Blog » Outfitting

What we learned from our first cruising boat

Verena Kellner — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 10:51:35 +0000

This article was also published in 48° North (July 2015) – a great, free sailing magazine for the Pacific Northwest, and on Pacific Sailors, Verena Kellner’s blog.

It’s been nearly a year since we sold Camille and we’re starting to think about our next boat. We’ve had a nice break but the sea is calling.

CAMILLE, 2001 Hunter 380.

When we were boat shopping before we bought Camille, we had some ideas on what we wanted out of a boat but did not have a specific make or model in mind. We looked at everything from 30 year old blue-water boats to brand new fin keels.

This time around we know exactly the make and model we want to purchase. We’re just waiting to for the right boat (i.e., previous owner) to come along.

Camille ended up being sort of a practice boat to determine what we really wanted out of a cruising boat. Turns out there are a few things we will not compromise on in the future. We’ve had some time to reflect and made a list of what we learned.

WHAT WE DID RIGHT WITH OUR FIRST CRUISING BOAT

Upgrading

We bought Camille at rock-bottom price because the previous owner had fallen on some bad luck and had to short-sell. This allowed us to make extensive upgrades and still come out even when we sold Camille two years later (more about our cruising expenses here). She had been very well taken care of and we continued babying her. Her hull looked whiter and shinier than most near-new boats.

We didn’t affix anything permanently by making holes in the wood or made any “weird” modifications. All this added to the resale value.

Age

We made sure to buy a boat under ten years of age. Older boats tend to need of TLC and repairs. They need new rigging, new sails, new electronics, new hoses, etc.

We sold Camille right when we were starting to think about needing to replace a few major systems. The next boat will need to be even younger so we can keep her longer and be more confident in her integrity.

Size

For our first cruising boat, Camille, at 38 feet, was the perfect size; and in the future we have no plans of going any longer.

Watermaker

In the late 80’s, when I was in my teens, my parents and I sailed from Germany to California sans watermaker (more on that journey here). We used saltwater for nearly everything and I don’t like the feel of dried salt on my skin or what it does to expensive gear.

So when Mike and I bought Camille I knew I would not go anywhere without a watermaker. We added a 110V high-output watermaker to Camille (more on that here). It was great having tons of water but every third or fourth day we had to listen to a very loud water-pump for 3-4 hours to fill our tanks. We also had to run a portable gas generator to power the 110V pump.

Watermaker pumps and filters.

We don’t like having gasoline on board (we are even considering an electric motor for the next dinghy) and the smell from the exhaust of the generator is not very pleasant – not to mention dangerous. We will definitely have a watermaker on our next boat but it will have to be powered by either a diesel generator or the sun.

Navigation

We kept the Ipad at the binnacle while underway

Shortly before leaving the US we bought an iPad with the Navionics navigation app. Since we also had two iPhones and a hand-held GPS we had lots of backups to our chart plotter.

I wrote extensively about using our iPad versus the chart-plotter here (on the Women & Cruising website)

We had to replace the GPS antenna on the chart-plotter twice. The original antenna was fading in and out when we bought the boat. The second antenna which we had bought from some guy off the dock failed a year later. Reading the forums this seems to be a known issue with older Raymarine GPS antennas (ours was seven years old). We contacted Raymarine and they simply told us to buy the new model which required an expensive converter. Glad we had the backup GPS units!

Camille came equipped with a radar which we were very glad to have when we encountered dense fog off the coast of Baja. A definite must have on our next boat.

We added a new VHF with AIS receiver which is just another layer in assuring we don’t get too close to other boats. Next time we would love an AIS transceiver but neither is a must have. The boats that broadcast an AIS signal are usually well lit. It’s the little boats without lights we have to worry about. And nothing replaces good old-fashioned watch keeping.

LED Lights

After trying many different brands of interior LED lights we finally went with Imtra LED lights for the cabin lights. Most LED lights give off a bluish/cold hue that makes me think of a cafeteria. The Imtra lights were the warmest color I could find and kept the cabin feeling cozy.

We also changed the navigation lights to LED. This was especially helpful for the anchor light. Many boats will use the cheap solar garden lights as anchor lights to save on electricity. This is not legal and makes them very hard to see.

A real anchor light (at the top of the mast, where it belongs) will light up the water for long distances and makes it easy to spot a boat. Coming into an anchorage late at night to find many boats badly lit can be very dangerous. Please, buy an LED anchor light!

Swim-Step

This was something we always knew we wanted in a cruising boat and was very high on the must-have list.

CAMILLE’s swim step.

Camille’s swim-step was huge. Great for showering and rinsing off after spending time in the ocean. And since we did not have a separate shower stall we always had to shower outdoors. A shower stall had been high on my must-have list but I realize now that I would not want to introduce that much moisture (i.e., mold) into the cabin on a regular basis anyway.

The swim-step is also great in marinas. When the boat is backed into a slip it is easy to step on and off. Much safer than rickety steps to climb up the side. Maybe I’m just clumsy but I have fallen between the dock and the boat on a couple of boats — once nearly splitting my head open on a concrete dock.

Ventilation

Opening ports and hatches.

Camille had 16 opening ports including three large hatches forward. We had one of those wind-scoops to funnel the breeze into the cabin but actually only used it a couple of times since it did not really make much of a difference. For windless nights we had four powerful cabin fans (more on those below).

Communication

We purchased an inexpensive WiFi booster to receive free WiFi signals from shore. We never felt the need for an expensive unit that is permanently affixed high-up in the mast. By simply sticking it out of the window in an anchorage we usually found an open signal. The same company now also makes an outdoor version, which we plan on purchasing in the future.

OTHER THINGS WE LOVED ABOUT CAMILLE

Lines led aft into cockpit
Huge galley that also had spaces to wedge into in big seas
Arch for traveler keeps the cockpit clear of lines
Electric winch (Mike likes to go aloft)
Vacuflush head (no stink!)
Solar panels
Lots of easily accessible storage
Check out our list of Favorite Gear

WHAT WE WILL DO DIFFERENTLY ON OUR NEXT BOAT

Upgrading

When we bought Camille we bought an almost barebones boat.

CAMILLE, when we bought her in San Diego.

We added solar, bimini, watermaker, dinghy, outboard, liferaft, anchors, anchor-chain, and tons of safety gear and spares. We spent over $20,000 not to mention nearly three months installing and upgrading.

Having everything new was a major bonus but the installs took a lot of our time that we could have spent cruising. We don’t have unlimited time to cruise since we still have to work, so we should enjoy every minute of our time off.

Watch-Standing

We usually stood our night-watches under the protection of the dodger, especially if it was a cold night, using the iPad to keep an eye on progress.

