CRUISING DREAMS

REALIZING YOUR DREAM ABOUT SAILBOAT CRUISING

BY

JACK AND SANDY MOONEY

                 WITH POEMS BY PAUL MOONEY

Without dreams, we have only nightmares
 

This book was originally entitiled Lines Led Aft.
We have changed the title to emphasize the realization of fulfilling dreams.

It is an unedited draft, and we appologize for errors and typos, but we're going cruising.
 

PSALM 107

They that go down to the sea in ships,
That do business in great waters,
These see the works of the LORD,
And his wonders in the deep.

     TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

    WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

    WHAT'S IT NOT ABOUT?

    WHAT WILL WE TELL YOU?

    IS ALL THIS NEGATIVITY NECESSARY?

    WHO ARE WE?

    WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ ABOUT OUR CRUISE?

    WHO IS THIS GUY PAUL MOONEY?
 

WHAT DO YOU DREAM?

DO YOU REALLY MEAN IT?
   WAS IT ONLY A DREAM?

    DO YOU WANT TO SPEND THAT MUCH MONEY?

    DO YOU WANT TO WORK THAT HARD?

    DO YOU WANT TO BE THAT MISERABLE?

    HOW MUCH WILL YOU AND YOUR SPOUCE MISS FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHEN
        YOU CAN'T FIND A PHONE OR YOUR BUDGET WON'T COVER A CALL OR
        TRIP HOME

    DO YOU WANT TO SPEND HALF A DAY LOOKING FOR A LOAF OF BREAD?

    DO YOU WANT TO MISS MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL?

    CAN YOU LIVE IN A SMALL SPACE?

DO THEY AGREE WITH YOU?

    IF YOU ARE MARRIED DOES YOUR SPOUSE REALLY  SHARE YOUR DREAM?  IF YOU
    ARE NOT MARRIED THE SAME GOES FOR WHOMEVER?.

    DO YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WANT YOU TO BE AWAY THAT LONG?

    DO YOUR PARENTS, SIBLINGS AND FRIENDS WANT YOU  TO GO?

    IF YOU OR YOUR SPOUSE STILL WORK DOES YOUR BOSS OR CUSTOMER/CLIENT AGREE WITH
       YOUR GOING?

CAN YOU DO IT?

    HOW IS YOUR HEALTH?

    ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH?

    CAN YOU SAIL?

    CAN YOU FIX IT?

    CAN YOU AFFORD IT?

    WHAT KIND OF BOAT WILL YOU TAKE.?

    WHERE WILL YOU GO?

    WHEN WILL YOU GO?

    IS IT WORTH ALL THIS TROUBLE?

    YOU BET IT IS!!!!!!!

                                                                      INTRODUCTION

WHY DID WE WRITE THIS BOOK?

We wrote it to share our realized dream with you.

And to help you evaluate the pros as well As the cons of' this life.

In nc way do we intend to discourage you from living your dream, but we want you to have realistic expectations before you invest your energy, time, and money.

We wrote it, because as the water rat, says there is nothing worth doing as simply messing about in boats, and we think that everyone who wants to should.

JACK:

Wind in the Willows was written by Kenneth Grahame in 1926. The section in which the Water Rat tells the Mole about messing around in boats says it, all about cruising.

I think that the Water Rat described the essence of cruising since it really doesn't matter that you are doing nothing at. all because in doing nothing you are having the most beautiful, exciting, peaceful, and interesting time of your life. 

WIND IN THE WILLOWS

Believe me my young friend (said the water rat solemnly), there is nothing absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing around in boats. Simply messing. Nothing seems to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't. Whether you arrive at your destination, or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get away at all. you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

                                                                                                              Kenneth Grahame - 1926

Sandy and I have completed a three year passage from Sausalito California to Ft. Laudardale Florida.

We left shortly before my 67^th birthday and landed just before my 70^th

While that is no longer old, it is life after retirement.

Many people dream of sailing off after retirement, and we want to share some of our experiences and conclusions.

We hope that this will encourage you to live your dream. It has been all that we dreamed of, and it can be the same for you.

The format is, as you can see, a bunch of rather random thoughts and observations from both my masculine and Sandy's feminine perspectives.

We chose this bullet style because we had found we liked it in a how-to-do-it book.

We will include the bad with the good because you should know what you are going to face while you live your dream.

SANDY:

This book came to us during our cruise.

People cruising with us brought us to the realization that we were different than the majority because we were their parents age.

Their parents were home watching the television and going to their doctors with back pains.

We did find retired people out there cruising but we felt that many people didn't know the benefits to longer life by having this dream and living it.

So here we are writing this book for people planning to leave your careers or planning on retiring.

This is a beautiful, fulfilling life.

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT?

If I tend to get mixed into old song titles, please excuse me Alfie.

It's about the first time cruiser, especially someone fulfilling a lifetime dream after a life spent with the shoulder to the wheel, or something like that.

It is also about some of our observations about issues that have interfered with the total enjoyment of the wonderful experience.

And many that have enhanced it.

JACK

It's also about the most wonderful three years of my life.

SANDY

It's about two people learning the inner strength that each has and to trust that strength.

It's about facing the dragon and slaying it; fear and facing it.

It's about seeing nature and our world for the first time.  I would go on vacation and bring along all my time limits, i.e.: three hours to see this and that and one day to go there and there, etc.

This book is about stopping the clock!  Seeing with our inner eyes the beauty that is in this world.

This book is about fulfilling our dream and sharing it with you.

WHAT'S IT NOT ABOUT?

It is not a cruising guide, there are a lot of cruising guides to which we could add little.  Maybe as it goes along we will add a bit, but it will not give you advice on where to anchor or eat.

It is not really a how-to-do-it book as there are also many of those.  Although we will point out some of our successes and failures, and what we did or think we should have done about them.

It is not intended to discourage you, although if you read the table of contents it may appear that way.  So many have dreamed of cruising and find that it is not all joy and pleasure then abandon their dream.  We want you to know that you have to accept the discomforts so that you can enjoy the pleasures.  The pleasures so far out weigh the discomforts that the bad just makes the good better because, as they say, you earned it.

JACK

If it does discourage you, and you abandon your dream, we hope that you find and live another.

SANDY

I always like the statement of disclaimer,  "this is not to be used for Navigation", that you find in all guides

We have a disclaimer,  "This book does not guarantee your dream fulfilled".

WHAT  WON'T WE TELL YOU?

We will avoid the names to the many friends that we made and the many people who helped us.  Not that they did not enrich our enjoyment because they did beyond belief.  Rather, there are so many and we are afraid that we will miss some one important.  Which they all are.

JACK

If any of you who read this and recognize yourselves or a friend, I hope that you will be pleased.

The final truth is that the world is beautiful, but the people in it are more so.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

SANDY

This is not a cookbook.  I can't tell you how to live your life.  how to enjoy your life.

This not a book on counseling, neither Jack or I have a license.  We brought all our faults with us and learned to recognize them more honestly and deal with them.  Sometimes!

IS ALL THIS NEGATIVITY NECESSARY?

We chose to make the subject headings questions just for fun, but many of them are stated in a negative connotation for reasons that we think are valid.

JACK

As we said above, this life is great, but this joy and peace comes with considerable effort.

We have all heard of individuals who have worked for years building their boat to abandon the dream after their first rough passage.

Or spouses who have swallowed their fears to help their mates live their dream only to find that they cannot stand the life and separation from the life that they have enjoyed.

We think that every dreamer should consider the negatives along with the pleasures that they expect when they realize those dreams.

SANDY

I have trouble with this.  I am not a negative person and I look at the world with "I can do it eyes" so this part is hard for me.

I go through life with glasses on that may not be clear and so when I get into trouble it is because I didn't want to look at the reality of the situation.

Why would you want to read a negative statement?  Reality is not fun, dreaming is.  Is this a reality checking book?  "Maybe Jack we shouldn't go"  Oh I forgot, we already did go and it was GREAT!  "When can we go again?"

Maybe not going is half the fun!  I think I'll skip to the next chapter.

WHO ARE WE?

You should know where we come from, and why we presume to be expert enough to write a how-to-do-it book.

JACK

I was born in Coalinga California in 1926, and with the exception of two years, three months, seven days, and six hours in the Navy and this cruise I have always lived in Northern California.

I attended Santa Clara and Stanford Universities studying chemistry.

My summer job was with the California Division of Forestry.  I became the Forman in charge of a fire station where I had to make decisions on how to attack fires.  How should I use my available resources effectively to stop fires and minimize losses.  At the same time I was always concerned about the safety of my crew and equipment in what can be very dangerous circumstances.  I was only 23, but the experience in making decisions in emergencies has been helpful all of my life, and especially in cruising.

I developed my problem solving skills working as a research chemist for Stanford Research Institute (SRI).  I called myself a rent-a-chemist because SRI does contract research.

My interests were: sailing, sailboat racing, SCUBA diving, underwater photography, down-hill skiing, amateur radio, trout fishing, camping, back packing, and a lot of foreign and domestic travel.

I lived in one house for 27 years and took it form 1100 square feet on a bare quarter acre lot to a fully landscaped 1700 square feet with a separate garage.  I did much of the carpentry, plumbing, heating, wiring and cement worked with the help of friends and family.  This was good experience for outfitting and maintaining an ocean cruiser

Sixteen years of maintaining and modifying my 50 year old racing boat trying to keep it competitive was also good experience.

Because of my experience as a Navy radioman, I could easily pass the amateur radio examinations and I have an extra class license.

SANDY

I started my career working toward a teaching credential and switched to recruiting at the end of a long (seventeen years) period of taking classes and teaching.

I wiped, fixed, repaired more things being a mother of five children than most people do in a lifetime.  I became an expert in emergencies.

I was a headhunter in the corporate world, or as I called myself, an Executive Recruiter when interviewing professionals for a specific position.  This taught me how to find everything or anyone anywhere.  I had my own agency for ten years and did contract recruiting on-site for many companies involved in the "High Tech Electronics world" for another ten years.

love to travel.  I never can do the same thing or be in the same space for long.  I like new experiences and challenges.

I spent most of my life on both coasts.  Living with both coasts in my front yards.

The Atlantic where I would go to the beach, which was down the street, every evening and fill a bucket with little neck clams for dinner.  I'd find them by throwing a rock and watching the spurts to locate the biggest cluster.

On the Pacific side of the U.S. I'd walk the beach and hunt for shells every weekend.  We had a house in a community of beach houses in Watsonville, CA.

