesters, is to get as much sailing experience as possible in the next two years and then sell the house, buy a seaworthy boat, and sail to ports unknown. “We don’t have very deep pockets. We do all the work on the boat ourselves. (OK, Mike does most of the work). We aren’t minimalists, but rather prefer to keep things simple.”

Brenda is a middle school special education and reading teacher. Mike, no matter what his job, would prefer to be retired! When not sailing, Brenda is a keeper of memories – scrapbooking and blogging about their experiences to help their friends and family understand and share in the pursuit of their dream.

Here is their blog: Wrinkles in Our Sails

Read also on this website

• Ask your question – Women & Cruising contributors and readers answer your questions about cruising: Read all entries

What organizing tips and tricks have you discovered?

Let us know.

Email kathy@forcruisers.com (with pictures if you have them!) or leave a comment below.

It turned out I was not alone in my passion for observing and enjoying birds while cruising.

Thanks to the phenomenal network of Women and [...]]]> Diana Doyle spotting wildlife in a quiet South Carolina saltmarsh anchorage.

A year ago, I wrote about “Birding Aboard” for Women and Cruising‘s series, Take Your Passion Cruising.

It turned out I was not alone in my passion for observing and enjoying birds while cruising.

Thanks to the phenomenal network of Women and Cruising, I connected to several other dedicated “birders-aboard,” including

• Beth Leonard
  on s/v Hawk,
• Brenda Free
  on s/v Willow,
• Devi Sharp
  on s/v Arctic Tern,
• Jeanne Socrates
  on s/v Nereida,
• Katharine Lowrie
  on s/v Lista Light,
• Wendy Clarke
  on s/v Osprey,
• Yvonne Katchor on s/v Australia 31,
• and Dorothy Wadlow on s/v Joyant.

Together we organized the first worldwide “SeaBC” SeaBird Count, where cruisers tally and submit their ocean and coastal bird sightings to eBird‘s online database. These sightings become a resource for scientists and provide much-needed data on seabird abundance and distribution.

Participation spanned over 100 degrees of latitude — from the Gulf of Maine at North 48º to South 58º on Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. But most counts were from more temperate latitudes, such as the islands off Africa, Chile’s Golfo de Penas, and the Caribbean.

And this year’s inaugural SeaBC was promoted by three long-distance cruising rallies: the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, Baja Ha-Ha, and Caribbean 1500.

Two Black-browed Albatross that landed by S/V LISTA LIGHT on passage from Falklands to Uruguay (Photo by Katharine Lowrie)

But this post is not only about the SeaBC event, it’s about how this event illustrates the passion and commitment many women aboard have for the natural world.

Women aboard boats value nature. Of course men love nature also. But I’d venture that many women who thrive long-term aboard a cruising boat really love nature. The cruising lifestyle connects them with nature in a way that a climate-controlled condominium never can. And they love their boat, in part, because it’s their magic carpet to an endless supply of captivating new natural observations with each change of latitude.

Devi Sharp shares her knowledge during a cruiser raft-up in Venezuela. (Photo by Charles Shipley)

Women also embrace volunteerism. We can’t change generations of cultural imprinting! And the SeaBC taps into our enthusiasm for contributing in a way that is compatible with the cruising lifestyle. As volunteerism adapts to technology, citizen science takes environmental projects to the Internet. You may sometimes feel like a floating island, but you can still participate in your areas of interest by collecting and photographing geo-referenced data and uploading it to citizen science projects.

So the important role of women in launching this inaugural event isn’t just a coincidence.

Thank you Women and Cruising!

How You Can Help…

• Join Facebook.com/Birding.Aboard, where you can share sightings, get ID help, and see news about next year’s SeaBC.
• On your next coastal or offshore passage, take digital photos of seabirds and report your sightings to www.eBird.org.
• If you’re not a birdwatcher, no problem—you can make an important contribution by reporting hourly stretches of “zero sightings.” Scientists and conservationists need to know where the birds are—and are not.
• Volunteer to print and post a color PDF flyer at marinas you visit. We need outreach to bulletin boards!
• Know a second language? We need help translating our one-page tally sheet to French, Spanish, German, …

About Diana Doyle

Diana Doyle and her husband Mark write the cruising guide and electronic charting series, Managing the Waterway—now known as On the Water ChartGuides to reflect their full-time surveying and cruising status.

Diana holds a 50-ton USCG Master’s License and is the “Tools of the Trade” Department Editor for American Birding Association‘s Birding magazine (www.aba.org).

