The Women and Cruising Team — Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall & Gwen Hamlin — is going online LIVE for our first ever Women & Cruising Webinar, through the auspices of Seven Seas U, the online seminar project of SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association.) The date is January 19 at 2000 EDT (8pm East Coast time).
If you haven’t already participated in one of the Seven Seas U webinars, this amazing technology will bring all three of us right into your living room…or salon…or wherever your computer is set up. And just like our live W&C seminars, you will be able to ask any questions you have about the cruising experience and hear responses from the point of view of three experienced cruising women — whose ideas are sometimes similar and sometimes quite different. If we manage to keep all our ducks lined up onscreen we will even be able to include feedback from members of the audience just as we do in our live groups.…Read more
For the last five-plus years, I’ve been living almost exclusively on a boat.
My husband, Jim, and I sold our home and somewhat naively hit the water running. Not exactly sure what we were running from and most definitely in the dark about how this change would alter our life’s predetermined path.
We retired rather early from our professional lives, mine as an art director/designer and Jim’s as a financial advisor. We knew that we wanted to travel and see more of the U.S. and the world; we dreamed of adventure; we craved anything to do with boating and we knew we wanted to do all of the above with each other. So, we combined these “wants” into one jointly shared plan – by hopping aboard our boat, Kismet, a 40-foot (at the time, Silverton Convertible), and shoving away from the dock for an adventure of a lifetime.
What we found out was that it really wasn’t quite as easy as it initially sounded; we were innocent in our assumptions and planning.
Pam Wall, one of Women and Cruising‘s founders, is presenting another webinar for Seven Seas University on Thursday, December 9 at 8PM Eastern Time.
Pam says: “These popular webinar presentations by Seven Seas Cruising Association are terrific because you can watch them from the comfort of your home or main saloon! All you need is your computer and internet, and there is a presentation right up close and personal!”
“A Family Sails Around the World”
Pam’s presentation about the joy and fun of sailing around the world with her two small children is worth every minute!
It is better than a good movie because it is the true story of a family that sails around the world! The two small children literally grow up aboard their 39 foot sloop, and the family revolves around their sailing adventures.
Enjoy the entertaining stories, and learn from the thrilling experiences of a family seeing the world from their own home, their boat KANDARIK.
Sign up now for the presentation at: www.sevenseasu.com and don’t miss this sailing adventure!
Taking your children’s education to sea is not always simple, but neither is it a deeply complicated mystery.
Once you capture a child’s interest,
learning can be inspiring and fun.
With careful decision-making and sensible preparations – just what you need for going cruising in general – you can let your children profit from an incredible learning opportunity.
Yes, it does add an extra task to the cycle of watches, meal preparation, and boat maintenance, but home schooling in such a unique situation can also be rewarding for parents and children alike.
Did you ever think that one day you would be saying: “Gee, I wish I knew more about diesel engines – and was competent with general engine maintenance and emergency repairs.” …?
Who would have thought it?!
But I certainly feel more competent and comfortable aboard as I have learned how to change oil, filters, impellers, zincs and belts, and have a basic understanding that helps me troubleshoot problems. And I wish I knew more!
Well here is a great opportunity to learn about your boat’s engine in a two-day workshop sponsored by the NWSA (National Women’s Sailing Organization) and Mack Boring Diesel:
The Women and Cruising’s fun and informative feature about cruising families gives you the sense of close bonds developed among the family members. The shared experiences of tight living spaces and seeing far off lands enhances the family unit and shapes their lives. Parents pass on a sense of exploration and adventure to their children.
The cruising families have one thing in common—the parents are in their 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s with children from toddlers to teenagers.
But what if you are “empty nesters” over the age of 50, and want to go sailing off into retirement with your spouse. Are you afraid you will seldom see your children? Will you miss spoiling the grandchildren and watching them advance through the stages of childhood?
MY ADVICE: IF YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN A LOT, JUST GO CRUISING!
My parents quickly experienced this once they left the United States to cruise the oceans.
I was delighted to find Women and Cruising on the Internet recently, especially reading the sensible, helpful and positive articles posted there.
Ginni and a marine iguana in Galapagos
When I first became involved with boats around ‘96, many magazine articles focused around ‘pink’ roles, of cooking on board, decorating the boat, or managing children on boats (I have six children), as if that was all women ever did!
I also gained a lot of useful knowledge in other sections re boat maintenance and cruising tips. Nothing can stop a woman from reading! Reading served to fuel my determination that one day I would go cruising.
My wish finally came in 2006 after finally having a little space between children’s final exams. Our six children are spread over a large range, and for many years we were constantly preparing one of them for high school graduation. The break came and this was my opportunity.
My husband was unable to join me so I was without permanent human crew. I had an 18-month window and badly needed a radical change to re-charge my batteries.
18 months was much too short, but it was either achieve this or not try at all.
Imagine this…You are one week out on a three week trip and you realize that funky odor is coming from your trash and there is no place to toss the bag and get it off the boat.
Okay, I might be a bit obsessive about my trash and I admit it, but I come by it honestly.
We have taken three trips, each three weeks in length up the Rio Macareo, one of the outflow rivers of the Orinoco. We have also spent a month in the Venezuelan out islands, Las Tortugas, Los Roques and Las Aves without a place to get rid of our trash.
If I know that we will be without a trash deposit facility for more than a few days I start sorting and managing the trash.
Recently, a big hubbub was made in the national news about a family of five – the Craftons – who completed a circumnavigation aboard their sailboat!
To landlubbers who are unaware of the global cruising community, the Crafton family’s circumnavigation seemed so audacious a thing to attempt, that it must be singular, so unfamiliar, it must be irresponsible.
We’ve just updated our collection of Gwen Hamlin’s Admirals’ Angle columns with the latest two being about cruisers’ relationship with the water that surrounds them.
As a veteran dive instructor, Gwen has good ideas about how to prep your boat and yourselves for safely adding scuba and snorkeling to your voyage, and the Admirals have contributed photos from around the world!
I just got my copy of Jimmy Cornell’s new World Cruising Destinations this last week – and I am in love with it!
I’ve carried Jimmy Cornell’s books aboard my boat ever since I bought my first copy of World Cruising Routes in the late ‘80s.
When I was finally lucky enough to have my boat and wonder “OK, now how do I get to these places?” World Cruising Routes had the answer for me, laying out all the major routes for any crossing I might want to make.
World Cruising Destinations is a great companion to World Cruising Routes.
What World Cruising Destinations does is give you the WHOLE world through a boater’s eye, and of course, not just any boater’s eye, but with Jimmy Cornell’s decades of experience. It covers every significant cruising destination around the world – 184 of them to be exact.
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