This surely didn't give me expert experience in sailing, but it did give me a love of the ocean and a taste of coastal nature.

When we showed a first draft of Cruising Dreams to a fellow cruiser, she said that we should start out telling our readers about our adventures in order to grab their attention

So read on and we will try to grab you.

This is the one section where we will abandon the bullet approach that we use in the rest of the text and revert to narrative.  We also temporarily abandon the separate writing as our sailing is a joint effort.  We challenge you to decide where "practical, factual" Jack leaves off and  "adjective sensitive" Sandy takes over.
 

On June 1, 1993 we left Sausalito California (For those of you who are not familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area, Sausalito is across the Golden Gate from the City, and is very nautical.).  We left on that date because it was our target, and if you do not set a date to start a cruise, you will never go as there is always another thing to fix or add to the boat.  We turned right after we passed through the Golden Gate intending to motor sail to the Puget Sound area of the State of Washington for the summer.  After a day and a half, the engine stopped due to clogged filters.  We thought the fuel was clean as we had sailed the boat for 10 months on the bay with no problems.

First lesson, it is a lot rougher on the ocean and that can shake up the crud on the bottom of the tanks.  We returned to the Bay area to filter the fuel and started again on June 15.  It turned out that we were cruising, because that's what you do.  You fix what is broken and hang out until it is right to move on, enjoying the local color while you wait.   This time it was a left turn at the Golden Gate.  Plans are made to change and we felt that we had lost our window for a summer in the north before we left for Mexico.  Also, we had learned that the coast of Northern California and Oregon is not friendly, and a poor place for a shakedown cruise.

We continued to have trouble, this time from air leaks in the fuel lines which we tried to fix in Santa Cruz, and finally fixed it in Morro Bay.   These stops turned out to be some of  the wonderful  memories you build when you cruise.  We meandered around the village off Morro Bay, walking all over the little town.  Everywhere you go you can see the Magnificent site of  "the Rock" in the closed bay. The weather was gorgeous there, just a little of the famous fog that hugs the coast, but sunny everyday.  We visited  family and friends and said our good-byes once more. Our Sausalito Dock mates  sailed  their boat  down to see us off.  It was our first time to be hailed on the VHF in a distant harbor by friends.  We didn't know that VHF would be such a vital  link to cruising fun.

Sailing around Point Conception  to Santa Barbara was our first time to test our skills, in this boat, with   intense fog.  Our radar came to our  rescue and  A local fishing vessel gave us some local knowledge. The person  manning the oil platform was busy guiding the large vessels in the traffic lane around his rig, and could not talk to us but the fisherman came up and gave us the needed piloting advice.

We  remained in the Santa Barbara  area cruising the Channel islands for about three weeks.  These islands right on Southern California's doorstep offer pelican sancturaries, cave diving, snorkeling and  coves that are a gunkholer's delight.   We  sailed to Catalina Island for a few days  on the west side of the island and walked over to the east end, about a quarter of a mile.   Sandy didn't want to  park the boat in the  historic movie-famous bay because  the harbor inspectors put dye in your holding tank (talk about  environmental security) and the traffic from the ferry boats from Los Angeles brought sightseers and tourism to make this bay a constant turmoil.  Second lesson:  peaceful coves and harbors are wonderful!.

Sailing on  to San Diego where we remained until November was another stage in our new cruising life.  We were busy with a couple of family weddings and some more additions to the boat.  We  met a number of cruisers waiting for November when the hurricane season in Mexico is supposed to end.  The local marine industry  get the newbe and wantabe cruisers in the mood by holding meetings, seminars, and social get-togethers. This was an information gathering time for us and a bonding  period getting to know the BAHA- HA -ERs, as Latitude 38 called us.  Still semi-tied to our hard-to-lose land based mentality.  We fit in a family trip to Yosemite for a final mountain fix.

On November 8th,  after the last social event was completed  (It was a baby shower for the 14th grandchild to be),  we left for Mexico.  It was our intention to go 60 or more  miles off shore, and sail the 750 miles to Cabo San Lucas as a test of our interest in bluewater sailing.   We had not yet decided whether we would go right around the world or left through the Panama Canal to the Caribbean.  All went well for four days.  Then the wind rose to 35 knots, the sea was chop and slop (as Sandy calls it) and our autopilot would not handle the boat.  We found that we could hand stear in heavy winds for about  an hour and a half  then had to change watch.  After a night of this we decided to turn into the anchorage at Bahia Santa Maria, about 140 miles short of Cabo.  By the time we got to the bay the wind was light and we put out two anchors and went to sleep at the end of what would be the longest passage of our three year cruise.  The next day we held a post incident conference, and decided  that we would not go around the World as our 32 foot boat is too small for crew, and we got too tired in the heavy weather.   Since that time, we have called ourselves greenwater cruisers.

For the land lubbers among you, people who cross oceans are referred to as blue water cruisers because the color of the ocean is blue on a sunny day.  In shallow water,  near land, the color is usually green.  We do see blue water occasionally, but mostly, we cruise from harbor to harbor avoiding the long passages when not necessary.

Resting in this  isolated  bay was just what we needed.  We swam, dinked around, investigated the bay and settled into the mental mindset of cruising (hanging out in beautiful places).   After a few days rest we sailed to Cabo San Lucas just in time for a cruiser's Thanksgiving pot luck.  Here we met some of the cruisers, from San Diego, that would became our longtime friends.  One of the cruisers  referred to these people as  "new best" friends.  Sandy  brought a turkey from San  Diego, which was not needed for the potluck,  so she cooked it as left-overs for the next day.  We had 17 people on board and on the dock.  These were all our new best friends, some we had never seen before.  That established Sandy's justified reputation as supercook.

From there we crossed to the mainland and on down the Pacific Coast of Mexico as far as Manzanillo.  The anchorages were Isla Isabella (bird sanctuary), Chacala (first tropical cove), Puerto Vallarta (big city, tourist haven,  Good place to stock up for supplies), Chemela (first good snorkeling), Tenicatita (great jungle river for dink trips), Melaque (St. Patrick's day is a week long celebration where the priest dressed Jack in green vestments and put him on a float as their patron saint. pretty authentic with the white beard and hair), and Manzanillo (anchored in front of the  jet set Las Hadas hotel)

Mexico cruisers return north for hurricane season so in April we started back through the same anchorages, but from Chacala we continued north along the coast to Matzalan.  After a few days enjoying the city we crossed the entrance of the sea of Cortez to La Paz.  We spent the summer in the Sea anchored at the many islands.

The high light, in the Sea of Cortez, was the annual crab races.  About 50 boats congregated  at an island and for three evenings they had a pot luck, contests like best decorated hermit crab, crab races and music.  Jack got his  grandpa fix by helping a five-year old find and race a crab.  We won the night's races, but lost in the run-off. The little boy received a trophy and prize, and Jack had a ball. This is one example of the social life of cruising.  Like Christmas eve of 1993 in Puerto Vallarta when about 30 dinghies rafted and drifted around the marina singing carols.  The locals probably thought we were crazy, but it was a great experience and a good emotional fix for those of us in need of Jingle Bells and home.

We left Utopia in La Paz and took the bus to San Diego.  We enjoyed  the brightly painted and decorated buses  all over Central America.    The trip was an over nighter to San Diego  with  a continual panorama of the Sea of Cortez, the Desert hues on the Mountain walls, and a central farm belt with a  large commercial city that was beehive productive.

We met the new granddaughter (No. 14) and her big (4 yrs old) brother then retrieved our car for a 9000 mile land cruise to see our families.  Along the way we went to Jack's 50th high school reunion. We gave away our furniture, closed the rented shed, and distributed our precious possessions among relatives.  We decided we liked cruising, and we could buy it all for what we saved on shed rental.  Then we sold the car and got back on the bus.  Now we cruise or sleep in the streets in shorts and tee shirts.

We attended an Octoberfest that the considerable German community holds every year in La Paz.  One of the guests brought two kittens she had found abandoned under a bush.  We took one 2 ½ week old fur ball back to the boat.  We fed her with an eye dropper until she could handle solid food.  She didn't step onto land for the next year.  We call her Poquita which means little one in Spanish.  Now the narrow bottom of our Vee birth is a bit crowded with eight feet.  She is unusual in that she was raised isolated with humans so she does cat things by instinct.  She has most cat actions and habits except she seldom meows and has purred but once.  She has even learned to use the head (Toilet to land lubbers - no kitty litter to deal with).

When hurricane season was over in November we headed south again visiting all the anchorages of the year before, but going beyond Manzanillo.  We took a two day bus trip to Colima, a colonial city that has little tourism so is a truly Mexican center for government and business..  It was very interesting.  Sandy had to fly to Portland OR to help care for her son and grandson who had operations during the holiday season.

We sailed two nights from Manzanillo, our most southern port of the year before, to get to Zihuatenejo where we stayed for a month.  Z-town is a cruiser favorite and many cruisers wait there for the more pleasant weather of Spring before continuing south.  We said good-bye to some friends who were turning right for the South Seas.  Z-town is the most southern point from which you can expect a favorable sailing angle for the Marquesas.  Others go the long way by Panama and the Galapagos.

We spent a week or two in Acapulco  which is very Americanized.  It has a big Wall mart, a Price club, and we even ate at a  Tony Roma's.  Then we continued south to Hualtuco by way of Puerto Angel.  We waited at Hualtuco for favorable weather to cross the Gulf of Tuantepec which can have winds of up to 70 knots coming across the low land from the Gulf of Mexico.  We used radio fax to time the weather and it worked great. The idea is to watch the weather in the gulf by weather fax from New Orleans, and wait until a weather front moves through the Gulf of Mexico.  When it passes the isthmus of Tuantepec the wind shifts to blow toward the gulf of Mexico.  This worked so well for us that we had 25 knots of wind from the Pacific side on the first day of our passage.  A bit lumpy, but favorable.  We  had to wait for a replacement raw water pump to arrive before leaving Huatulco.  In the meantime, we had our dink stolen.  It was our fault for partying too hard and too long and not lifting it out of the water.  The thief swam to the boat, cut the painter and swam away with our dink.  We were able to buy another cruisers' hard dink which we still use.

We left Huatulco on March 22 1995 and arrived at Puerto Madera on the 24th.  On the 28th we checked out of Mexico.  Cruisers must check in with the port captian (Capitan del Puerto) and Immigration (Imigracion) at every port.  At the last port leaving the country you get a formal document called a zarpe which is surrendered to the first Port Captain in the next country.  Without the zarpe, you will not be admitted to the new country.  At least you have to do a lot of talking.  We always obeyed the laws as that is the easiest way, and it is their country that they can run anyway they want.

