I am lucky enough to have had the chance to do a fair amount of blue water cruising, and along the way have sailed with some really great sailors and seamen and women. Even after 100,000 miles, you never stop learning and never know everything. That’s the magic of the cruising life and offshore sailing.
Along the way we all develop our own cruising styles that fit with out temperaments and ambitions. As it happens, we tend to like to go to fewer new places and tospend more time immersing ourselves in our favorite spots. But we have sailed in company with cruisers who haul up the anchor and move to a new spot twice or eventhree times a day. They have check off every box available.
And we have a real aversion to storms at sea so we have been known to change destinatins in mid-passage or to turn back and run for cover if the forecast is for gales of wind and big seas. But, we have many friends, some of whom have made many deliveries, who damn the torpedos and go in just about any weather, favorable forecast or not.
We prefer to keep our boats simple and practical which means that we don’t tend to load up on complicated lifestyle systems like gensets and water makers. I like to be able to fix everything on board, to be self-sufficient, so simplicity is a must. But, today, that attitude is kind of old-fashion.
One friend I’ve sailed offshore with frankly admitted he would never have got into the blue water cruising life if he couldn’t have air conditioning all the time, a huge water maker, a washing machine, multiple redundant autopilots and steering devices and the latest marine electronics. He can and does spend many, many thousands a year in boat yards keeping everything running and upgraded to the latest level. Not for us.
Joshua Shankle and Rachel Moore have spent the last 10 years living aboard and cruising the world on their traditional sloop. They have met hundreds of fellow cruisers and learned a lot along the way. Joshua doesn’t claim to be an expert but he certainly knows a lot. Here’s a useful and sound article here wrote on the 10 tips every blue water cruisers needs to know.