The problem with this location was that all the instruments were on the binnacle. If the auto-pilot stopped or the AIS alarmed or we had to keep a very close eye on the radar we had to sit behind the wheel – exposed to the elements.

We learned that a night-time watch keeper is happiest under the dodger and that it would be helpful to have some essential electronic displays visible from that protected position.

The next boat will need a more convenient location for the instrument panel or repeaters inside of the dodger or at the nav desk.

VHF

We had one VHF radio at the helm as well a couple of handhelds. Most popular cruising grounds have VHF “cruisers’ nets” in the mornings to exchange information and goods. The time of the net often coincided with breakfast preparations aboard Camille so we tried using one of the hand-held VHFs but could not pick up parts of the conversation. Unless we were right at the heart of the cruising grounds we had to use the high-powered VHF at the helm to listen in.

Having a second, high-powered VHF in the cabin would gave been a great addition. Not to mention having a backup radio that is not exposed to the elements.

Power

Charging the battery with solar panels.

We added 300 watts of solar to Camille but there was no space for a second battery. Our one Group-4D battery was not enough to power everything we needed to run. The fridge was a power-hog in the hot Mexican sun. During the day we were making more electricity than we could store and at night the battery could not keep up with demand.

Autopilot

The autopilot on Camille was not adequate once she was fully loaded with cruising gear. It was rated for 24,000 pounds of displacement – Camille displaced about 16,000 pounds empty. Add water, diesel and gear and you reach the limit very quickly. In largish following seas or if it had to make a lot of corrections the autopilot drive stopped and had to be reset. We looked into buying the more powerful model but would have had to replace the chart-plotter at the same time resulting in many boat bucks (one boat buck = US$1,000.)

We had looked into adding a self-steering wind-vane to Camille but since we were not planning on any major ocean crossings the expense would have been prohibitive.

Noise

Camille was very noisy. In a rolly anchorage the creaking drove me nuts. I could not sleep. I ripped apart lockers looking for the source. I added little pieces of material between areas that were rubbing. It always came back. Under sail we could not simply enjoy the sound of the waves slapping the hull because the creaking drowned it out.

Under power the noise was even worse. With the engine located right under the stairs the engine droned on in the main cabin and in the aft cabin. The only place that was somewhat quiet was the V-berth which is more akin to riding a roller-coast when the seas kick up.

Bunks

Camille had basic, thin foam cushions in her bunks. We should have just gone ahead and purchased a custom folding marine mattress. Instead we purchased the Froli sleep system and more foam – almost spending as much as for a real mattress. We had no moisture issues but were never really very comfortable.

Next time we’ll just get a real mattress right away.

Windows

I would like to be able to look out the windows while doing dishes or sitting in the saloon.

My biggest complaint about our boat was that I could not see out of the windows.

It felt like living in a hole. Mike is quite a bit taller than I am and was able to see out of the windows while standing up. The boat was very bright and airy thanks to large windows on deck but in the hot sun we usually had to keep all the windows and hatches covered.

I would like to be able to look out the windows while doing dishes or sitting in the saloon. It seems silly to travel thousands of (hard-earned) miles to stare at the walls when right outside is a breath-taking anchorage.

Stairs

The 6-step companionway made the cabin feel very disconnected from the cockpit.

At anchor this was a mere inconvenience but at sea it was a pain having to go up and down the stairs carrying food or drinks – one item at a time. I longed for more of a “porch” where the cockpit is an extension of the cabin.

6-step companionway.

Deck Color

The two-tone deck color highlighted the difference in heat reflection in the hot sun.

Camille’s deck was two-toned. The main walking-areas were painted light grey and everything else was white.

If I had not felt it for myself I would not believe the difference that made. I could not walk on the grey areas on hot, sunny days because they would burn my feet. The white areas felt merely warm. I can only imagine how much cooler the interior would have been with white decks.

Sunbrella covers for all hatches as well as mesh covers for large deck windows.

Cabin Fans

We purchased four 2-speed Caframo cabin fans. After one year of fairly light duty they became very noisy and were slinging black dust.

My parents, who are currently cruising Mexico, have been using these Hella fans on their boat for several years and they are quiet and low-maintenance.

Dinghy Davits

While we would not make any passages with a dinghy in the davits on a mono-hull, having davits at anchor would have been a great addition to Camille. Most nights we left the dinghy in the water and it would either rub against the hull or we would worry about it getting stolen. When the wind kicked up we had to pull it up on deck but not until we heaved the outboard on deck. This was always a huge production that could have been avoided with davits.

BOTTOM LINE

Even if the next boat does not have all of the options we want, we can always add them. The basic layout of the boat, however, cannot be changed.

We will make sure the boat doesn’t creak, that the beds are large enough to be comfortable and that the boat makes us feel safe.

We can’t wait to go cruising again!

About Verena Kellner

Mike and Verena met after college, while working aboard a NOAA hydrographic research vessel in Alaska, collecting data to update nautical charts. They later moved to Portland, Oregon and worked for a hydrographic firm that kept them traveling all over the US and working aboard boats and ships.

In 2008, they both got our 100 ton captain’s licenses, and in 2011 quit their jobs, bought a sailboat (s/v Camille) and went sailing in Mexico for a couple of years. They eventually made the Baja Bash back up to California, sold the boat and spent summer 2014 working and playing in Alaska. They are back in the lower 48, making more nautical charts, traveling in their mini van, and saving up for their next adventure.

Be sure to subscribe to their website (PacificSailors.com) and join them on Facebook!

Cruising on Convergence : Building the boat

Sally-Christine Rodgers — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 20:00:19 +0000

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.

My husband Randy and I have both spent our careers in the marine industry. Being in the business of boat supplies, we have had the opportunity to look at thousands of boats at boat shows and in marinas all over the world. Collectively we have spent hundreds of hours talking to many experienced owners, designers, and manufacturers, asking tough questions along the way. When we had the good fortune to choose a cruising boat for ourselves, we did a lot of soul searching.

We are sailors. Yet for nine summers we cruised British Columbia to Alaska on a New England lobster boat. Our lovely green hull Duffy 42 is a single screw (one engine) powerboat. The hull was designed for lobster fishing off the coast of Maine, but it has a cruising cabin with all the amenities, two cabins, large head, and saloon and galley “up” which means we can see out the windows and drive from inside. The experience taught us about powerboating and a great deal about our powerboat customers.

EXPLORER – Duffy 42′ Lobster boat in Northern British Columbia

For a time, long distance trawlers became one of our options for a cruising boat. But we could not change our stripes, we are sailors, and for open-ocean cruising we wanted the dual advantage of both power and wind.

Three goals shaped our decision in finding a cruising boat.

We wanted to sail as a family, so it needed to be easy to handle for two people.
We wanted comfort and efficiency.
And we both wanted a fast boat.