We had an easy overnight cruise to Puerto Quetzal Guatemala where we stayed for about ten days.  We took a bus about three hours to Guatemala City for an overnight visit.  It was interesting with a great central market, but the guns bothered us.  They even had an armed guard at the door of a small Chinese restaurant.

It was easy to check in and our of the country as we paid $100 to anchor at the Navy base which took care of the paper work.  It was also safe as the base was guarded.  We got our zarpe and left for Costa Rica on April 5 and arrived at Playa del Coco on the 8th.  We had planned to stop in the Gulf of Fonseca where Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua meet in a big bay.  When we got to the entrance the lightening was heavy in the Bay and it was clear to the south so we skipped that area.  It was a good decision weatherwise as we had an easy trip.  Most cruisers get hit by heavy winds that come across the Papaguyo region  of Nicaragua.

We stayed in Costa Rica for three months visiting Playa del Coco, the Gulf of Nicoya, and Gulfito.  We took two inland trips.  Monte Verde  was a six hour bus ride from Puntarenas.  It is a mountain village or region with  a cloud forest park.  The elevation is about 5000 feet, so it is cool in spite of being at about 13 N.   It was a pleasant trip.  The bus is the local communication system.  They pick up the milk to deliver it to the creamery,  and one woman gave the driver a roll of bills to deliver to someone down the road.  The land is so fertile that the fence posts sprout and become trees.

Our second trip was to San Jose where half the Ticos (Costa Ricans) live.  We rented a car and drove around the country to see many beautiful and interesting sites including an active volcano.  We even stayed over night in a Tico home of an acquaintance from Isla Gitana where Utopia was anchored.

We checked out of Gulfito for Panama on July 6.  It is only an overnight to Isla Partida on the Pacific side of Panama.  There is a small resort there, and since I (Jack) had a concern about a skin growth, I went into David, the second largest city in Panama, to see a physician.  He was about my age and did his undergraduate work at St. Mary's College in Moraga California near where we had lived most of our lives.  Actually, my uncle was a student there in 1920, and one of my grand nephews in 1995. He said the growth looked like skin cancer (I've had a lot) and offered to remove it.  I opted to wait until I got to Panama City as the trip to David was time consuming.  The Dr.  was at Isla Partida in his own boat the next week end, and he checked to see if I was OK.  He even offered to have another cruiser as his house guest while he treated her sore shoulder.   American doctors don't make house calls anymore, much less boat calls.

We cruised the other islands of Western Panama for a few weeks then on to the Panama Canal.  We reprovisioned in Panama City which is very modern and had everything we needed including a new outboard motor to replace the one stolen in Huatulco.  I also had the skin cancer removed by a dermatologist that did not speak English.

Most people are interested in the Panama Canal transit.  The procedure is to register and pay a fee (about $350 in our case).  The admeasurer comes aboard to measure the boat as part of the fee is for gross tons.  We paid only a small amount for that part, but big cargo vessels pay tens of thousands for a transit.  The rules call for a helmsman and four line handlers.  Most cruisers get other cruisers to go as line handlers, but we could find only one.  Instead we hired two professionals for $50 a day each.  We had names from a fellow cruiser we knew in Mexico.  It worked out very well as the main problem in the canal is the inattentive line handlers on the lock.  Our guys knew them and the crews on the tug boats that we tied to so our lines were quickly  and properly tied.  The Canal Commission requires four 150 foot lines.

You are also required to have an advisor who is paid from the transit fee.  The advisors are pilots in training to handle the large ships.  We happened to have two that day as one was on a check ride.  The one that was responsible quickly learned the characteristics of Utopia and told us how much to turn the wheel and how to set the engine for the maneuver he wanted.  They are knowledgeable about the canal, and made the transit much easier.

The line handlers and the advisors arrived about six in the morning of September 8.  We motored about six miles to the first lock, and had to wait for a ship to enter.  They had some trouble so we lost an hour on our schedule.  There is a vertical rise of 85 feet to get through the Isthmus of Panama.  This requires three locks on each side.  A small boat goes through with a large ship.  The boats and ships enter the lock and are tied to the walls by their lines.  A small boat may be tied to one of the tug boats that are constantly moving through.  The tug boat will tie to the wall and be protected from damage by its large rubber railings.  Small boats pass lines to the crew of the tug and are made fast.  The rubber railings can leave hard to remove black  marks on a white hull so we got four tires as fenders and put them in plastic garbage bags to avoid the marks.  Our professional line handlers, Harper and Porky, knew how to handle everything so all went well for us.  A small boat can also go rafted (tied together) with one or two other boats in the center of the lock with the outside boats sending their lines to the handlers on the walls who throw a small line down to attach to your 150 foot lines for hauling up to ballards on the edge of the lock.  The messenger line has a weighted ball, called a monkey fist, on the end for throwing.  I had to cover my solar panels with plywood sheets to protect them from being broken by the monkey fists.  The third method is centered tied with all four lines on the ballards.  We preferred the tug boat, center tie and rafted in that order.  We  were center tied once, and tied to tugs the rest of the time.  There are two main dangers to a boat in the locks.  The tremendous turbulence as the water enters or leaves the lock through the large holes in the floor of the lock can violently move the boat.  If the line handlers on the wall or your boat make a mistake, the boat can be damaged by collisions with the wall.  Remember, the boat's line handlers have to haul in or ease (great sailor terms) the lines as the water rises or falls in the center tie or rafted modes.  We were fortunate in this matter.  The other danger is the big ship.  If the pilot of that monster moves too soon from behind you he can run over you who are not visible to him.  If you are behind, the turbulence of his propellers can be quite violent.  Here the advisor is helpful in communicating with the pilot on the large vessel and advising you on how to handle the boat.  If you are in front, the idea is to hurry through as the gate opens to avoid your big buddy.  If behind, stay tied off until he has moved enough for the turbulence to die.  Of course, the powerful tug may not agree with this so friendly line handlers and advisors helps.  We had no trouble, but we did not enjoy the transit as one would expect because of our concern for the welfare of our boat.  We had seen some pretty serious damage caused by mistakes in the locks.

There is a small lake, Pedro Miquel,  between the second and third locks on the Pacific side.  There is large Gatun lake in the center of the Isthmus.  When we exited the third lock the advisor said that we had lost enough time in the first lock that we could not complete the transit in one day.  That was a serious problem as we do not have room on our 32 foot boat to sleep six people.  The two advisors would be taken off by the Canal Commission, but our two line handlers and the two fellow cruisers would have to stay.  We pushed our big engine and made the trip in four hours, in time to get through the three eastern (Gatun) locks.  The advisors were surprised, because they see few small sailboats with 58 horsepower engines.

Small boats are required to stay clear of the big ships so the advisor pushed us to stay a few feet from the bank.  It was nerve wracking, traveling close to the rocks at seven knots.  At one point a ship sounded the five blasts that warn another vessel that they are passing close, and the advisor was upset.  They are graded on their performance, and the pilots report incidents where the vessel they are controlling violates rules.  These pressures reduced our expected enjoyment of the passage.

We completed the 27 mile passage through Gatun lakes in four hours in time to lock down that day.  The pilot boat took our advisors and we dropped off our line handlers at the Panama Canal Yacht Club in Colon.  We anchored in the flats off the club for a few days then moved on to Portobelo, a harbor to stir your pirate's imagination that was the staging point for the Spanish Treasure fleets that took the Peruvian gold to Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.  If the English pirates didn't get it first.  The old town is being restored with the old forts on both sides of the harbor that point cannons down on the harbor. Could we say Utopia was under the gun?  From there we continued on to Playa Blanca a quiet and peaceful cove probably the best anchorage of our cruise.  Then we went on to Isla Linton which is the most protected harbor on that coast east of the canal.  Then it was on the San Blas Islands which are beautiful, containing the only coral atolls in the Western Hemisphere.  We stayed there for only three weeks, and returned to Colon to try to extend our three month visas.  We parked at Isla Linton and took the local bus to Colon, but were unable to get an extension.  While at Isla Linton we got news through the ham radio that one of Sandy's sons was in the hospital.  We were able to telephone, as described later, and learned that he was OK, but concern about him resulted in our being anxious to move on.

We checked out of Panama at Colon, but delayed leaving Isla Linton until after the end of the hurricane season leaving on November 11.  Our next port was Isla Providencia, a Colombian possession off the coast of Nicaragua.  We stayed a week and moved on to the Bay Islands of Honduras where we remained for three months awaiting the birth of the 15th grand child and the first great grandchild.  We had a great time.  We and five other boats were invited to a Thanksgiving dinner at the home of a couple of Americans on the island of Guanaja.  We also partook in a potluck Christmas dinner attended by about 45 people from 18 boats at Port Royal on Roitan.  We left Utopia and the cat in French Harbor and flew and rode busses to the Mayan ruins at Copan where the Honduran government has done a great restoration.  Roitan is one of the most famous SCUBA destinations, and it was the only place that we used our tanks rather than snorkeled.  The wall is vertical for at least 80 feet and covered with beautiful coral and sponges.  The water is very clear with visibility of up to 100 feet.

Belize was our next stop on February 19, 1996 .  It is an English speaking country.  It also has a barrier reef with a large quiet lagoon inside.  The water is shallow inside the lagoon, and not very clear.  The water off the reef is very clear and has beautiful coral.  At this point we were in a hurry to get back to the USA so we left for Mexico on March 13..

We stopped in Xcalac, Puerto Aventura, and Cozamel on our way to Isla Mujeres.  We took a day trip to Tulum from Puerto Aventura.  It was an interesting comparison to Copan, being about 500 years later and much inferior in architecture and construction, a clear indication of the decline of the Mayan culture.

We waited for three weeks for a four day weather window for the passage to Key West.  When we finally made the trip, it was reasonably comfortable.  We enjoyed the return to the USA, celebrating with a steak dinner the first night on April 15.  Sandy's son joined us there and sailed with us up to Ft Lauderdale, the terminal port of our cruise.  We docked on April 28 1996 a month shy of three years since leaving San Francisco.