Read also on this website

• Take your passion cruising:
  Diana Doyle enjoys “birding aboard” as she writes cruising guides
• In the Women & Cruising Amazon bookstore:
  Nature guides that Women & Cruising contributors carry aboard their boats.

More information (external links)

• Facebook.com/Birding.Aboard:
  Share sightings with other birders aboard long-distance boats.
• The eBird website: On-line database of bird observations.
• American Birding Association website
• www.onthewaterchartguides.com

Do you agree with Diana that many women who thrive long-term aboard a cruising boat really love nature? How important is that aspect of cruising for you?

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

Cruisers University will be held in conjunction with the new Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show and will offer 4 days of seminars to prepare you for cruising.

Pam and I are part of an impressive line-up of instructors, including Nigel Calder, [...]]]>
Join Pam Wall and me for an amazing weekend in Annapolis April 26-29!

Cruisers University will be held in conjunction with the new Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show and will offer 4 days of seminars to prepare you for cruising.

Pam and I are part of an impressive line-up of instructors, including Nigel Calder, Lee Chesneau, George Day, Herb McCormick, Gary Jobson, Cindy Wallach, Liza Copeland, John Martino, Jim Drury and many others.

You can attend the 3-day Cruising Preparation series, the 4-day Master Cruisers series, or the 1-day Cruisers Education series. There will be both classroom and on-board classes. There are technical series of classes covering diesel maintenance, electrical systems and modern navigation, plus cruising destination series (Bahamas, Caribbean, etc), and many individual seminars.

Pam and I thoroughly enjoyed Cruisers University last year and are excited to be back again this year. The energy and enthusiasm in the seminar rooms is contagious and our discussions are always lively and in-depth.

Cruisers University catches attendees at a crucial point: the men and women attending have a dream to go cruising but it is still an uncertain dream. Over the course of the weekend, they learn so much that the dream becomes a shared plan, and attendees leave eager and prepared to make their dream a reality. I love being able to contribute to that transformation. And what better place for it all to begin in than in Annapolis, truly a sailor’s town and home of the big Fall Annapolis Boat Show!

Here are the seminars I will be giving at Cruisers University:

Provisioning and Storage Strategies

Friday, April 27: 1:45-3:00pm
Saturday, April 28:  1:45-3:00pm

Instructor: Kathy Parsons

Provisioning, trivial ashore, becomes a key skill for successful cruising. We will discuss provisioning from start to finish, beginning with factors that affect what you will (and won’t) want to take: where you plan to cruise, how you cruise, your eating and entertaining style, your boat, storage space and equipment (eg. refrigeration and freezer space or lack of). Avoiding LOB (lost on board) – strategies and systems for organizing, stowing, and inventorying (manual, computerized, and app-based). Preserving what you have aboard (vacuum sealing, drying, storage containers and systems). Reprovisioning in foreign countries: making use of local products, major reprovisioning areas, duty-free areas, shipping parts and supplies in, what you can get where. Plus lots of useful handouts and downloads to help you get started including provisioning lists of food, supplies and spares, multilingual reprovisioning lists, etc.

What Works: Tips and Techniques for Long-Distance Cruising

Saturday, April 28: 8:00-9:15am

Instructors: Kathy Parsons and Pam Wall

Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference. With decades of cruising and tens of thousands of miles under their keels, circumnavigator Pam Wall and Caribbean/Bahamas cruiser Kathy Parsons have learned lots of little things that make cruising safer, more comfortable, more successful. In this seminar, they will share some of their favourite tips, techniques and gear. You
are bound to learn many new ideas to plan for and improve your cruising! Here are some of the
areas they discuss:

• Anchoring – Hand signals, marking chain, snubbers and bridles, anchoring safety
• How to Pick up a Mooring
• Docking and Line-handling
• How to heave a line
• Motoring and Motor Sailing
• Night watches: Keeping watch, jacklines and harnesses, lighting, getting a good night’s sleep
• Passagemaking and navigation tips
• Saving our Backs, Enhancing our Strength
• Fresh water: Hauling water, Water Collection
• Deck Organization: Mast rails, Mast steps, Ratlines, Whisker poles, Preventers, Lazy jacks and Cradles
• Solar Panels and Wind Generators: Where do you put them
• Fresh water: Hauling water, Water Collection
• Ventilation, Lighting and Shade
• What you need in the Cockpit
• Dinghy and Outboard
• Fishing: What to take
• Staying Safe

Attendees will receive the extensive, illustrated “What Works handout” detailing and illustrating the tips covered in the seminar.