While there are many wonderful boats out there, we did not find a production boat that completely met our needs or our long wish list of details. Disappointed but not deterred, we set out on the daunting task and two-year commitment of building a custom yacht.

Growing up sailing on the East Coast, Randy has always liked Cat Boats. (Catboats are usually beamy, wide hulls with a singe mast, which is carried forward in the bow.) Living in California he owned a Santa Cruz 33 and Santa Cruz 40, (Slender fast fiberglass race boats) so he also appreciated performance. I grew up sailing on the West Coast in a classic wooden boat, raced on performance yachts in the Northwest and had the opportunity to crew on various boats in a variety of places around the world. I wanted a boat that would be comfortable, sail well and get us there safely.

We chose to work with Tom Wylie, a talented San Francisco Bay area designer who is known for fast, innovative cat ketch rigged racer-cruisers with wishbone rigs on unstayed (no wires hold up the rig) carbon fiber masts. His boats are fast, easy to sail and unconventional. Frankly, it takes a while to get used to just looking at them. A giant wind surfer comes to mind.

While Tom Wylie designed the hull and rig, Randy and I designed everything else, the deck layout, the cabin, the interior and all her systems.

CONVERGENCE under construction, note window layout above nav station

The end result is a very fast, reasonably comfortable, fairly easy to handle yacht.

Her length is 65’6”, with a 57’ water line, a 14’9” beam, 8’ draft and a main mast of 80’. At a svelte 39,000 lbs., her average cruising speed under power or sail is 8.3 knots or 200 miles a day. More often, she runs at 10. Her record speed surfing under sail is 22 knots; however, she may be capable of more in the right conditions. Her best run so far was 240 miles in 24 hours. Most of her innovations are common sense adjustments on traditional themes, a coming together of many ideas, hence her name: CONVERGENCE .

We worked with Westerly Marine, in Costa Mesa, CA, who manufactures quality custom yachts, including one America’s Cup boat. Convergence is simple and elegant.

CONVERGENCE splashes in 2004

From stem to stern she has clean lines. Unlike many cruising boats she has uncluttered decks. Even the windlass is below deck in its own compartment.

Rather than stanchions and lifelines, we designed tall stainless steel rails, which give an extra element of safety. Her exterior is easy to maintain. There is no wood on the exterior except for a wonderfully designed cockpit table, which hosts compartments for all the miscellaneous stuff that ends up there. Our canvas Bimini was eventually replaced with a hardtop over the cockpit to keep out the sun and the rain. The cabin top solar panels were exchanged for the WhisperGen™ heat and power system.

The saloon and galley are up. That means we are all together and able to see out the windows, a particular advantage for those who do most of the cooking. Large tempered windows (spec’d at jet cockpit window standards or able to take a frozen chicken at 500 miles an hour) offer complete visibility while maneuvering and allow us to take advantage of the view in beautiful anchorages.

Galley on CONVERGENCE
Great view, lots of counter space, storage and easy access to cockpit.

Our navigation station has a large desktop. All of the electronics and communications are laid out efficiently and surrounded by the windshield. You can see where you are navigating. The electrical panel is adjacent to the nav station for ease of checking all systems.

Nav station allows for plenty of visibility – in bad weather can steer from inside.

The engine room has standing headroom, over an 8’ workbench and lots of storage. It is large enough to work in and if necessary to dry loads of laundry. Having a large designated engine room has many advantages. One is complete access to her 100-horse Yanmar engine, fuel filters, etc. We check our engine every day—on passages, every hour. We wanted it to be easy to access and to work on. Two underwater windows allow both keel and prop visibility and make it easy to see the bottom and fun to see sea life swimming by. We carry 400 gallons of fuel (70 gallons in the keel) and 300 gallons of tank water, along with a water-maker.

Engine room with 8ft maple workbench and lots of storage

Mistress cabin

Convergence has comfortable accommodations, four cabins with 6’4”+ headroom, two with twin bunks and two with double bunks. Each of the cabins has hanging lockers, side tables, plenty of drawer storage and shoe lockers (something often lacking on a boat). The two heads are more than adequate, and have lovely hand painted ceramic sinks. Our showers have watertight storage for linens.

The woodwork is beautiful. We avoided rain forest woods and chose satin-varnished cherry with fine bone detail around traditional doors and cabinetry instead.

For its high tech materials and modern exterior, the traditional appointments on the interior are Bristol with nautical sensibilities. The fiberglass in both the interior and exterior is superb. We have a spacious cockpit, one that can accommodate a large party, and is very comfortable for fair weather sleeping.

The after deck, which we call the Beach Deck, is where we stow the dinghy underway, along with two kayaks, a dive compressor compartment and fishing gear. It is the perfect location for exercise at anchor, donning dive gear, setting out fishing lines or a time out. An outdoor shower allows for freshwater rinse of sandy feet, cleaning up scuba gear and moonlight bathing. Below the Beach Deck are large compartments where we keep dive gear, the swim ladder, an emergency tiller, cleaning supplies, numerous spares and other accumulations.

Beach deck

Central vacuum

Under the saloon, accessed by aft stairs, there is a full pantry. On port is a section with deep shelves and zippered screens for dry stores and condiments.

As I believe a clean boat is a healthy boat, we have a washer/dryer and a central vacuum with hose outlets that reach the entire interior and the cockpit.

There is easy, open access to fuel tanks, pumps, our inverter, water pumps, and the hot water tank. In addition, there is plenty of extra storage for drinks, bulk food stuffs and supplies in the balance of the pantry.

We carry no headsails, just large 80’ main and 60’ mizzen fully battened sails, each cut with lots of roach, which theoretically spills wind aloft, allowing us to carry more sail in higher winds. (To elaborate, main sails are rarely perfect triangles, the bottom edge is called the foot, the forward or leading edge, is referred to as the luff, and the after edge or back of the triangle is called the leech. The roach is the rounded shoulder of the sail, that extra sail cloth beyond the straight line from the top or head of the sail to the aft corner or clue.)

This means that we do not need to reef (shorten sail so as to not be overpowered by the wind) as soon as in more traditional rigs. From my point of view, reefing early, before the wind is too strong is the better part of valor. We installed electric winches, which make hoisting easy on our backs.

Convergence is fast, comfortable, and in inclement weather, we drive from inside.

Sally-Christine standing next to CONVERGENCE’s rudder
(Photo by Randy Repass)

We designed all of the systems to be efficient and reliable. However, all was not perfect in her construction. The most critical lesson we learned in building a custom boat was this: Regardless of the competence and trust you have in the boat builders, hiring a project manager who is specifically in charge of overseeing your project is essential and would have removed a lot of our headaches. A project manager who not only oversee progress, but is onsight regularly to ensure that those in charge of the installations know what they are doing and that all systems are tested, and working before you take delivery.

