There are many things I love about sailing: The quality time, the travel, the beauty. The exhilaration of being propelled by wind. The comfort of cockpit cushions when curled up with a good book.
But another thing I love about sailing, truly, is its wealth of metaphors for life and love.
Forgive me. I was an English teacher. And a philosophy major. And sailing gives you lots of time to think. So here’s my theory: Love is like sailing; it requires balance, attention, and time.
The first concept, BALANCE, is easy enough to understand. …Read more
We have been living aboard for about a year and a half now, 7 months at a dock in Morehead City, North Carolina, 3 months moored in Marathon, Florida, 3 months cruising the Bahamas, 3 months docked in Baltimore, and now making our way south again.
I have a lot to say about boredom, because I have fought it nearly constantly since coming aboard. …Read more
A year ago, I went to a girl’s night out with some women at a local marina. Over dinner and a glass of wine, one of the gals confessed, “I really wanted to be a good boat wife this summer when I wasn’t in school. You know, like pack his lunch and make him coffee. All the things he does for me during the school year. But I just can’t get it together!”
We had a good laugh, but I knew deep inside how she felt. Even though I was relatively new to the boating world, I already had a picture in my mind of what a perfect boat wife is.
The perfect boat wife
The perfect boat wife is a strong sailor, a first mate who can support the captain or even be the captain.
She can roll up her sleeves and help with the engine or service the winches.
She takes care of the kids, births them on the boat, potty trains them by 18 months, does all the laundry by hand, and cooks yummy food while the boat heels.
She bakes bread, makes Playdough, and homeschools, all while helping the captain with navigation.
And she radiates positive energy while doing all this.
Thoughts on my First Cruising Adventure: Panama Canal Transit and Pacific Coast of Central America and Mexico in our 72 foot steel sail boat, Ironbarque in June 2008
Sharing a moment on the Chagris River (Panama)
IRONBARQUE
Ironbarque started life as one of the boats built to race around the world in the Southern Ocean as part of the “BT Global Challenge” yacht race and she did it twice under the name of her sponsor, Me to You, a teddy bear company.
The identical yachts were built to withstand the storms of the Southern Ocean and were equipped to accommodate a crew of 18. When they stopped holding the race the boats were all sold off; mainly to charity groups focused on training troubled youth or leaders of the future. Our hope is that we are doing the latter and have turned this former racing boat into our traveling home.
My husband, Ken, sailed her from England to Panama with a crew of 5, headed by a delivery skipper, who helped him learn the ropes of blue water cruising. They started out at the end of March and when they reached the Canary Islands in April they were joined by our two older sons for the Atlantic crossing.
They were aged 15 and 12 and we thought that the Bay of Biscay might be too tough for their first blue water experience. The concern was well founded as heavy weather meant a torn main had to be repaired in Portugal.
Our youngest two children were aged 10 and 5, so I flew to Panama with them for the final leg through the Panama Canal and up the coast of Central America and Mexico. From Panama onwards various members of the crew departed to return to other jobs so that from Acapulco on we had only two additional crew.
On our last night in Mexico we went around the table describing our best and worst moments of the trip, which is how I will approach the description of my very first cruising adventure. …Read more
Annette patterning old sailcloth into a Bowline Bag tote
Anyone else have canvas on her boat? Yes?! I do. Lots of it. Big and small. Canvas is important protective covering for your boat. It saves you money and time by protecting teak from the sun, keeping dirt out of your winches and instruments, and keeping you cool at anchor.
Can you guess how many different canvas items you have on board? Quick without looking. I counted at least 20 unique items with some items having multiples in use at any given time on our Morgan sailboat, Magnolia.
That doesn’t count functional and decorative fabrics below. And I have plans to add more canvas on my growing sewing projects list!
If you are like me, a Seamless Sailor, you don’t want to rely on a canvas maker for all your canvas projects. We are self-reliant sailors, right? We can figure out how to make much of what we need and for less money. You want your canvas to last for maximum use and value. But whether you sew or not, we all need to take care of our canvas so it can provide long service for our boat and it’s equipment. …Read more
It’s all too easy to follow the crowd on the well-worn rut around the world without doing your own diligent voyage planning and still expect to experience reasonable conditions doing so.
But the moment you think about bearing off left or right — treading the path less taken, as it were — when everyone else is going straight, having the knowledge to keep yourself in safe and comfortable sailing conditions becomes crucial.