Tips for Women Cruisers

Saturday, April 28: 9:30am-10:45am

Instructors: Kathy Parsons and Pam Wall

How do you navigate through the thousands of questions you face as you prepare to go cruising?
By talking to experienced cruising women who have “been there” and are eager to share what has worked for them. We will answer your questions about cruising – from skills, attitudes, common fears and roles aboard, to outfitting, planning for departure and dealing with home and possessions, passage-making, safety, provisioning, seasickness, communication, finances, health and life afloat. Attendees will receive an extensive handout full of tips and resources to help you plan and to make the most of the material covered in the seminar.

The Bahamas: Cruising the Exumas

Saturday, April 28 12:30-1:3pm

Instructor: Kathy Parsons

The Exuma island chain is the favorite part of the Bahamas for many cruisers. Many return year after year while others visit the Exumas as they island hop down to the Caribbean. The Exumas offer hundreds of beautiful white sand beaches, excellent diving and fi shing, many small friendly Bahamian settlements, and gorgeous anchorages. In this seminar, we will cover everything you need to know to plan a cruise to the Bahamas. Attendees will receive a handout with resources, lists of charts and cruising guides, provisioning information, transformation recommendations, weather services – all you’ll need to know for cruising the Bahamas.

The Exuma island chain is the favorite part of the Bahamas for many cruisers. Many return year after year while others visit the Exumas as they island hop down to the Caribbean. The Exumas offer hundreds of beautiful white sand beaches, excellent diving and fishing, many small friendly Bahamian settlements, and gorgeous anchorages. In this seminar, we will cover everything you need to know to plan a cruise to the Bahamas. Topics covered include:

• An overview of the Exumas: where to go and how to sail the chain
• How to get to the Exumas: sailing routes from the US. Clearing into the Bahamas
• The best charts and cruising guides
• Weather: the best weather sources for sailing the Bahamas, as well as how weather patterns in each season determine how you sail the Exumas
• Preparing your boat: outfitting and provisioning to cruise the Exumas
• Availability of provisions, fuel, water, and supplies
• Best places to have guests fly in
• Skills needed such as: reading the water, anchoring, cold fronts, navigating, playing tides and currents
• The best of the Exumas for fishermen and divers
• The best of the Exumas for family cruising
• Keeping in touch while you sail the Bahamas:  (wifi, ham/sideband radio,  cell phone voice and data, hotspots, nets)
• Regattas and other events: Georgetown Cruisers Regatta, Family Island Regatta, Farmer’s 5F Regatta
• Onward from the Bahamas: where you might go next….

Attendees will receive a handout with resources, lists of charts and cruising guides, provisioning information, etc.

The Well-Found Galley

Sunday, April 29 11:00am-12:15pm

Instructor: Kathy Parsons

The galley is the heart of every cruising boat. It is the one part of the boat that gets used every day whether at sea or in port. This seminar will help you make the most of your galley. We will discuss everything from layout to refrigeration, from dishes, to pressure cookers and other equipment. You will receive handouts listing gear that cruising women consider essential aboard (and what they took off their boats!), and the things learned along the way that make cooking aboard and provisioning easier, safer, and more enjoyable.

If you are in the process of shopping for a boat, you will learn what to look for and what your main decision points in the prospective galley should be (including a checklist of considerations). If you are preparing to go cruising, you will learn how to equip your galley, what’s worth packing and what you can leave behind. And if you are already out cruising, you will enjoy seeing how others do things and pick up new tips.

* Friday, April 27 – Cruising World Magazine – “Making A Boat A Home”

Pam Wall and I are both participating (among others) in the Cruising World sponsored Luncheon Program: “Making A Boat A Home”

Read also on this website

• Women and Cruising seminars
• Galley Advice from 18 Cruising Women

More information (external links)

• Cruisers University

What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice.

Well if everything nice means a fresh coat of makeup, painted nails, pretty hair, and a good pair of heels, then I am in trouble.

Being a lady at sea is a constant uphill battle.

It [...]]]>

What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice.

Well if everything nice means a fresh coat of makeup, painted nails, pretty hair, and a good pair of heels, then I am in trouble.

Being a lady at sea is a constant uphill battle.

Looking sexy at sea is harder than it sounds.