Most of the challenges we have faced have been the result of improper installations and in some cases improper specs by manufacturers. Critical failures due to confusing or inaccurate manufacturer’s specs or installer error in plumbing and electrical come to light at the most inopportune moments. Many of these issues could have seriously jeopardized the safety of the boat. They could have been avoided with a good project manager. Randy’s patience, skill and his innate ability to fix anything have kept us happily afloat.

We had another interesting issue, which was that we were bow down and surprisingly tender. This was corrected in a Raiatea boat yard by adding a two thousand pound shoe to the aft end of the keel bulb, which added stability and improved her ride.

Like building a house, building a boat requires lots of decisions, a budget, a sense of humor, and determination to get it done, and if necessary part of it redone. Randy and I both love projects. We like building things, and seeing them through to completion. Keeping our eye on the goal, having good communication, mutual respect and staying focused has helped us make the process a pleasure. Like our relationship, we nurture our boat, extol her virtues, and enjoy every precious moment we have aboard.

Nine year old Kent-Harris christens CONVERGENCE with our R bar R Ranch Pinot Noir, Sally-Christine and Randy looking on.

About Sally-Christine Rodgers

Sally-Christine and her family in the water (Photo by Peggy Repass)

When she is not tending gardens, grooming horses, taming long horns or working on marine conservation, Sally-Christine Rodgers spends time writing about the other side of her life – cruising on Convergence.

Making their way around the world a section at a time, Sally-Christine with her husband Randy and son Kent-Harris extend each summer aboard their custom 65’ sailboat sharing observations and insights along the way.

How did you choose your cruising boat?

Let us know.

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

Any recommendations on outfitting a boat for scuba diving?

Gwen Hamlin — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:31:06 +0000

Mizzy asks

I need your advice about outfitting to scuba dive. We plan to dive a lot. Neither of us does a lot of deep dives. I do have a collection of tanks.

What to do? Like all of the outfitting choices we have to make this one will require evaluation of the options.

If you could point me towards an informed choice regarding air aboard I would be grateful.Thanks.

Gwen Hamlin answers

If you love to dive and have room for a compressor, I would go that route instead of the hookah.

Lots of people do choose hookahs, but for me, it restricts you to diving somewhere you can have the boat or dinghy. But understand I have no real experience with a hookah other than a long-hose version from a tank on deck we used for cleaning the bottom. The boat we are joining for the summer in Indonesia has a hookah, so I’ll be able to better answer that eventually, but not in time to be helpful to you.

Good friends of ours who didn’t want to carry their own compressor chose instead to carry four tanks. They could each do two dives before needing to fill (plus sometimes a third shallower dive). Often friends had compressors, or there were nearby land-based operations from which to get fills. The reality is that in many places you want to go diving there are dive operations to use. Often, they know and go to the best dive sites available, and using them relieves you of the anxieties of diving on your own.

But, unfortunately, the above is not always true. Some of the best dives we have had have been ones we did on our own. But it does require you conduct your dives with much more vigilance and to equip your boat properly:

We had a Bauer 3.5 cfm gas compressor. Bauers, built in Germany, are pretty international. There are other 3.5 cfm compressors available. You just want to be sure you can get parts, especially filters. I had an electric Bauer compressor on my first boat. It was quieter, but the gas compressor is in the end more efficient, less costly, and more flexible.

For tanks we had 80 cu ft aluminum tanks. These are the standard in most places.

However, many cruisers, especially women with good air consumption rates, use the aluminum 50s. They are smaller, so less bulky. But frankly they have the same footprint as the 80s and then you don’t have the air reserve when you wish you did.

Obviously, if you are going to have your own compressor, you will need your own BC and regulator. Don’t go for fancy tricked-out models. Choose basic workhorse models with international distribution so that you can find maintenance anywhere. Even so, ask your home scuba shop to put together a service kit of the basic repair/service parts for your regulator and BC before you leave. Any resort has someone who can service regulators; they may just not have parts for your brand or model.

I recommend a mesh weightbelt to protect your decks with plenty of spare weights. We each had two belts set up in our locker: one for snorkeling and freediving and another heavier one for scuba when wearing neoprene. Also dive computers for both divers, ideally ones that can be set to a safer algorythm than normal (eg my Suunto). When out on our own in Mexico or the tropics, we are more prone to dehydration, which can affect our susceptibility to decompression sickness.

So in addition to keep more conservative profiles, I recommend all independent divers carry an oxygen kit (available from DAN – Divers Alert Network ) and their booklet of emergency procedures. When you are diving on your own, you are totally responsible for yourselves!

Try to find someone to do surface watch for you if possible, mind your tides and currents (especially in pass dives in the Pacific) and at the very least “file a dive plan” (i.e let someone else in the anchorage of within radio distance know you are leaving your boat on a scuba dive and what time you should be back.)

Finally, you should also keep current your DAN membership and recompression insurance. Even if you don’t dive, we recommend cruisers carry it just for the air evacuation coverage.

For dive suits, what you use will depend on the water temperatures where you plan to dive. For the tropics, I recommend that you have a dive skin (we used Polartec Fleece neutrally-buoyant suits) plus a 2 mm jumpsuit. Either will protect you from cold and stingy things in most conditions, plus you can layer them up for more warmth. I also carried a neoprene vest and a hood to add for colder waters. Also gloves.

I prefer full-foot-style dive fins (not short, floppy, snorkle fins) to the open heel ones because they are more comfortable for snorkeling, but my husband prefers the open-heel version with booties. I like the idea of booties to have as foot protection and warmth, but I don’t like the idea that my fins will be uncomfortable to use should I lose a bootie! I did end up wearing neoprene socks under my full-foot fins for extra warmth and foot protection.

Some auxiliary equipment I would recommend are a lift bag (in case you need to salvage something heavy…like a lost anchor or outboard!), a marker buoy, and a line on a reel. I can’t tell you how many times we found these items useful. You might also want to have a third regulator set up with a long hookah hose which is mighty convenient for cleaning the bottom or for a quick jump over the side when something gets entangled in your prop.

You will also probably want to have a medium mesh game bag and possible a spear gun. Hawaiian slings are legal most everywhere, but always check local fishing regulations. In Mexico, banded spearguns were prevalent. (The longer the gun, the more accurate!) In the South Pacific, spearfishing quickly dropped off in popularity as the shark population increased. Generally speaking, sharks don’t bother you unless you are spearfishing!

I also recommend carrying a dive knife and an inflatible emergency pylon (I think they are called.) This is a gadget you carry rolled up hanging from your BC which in an emergency you can inflate to make you more visible for someone searching for you on the surface.