I am writing this addition to Cruising Dreams in August 2005. After we bought a house in Florida, we lived on land for a couple of years and did a motor home cruise of our grandkids. Then in 1999 we rented the house and sold the funiture for a years cruise through the northern Bahamas, the Cheasapeake, and the Florida keys. Along the way Sandy decided that I was too old to keep up with Utopia so we sold it. They say that the best days of your life are the day you buy the boat and the one you sell it. Wrong, I cried. In a few weeks I had another boat. A Westerly Centaur 26. It turned out to be a dog, but a very safe and comfortable dog. It has bilge, or twin, keels. This increases the wetted surface area and spoils the pointing. We have since cruised the Bahamas twice and around most of Florida in three to four month trips. It is small, but the way Sandy set it up it is comfortable for months at a time. You do have to learn to live small, but that is not bad.

On the last cruise in 2005 we had planned to go to the Dominican Republic and possibly further, but we found that with higher than normal winds of about 15 knots on the Bahamian flats the pounding made it uncomfortable. So we decided to wimp out and come home. I passed my 79th birthday in June, and it may be that I have lost some of my spirit of adventure. In any case, we have decided to take it easier and plan to do the great loop up the east coast and through the Great Lakes. The we will come down the rivers to the Gulf of Mexico and home. This will take two or three years.

When we get back I expect I will want to return to the Exumas of the Bahamas as I love the place. I will not be a wimp forever.

WHO'S THIS GUY PAUL MOONEY?

JACK

Paul is my son who lives among the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains of California.

His children live in a house that he built.  They eat food that he grows in his market garden. and they don't watch television.  He took the antenna down, and they watch tapes only.  The older ones actually read.

He earns his living as a carpenter and general contractor, but his passions are adventure literature and poetry.

At 45 he is still surfing once a week.

He was honored as the poet laureate of the City of Los Gatos California in 1990.

In my total prejudice  I like his poetry, and want to share it with you.

I believe that the parents of adults have three continuing obligations: cheer leading, support when all else fails (God forbid), and love.

My favorite poem was written, at my request, to honor the 65th birthday of my life long coworker and friend.

               Who are you dear friend , that I have known,
since we were grapes upon the vine

You are the other half, the way,
that we have spent our time.

As career, goals, and family,
began to intertwine.

Now bottled long these many years,
The pleasure, I'm sure was mine.

I raise my glass, to you comrade,
A vintage, rare and fine.

Paul

          WHAT DO YOU DREAM?

You dreamed of sailing away on a cruise after you finished with your first priorities of family, career, and establishing security for your old age.  Which you know cruising will eliminate, or at least delay; that is the old age, not the security.

You dreamed of sailing on blue seas, under bright stars. with gentle breezes.

To white sands, new cultures, snorkeling, diving, brightly colored fish, forests of coral, deserted islands, and beautiful anchorages.

To live the cruising life style, with freedom from schedules, freedom from obligations, freedom to go where you please as the wind blows.

And peace.

You are the only one who can live your dream,
Sharing it makes it real.

Paul

I worked for 40 years, raised two sons, and thanks to them collected five grandchildren, then retired.

While the boys were growing up we built three car-top sailboats, and learned to sail.

We took SCUBA diving lessons.

After they left home, I got into underwater photography and sailboat racing in an 18 foot Mercury.  I learned what makes a boat go as I got closer to the winners.  I learned a lot from the members of the Mercury Class Yacht Racing Association.  Thanks to all of you.

I sailed and cruised a MacGregor 25 pocket cruiser on San Francisco Bay, Monterey Bay and the Sacramento Delta for eight years.

 I read about cruising and dreamed, never believing that it could happen to me.  I had too many responsibilities, and was inhibited by being raised durring the great depression.

I walked the docks looking at cruising quality boats and dreamed.

My dream came true on our three year cruise from San Francisco to Florida, and we ain't through yet.

The blue seas, white sands, and bright stars are all there, and are just as you dreamed.

It could happen to you.

Is that a song title?

SANDY

I grew up on the east coast of the U.S., in Stamford CT and Ft. Lauderdale FL.  Some of my earliest memories are of the water.

It took me 50 years to get back to the water.  My first life (marriage) included a beach home in California.  I would walk for hours on the beach and see boats off the horizon and wonder where they were going.

My middle life (single/divorced/slightly used/middle aged female) led me to the water again.  I kept visualizing myself on the water.  My dream did not become a conscious one immediately.  I just knew there was something missing in my life and it had to do with the water, sun and visual space.  Maybe running away from corporate life was a factor too.

During my middle life I met a Realtor turned sailor and sailed in the Bahamas.  Wrong companion - right lifestyle.  I realized the wonderful life that open spaces and pristine waters, sailing friends, and quaint new places had in mind for me.

Chasing my dream.  Back in the corporate grind and going to boat shows and crew parties.  Reading the sailing magazines on the stands.

"Jack Mooney what are you doing here?"  The first words out of my mouth that became the beginning of a new life!  We remet at a Latitude 38 crew party.  I hadn't seen Jack since working with him in 1986 in Silicon Valley.  I didn't know he liked to sail or that he was in his "middle" life.

DO YOU REALLY MEAN IT ?

A dream, a boat,
With diligence,
Lasts a long time.

Paul

WAS IT ONLY A DREAM?

Somewhere I read, "The most frightening thing is that you may get what you dream."  For some people the dreaming and doing are totally opposite concepts.  The dreaming is the fun for some and the doing for others.

Separating the reality from the fiction is the next step.

I have another statement that I also must have read somewhere that, "If you want something bad enough - lean into it and you will fall into it."

It just won't happen by sitting in your living room, reading magazines and putting them on the book shelf  to do something later.

JACK

I dreamed for years with no real hope of going until I found myself alone and retired.  Then I searched for ways of fulfilling my dream.

Should I go single handed?

Should I trailer-boat cruise the U.S. and Mexico?

Should I go with a group of stranded Russians using my pension to provide the financial support they lost after the collapse of the Soviet Union?

I did find the ideal companion, Sandy, who was a good friend and an experienced sailor.  Fortunately that companionship grew to love and marriage.

Without dreams,
We would only have nightmares.

Paul

SANDY

I didn't know I liked cruising until I went cruising for about six months in 1988.  Then I couldn't get it out of my system.  Once the bug bites, it's hard to concentrate on working in the corporate world.

I went to sailing clubs to meet new people who sailed.

I lived on a hill above a marina; looking down on the boats.  I spent my lunch hours on the docks eating my lunch on the dock boxes or just on the docks.  Talking to anybody who came by about boats.

I started to look into buying my own boat.

I went on charter cruises and spent time looking for a good sailing school.

I met Jack!!

We decided to buy a cruising boat.  The Macgregor 25 was a good weekend boat, but my argument was that with a cruising boat we could live on it, saving money on mortgages or rent, and consolidate our life until we could cruise.  A little manipulative, but with good intentions.

DO YOU WANT TO SPEND THAT MUCH MONEY

If you have lived the good life for tens of years, you are used to a certain level of comfort and freedom from money worries.

Buying and equipping a cruising boat can be expensive so look for the boat of your dreams, and if it is not cruise ready double it's price then compare it to your budget.

That number is probably more than you expected, but whatever you spend will be the best bargain of your life.

If you buy a new boat the price will be double or more than that of a used boat, obviously the cost of equipping it for cruising will not be equal to the purchase price.

Look at your monthly living expenses now, and figure that they will be about the same while cruising.  If you live high now, you can and will while cruising with marinas restaurants, high phone bills, and air fairs.  If you live conservatively now, you can on a boat.  If you keep your house, cars, and all the goodies of your present life, it will be more.

Somewhere we should mention how to handle money while on a cruise.  A few years ago you had to take your entire budget in cash for cruising most of the third world.  Now, the banks will issue cash for credit cards in moderately large towns and cities.

In Mexico and Panama we were able to use bank debit cards at ATMs.  ATMs give you the bank exchange rate without the usual discount you pay at local banks.

Consequently, we carried only about $1500 in cash and travelers checks for emergencies.

You can exchange dollars for national currencies almost everywhere, but almost never the reverse.

In Roitan Honduras the Port Captain would not give us clearance unless we paid $30 only in U.S. currency.  We had used up our cash and had to talk a local merchant into an exchange.  The guy was nice, but the rate adequately compensated him.

You can cruise for less if you are a diligent fisherman, and eat tortillas and beans or other local diet.

JACK

Our plan was to spend half our capital budget on the boat, saving the other half for equipping what was a weekend boat as a cruiser.  We spent a bit more.

If you find a boat that is already cruise equipped, it changes the ratio, but then you have to replace worn out equipment.

It cost time, labor and money to change it to the way that we wanted.

We planned to live on $1000 a month including spare parts, but not including international phone bills and health and boat insurance.  It actually cost us a bit more with two trips home and other emergencies.

Cruisers with really limited funds ate the local diet more than we did.  A few years ago you had no choice, but U.S. style supermarkets are in all Central American cities.  U.S. products are imported so they are usually more expensive than they are at home.  The same is true of most boat parts.  Some were three or four times more expensive than in the marine catalogs.

We made four inland trips, which were outside our budget, but you only pass that way once so we felt that it was worth it.

We did not know where we were going when we left Sausalito, so we provisioned for a year.  If we had known that we would be cruising Mexico and Central America, we would have taken less.

Yet considering the cost of U.S. products in other countries, maybe you should fill her to her lines.

If you plan a circumnavigation or other cruise that will take you to remote locations without supermarkets, the game changes and you have to load up on provisions.

Cruising is great and worth all you can afford.

SANDY

I didn't have a clue how much things would cost until we started to shop for equipment!  I knew what each item cost, but I didn't think through the total at first.

We decided to shop for boats upon half our budget for equipping and buying the boat.

Guess again.  It's the hidden costs that get you.  The state taxes, the nuts and bolts, cut the wrong size and buy another extends the limit.  Think of the unforeseen, it will bite you in the pocket.  For us it was over our budgeted amount: working the credit cards hard.

Cruising also cost us more than we thought.  I liked to go to a marina and tie up to electricity for a respite from anchoring out.  After all I grew up as a middle class American with a taste for the good life.  Marinas cost $15 a night!  I am like all women who cook three meals every day plus hor'deauors for happy hour.  Dinner out as often as the budget will allow.  $10 or $15 to even look at a restaurant in the big cities. There are stands all over Central America where you can get tacos and specialty foods at inexpensive prices, $1 to $3 per person.  These are part of the "can you afford it" issues that Jack and I had to come to grips with after we were into cruising.

DO YOU WANT TO WORK THAT HARD?