An exceptional new tool has appeared on the scene to help every cruiser work out for him/herself the possibilities open to them to be adventurous while staying safe, and that new tool comes from one of the most respected names in cruising — Cornell.
World-renowned sailor and cruising author Jimmy Cornell and his son Ivan Cornell have teamed up to pair modern weather technology with the most classic of voyage planning tools– pilot charts. The result is Cornell’s Ocean Atlas: Pilot Charts for All Oceans of the World.
What is the difference between Cornell’s Ocean Atlas and traditional pilot charts? …Read more
Looking for some new recipes that you can actually make in your boat’s galley? Good food, but not gourmet? Ingredients you can actually find and store on your boat? Recipes that don’t require a bunch of electric appliances?
The Boat Galley Cookbook, due out in October, promises all that plus information on food storage, substitutions, outfitting your galley and more. Carolyn Shearlock and Jan Irons, the authors, are experienced cruisers with a combined 21,000 miles under the keel of their respective boats.
But here’s the neat part – you can have a sneak peek of it right now, for free. And it’s not some fluffy marketing piece, but recipes and information you can use right now — 33 boat-friendly recipes plus info on solving oven hot spots. …Read more
Two years ago I started a little project where I talked to other women on sailboats about their sailing life. I only started sailing/cruising in 2007 with my spouse and soon realized it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I could either quit or try to find out what would make me happy. So I set myself a project to talk to other women.
Why? To find a way to make sailing my own adventure. To bring who I am to my sailing adventure. To have a reason to talk to people and a reason to write. To find out from other women how they make sailing their own adventure as opposed to going along on their husband’s/boyfriend’s sailing adventure. I was hoping I’ll find some good ideas I’ll take for my own.
What do women like most about sailing their boats?
CONVERGENCE under sail in front of Moorea
(Photo taken by John Neal on MAHINA TIARI)
A boat is as personal as a love affair. The relationship with one’s boat is subtle, personal, addictive. Like any relationship though, a boat takes time to figure out and work to maintain. The right boat can bring forth deep passion, evoke dreams, elicit freedom, stimulate self-reflection, build self-confidence, and depending on the vessel, reveal the humility or self-indulgence of the owners. The right boat can enable a life dream. The wrong boat can become a nightmare of problems and expense. …Read more
Anchored in your favorite anchorage watching the sun slide over the horizon, you are savoring the first night of that annual vacation cruise that you’ve been looking forward to for eleven months.
Suddenly you notice the _____________ (fill in the blank … refrigerator, watermaker, etc) isn’t working. Aw crap. What do you do now?
Immediately head to your home marina, curse “that damned boat,” tie it up and head home;
See if you can find a repairman at the nearest marina, hoping he can fix it in time to salvage part of your vacation; OR
Have you planned ahead, with alternatives or parts for most onboard systems, so you can continue to enjoy the well-deserved vacation you’ve been waiting for?
The saying goes, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade“. But this assumes that you have water and sugar, necessary ingredients for lemonade. …Read more
Lisa in her bright pink dress surrounded by her crewmates
in their Bermuda shorts and high socks
At first, being the only woman on a boat is no fun. You have to change in a teeny head or cabin, hide certain bathroom products from sneaky boys, and deal with a larger hygienic adjustment than most men. However, being the only woman on a boat happens more often than not nowadays. There has been an improvement, for sure, but the fact remains that women are the minority in sailing, and even more of the minority in offshore racing. What I learned last summer is that there is absolutely no reason for this to be the case. …Read more
ANNIE LAURIE, Allan’s Cays, Exumas (Bahamas). Photo by Wanda DeWaard
When I first decided to set out to the Bahamas aboard my 40-foot wooden Rosborough ketch, I didn’t really contemplate the possibility that I would be wholly unsuccessful at finding crew interested in a free tropical vacation. But, alas, people have lives and responsibilities, and when Annie Laurie was prepared for sea, I found I was left with little choice other than to muster up the courage to set out on my own. …Read more
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Looking for some new recipes that you can actually make in your boat’s galley? Good food, but not gourmet? Ingredients you can actually find and store on your boat? Recipes that don’t require a bunch of electric appliances?
Anchored in your favorite anchorage watching the sun slide over the horizon, you are savoring the first night of that annual vacation cruise that you’ve been looking forward to for eleven months.