Although in lucky situations you can dive directly from your sailboat, more often you will use your dinghy to reach a site. Therefore, you will want to choose a dinghy that is practical to dive from with an outboard substantial enough to move two people and gear across the water. 15hp will do it.

For the dinghy you will want a good anchor and a long rode. We used a 15# (I think) folding grapnel with 5′ of stainless (so as not to trash the dinghy with rust) chain, and about 150′ of line. I made it a habit to secure my anchor line twice: once off the bow backed up by a second tied to a stern eye. (In calm conditions I often anchored from the stern.) Finally, you will want to fly a dive flag. I attached mine to a dinghy gaff and stuck it through the handle of the outboard.

You need to be able to get back in your dinghy! The easiest way is to remove your weightbelt, then your slightly-inflated BC holding it by a hose as a tether. Use your fins to then kick yourself up and over the pontoon and then roll to a seated postion with fins still outside the boat. Remove fins, swing around to stand, then heft tank and BC out of the water. I detail this because it’s amazing how many people don’t figure this out! If you can’t kick up out the water, you will need some sort of boarding ladder.

Finally, you need some means of giving your gear a fresh-water rinse. We had a washdown hose on deck connected to a Y-valve in our engine room so that we could switch to fresh water to rinse our gear and ourselves after a dive. If you are doing multiple dives in one location, collect your fresh water in a bucket to reuse. And, remember that all this silicon gear shouldn’t be left out long in the sun. UV is your enemy!

Finally, if you have only Open Water certification, I highly recommend at least Advance Open Water training, plus ideally Rescue Diver so you are better equipped to deal with emergencies. In Advanced Open Water, tell your instructor about your cruising plans. A good instructor can tailor some of the required exercises to simulate situations you might find yourself in cruising (for example, search and recovery of a lost stern anchor or items dropped overboard.) Also, you really want to focus on underwater navigation techniques, since you will have to rely on yourselves to get back to the dinghy. There will be no divemaster up top to come looking for you!

That’s my quick overview of the basics. If I think of anything else I will let you know.

Hope it is helpful.
Gwen

More information (external links)

Divers Alert Network (DAN): a nonprofit organization that provides emergency medical information and assistance for underwater diving injuries.

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 webinar!

Join the ‘Women and Cruising’ team at Strictly Sail Pacific – Oakland – April 14-17, 2011

Kathy Parsons — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 14:17:45 +0000

Enough of this internet! Let’s meet in person and talk at the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show in Oakland, California April 14 through 17. Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin and I will be presenting 2 Women and Cruising seminars plus a slew of other talks (details below). The Women and Cruising seminars are super for asking your questions about cruising (anything goes!).

We love these seminars and all the new friends we have made doing them. In fact, I love the seminars so much I am packing up my bags and leaving the boat in beautiful Eleuthera, Bahamas (with sand in my shoes) to fly to the Oakland show. When we’re not giving seminars we will be hanging out at the Author’s Corner. I will be selling my French for Cruisers and Spanish for Cruisers books plus a new audio. Come by and talk cruising! We look forward to seeing you there!

Blue Water Sailing is the Presenting Sponsor of the Seminar Series. The one-hour seminars are FREE with your paid show admission. Attendees will receive two issues of Blue Water Sailing and a complimentary subscription to Cruising Compass.

Women and Cruising

by Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin

Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall and Gwen Hamlin team up to share experiences and answer all your questions about preparing for cruising and life aboard: from the skills you need to cruise, to outfitting and provisioning, to seasickness, staying healthy, finances, long passages, safety and the fears and the rewards of cruising.

Attendees will receive a Women and Cruising Resource List to supplement the information covered in the seminar.

Dates:

Friday, April 15, 2011 – 11:45am
Saturday, April 16, 2011 – 4:45pm

What Works: Tips and techniques for long-distance cruising.

by Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin

Sometimes it is the little things that make all the difference. With decades of cruising and tens of thousands of miles under their keels, cruisers Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin and Kathy Parsons have learned lots of little things that make cruising safer, more comfortable, more successful.

In this quick-paced seminar, they will share some of their favorite tips, techniques and gear. They will cover the full gamut of cruising: from passage-making, boat-handling, anchoring, line-handling, provisioning, stowage and boat systems, safety, communications, finances. You are bound to learn new ideas to improve your cruising.

Dates:

Thursday, April 14, 2011 – 11:45am
Sunday, April 17, 2011 – 10:30am

Cruising the French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean

by Kathy Parsons

The French and Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean provide rich and varied cruising opportunities: from Martinique and Guadeloupe’s French creole cuisines, to inland travel through Central and South America, to the music and beauty of Cuba. Yet boaters often hesitate, faced with language and cultural differences.

With photos, hand-outs and personal stories from over a decade of travel throughout the Caribbean, author and cruiser Kathy Parsons shows how and why to fully explore these areas. You will leave this seminar with a list of Caribbean destinations that you won’t want to miss and practical tips that will reduce cultural misunderstandings and make your travel more safe and enjoyable.

Date:

Thursday, April 14, 2011 – 03:30pm

Spanish for Cruising Mexico

by Kathy Parsons

To make the most of your cruise to Mexico, you’ll want to be able to communicate with the people you meet – from port officials to repairmen, market vendors and fishermen.

In this seminar, Kathy Parsons, will give you techniques and strategies that help you communicate with everyone you meet ashore and on the water. Participants will learn techniques that ease communication, will learn to avoid common cultural mistakes and receive hand-outs covering Spanish for provisioning, clearing in, conversation, and other essentials of Mexican cruising.”

Date:

Saturday, April 16, 2011 – 11:45am

Outfitting Part One – On Deck

by Pam Wall

Pam Wall will give sensible and practical ideas on how to make your boat more seaworthy, safer, more efficient, and more fun. The systems and equipment that she and her husband, Andy, have on their boat came from years of practical sailing.

From bow to stern Pam will show you what she found made her boat a better blue water cruising boat. Be ready to take notes on what works and what does not work in this informative seminar on proper deck hardware and systems. All this leads to having a better time aboard your boat.

Date:

Thursday, April 14, 2011 – 1:00pm

Outfitting Part Two – Below Deck

by Pam Wall

Once again Pam Wall will show you ideas on how to make your boat more comfortable and more efficient down below where your living quarters make all the difference to your comfort and safety! See the many ideas Pam has put into use to make the interior of her boat functional and safe. Again, be prepared to take a lot of notes on the good ideas presented in this seminar.

Date:

Thursday, April 14, 2011 – 2:15pm

Cruising the Bahamas

by Pam Wall

I don’t have to sail around the world to be in Paradise! Pam Wall has sailed around the world, but her most favorite place of all is in her back yard!