Cruising can be hard work.

It is not the sailing or passage making that is hard, as you sail or travel a small part of the time, at least when coastal cruising.

It will be more if you are on a fast circumnavigation.

The pleasures are well worth the hard work, but work has to be considered in making the cruising decision.

You are supposed to be retired, but you find yourself as busy as at any time in your life.  There is always maintenance to do when you are not fixing the broken boat.

We are truly masters of our fate when we are out there away from sources of help, and often under threatening circumstances.

The pain is part of the price we pay for true freedom.

Most cruisers don't work all that much.  I am sure that we averaged less than four hours a day on maintenance and repair.  We traveled a bit, and explored by land and dink more than we worked.

I digress.

Most of this was written the summer of 1996 just after we arrived in Ft Lauderdale.  It rested for about two years after our computer died.  Now after battling Windows I am reentering it in late 1998, and probably will run into 1999.  Can you believe that Windows 95 ate the whole text, and when I checked the backup it hat gotten that too.  I am now working in Netscape Composer to hell with Windows.  It is also in HTML so it will go directly to our web site, and to you.

That's a lot of computer words for an illiterate like me.  And damn proud of it!

In the meantime, we have been refitting Utopia.  I spent two months doing a bottom job after blisteres developed (after five years they appeared just a few weeks before we put it on the hard for storage.)  While it was in the yard I also took the mast down for repair and painting, replaced the mast step, and reglassed the rudder.  Then we had to have the radar and ham radio repaired.  (I was up the mast five times to remove and reinstall the radar.)   We had the life raft repacked, replaced the batteries, installed a rebuilt transmission, serviced the engine and injectors, fixed the shaft brake replaced the chain anchor rode,  had the main repaired and a third reef installed, installed an Electrosan waste management system, repaired the head, and some I have forgotten. Sandy  recovered the outside and inside cushions, repaired the dodger, made new canvas around the cockpit, made a new binimi, and spliced a new set of lazy jacks.  She is now varnishing and we still have a lot of cosmetics to complete.  We are still working just four months short of our planned departure for another lengthy cruise in March 1999.  We have intentionally not kept track of the cost, but we think it exceeds $10,000.  We do not know the exact number because we don't want to.

I read somewhere that ostriches don't really bury their heads in the sand.

Maybe I should copy and paste the above to the DO YOU WANT TO SPEND ALL THAT MONEY? chapter.

What do they say, "blood, sweat, tears, and cash"?

SANDY

I would rather work manually on the plumbing in the head than work on the bureaucratic plumbing in the corporate head.

Everything breaks!  I thought that it was our boat, but before the cruise came to an end we saw almost every boat in our cruising group break down and need multiple repairs.  The time and place of repairs is like a crap shoot.  It's in the marina or on the seas, sevens or snake eyes.

Getting the food out of the storage compartments usually means repacking that compartment.  No matter how you store parts and pieces, the one you want is in the bottom of the lazarette or in the deepest spot on the boat.  I have changed and planned until I'm black and blue, but it is a truism.  "What you want will be hard to get to."  This is a boat that I would rather repack than live in a house.  Besides think of all the stretching and bending.  I count it as at least one session of exercise tapes.

I like physical labor!  I know, you must think I lost it.  But physical labor is satisfying, immediate gratification, no deferred stuff.

I get a kick out of making something work well and look right.

I like to do projects on the boat that are manual and not too frightening.  I do not like to clean the knot meter by pulling it out and quickly putting the plug in!  I would rather go down and clean the knot meter under the boat with snorkel and fins.  Jack does the knot meter most of the time because of my fear of the infamous plug.

DO YOU WANT TO BE THAT MISERABLE?

Sailing has its times, good and bad

Calm, peaceful seas with even swells and gentle winds.  The sails shaped beautifully and the boat on a slight heel.  It drives itself.  The boobies or sea birds taking a ride on the bow.  The dolphin riding the bow waves.  Clicking or squeaking to each other as they dive and change positions around your boat.  The fish flying and the clouds looking like billowing puffs.  Listening to our favorite music as we drink in the beauty.

Then the winds kick up, the sky turns black, and the seas start to do what we call chop and slop.

At an ideal anchorage, you get the word that 35 to 45 knots of wind are due this evening.  A front is moving in.

Have you taken your course in fire drills 101 in college or night school?

Every once and awhile
God throws
a burm
in your path
just to keep you honest.

Paul

JACK

We found that neither of us get sea sick, and we can tolerate being wet and rough weather (at least for a while).  I managed to get things fixed, enough for us to continue.  It was a struggle at times, but we found that we needed to fix or replace parts.  I hate maintenance, but I would rather do it than not cruise.

The arrival after a rough passage is worth the pain.  The overnight passage from Geoff Key, Belize was pleasant until our oil pressure alarm signaled an oil leak.  We were within a half mile of a rather tough entrance through the reef at Xcalac Mexico.  We shut the engine off and Sandy sailed us off what could have been a lee shore (the lady is good), while I refilled the crankcase, started the engine, and found that the leak was slow enough for us to make the entrance.  When we finally got the hook down and well set, the sense of relief and accomplishment was unbelievable.  The place was beautiful, with flat water behind the reef, white sand, palm trees, friendly people, and cool cervesas at the palapa on the beach.  After the bad, the good is that much better (or should I say gooder).

We have made 35 passages that required at least a night at sea, or over 60 nautical miles which is twelve hours at five knots.  We do not enter at night, and if the sun is not behind and high where there are reefs without adequate marking.  We time our departure and speed so as to arrive at the appropriate time.

We broke our no night entry rule once.  We had entered and left the Caribbean harbor of the Panama Canal at Colon twice before, and thought we would have no trouble.  Wrong.  The radar and visual scene were so cluttered that we did not recognize the navigation lights of a ship at the breakwater entrance until he had given us the five blast signal.  Fortunately, we had plenty of time and room to avoid him.  It was a good lesson, and we won't do it again.  It is easy to heave- to and wait for light.

I checked the log, and we had 21 one nighters, ten two nighters, three  three nighters, and one seven nighter in our 6600 mile cruise from Sausalito to Ft. Lauderdale.  We moved the boat on 213 days including a few times we went from one anchorage to another in an hour or so.  That is 20% of the days of the three year trip.

We had serious problems while transiting on five occasions.  Twice dirty fuel clogged our filtering system and stopped the engine; first a day and a half out of Sausalito, and the second time while entering Puerto Aventura Mexico two and a half years later.  We lost the starter at Bahia Santa Maria between San Diego and Cabo San Lucas.  We lost the voltage regulator and alternator coming out of La Cruz Mexico.  We had an oil leak coming into Xcalac Mexico as we said.  The starter cable shorted to the bilge between Isla Mujeres Mexico and Key West.

Notice that we had three problems in the first year while we were learning.  Then two near the end of the three years when the boat was wearing out.

There is a lot of satisfaction in being able to keep yourself going.  The sense of independence is worth all the work.

I digress again.

In the two years that we have been away from cruising, we have been impressed with how much cruising has changed us.  We are not like other people who have never been truly free a and independent.  When we visit cruising friends, exchange e-mail or letters, and meet them at boat shows we are most comfortable as we all recognize how much we have changed.  It is not anything that we have seen, or dangers that we may have faced, but to me it is that we have been totally responsible for ourselves.  If we did not make it work, we would have to admit failure and go to the couch, or maybe swim a bit.  One hears a lot of political talk about freedom from people who don't have a clue about real freedom.  To be truly free, you have to be master of your own fate.  Not only making it work, but you are free to go where ever you dare when ever you want within the limits of your vessel and your own abilities.  At 72 I no longer think that I will be doing a circumnavigation in a 25 year old, 32 foot boat with room for a crew of two.  I think that we and the boat are capable of it, but just don't think it would be that much fun.  Frankly, I would rather spend my time moving a bit from anchorage to anchorage and not missing my happy hour after a few hours of exploring or snorkeling.  Still, to each his own.

As we said in the chapter "WHAT ABOUT OUR CRUISE? after a rough period off the coast of Baja California we decided not to cross major oceans and remain green water cruisers.  Wind in the Willows has a great passage about that.

"By no means", said the Sea Rat frankly "I'm in the coasting trade, and rarely out of sight of land.  It's the jolly times on shore that appeal to me, as much as the seafaring.  O, those sourhern, sea ports!  The smell of them, the riding lights at night, the glamour."

                                                                                         Kenneth Grahame - 1926

SANDY

This chapter is titled "DO YOU WANT TO BE THAT MISSERABLE?" No! No! No!  I don't want to be that miserable, but I have a short memory.

We have some good and some not so good passsages and when we get to the anchorages we celebrate our arrival.  We relax and play and enjoy the sights.

We decided that shorter is better.  We go shorter distances.  This way we can manage the watches easier and with less loss of physical and mental alertness.

Harbor hopping is our method of cruising.

In and out of harbour all the time -old friends everywhere.

The sea rat

Kenneth Grahame - 1926

I don't like the fire drills, so we prepared early and continually refit our anchoring gear to match the changes.

I learned that when the wind changes turn the motor on and back down on that anchor and reset it.  let out more scope before you have to.  Alright so we look silly secured to the bottom like glue and the weather front doesn't even get to us.  I don't care, we're ready.

HOW MUCH DO YOU AND YOUR SPOUSE MISS YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WHEN YOU CAN'T FIND A PHONE OR YOUR BUDGET WON'T COVER A CALL OR TRAVEL HOME?

You have spent your life around friends and family.  Do you know if you can be happy not seeing them frequently?

This is highly individual, and must be settled before you get far into the process of spending time and money that can not be recovered.You don't have to completely give up cruising.  You can chose a local cruising ground and leave for a few days, weeks or months at a time with frequent visits home.

Near Florida you can cruise for two weeks at a time for the rest of your life and never visit the same anchorage.

The same is true of many of the coastal regions of the U.S. and Canada.

JACK

Sandy and I have seven children, fifteen grand children, and two great grand children between us, and the usual number of good friends.  Like all grandparents we want to watch the children grow and enjoy them.  This was one of the reasons for decision to cruise to Florida rather than around the world.  Still, our telephone credit card is one of our major monthly expenses, and we did go home to visit after a year.  This is a case of balancing the desire to cruise with the other needs.  It has been a significant factor in cruisers giving up, and quite a few marriage or relationship problems.

Our parents are no longer living, but many cruisers have to return to care for their aging or sick parents.  You have to be realistic about this problem cutting your cruising short.  If so, how will you handle it?