It is a harsh environment in which I am exposed to the elements every single day. But I have found that there isn’t anything a little lipstick can’t cure.

When I left the comforts of my shore based life I knew that I would have to go long stretches without a hairdryer. I knew that I might break a couple of nails and there are no floating salons in the sea where I can get my eyebrows waxed.

I even knew that I would have to learn how to take a shower using a black plastic bag full of water. They call it a Sun Shower. It sounds luscious. Shower in the sun. Oh, those clever marketing devils.

It’s been said (Staying pink in a Blue World article) that cruising makes men more manly and woman, well… less womanly.

My manly man

My dear husband is a very manly sailor. He gets scruffy during longer passages, he lifts heavy things, works on the engine, and constantly draws from one of three tool bags on board. Even the blood blisters he acquired under his fingernails from an anchoring mishap look manly.

Yes, cruising is good for a man.

For the ladies, cruising makes it easy to forget you are, well, a lady.

Almost every female creature comfort gets forgotten when sailing.

• When you are dog tired trying to stay awake for your last watch before sunrise.
• When you can barely heat up water for Cup o’Noodles because the boat is moving like you are on a wild seesaw ride with no OFF button.
• When you beach the dinghy and become covered with salt water in the process (dried saltwater is not a flattering look on the skin).
• When you are up the mast trying for what seems like the millionth time to fix those gosh darn mast lights and trying your hardest not to swear.
• When you have epoxy in your hair.
• When you are covered with diesel or engine oil and reaching for a bilge pad, praying that it isn’t the last on board.

Donning my Refit Duds. My hair is back because I got epoxy in it the day before.

Yes, it gets hard to remember to splash on a little perfume and slip on a cute black number so you can go out to…. Oh yeah… you’re in an anchorage and there are no places to go to in your cute black number. Which is why you don’t even have a little black number taking up precious space on the boat. Or a decent pair of heels. The absence of both is practically grounds for arrest in my girl handbook.

My newest eveningwear acquisition. I admired this scarf on a tourist in San Jose del Cabo and she gave it to me!

Not only is there no cute black dress or a decent pair of heels which both belong in every woman’s wardrobe, there is not much more jewelry than the basics to dress up a plain outfit. The lack of jewelry is not from a lack of desire, but more for practicality and necessity. Catching a necklace in the engine belt does not sound like fun. The lack of jewelry also prevents possible theft (I’m wearing nice jewelry and I must have more on board so please come to my boat and rob me in the middle of the night).

It gets hard to remember to be a lady but remember I must. Because I have realized that cruising is so much more fun when I brush my hair, put on a little lipstick and eye makeup to compliment my sun dress, and my husband looks over at you with adoring eyes and says, “You look really pretty, babe.” Yes, for this it is worth it.

And besides, I feel much more productive with a coat of lipstick on. Wonder Woman wears lipstick. And so does She-Ra. I think it makes them stronger. This I am sure of.

So after 2 months of working on the boat 10+ hours a day and 3 months of sailing, I decided to march in to town with Ann-Marie from SV Agua Azul in search of a salon.

Pampered at last!

We were on a mission. Determined to find a pedicure.

And somebody PLEASE look at my hair! I had recently tried to cut my own hair. Don’t laugh. To the untrained eye it was very passable. To the trained eye, well, “Tu cortaste muy mal!” said my hairdresser in between laughter. The type of laughter that made her throw her head back. The type of laughter that later in the week will make her chuckle when remembering that silly gringa who thought she could cut her hair. I politely laughed with her and decided to enjoy every single moment of pampering in her chair, closing my eyes and drinking it all in.

I walked out of there with an even haircut and painted toes for less than $20. Yes.

These salon visits will be included in the budget from now on.

This article was published on January 20, 2012 in Lanea Riley’s blog The Voyage of Moondance.

About Lanea Riley

Newlyweds Lanea Riley and her husband Conor bought an Islander 36, in April 2011 and within 15 days they decided to prepare Sausalito based Moondance for a southbound trip to Mexico. Six short months later, they left under the Golden Gate Bridge in October 2011.

Having more sailing knowledge than boat maintenance knowledge, Lanea has learned a lot on the way about electricity, tools, engines, cooking on a boat and how to enjoy ‘girl’ comforts and hasn’t looked back.