The Bahamas are Pam’s favorite cruising grounds, and she takes you there with a flair! See the beauty of these magnificent islands, so near, yet so far. This slide presentation will have you jumping into the clear water before you know it.

Date:

Friday, April 15, 2011 – 3:30pm

How to be your own Maintenance Captain

by Pam Wall

Pam Wall will take you from bow to stern, on deck and down below, to help you check out what you need to know to maintain your vessel without the help of trained professionals. This type of basic knowledge of maintenance and how to keep everything in good running order will give you the confidence to know your own boat and all its systems. Pam will suggest easy programs to keep all you have aboard in good condition making your cruising more successful without any breakdowns. Learn from Pam how a woman can contribute to the maintenance schedule to keep your boat in top condition. All this will allow you to have a happy time aboard and give you the basic knowledge of how to eliminate most annoying failures!

Date:

Saturday, April 16, 2011 – 1:00pm

Cool Products No One Knows About

by Pam Wall

Pam Wall has been working for West Marine for twenty years. She sees and tries many new and lots of old products that are available to the yachtsmen around the world. Let her show you many really great products that very few people know about. The secrets of great things will be revealed so you can take advantage of a lifetime of finding cool products that few have ever tried. Pam has her favorites that she will share with you, and you will come away with many great ideas for your own boat.

Date:

Sunday, April 17, 2011 – 1:00pm

Severe Weather Preparation

by Pam Wall

Many of you may have attended Pam’s Hurricane Preparation seminars in the past. This year Pam will take you through the steps to be prepared for severe weather while at sea! The list of what you should have aboard, how you should prepare yourself, and how you should handle your boat are all given to you by someone who has lived through many a severe weather situation in her years of sailing. This is a seminar everyone should attend to be prepared and therefore be able to handle any situation with severe weather

Date:

Sunday, April 17, 2011 – 3:30pm

More info

About Kathy Parsons, Pam Wall and Gwen Hamlin
Visit the Strictly Sail Pacific website
Download the complete seminars schedule

Handholds, handholds, handholds

Bev Feiges — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:03:56 +0000

There is no such thing as too many handholds, especially as you or some of your special friends and relatives get older.

Following are some illustrations of ours.

1. My “Granny Rail”

The single most important addition is what I call my Granny Rail, a simple stainless steel tube bent to mount into two stanchion bases, which gives me something to hold onto while climbing into the dinghy, whether from the side, as Dave is doing, and especially from the small step in the bow, which is the highest part of our dinghy, helpful when you are climbing onto a high dock, but too precarious for me to use without that rail to balance with.

2. Grab rails on our swim platform

Other essential grab rails were the ones mounted on either side of our swim ladder, and the bar that runs clear across the stern of the boat, so you are secure while walking on the swim platform anytime.

3. Grab rails in our head compartment

Another essential grab rail, not usually found, is the one mounted on the door frame of our head compartment.

I can grab this, swing myself onto the head, being supported all the time, and use it to get back to my feet when ready.

Really essential when we are rolling around, or at night, when my eyes may be at half mast.

So simple, but so handy.

Dave and Bev Feiges
Aboard Cloverleaf
Abaco, Bahamas

About Bev Feiges

After 21 years on a Cal-46-3 sailboat, Bev and her husband moved aboard Cloverleaf, their second cruising boat, a 61-foot custom Krogen motoryacht.

Self-described “coastal cruisers”, they have traveled the eastern seaboard from Canada to Florida, much of the Caribbean, and with a little help from Dockwise Yacht Transport, much of the Med, from the Balearics to Turkey, south along the coast to Egypt, through the Suez Canal, as far south as Abu Tieg.

You can read Bev’s blog, “Cruising with Cloverleaf“, at www.feiges.blogspot.com.

Bev is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column.

More information (external links)

Bev and Dave Feiges’s blog: “Cruising with Cloverleaf”
With 60 years of boating experience, Bev and Dave Feiges have seen it all. From racing inland lake scows, to cruising and living aboard sailboats and trawlers for the past 30 years, they have developed opinions on almost every aspect of life on the water, especially with an eye toward the needs of older boaters

What little modifications have you made to YOUR boat that have made a BIG difference?

Let us know.

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

Debbie Leisure: What I learned on my first solo trip to the Bahamas

Debbie Leisure — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:02:00 +0000

In September of 2009, Debbie Leisure wrote here on the Women and Cruising Blog about how she learned to single-hand her boat after the death of her husband. At the end of the post Debbie said that she planned to sail to the Bahamas this winter. So we recently asked Debbie to update readers – sharing what she has learned on this trip while it is fresh in her mind. Thanks, Debbie!

Yes, I’m sure I learned a lot his winter, my first solo trip to the Bahamas.

I’m also sure that I knew some of these things before setting out for the Bahamas, but I now REMEMBER that I knew them.

Lessons along the ICW

The learning experience did not take long to begin.

I left Oriental, North Carolina in October heading south along the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and on my second morning out I ran aground.

What did I learn?

That I have to pay very close attention to currents, and I learned that TowBoat US towing insurance is a wonderful thing to have.

Also, that I can call TowBoat US before I run aground when in unfamiliar waters, and they will advise me and give me the local knowledge that I need.

Day three and another lesson.

I’m still not real sure exactly what the lesson was that day. But I did learn that you can call TowBoat US two days in a row and they keep coming to help!

What actually happened was that my anchor became fouled on something on the bottom.

After much maneuvering on my part, and advice from my buddy boat that was circling around, I could not release the anchor from the bottom. Thus, Towboat US.

Unfortunately, they also couldn’t retrieve my anchor and I had to cut the anchor chain leaving behind 30 feet of chain and a perfectly good anchor.

The area I was in was not such that I could dive on the anchor, and the cost of hiring a diver would not have offset the loss of the chain and anchor.

So, I guess what I learned was: Always have a spare anchor, which I did have.

Most of the rest of the trip down the ICW from North Carolina to Florida was uneventful. I managed to anchor, pick up moorings and dock alone without mishap.

My new chartplotter

The entire trip taught me that the new chartplotter I had added last year was an excellent addition to the equipment.

The chartplotter made all navigation easier, both in the ICW and in the Bahamas.

It was especially useful in the ICW on the day I got caught in the fog.

In the Bahamas

I can navigate through the narrow passes in the cays of the Bahamas with confidence and the chartplotter makes it so much easier.

When the anchor chain was wrapped around a coral head in a beautiful anchorage, I learned that I needed assistance.

And that’s okay, because friends and fellow cruisers are always ready to help anyone in need.

It’s a comfortable feeling, knowing that that support group is always there should you ever need it.

I learned that I will run aground and, no, there may not be a towboat handy. I learned that I can get myself off the sand and handle the boat and myself in uncomfortable situations.