Sandy's son and his son had operations the week before and after Christmas 1994.  Sandy had to return to help her daughter-in-law cope with Christmas, two other children, and the patients.  We could not leave the boat unattended, so the cat and I spent Christmas alone.  The kitty sometimes sleeps with us, but somehow it is not the same.

Radio amateurs (hams), most retired, work on nets that will arrange telephone patches.  At a scheduled time and frequency each day a controller starts the net  by asking first for emergencies, then check ins, and then directs the order of passing traffic.  If a cruiser requests a phone patch, a U.S. station that hears the cruiser adequately will suggest shifting to another frequency where he will ask for the phone number, and the name of the person who will accept a collect call.  In this manner, the service is provided at no cost to the volunteer ham.

The system works the other way in that friends and family often have the telephone numbers of the volunteers and send messages through them.

Frequently, a "health and welfare  request" is on the net, and whoever has seen or knows the where abouts of the vessel in question will provide the information and pass messages even to boats that are not ham equipped.

The U.S. Coast Guard knows the volunteers, and will often use the nets to pass emergency messages.  This frequently happens when cruisers fail to check in with their families after passages.  The family calls the Coast Guard, and they in turn call a ham to ask the net if anyone has seen the cruiser.

In recent years single side band SSB nets have begun.  There are a number of frequencies that are assigned to licensed boats that do not involve the amateur radio service.  This system is part of the ship to shore telephone service.  Commercial companies will connect phone calls to licensed vessels for a (considerable) fee.  The SSB nets can not handle phone patches in competition with the radio telephone companies, but messages are transferred from the ham nets, and it is likely that anyone can be found this way.

Satellite telephones similar to cell phones are becoming available.  They are expensive for hardware and service, but they do provide what is needed by some.  As with all high technology, the costs are falling.

Cruisers use the same nets to contact each other and pass messages.  It is one way to look for parts and advice.

We decided that we could not mention specific individuals by name as there are so many who we have met or have helped us throughout our cruise that this book might sink the boat.  It has been really been difficult not to make and exception  for the radio amateurs as they have done so much for us.  Thank you all.

SANDY

We got a call from a cruiser on the VHF to get on the ham radio one day.  On the ham net our homebound CA ham contact was calling us to tell us to phone the hospital because my youngest son had just been admitted on an emergency.

Jack and I jumped into the dink and motored about two miles to the nearest island that had a phone!  It was not working.  This is common in Central America and we were sure there must be another one in the town on the main land.  It was not working either.  So we asked in our broken spanish for a phone anywhere because of the emergency.  We were told that, "Jacko at the docko had a locko."  all in spanish!  So we tried to find Jacko.  It was man named Jack that had a phone in a locked box up on the hill and that we had to go to his dock to get to the phone.  This episode is maybe not so common, but it was real.  Three hours later we were on the phone to find that my son was going to be O.K.

I called to say hello to my family and friends weekly when I was in the States.  It was a culture shock to start writing letters and sending cards to say hello and refraining from using the phone, except in short conversations, once in a while.

I had to travel home for my son and his son's operations.  Two operations in one week were too much for his wife to handle by herself.  Our budget was seriously dented by that trip and we are just now recovering from the financial dent.

A humorous side to the phone experiences is the time I had a telephone repair man go up a pole and jury rig a line, from the main phone line, so that I could use the phone.  He wanted me to climb up a ladder that looked very rickety, and at that point I said no thank you.  He then got a longer cable out of his truck and attached it to the line from the pole and handed it to me.  My conversation was comical because I was stretched on my tiptoes with the phone dangling down 20 feet, saying clichés like "I'm fine, how are you?"  "Oh Jack is fine.
People just don't get the picture of how an exsperience like this could enrich our lives.  The telephone man took extra time to help us by hearing our plea for a working telephone.  He spent time getting the town people to help us, two men supported the ladder while he went up the pole to attach the extra line and phone.  People take time to help and say hello.  How novel.  Have you said hello to a stranger lately?  They look at you very suspiciously.

Bottom line you will miss your friends but you will learn to communicate in different ways and get many more new ones.

DO YOU WANT TO SPEND HALF A DAY LOOKING FOR A LOAF OF BREAD?

Finding needed supplies is one of the major problems while cruising in foreign lands, but it is also one of the sources of joy.

The search can be an adventure in discovery of places and people.

You have to exercise your communication skills to find the object of your search.

You could take up baking.

JACK

We have never spent a half day looking for a loaf of bread, but shopping in the third world is not efficient.  We did spend a day looking for a circuit breaker for the electric windlass system, however.  The other side of this is that it is one way of learning the cultures.

There are more specialty stores in the third world than at home.  We had to go to three auto parts stores in Puerto Valarta before we found the one that carried gasket material for our exhaust system.

Jerry jugging can not always be avoided.  (That's not bad English, rather the cruisers term for hauling fuel and water in five gallon jugs.)

We often had to refuel from service stations that were some distance from shore.  Those buggers weigh 36 pounds so we used taxis or our hand cart.

We often ferry the fuel in our dinghy rather than tie up to a dock that is designed for larger vessels.  In Manzania Mexico the fuel dock ate a section of our rub rail because the bumpers were too high for our fenders.

We seldom fill directly from s dockside pump because we prefer to use the jerry jugs and take our time filtering through the Baja filter.

Much third world fuel is dirty, and we never put unfiltered fuel in our tanks.  This worked as we only changed our fuel filters three times in three years.  We did have to change filters at sea on one occasion, so nothing works perfectly.

We sometimes had to jerry jug water also.  Our 1.5 gallon per hour watermaker would not handle all our needs.  At least, we did not think that it would last the whole cruise if we tried.

SANDY

Shopping in Central America is part of the joy and experience of seeing new and different places.

Finding fruit to buy on someone's porch is entirely possible when you are on a small island.

Taking a whole day to do shopping is an outing that Jack and I really look forward to because we venture into nooks and crannies for the town specialists or the store that has fresh baked bread.  Finding very friendly people and learning how others live.  We enjoy treating ourselves to some local fare during these outings and usually come away with another one for the book.

DO YOU WANT TO MISS MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL?

You may not like football, but there is much of American life that may be more important than you think.

I long to be
at home, at sea.
The warm sun upon my face.
Hair from my eyes,
As we sail from place to place.

Paul

JACK

Convenience may not be everything, but it is a lot and we were glad to get back to it.

Peace and quiet are wonderful, but empty anchrages can get lonesome after awhile.

Cruisers trade books and video tapes frequently, so not everything is left behind.

You still have jet skis.  Damn it !!!!

We have discussed stretching fishing lines between the boats as Hopalong Casidy did in the Saturday afternoon movies.  Or was it Tom Mix.

GPS has been the most important development in cruising, but ziplock bags are a certain second.  Sandy has used them to eliminate infestation or inhibit its spread.  She keeps those things that would be damaged by salt air and moisture or subject to mildew in bags.  It has worked perfectly.

SANDY

Seeing football, on big screens, in a restaurant or hotel were the only ways to see television while not hooked up to a marina cable.  It was fun because we were usually with a group that we knew, and it became a social event as well.

I didn't watch very much television or need to be entertained so I didn't miss the T.V. as much as other cruisers.  I did get tired of our video's and was happy to exchange them with friends on the way.

Our lives are tied to conveniences and quick stop shopping while in the states.  Everything is on a slower scale while cruising.  I like it that way.  I don't like the anxiety of just driving to the store to pick up something you absolutely have to have that while cruising you didn't need.

CAN YOU LIVE IN A SMALL SPACE?

This is another issue that can appear to be insignificant until you get out there and feel the claustrophobia.

Boats are small, and do not have room for many of the toys or tools that you considered necessities for most of your life.

Personal space for you and your belongings is an important part of life.

You should test by taking a charter on a small boat with just the two of you and whoever else will crew with you.

With the small space, what are you going to do with the possessions for which you do not have room?

What about guests?  Many want to share our experience.  Do you have the room?  Can you stand to be that close to particular individuals?

Don't invite too many until you know.

What will you do with your pets?  You can't take them to New Zealand and a few other places.  They may not fit in a small space. They are often miserable and seasick.

JACK

Utopia has about 150 square feet of living space.  Compare that to the house you lived in.

I lived in houses with big garages for most of the 66 years before we moved aboard Utopia, and it was not easy to bring down the possessions to where they fit on a 32 foot sailboat.

We lived on board for eight months before we left, so had some idea how it would work.

We still have to go through the boat occasionally to bring the crowding down.  Possessions do accumulate.

Away from land, even at anchor Sandy is always within 32 feet. Most of the time I can see, hear, and touch her.  That's not all bad.  We lived that way for over five years and still get along very well.  On a few occasions, one of us has found it necessary to get off the boat by dinghy or otherwise just to have some of our own space.

Talk about the ideal marriage trial.  If you have doubts, try it.

At times we will go to the V birth or out to the cockpit to read and otherwise be alone.  It isn't far, but if the other one respects the space, it works.

Possessions are a problem.  If you own a house, will you leave it empty, or rent it out?

Neither of us owned a house when we met, but had some furniture and lots of possessions.  We stored it all for two years before we decided that we would be gone for many years and we could buy it again for the $1000 a year space rental.  So we gave it away to our relatives and friends.

I digress.

As we are entering this in late 1998, we are preparing to go again.  This time we own a house that we plan to rent unfurnished, and will hold an estate sale to get rid of all but the pictures and momentous.  In this retirement community, Hudson FL., there are many estate sales when people die so you can furnish a house for just a few hundred dollars.  This periodic "throw it out if you don't really need it" is actually a very healthy thing.  We truly know that we possess things, not the opposite.  Things can get in your way of seeing the beauty of the world..

We did not have a pet when we left because we did not know where we were going.  After we saw a lot of pets cruising we rescued a 2 1/2 week old orphan kitty.  She gets along beautifully because she knows nothing else.  She hates the engine, and hides until she is starving or we get there.  After a year without leaving the boat, we went to a dock, and she found land and hunting. Now you never know what she may briing home dead or alive.  When we return to sea she sulks for days.

I have mentioned our cat Poquita earlier, and I wrote the preceding paragraph a couple of years ago, so now she has lived on land for over a year.  We do not know how she will take to cruising again  Utopia is at the dock behind the house, and she often goes aboard to her favorite sleeping spots for her nap.

She may not like it when we leave, but she is a boat cat and that's the life she will lead.