Lanea maintains a sailing blog at www.svmoondance.wordpress.com

Read also on this website

• Staying pink in a blue world by Clare Collins
• Shampoo and soap for bathing in salt water? by Women & Cruising
• Beauty and Da Boat (Gwen Hamlin’s Admiral’s Angle column #20):
  Keeping ourselves looking good is not so hard, but it’s different!
• What we wear (Admiral’s Angle column #10):
  Most cruisers pack way too many clothes and the wrong kind. Forethought will help space and laundry issues.

More information (external links)

• If you liked this post then you may also enjoy Lanea’s blog:
  The Voyage of Moondance

How do you maintain your femininity aboard?

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

I’m a North-American woman in my late twenties, and for the last several years I’ve worked on and off on tall ships, mostly doing education work with youth. Right [...]]]>

“Wow! How did you end up doing that?!“
These are the words I’ve come to expect from new acquaintances after telling them what I do for a living.

I’m a North-American woman in my late twenties, and for the last several years I’ve worked on and off on tall ships, mostly doing education work with youth. Right now I’m in Tasmania doing the same, and truly having the experience of a lifetime on a big sturdy brigantine at the threshold of the Southern Ocean.

I did not grow up on the water, and until I was 20 had never myself experienced what has now become the predominant force in my life: the thrill of being driven through a frothy chop, sails tight against a steady breeze, with the sun happily bearing witness to this greatest of partnerships between man and nature.

Where the obsession began! A view from the cross-trees on my first tall-ship, the Schooner Isaac H. Evans of Rockland, ME. (2004)

And yet, HERE I AM, on another boat-based journey, once again following this passion to a new part of the globe. I’m not saying that this life is easy, comfortable or lucrative (although parts of the industry certainly are). It is, however, doable…if you truly want it. For those that do, but don’t know where to begin, I think tall-ships are a great way to get your start. It’s definitely not for everybody, but as a launch pad, it has a lot of advantages.

The goods

Tall ships are a great place to learn, and are a relatively easy industry in which to find work. Many are operated by non-profits that specialize in education, and thus are perfectly suited to train newbies. Plus, they often can’t pay very much, so they’re always looking for enthusiastic new recruits!

Camaraderie is the name of the game on these traditional boats, not only because of the serious teamwork required to make them go, but because of the hardships you’ll certainly have to endure together. So if you’re looking for a “professional” community to welcome you with open arms, this is it.

The questionables

• The pay, as mentioned, is often pretty low, although room and board is almost always covered.
• The culture, to some, can seem quite base (best not to be easily offended by swears or bodily functions), and, oddly, also stuck-up (try challenging the efficiency of traditional methods to a tall-ship sailor!).
• The most important caveat that I would give anyone getting their start on tall-ships is: Don’t think that being able to crew a tall-ship means that you know how to sail. To really understand sailing, you’ll eventually have to find your way to a small boat, and sail it yourself.

The connections

Here are some websites that have become a standard part of my seasonal tall-ship job-search. My best advice at this point is to explore, inquire and check back often!

• Tall Ships America Billet Bank
  This is the best resource I’ve found for hunting jobs on tall-ships. When you’re in the heat of the search, check this daily!
• Maine Windjammer Association
  This website contains links to 13 of the almost 20 schooners (and one ketch!) that operate in mid-coast Maine June-September. Apply in January. Spring outfit usually starts in April. The Maine coast is one of the most beautiful and interesting places to sail in the world.
• Sail Training International
  I’ve never actually followed up on a lead from this one, but they do seem to have an active billet bank. Most of the postings are for Captains or mates, but on occasion there will be openings for volunteers with less experience. Mostly it’s just fun to imagine sailing off to exotic places…

About Stephanie Katz

Stephanie is a young woman from the Northeastern United States who was swept off her feet by a schooner at the ripe age of 21, never to be the same. After attempting to lead a normal life on land for some years, she finally came to her senses and ran away to the sea.

Today she spends most of her time pursuing a career in the maritime industry, writing her blog www.shesails.net, and making sure her life is as jam-packed and fun-filled as possible.

How did you get started sailing?
Let us know.
Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

I have been surfing the internet looking for ideas and suggestions on how to best tell them and have not [...]]]> Sabrina writes

We will be headed to my parent’s home next week. While we are there we will be telling them as well as my brother’s family that we are sailing away in 2013 (finally – yay!). I have been surfing the internet looking for ideas and suggestions on how to best tell them and have not been able to locate much. I didn’t see anything specifically on the Women & Cruising. Perhaps I missed it. Jessie’s book “The Cruising Woman’s Advisor” has some good info and so does Liza Copeland in “Cruising for Cowards” but I am looking for more input as I develop our discussion points and strategies for this discussion. Any advice, suggestions, hints or resources you have on this topic for me would be greatly appreciated. Fair Winds ~~_/)~~_/)~~_/)~~ Sabrina

Gwen Hamlin answers.