I have learned that I can evaluate the weather predictions and choose safe anchorages for the weather conditions.

Do I always get it perfect? No.

But I learn each time and survived the less than perfect anchorages and each time I get better at making those anchorage decisions.

I learned that the Bahamas are beautiful, that the weather is not always perfect, that cruisers everywhere are wonderful, and each successful day adds to my feeling of self-confidence.

See you next year in the Bahamas.

About Debbie Leisure

Debbie Leisure sails her 29′ Island Packet, Illusions single-handed. Originally from Missouri, she sailed the Eastern Caribbean for five years. The island of Carriacou holds a special place in her heart.

Recently, Oriental North Carolina has been her home base. She spent this winter in the Bahamas (Abacos, Exumas and Eleuthera), and when she leaves the Bahamas this Spring she plans to sail back to North Carolina for hurricane season.

Come to Pam Wall’s seminars at the Chicago Strictly Sail Boat Show

Pam Wall — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:21:17 +0000

Pam Wall will once again be a presenter at the Sail America Strictly Sail Boat Show at Navy Pier in Chicago. The Boat Show dates are January 28 through January 31. Pam will be speaking on her Family Sailing Around the World, Cruising the Bahamas, Outfitting for Blue Water Cruising. This year Pam presents a new lecture on sailing across the Atlantic on the lovely four masted bark, Sea Cloud!

Details of Pam’s Seminars:

Sea Cloud

Come and join the Trans Atlantic Passage of the lovely and historical yacht SEA CLOUD. This beautiful 367 foot private yacht was built for Marjorie Merryweather Post and is now a charter yacht that works the Caribbean in the winter and the Mediterranean in the summer.

Pam Wall just recently sailed from the Canary Islands to Antigua and wants to share this wonderful 16 day passage aboard the bark SEA CLOUD. Come and see what it is like to cross the Atlantic with the trade winds and enjoy the life aboard a square rigged sailing ship.

Family Sailing Around the World

Join Pam and Andy Wall and their two small children as they sail their 39 foot sloop around the world. This wonderful sailing family adventure took six years. Enjoy the entertaining stories, and learn from the thrilling experiences of a family seeing the world from their own home, their boat KANDARIK.

Cruising the Bahamas

Pam has been cruising the Bahamas for over 30 years. Come join Pam in a cruise around the Abacos in the Bahamas.

Get all kinds of good information on what to see, where to sail, and what to do in the lovely Abaco Islands in the northern Bahamas.

Outfitting for Blue Water Cruising

Pam Wall has years of sailing and cruising experience. In this seminar she shares many good ideas on how to make your boat safer, more efficient, and therefore more fun. See the many photos of good ideas on how to sail your boat efficiently, be safer, and a lot more.

Get info about the Strictly Sail Chicago Boat Show and view the complete Seminar Schedule.

If you want to contact Pam, her e-mail address is: PamW@westmarine.com.

Read Pam Wall’s advice on Outfitting Your Boat for Cruising in Cruising Compass/Blue Water Sailing

Pam Wall — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:11:54 +0000

Throughout the month of November both Blue Water Sailing Magazine and The Cruising Compass is focusing on Fitting Out For World Cruising.

The Cruising Compass interviewed Pam Wall, Outfitting Manager for West Marine. Pam is an accomplished sailor who has sailed around the world with her husband, Andy of Andrew Wall Rigging, and their young children. Pam and Andy have become Fort Lauderdale’s resident expert for all cruisers, motor or sail.

Pam outfits every kind of boat from small sailboats to mega-yachts. She also teaches sailing at the annual Bitter End Yacht Club’s “Women on the Water Week” in the British Virgin Islands. (Pam is also part of the Women and Cruising team, presenting our Women and Cruising seminars at boat shows.)

Here are links to the first three installments on the Blue Water Sailing website:

Want to learn more?

Visit the Women and Cruising Outfitting Resources page where you can download Pam’s Outfitting Checklist.

Read the current issue of Cruising Compass or search the archives.

Read some of Pam’s contributions to Women and Cruising: What I like Most about Cruising, Galley Advice from 18 Cruising Women

Bev Feiges makes her case for an electric galley aboard

Bev Feiges — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:44:40 +0000

Bev Feiges wrote the following for us after reading Galley Advice from 18 Cruising Women on the Women and Cruising website. In that article, we asked 18 cruising women to describe their galley for us, and tell us what they considered essential aboard. Although several of the 18 women participating in our article have generators aboard, and a number have some electrical appliances, none have a truly “electrical galley” as Bev does aboard her power boat. Thanks, Bev, for sharing your experience with us. – Kathy Parsons

I just read most of the interviews of the 18 women and their galleys, and I was so surprised not to hear one person, including the woman on the 68 foot motor boat, speak up for an electric galley, or having a generator. You may not want to hear the other side of the story, but I feel someone should make the case.

We started our cruising life aboard my parent’s sports fish, cruising, and fishing the Florida Keys, and the Bahamas. I can’t think of a boat of this type that isn’t equipped with a generator, because they will have freezers and refrigeration, (necessary to keep the bait and the fish you are going to bring home with you) and in those climates, where you spend your time in marinas, even air conditioning is essential.

We would get to the marina, fuel up – they burn a lot of fuel- go to the dock and plug in, so we could turn the generator off, and also connect the hose, since the whole boat was scrubbed down every night. Being in a marina in the tropics was usually hot and buggy, so the air conditioning was also turned on, and we ate, and slept in comfort.

This certainly had its impact on our want list when we finally decided to buy our first cruising sail boat in 1977. We knew we wanted air conditioning, which would necessitate a generator, we knew we wanted a freezer, (freezing food is my husband’s business), and with a family of five kids, I didn’t want to have to eat canned foods while sitting in remote anchorages, with no grocery around.

We bought a Cal-46-3, and it came with all these things. It had a microwave, a propane gimbaled stove, a single sink with a large stainless drainboard, a combination chest-type frig and freezer. All of this fitted into the passageway leading to our back cabin. No worry about being thrown anyplace. We immediately put a port above the sink, so we could pass food up to someone sitting in the cockpit, and dirty dishes could be passed down to the man at the sink. Shortly thereafter, we made a separate freezer, twice the size of the original.

In 1989 we brought the boat back from the Caribbean to Florida, and “geriatricized” her. Included in the changes was removing the old microwave, which took up all the space to the left of the sink, and the gimbaled stove, which burned the bottom of everything baked in the oven before it would bake the top half, and was impossible to clean behind. Instead, we put in a two burner electric cooktop, gaining all the space below for a garbage pail cupboard and a tray cupboard and a drawer for utensils. Above the burners we put a combination microwave/convection oven, and where the old microwave was I gained another cupboard and a lot more counter space.