SANDY

One of my boys has a tee shirt that says "He who dies with the most toys wins".  That doesn't work well on a small boat or a large one for that matter.  Boats just don't have the space for land things no matter what size you buy.

I missed regular chairs to sit on when we started cruising.  Our salon has bench type seats with cushions on them and there is nothing like an overstuffed chair in which to read a book.  I also missed my fireplace.

Other than the above, space is not a critical point for me.  I don't need to clutter my life with things.  they distract from the real purpose of my life; enjoying the world.

I have seen so many people bring strange things on board that are important to their well-being.  Everyone faces the challenge of adjusting to the cruising life.

Nature abhors a vacuum.  we empty one space out and toss or give things away and when we turn around that space is completely filled only to be emptied and tossed at another time.

Living together in a space the size of a large closet is a factor for some couples.  They can't stand each other after 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I'm very lucky.  Jack and I have not tired of being this close for sustained times.

When we need a break from each other we either find a nook and settle down to read or we get on this thing called the computer.  This is a good way to mentally leave your physical space.

Sometimes one of us will use this time to go to town or visit other cruisers and give the other some extra physical space.

DO THEY AGREE WITH YOU?

Someone must have said that no one lives in a vacuum.

Sometimes you have to stop and count the number of interpersonal connections that you have.

How will your fulfilling your dream affect them.

IF YOU ARE MARRIED DOES YOUR SPOUSE REALLY SHARE YOUR DREAM?
IF YOU ARE NOT MARRIED THE SAME GOES FOR WHOMEVER.

Marriages are difficult at best, and if you have a good one, do you want to risk it?

The same goes for relationships in this age of political correctness.

JACK

Many relationships broke up because only one of the couple enjoyed cruising, and the other wanted to go home.

There  are solutions to this problem.

One wife could not stand to be away after a few months, so she said, "Enjoy yourself for awhile then bring the boat back."  As far as we know, it worked, and he enjoyed cruising before returning to a solid marriage.

One wife went home, they both thought about it, then they compromised.  Now they cruise together for awhile, he single hands for awhile, and she spends some time at home.

Some spouses don't like the long passages, so they meet the boat at the destinations that do not require open ocean sailing.  Some cruisers have friends join them rather than single hand those passages.  There are many solutions to these problems.

Sandy likes to sail so we do not have this problem, but if we did I think that she would object if the temporary crew was female, young and beautiful.  She does get narrow minded at times.

It is not just the boys.  One man got sick and tired of fixing the boat, and wanted to move ashore before his wife did.  I unsuccessfully tried to convince him that houses need fixing too.

Of course, the ocean can be a convenient escape hatch.

Some men become Captain Blye when they leave the dock, and are impossible to live with.  What is it that makes some yell at the crew?

Of course sometimes a better boat comes by, or crew changes look attractive.

SANDY

When I met Jack I was trying to get back to the water.  I not only shared his dream, I think I pushed him into my dream.

I always start my day thinking how lucky I am to have Jack as my husband and friend.

If you have to stop for a while to renew and refresh for another go at cruising make sure you also renew the agreement of shared dreams.

Our dream of cruising is on hold for awhile and we both decided to stop for this year or so to see the grand kids and fatten the cruising kitty.  But both of us are chomping at the bit to get going and see more than the highway to and from work.

DO YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN WANT YOU TO BE AWAY THAT LONG?

Many of us are close to our families on a daily basis.

Removing that suporting relationship can be an intolerable strain.

JACK

My sons are proud of their Dad being active and adventurous, although I think that I heard a complaint during a recent telephone conversation.

I think that the grandchildren are proud of us, and take our postcards to show and tell at school.

SANDY

I'm not sure my grandchildren know me.  we have been gone so long!  I am having trouble with the fact that they are growing up and I am not there to see them regularly.  My children and I are close and we talk on the phone often.  Oh those long distance phone bills!  But this way I feel that we are still in touch with each other and they always know I will be there for them if they need me.

I digress.

On this 1999cruise we are going to email on board and I asked each child to please get on line so we could keep in touch.  Some don't have computers at home and Web TV might be an answer for them.

Our children can't afford to visit, and our budget doesn't allow us to go home often so this is a hardship.  But we are Gipsies and love to roam so staying in one place would not be good for us.

Jack's son and my son came to visit and these times are very special for us.

If the others can't come to us we will "cruse the grand kids" as we call it and visit them.

DO YOUR PARENTS, SIBLINGS, AND FRIENDS WANT YOU TO GO?

This is another case of not living in a vacuum that must be addressed before getting too far into the process of preparing to cruise.

Some relations, particularly older parents, are afraid for your safety at sea.  They may not understand your skill level or that you are willing to accept the risk.

It may be just another way of saying that they will miss you or don't want to be alone.  There are many tough decisions to make.

JACK

My only sister sometimes thinks that I am crazy.

I do miss my friends with whom I spent so many interesting years.

We agreed that we would not mentions names as there are too many and we don't want to leave anyone out, but I worked with one friend for most of 32 years at three different companies.  every time I needed a job, he found one for me.

On his 65th birthday I asked Paul to write a poem for us which has already been presented.

Eat your heart out Lord Tennyson.

I have another friend who was a neighbor, and sailing and jogging partner.  He got me into amateur radio and helped us keep  contact with our children during our cruise.

Another friend went to great trouble to locate and ship a part to us.

SANDY

Some of my friends are down right envious.  some of my relatives, like my sister, think that I will never grow up.  I hope I don't.

I hate this subject.  My relatives and friends are not with us and I wish that all could just fit right into this 32' boat!

So much for fantasy.  They have their own lives and we have ours.  I never did see them as often as we would have liked to when we were there.

Our visits were mostly on the phone and that is something I have continued.

I write letters more than I ever did when I was on "land".

Leaving home for your dream and leaving your loved ones is definitely harddddddd!

Email is now available to improve communication.  There are a number of free email systems you can access from a pay phone with a special modem for your laptop.  The ham radio service also has an email service.  There is one on SSB using the same equipment and programs as the hams, but a small fee is charged.  There are also satellite email services that are getting less expensive as all high tech systems will.

IF YOU OR YOUR SPOUSE STILL WORK DO YOUR BOSS OR CUSTOMER/CLIENTS AGREE WITH YOUR GOING?

   Work for money?
Some people still do that?

Paul

Here's that vacuum again.

Work related problems have to be solved, particularly when one person is free to go and not the other.  Sometimes one partner has to go alone under some agreement.  You can also take the "you can take your job and shove it" approach as Sandy did.

The good side is that at least someone wants you.

There is a more serious problem in recent years, because many women have careers.

A career is often an important source of self esteem, a "who am I" problem can arise when one goes out to play.

JACK

I have always felt that my job gave me my identity.  My friend of so many years is finding it hard to retire because if he is not a physicist, what is he?  I told him that one has to find a new identity, not just a hobby.  I used to be a chemist, but now I am a sailor.

Circumstances made it necessary for me to retire, so this problem did not come up until over a year later when I was asked if I wanted to return full time.  By that time I was too far into the cruising program and said no thank you.

I liked my job, but I would rather play.

I have successfully made the transition.

SANDY

It felt good to be good at something in a competitive industry.  I know that I can do challenging things and don't need to have others prepare my challenges, so to speak.

I don't fit well into bureaucratic environments (like all companies).  They call me a free spirit.  I have really fought this concept and now resign myself to the real me.  I am.

I never played when I was in the other stages in my life.  It's fun and you should try it.  Don't defer pleasure. ever!

    CAN YOU DO IT?

The answer to this question is long and varied so bare with us.

Are you able to do the physical, nautical, financial, and social things, that are required for safe and enjoyable cruising?

Modern practices and equipment that ease many of the requirements have made it easier to cruise long after the NFL or NBA is no nonger interested in you.

And competition in the marine industry has kept the financial part within reach of most of us.

Its there, so go for it.

HOW IS YOUR HEALTH?
Can you get along without your familiar medical care?

Health, while important, is not a legitimate excuse for not going cruising.

JACK

There are plenty of medical services in foreign countries with facilities and well trained people.  In fact some cruisers that we knew or heard of have elected to have surgery in Mexico, because it is less expensive and the doctors and staff spend more time with you.  We felt like we were well cared for the few times that we had to visit doctors or dentists.

Dra. Anna in Puerto Vallarta is the best Dentist that I have known.  She found a simple solution to a tender tooth that had bothered me for 20 years.  A Dentist in San Diego had suggested an Endodontist could fix it for thousands of dollars.  Dra. Anna ground a little off the tooth and has been fine for four years.  She also did a bit of peridontal surgery for me as she was trained and ceritfied  in that speciality in the U.S.  So much for complaints about third world abilities.

Sea sickness is a real problem.  If you know that you are going to be miserable it is difficult to lift the anchor.  Work with your doctor to find a method of control.

Owing to my Irish ancestors, I am afflicted with skin cancer.  Not the best inheritance for a cruiser in the tropics.  I developed a dark growth on my face in Costa Rica, and went into David in Northwestern Panama to see about it.  The doctor said that the growth on my face was not a problem, but he topically treated a growth on my hand.  The next weekend he stopped by Utopia while was out on his boat with his family just to check up on me.  I eventually had the growth removed in Panama city.

We have known a few cruisers who continued with cancer.  They had operations, came back to the boat and continued,  Some had to return for chemotherapy, then back to the boat.  Some eventually died, but we knew no one who quit.

One friend had to put his boat in a marina and return to have his asthma treated.  After a few months he returned to the boat and sailed it to a more favorable climate.  He did not let it defeat him.

Another had two artificial knees including one that can not be replaced again.  He is off to Europe, and plans to cruise 'til he drops.

Surprisingly, the people with health problems seem to enjoy it more than the lucky ones like me.  Really, it is not surprising, because they know that it would be worse if they quit.

You do see a lot of courage out there.

Don't let your body defeat you.

SANDY

I have seen all shapes and sizes out sailing.

I keep telling Jack "Let me do some of the heavy stuff."  He is from the old school that men are men and women stay in the kitchen.  I finally convinced him that I need to be physically able to lift, haul, or push when needed because when it's needed it usually is in an emergency.

I also want to be able to take the boat wherever it needs to go to get us out of a problem if Jack is incapacitated.

This does not mean I am an amazon or even muscular.  Far from it.  I am 57 and over weight.  I think of myself as Mrs. Polifax without the Gardenias.  (Many of you will have to pick up the book at your local book store to find about Mrs. Polifax.)