In truth, these days, it should be much less stressful than it used to be for families to watch you go because there are so many ways for you keep in communication to reassure them.

No longer is it the letter sent to a GPO address in some remote destination in hopes it will arrive before you pass through!

First: We had a slightly similar situation in that Don’s older, historically unadventurous parents , were very anxious about our going.

We did not task load them. We told them we were going for a cruise “down island” in the Caribbean. We added distance bit by bit, until his mother finally demanded when we were going to sail around the world like the couple in an article she’d read in the paper! We told her we didn’t really have any plans to sail around the word. That we wanted to go for the South Pacific.

I sometimes think that it is the enormity of a plan (in time or distance) that daunts onlookers. (Also by never claiming to be doing a circumnavigation, there was no sense of “failure” about NOT doing a circumnavigation. (We stopped in Australia after ten years.))

Then we made every effort we could to keep in touch. We added SSB/ham email on board so we could drop them a note every day if we wanted to, even in the midst of a long ocean passage. Back then it was a big deal to get his parents and daughter started on computers themselves, (not likely to be such a huge leap these days.)

Then we gave them planning scale charts, first of the Caribbean and Central America, later of the Pacific, and then set them up to receive our Winlink position reports so that his Dad could plot our progress across the big expanse of blue. Later we gave his daughter and nieces and nephews inflated globes so they could talk about where we were.

We sent post cards to all the family kids with appropriate pictures and pretty stamps as another strategy to fire their interest and keep them remembering who we were!

I started a website that was initially conceived for the family (and for former charter guests in the event we wanted to drum up charters in some foreign islands). I composed regular updates, which I posted on the website and later via a blog, but honestly, the persons who most appreciated that effort were never actually the family, but other cruisers! But in the end I’m glad I did it, but I’m glad I did it for me! It’s a fabulously detailed document of memories.

It is ironic, but it is a fact of life, as many cruisers will attest, folks back home often could care less about the details of your journey.

SPOT personal satellite tracker Photo: www.findmespot.com

These days it is so much easier. In addition to on board email, you can have a satellite phone, which eases their peace of mind about your ability to call out should you need help.

SPOT, the satellite tracker has a neat new model that in addition to posting position reports, interfaces with your SmartPhone to send out text messages over the satellite network. The nice thing about SPOT is you can carry it ashore on remote hikes as well.

Facebook actually is a real natural with cruisers. You can just say “All is well we have arrived” or you can add a link to a blog for those who want more info. I haven’t directly asked, but I see no reason why you couldn’t use SPOT to post to Facebook. A side benefit is you can friend all these cruisers you meet and part from, and keep a finger on the pulse of where they are and what they are doing.

Many destinations now have cellular networks (third world areas are often more advanced by having leapt over the whole wired network stage). In Fiji and Australia and in Indonesia this past year we were able to email and even Skype via cellular.

Plus, we made regular trips back to the States and made a circuit of our families. They see you are alive and thriving…plus you get to fill your suitcases with boat parts.

The long and short of it is, that if you wish to expend the effort you can stay as connected as you need to.

Understand, there are some cruisers who choose to just blow off those family connections and to live in the now of their experience. There is something to envy in that, but it would not have worked for us. For us the effort was worth the effort.

And here is the irony. We are currently back in the US, in Florida, and we regularly realize we have let days and days go by without a call or an email to his folks, which would never have happen when we were aboard. Even when they are here, just a few miles away wintering in their RV, our land lives can get so busy that a week can go by without touching base.

The truth is they heard from us much more regularly when we were cruising, and in the end there is no magic in geographical closeness. Just think how often people can be in the same town and not be in touch.

Cruising, on the other hand, can give you enough time to make the effort and something interesting to talk about! Plus, you are living a flexible enough lifestyle that if there is a calamity at home, you can jump on a plane and fly back. Try doing that with a full time career.

One last thing.

Safety precautions: Emergency MOB (Man Over Board) alert wristband

If you can explain to your family all the preparations you have made, the courses and certifications you have taken, the safety precautions you have installed, the equipment you have aboard to make passages safely, then you will help them have confidence in your ability to do what you are setting out to do.