That galley worked great, and we never missed searching for, and lugging back propane bottles, in out of the way places. This worked for the next ten years, and we repeated the formula, when we outfitted our much smaller live-in horse trailer, except we went back to propane for the cook top, since everything, including the generator and refrigerator ran off propane. But then we had two very large bottles, that we drove to the fill up places.

When we bought our second boat, a 60 foot motor boat, it came with household appliances from Sears, stove, microwave/convection oven, toaster oven that can bake or broil, dishwasher, trash compactor, and disposal, and of course, they were all electric.

We have a large refrigerator/freezer, (16 cu. ft.) in the galley, and another freezer in the saloon, (6 cu. ft.), where the former owner had an ice maker and a compartment he hoped would stay at freezing from the spill over. The idea didn’t work; we turned it into a total freezer.

Because of our inverter, we can run everything except the stove, one appliance at a time, and if we don’t want to start the generator to use the cooktop, we have a single electric plate, that Dave says someday he will mount in one of the four burners on the stove top, since I never use all four. It’s against my work ethic.

All the refrigeration runs off the batteries, and only consumes about 100 amps a day. We are able to run all of this, along with all the other electrical items we are used to having in a our homes ashore, by running the generator between two and three hours a day. We spend about 95 percent of our time at anchor.

Have we had trouble keeping it all going? Like everything in the cruising life, if you have the skills to “fix” things, there is no problem. In 32 years of cruising, we had two days without the generator in our first year, and half a day with the second boat.

For Dave, who never really liked walking beaches, looking for shells, fixing things was his passion. Once he said to me, after weeks of nothing going wrong, “If something doesn’t break pretty soon, I’m going to be bored to death.”

Our galley, note the size of the fridge and freezer, designed for people who live in the mountains off the grid. On the other side of the galley you can’t see, is a table and L shaped settee, where we can easily sit six, and we have crowded in 8. We can sit 8 to ten in the salon, where the table pictured flips open to seat 8 to 10, and on the back deck is another table that nicely seats six. We are equipped for lots of entertaining, and we do it.

So please, don’t scare every would be cruiser into thinking they must give up life as they know it, if they can afford to do otherwise.

In a small boat, a combi microwave convection oven still takes up less space than any kind of full stove, and can be run off an inverter. I use my microwave more than any other method of cooking.

You also made no mention of things like slow cookers, or the old electric fry pan, which again can be run with an inverter off the batteries, which can be charged with wind or sun if you don’t want a generator.

Even generator technology has improved so there are very small, very quiet ones, that almost anyone can fit on a boat. There are just so many things happening right now in the technology field, that even we are old fashioned, but to me, reading about the galleys you featured was like stepping back in time, a time before even our first boat came on the market.

About Bev

After a quarter century of sailing and racing fast, mostly Inland Lakes Scows we switched to a Cal-46-3 sail boat in 1977, what you might call a life defining moment. And what a life it was.

We sailed for 21 years, never letting grass grow on our keel, until I said one day, “Life on the slant isn’t fun anymore.”

I was just too creaky in the joints to continue to enjoy it, but remove the slant, make it more comfortable, (you might think of it as an old folks home for cruisers) and we were able to continue doing the parts we loved.

We moved aboard our second cruising boat, a 61 foot custom Krogen design, and we have been living full time aboard since 2002. We have no other home than the boat, and so far, it is still as good as it gets.

I would put ourselves in the category of “coastal cruisers”, which allowed us to cover the entire eastern seaboard from Grand Manan, Canada, to half the western coast of Florida, all of the Caribbean excluding Cuba, from Hispaniola, (both coasts of the Dominican Republic) through all the islands and the coast of Venezuela as far west as Bonaire, and Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico in the western Caribbean.

Since I am a coastal cruiser, and want to see it all, and since my motto has been, “Never, never sail at night, always keep the land in sight,” we have probably anchored more times that most people who have circumnavigated.

We covered a lot of the Med, from the Balearics to Turkey, and south along the coast to Egypt, through the Suez Canal, as far south as Abu Tieg. We spent five summers and three winters in the Med, but of course, Dockwise took care of the ocean crossings.

Now that I am older and much lazier, and not experiencing the joys of sailing, I find it easier to do some of those longer jumps, say 36 to 48 hours, rather than plowing up the ICW, but I am very careful about the sea conditions when passage planning. I saw the injuries our older sailing friends had, from that instability we all have happen as we age, and I am doing my best not to let it happen to me, or Dave.

Bev and Dave Feiges
Aboard Cloverleaf
Chesapeake Bay

More info

Read Bev Feiges’s blog, “Cruising with Cloverleaf“

Blog » Outfitting

What we learned from our first cruising boat

WHAT WE DID RIGHT WITH OUR FIRST CRUISING BOAT

Upgrading

Age

Size

Watermaker

Navigation

LED Lights

Swim-Step

Ventilation

Communication

OTHER THINGS WE LOVED ABOUT CAMILLE

WHAT WE WILL DO DIFFERENTLY ON OUR NEXT BOAT

Upgrading

Watch-Standing

VHF

Power

Autopilot

Noise

Bunks

Windows

Stairs

Deck Color

Cabin Fans

Dinghy Davits

BOTTOM LINE

About Verena Kellner

More from this website

Cruising on Convergence : Building the boat

About Sally-Christine Rodgers

Any recommendations on outfitting a boat for scuba diving?

Mizzy asks

Gwen Hamlin answers

Read also on this website

More information (external links)

Join the ‘Women and Cruising’ team at Strictly Sail Pacific – Oakland – April 14-17, 2011

Women and Cruising

Dates:

What Works: Tips and techniques for long-distance cruising.

Dates:

Cruising the French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean

Date:

Spanish for Cruising Mexico

Date:

Outfitting Part One – On Deck

Date:

Outfitting Part Two – Below Deck

Date:

Cruising the Bahamas

Date:

How to be your own Maintenance Captain

Date:

Cool Products No One Knows About

Date:

Severe Weather Preparation

Date:

More info

Handholds, handholds, handholds

1. My “Granny Rail”

2. Grab rails on our swim platform

3. Grab rails in our head compartment

About Bev Feiges

Read also on this website

More information (external links)

Debbie Leisure: What I learned on my first solo trip to the Bahamas

Lessons along the ICW

My new chartplotter

In the Bahamas

About Debbie Leisure

Related articles (on this website)

Come to Pam Wall’s seminars at the Chicago Strictly Sail Boat Show

Sea Cloud

Family Sailing Around the World

Cruising the Bahamas

Outfitting for Blue Water Cruising

Related articles

Read Pam Wall’s advice on Outfitting Your Boat for Cruising in Cruising Compass/Blue Water Sailing

Bev Feiges makes her case for an electric galley aboard

About Bev