Captain's Log

The old joke about the cruising life goes that cruising is really nothing more than sailing our boats from one exotic repair destination to the next. This was told to me while sitting on a beach in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia by a fellow cruiser who had just spent the morning rebuilding the freshwater pump on his engine and was looking forward to getting to Tahiti in a few weeks so he could replace the pump once and for all. During the five years Rosie and I spent sailing west around the world we had to replace or rebuild just about every system and moving part on our boat. I would always save the worn or broken parts when I replaced them, and often, years later, would use the worn part to temporarily replace the once new one that had failed completely.

The main engine was probably the source of the most hours spent in repairs. But it was closely followed by the electrical charging system, the head, the freshwater pumps and the sails. I still have my original copy of Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual and many of its pages are dog-eared and stained with greasy thumbprints. Whenever I see Nigel at boat shows or in Newport I find myself wondering if he really appreciates how much time cruisers like me have spent with him as we sail about the world.

Even if you are a complete Luddite and disinterested in all things mechanical, the cruising life has a way of turning us all into handy people who have to take care of the systems that keep the boat running smoothly. What we and many others have found is that thorough preparation while in port and regular, in fact daily, attention to maintenance and repairs makes all the difference. Carrying aboard enough spare parts to keep the engine, rig and electronics running is just common sense. And all the manuals for every piece of gear onboard - plus Nigel's book - should be on a bookshelf.

But the real key is to stay in front of the ongoing maintenance list. As another cruising friend once said, if you don't tackle three boat jobs every day, you will just have that many more to tackle tomorrow.

So maybe cruising is just moving our boats from one exotic repair destination to another. But isn't it better to finish fixing the water pump and then go snorkeling over a beautiful coral reef than the alternative?

To help in the fitting out and eventual maintenance process, this month we offer our annual Special Report: The Spring Launch on page 50. We hope you find it useful as you get ready for the next sailing season.

Last month we launched the electronic version of BWS, which you can subscribe to online and then download each issue in a highly readable and searchable digital format. We are working in collaboration with our friend David Burch at Starpath School of Navigation, the creator of the new electronic publishing format that he calls Elibra (and a longtime advertiser in BWS). To check it out log on to www.starpath.com/bws.

Fair winds,