Introduce them to this website (Women and Cruising Website) and have them read the Twelve Sailing Families collection. It will fire them all up to see that all those families had resistance from their families too but they can’t help but see in the end what a wonderful experience they all had. There’s also a little “If they can do it with kids, well then you should be alright” factor!

It won’t of course, completely stop them missing you, stop them worrying about you. But if you do what you can, they do adjust. And then there’s the fact that after 20+ years sailing, I feel much safer out there than driving down a highway back here. Bad things can happen anywhere, and are far more likely in our back yards than out there!

This is not my most organized response, but I wanted to dash out some moral support as promptly as I could. Good luck, and keep in touch with us. You might want to write a little post for the Women and Cruising website on how you end up addressing this and how it went.

Sincerely,

Gwen Hamlin
Admirals Angle

Read also on this website

• Communications Resources
• Staying in Touch  (Admiral’s Angle column #14)
  Out of sight of land no longer means out of touch: the ways and means cruisers stay in touch with each other and back home.
• Home for the Holidays (Admiral’s Angle column #16)
  Planning, compromises and new traditions keep holiday spirit alive.
• Logs and Blogs (Admiral’s Angle column #37)
  The tradition of recording voyage experiences doesn’t just preserve memories but encourages others to follow.
• Guests Aboard (Admiral’s Angle column #40)
  Some counsel about managing visits and visitors to enhance their experience and maintain crew sanity.

More information (external links)

• SPOT Personal Tracker
  Keep family updated with your location! SPOT notifies friends, family or an international rescue coordination center with your GPS location and status based on situation and need – all with the push of a button.

If you have a question about going cruising that you want answered,

- email it to: kathy@forcruisers.com,

- or join the next Women and Cruising seminar!

Men become swarthy, they get to grow beards and have an excuse to be unwashed and scruffy.

Unfortunately, what can be dashing for [...]]]> Ann, on HanaCrew, made a sad observation as we sat on deck in the marina in La Cruz: “Cruising seems to make men more manly, while women,” she noted, “watch their femininity disappear.”

Men become swarthy, they get to grow beards and have an excuse to be unwashed and scruffy.

Unfortunately, what can be dashing for men is not nearly so attractive in women!

The transition from landlubber looks to cruising couture happens quite rapidly.

For ease and convenience (and the preservation of bilge pumps) women often cut their hair shorter; Though in my case it was the result of having my daughter cut my hair while we were on a heel!

Contemporary waitress with funky tan lines

Their nails end up shorter, whether they plan it or not. For ease of movement they wear shorts or cut-off pants and they watch all their clothes develop rust stains, bleach scars and general rumpled inelegance.

The choice of shoes is confined to “Crocs” or water trekking sandals, both of which have probably made their appearance near the top of a yahoo list for ugliest footwear, and which tan the feet in untidy geometrics.

Women have neither time nor space for cosmetic regimens, and shaving in such a way as to avoid clogging drains is awkward and time consuming.

Jewelry needs to be stowed away, both for safety around moving machines and because it can present a robbery risk (sad personal experience).

Yet despite all these obstacles, women do hold onto their femininity and I asked a number of fellow cruisers what they do to maintain it.

Cruising is certainly not the domain of the diva. One woman I met was used to a maid, and while we would all agree that having one would present the ultimate solution to a host of challenges, we would also conclude that neither she nor her maid are ever likely to leave the dock.

I have made a point of asking friends without maids what life-line connects them to their feminine side and they always seem to have one.

Interestingly, one seems to be all they do need.

• One cruiser insists on blow drying her hair once a week.
• Another has chosen Friday as her makeup day (though, mascara running in humid heat put her off even that small indulgence).
• One even made a New Year’s resolution that she was going to try in general to dress more like a flower.
• Another credits a daily nap with maintaining her looks, and no doubt, sanity.
• Other friends paint just their toe nails or make themselves inexpensive jewelry.  Many are the marinas with a busy group of women sharing beads, materials and artistic talent.

No matter how you try to pare down your wardrobe before cruising you will still find yourself wearing only a small portion of it.

With nothing more than a change of “Crocs” and a color co-ordinated cover-up, you can take your bland boat wear to luncheon, window shopping or a dinner out.

The trouble is you still need to have clothes for the extremes of heat and cold just in case. I need to keep revisiting my clothes, packed tightly in geological layers, in order to reacquaint myself with what I have.

I found I actually have some pretty clothes somewhere round the cretaceous period, but the occasions to wear them are so few and far between. And then there’s the risk that the white skirt you do put on will find the one splash of oil that made its way from the oil change in the engine room to the rim of the navigation station (though for that disaster I found that the product “Goop”, by Critzas Industries, was miraculous).

White is, in general, a good color to have a lot of because of its bleachability, and nothing screams “I’m clean and fresh and my life is in order” so well as a white shirt after the first shower on hitting land. Wrinkle proof clothes or ones that are supposed to look wrinkled are good to find.

Remember what’s in your wardrobe when you wander through the craft markets and you end up with outfit-creating accessories

Having one wardrobe item that can dress up your standard live-aboard livery is economical of both space and cost for those times when more glamour is required. A shawl is probably the easiest such item to store, and a stunning variety can be found on all your travels.

Having two pieces or accessories of your outfit match in color is also amazingly powerful at glamorizing and pulling together a look from cheap and cheerful. Keep this in mind when hesitating over dazzling choices in the markets and decision making becomes easier.

While we are on the subject of maintaining looks we cannot overlook the importance of protecting our skin.

Me in a protective hat!

Our clothes might be irredeemably blotchy and wrinkled but our skin should not be. Wind and sun both burn so you need balaclavas and sun hats as well as sunscreen, moisturizer and lip protection.

Prevention and early detection are vital. Skin cancer is no respecter of age, as my 12 year old daughter found out when I insisted that a dermatologist remove a mole that had changed. The doctor suggested we watch it over time but my insistence proved providential when the lab results came back positive and an even wider margin of healthy tissue removal was prescribed.

None of us need to sun bathe in order to get a color, or indeed, to manufacture the vitamin D that we are now told we are short of. We already spend so much of our days outside, and most of us have managed our movements to ensure almost constant summer.

What can I not do without?

During my childhood in Australia there was a television advertisement for “Mum” brand deodorant that consisted of a scantily clad woman coyly enumerating all the things she could do without. These included her bra and her boyfriend, but she insisted she could not do without her “Mum”.

So what, you ask, can I not do without?

Personally I have developed a wardrobe that could be classified as contemporary waitress, which makes mixing and matching decisions obsolete.

I won’t go anywhere without a chapstick. My make-up bag consists of a moisturizer and a lip stick. A good set of cuticle scissors, tweezers a pumice stone and a razor constitute my personal care arsenal. I would also agree emphatically with the advertisement model on the importance of an antiperspirant deodorant. At the end of the ad, however, she confides that she can’t actually do without her boyfriend.

And in the end, for all the cruising women I meet, after all my random sampling and personal experience, what can they not do without? What is the essential solution to the challenge of staying pink in a blue world?

Connections to other women.

Cruising women in Ensenada have been meeting for four years every Friday morning to paint and craft.

However closely bound they are as a cruising team with their husbands, women need the company of other women, even more than they need a maid (OK I might be going out on a limb with that one).

Hands of friendship transferring skills in a jewelry workshop

Women are extraordinarily rapid at forming deep supportive friendships and it is these bonds, formed in the challenging, changing situations that cruising women find themselves, that I believe are more crucial than any beauty regimen.

The value of those beading groups is not so much in the baubles created but in the bonds cemented. Clearly it is important to maintain at least one link to the pink pursuits of a former existence, but more than anything, just being able to spend time with women in non boating chores is what helps the most.

About Clare Collins

Clare and her family have made their home on one of the BT Challenge race boats.  They are currently stationary as they work to revive the kitty before continuing home to Australia.

Clare has a passion for textiles and seeks out embroidered or appliqué work and fabric dolls made by the indigenous people of the places she visits.

Her family’s adventures are documented at www.ironbarque.net. The account of her family’s quest to fulfill their dream of sailing can be found on this website: “Taking the Plunge”.

Read also on this website

• Lipstick Sailor, by Lanea Riley
• Beauty and Da Boat (Gwen Hamlin’s Admiral’s Angle column #20):
  Keeping ourselves looking good is not so hard, but it’s different!
• What we wear (Admiral’s Angle column #10):
  Most cruisers pack way too many clothes and the wrong kind.  Forethought will help space and laundry issues.
• Shampoo and soap for bathing in salt water? by Women & Cruising
• Fighting Fears: Taking the Plunge by Clare Collins

How do you maintain your femininity aboard?

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