I also have arthritis in my hips and need to walk regularly.  This is hard when we have a long passage but easy when we can dink to land and wander around.

ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH?

It is no longer wooden ships and iron men.

We thought of "Lines Led Aft" as a book title referring to the modern equipment that makes it physically easy to cruise.

Paul actually suggested the title.

We all lose strength, agility and stamina as we age, but modern sailboat rigging helps us accomplish the needed activities with adequate safety.

JACK

I have to mention the saying that I had above my desk for years,  "If God had wanted fiberglass boats, he would have made fiberglass trees."

I was racing a wooden Mercury at the time.

The boat that we bought six years ago already had the lines led aft, including two reefs in the main.  It had seven winches in the cockpit, five of them self tailing.  So we can do everything from the cockpit except rig the whisker pole and spinnaker, and open the bag containing the hanked on storm jib.

It has 13 lines led through stoppers to three winches under the dodger.

The jib and spinnaker halyards  are the only lines that are cleated at the mast, but with a roller furler we seldom have to adjust the jib.

The spinnaker  needs on deck attention to raise, tack, gibe, or douse it so lines led aft are useless.  We don't use it often.

I am just too lazy as we seem to take it down as soon as it is set.

When the wind is in the spinnaker range, I usually turn on the iron wind.

Isn't it the way it goes?  The only times that I have to go forward is in heavy weather to bring the main down and to release the storm jib.

I have only had to do so twice.  The roller furler can be partially rolled to reduce head sail area with little loss except pointing ability.  Also we keep track of the weather and raise the storm jib before things get too rough.  At 25 to 30 knots the boat goes like gang busters under a double reefed main and the storm jib.

Early in our cruising we ran into 40 knots with gusts to 50 off Point Sur in California.  When I finally got the courage to go forward for my first time to take the double reefed main down and release the storm jib from its bag, the boat speed dropped from eight knots surfing to 5.6.  We trailed warps, and the ride became almost pleasant.

I have to go forward to get the main down because I have not figured how to rig a down haul that will work with the lazy jacks.  A full battened main would be easier, but it got lost in the budget demise.

We wear harnesses and inflatable life jackets all the time at sea, and have jack lines leading both ways to the mast so that it is not dangerous to go forward.

Rigging the boat properly is important and the sail maker and rigger who helped us made our life safer and livable.  Later we will go into more detail about the philosophy of rigging a cruiser and the various options as we see them.

We have a 44 pound Bruce anchor with 300 feet of 5/16 chain which weighs about a pound a foot, so we installed an electric windlass.  When we expect wind above 20 knots we use a 7 to 1 scope or better so if we are in 30 feet of water we have at least 210 feet out.  that means that we have to lift 30 pounds for 180 feet then finish with 74 pounds for thirty feet.

You can see that the electric windlass is important.

When the windlass was broken, we switched to the rope rode with the 10 pound Fortress anchor.  We had to look for sand or mud bottoms where the light anchor was effective.

While the windlass was broken we had to use the Bruce as a second anchor.  I could hand crank a link at a time, but that was so slow that I would lift the 30 pounds for as long as I could then hand crank the windlass while I rested.  It was very slow.

Sandy could not come forward to help as she needed to be at the helm to take the wind pressure off the rode or we would have had to pull the boat as well as the anchor.

We searched for shallow anchorages with good sand or mud until we could get the parts for the windlass.

When the replacement part came, it was one time that I was happy to do a repair job.

Still, with a properly rigged boat, strength is not a big issue.  Most of the time.

When shopping for a windlass, the emergency hand operation is important.

A good manual windlass is an option that should be considered in spite of some things said earlier about the difficulty in lifting the anchor.  Keep it simple.

Hauling diesel and water can be a problem.  and if you have a bad back, get a good hand cart.

Get one anyway.  You will need it.

I had fun on a day when a 30 year old cruiser and I shared a load of five gallon water jugs.  He positioned himself so that he did all the heavy lifting and the old man did the easy stuff.  He never said anything, but just worked it out that way.  You do meet wonderful people.

Although strength is now a minor issue in cruising, balance and agility are still important.  You don't have to worry Michael Jordan, but the deck does move around.  If this is a serious problem, the dreamer will never get past the learning to sail and chartering stages without a plan for working around it.

Man (or wife) overboard is a problem.  Neither of us could lift the other by hand.  We have rigged a system so that a line goes from the person in the water to a block on the end of the boom, to the spinnaker fair lead on the track and back to the winch.

We always wear harnesses at sea, because with this system it would take some time to lower the main and run the safety line.

We could still fall overboard as the tether is long enough for us to fall overboard and be dragged along.

When I feel that this could cause a problem, I shorten the tether with a knotted loop.  I always do so if I have to go forward of the mast while off shore.

If the one in the water is physically OK we would use the swim ladder.  The boats with easy to use stern swim ladders are somewhat safer for that reason.

SANDY

Women take note!  The chapter title is "are you strong enough."  I learned early on that if you need to force it; it's stuck.  Don't use brute force.  Think the problem through first.

I also take this opportunity to send Jack forward in 40 knot winds.  I'm not stupid.

A little jesting aside, there are times when I can't take something apart or haven't the strength to do the last bit.  Jack is stronger and he has more upper body strength and longer legs and arms.  But I have smaller hands and can get back into the hard to reach spots for the bolt or nut.  We work to each other's strengths and share the problems.

Rust and corrosion, the worst enemies on a boat mixed with the salt.  Lubricate it, maintain it, schedule the maintenance.  This is the hardest part because time flies and those people, places and books call.  I'll get to it later.  This processes eases the need for strength or stress.

CAN YOU SAIL?

You may be an experienced sailor now, so skip this section.

If not -- you can learn to sail with a few weekend classes and some homework to memorize luff, leach, clew, tack, gibe, "ready to come about, " and a whole lot of more salty terms.

It ain't enough.

Safety for yourself, your passengers, the boat, and others on the water requires experience well beyond a few memorized terms.

A feel for the boat is developed slowly, but it is important in emergencies.

If you can read the water, you have a better chance of avoiding tide rips that could smash you against rocks, or gusts that could knock you down.

You can only respond efficiently if you have the experience to do much of it automatically.

JACK

I was surprised how many took a two week course and cast off.

We don't personally know anyone who got into deadly problems, but it does not make sense to me.

Your insurance rates can be lower if you can produce a certificate showing that you have completed a course such as those available from the Coast Guard, the Power Squadron, or a commercial sailing school.

Most importantly, if you feel comfortable, you will enjoy it more.

I learned to sail dinghies first, then graduated to increasingly larger keelboats.  I took up racing by crewing for a friend then buying a boat of my own.  The racing does not effect cruising beyond knowing the rules of the road, and what makes a boat sail efficiently.

I found that experienced small boat sailors will often help beginners learn as part of a program intended to keep the class growing.

You can also crew on big boats that need crew for week night fun races, or for "rail meat" on the weekends.

At the very least take as many courses as you can, and get as much time on the water as possible.

You had to know something about navigation before GPS, but now if you can read the edge of charts and use dividers you have navigation mastered.  Wrong!!

In fact, you can even let your computer do it for you as long as it does not crash.

I sometimes think mine should have one of those horns that the submarines sound when they crash dive in old movies.  It would probably be worn out by now.  It just did it an hour ago with dire warnings and no loss this time.

Navigation requires more than knowing the location of the GPS "on" switch.

Many charts are based upon surveys that were made years or decades ago, and hazards may be as much as a mile from their charted positions.  A solid foundation in navigation is necessary if you are to avoid disaster.

Your plotted GPS position may not agree with your position determined by plotting bearings on known landmarks, with the radar, or with depth readings.

You may know your position relative to your home port to within 100 feet, but your position relative to a reef may be off by as much as a mile.

Coastal piloting techniques are still important.

Good seamanship helps when you are in trouble, such as on the dreaded lee shore.  It also helps if you have to go to the aid of someone else.

We use radar to position ourselves relative to identifiable land marks, and to check on anchor setting and dragging

There is a statement that if you can sail San Francisco Bay, you can sail anywhere.  Wrong!!  I have sailed on the bay for over 20 years in winds up to 30 knots, and can't remember a wave over five feet.

I seldom see waves much less than five feet off shore.

Once you have your boat ready, sail it a lot on increasingly longer and more difficult trips.

Work on your anchoring skills.

I will describe our basic anchoring technique.  We check the chart, any applicable cruising guide, and if appropriate, check with anchored boats on radio as to holding ground and nearby reefs.  We then select a likely spot and circle measuring depths within  the projected swing and with extra room just in case we drag.  Then we approach the spot where we hope to anchor from downwind and go about 50 feet further, depending on the depth, before stopping.  We let the anchor go as slowly as we can and try to start moving in reverse just as the anchor reaches the bottom.  In this manner we hope that the anchor will drag a little as the chain comes down, and position itself so that it will be properly aligned to hook.  We try to judge the chain release to stretch the chain cleanly but not drag the anchor when there is not enough scope for it to hook.  When the chain markers indicate a four to one scope we apply the brake to the windlass to gently set the anchor as indicated by the stretch of the chain.  We don't put heavy pressure on at this point, but release the brake to gradually let out the chain to the seven to one scope before we set the chain stop.  With the chain held by the chain stop, not the windlass, we back down hard to set and check if it will drag.  We can usually sense dragging by the vibration of the chain except when dragging through soft mud.

If we are not in the intended position or we have not hooked, we pick it up and try again, or look for a different spot.

Or something like that.

We have changed to 150 feet of Chain and 150 feet of Nylon recently, for economic reasons, and arguments that rope is a better shock cord.  We always have used a Nylon bridle for shock loading of the chain.  This does lose us the advantage of the chain stop.  I will now have to cleat the anchor line to set it.

We try to keep track of the weather as winds shift as much as 180 degrees as a weather front passes.  You need to know that you have room if that happens.  Also, it is wise to reset the anchor after a big wind shift as they can roll over to a bad spot as happened to us at Guanaja.

The preceding technique did not work in the soft mud of the flats anchorage in Colon Panama.  A fellow cruiser suggested dropping the anchor and stretching the chain, but not setting the anchor. Rather let it sink in the mud where it is denser and will resist dragging.  It seemed to work the second time after a very slow drag before.

We have been shocked by the number of people we have seen who just pile the chain on the bottom and start happy hour.

Bad anchor technique and anchoring too close are the least socially acceptable activities.  You know that something is wrong when your neighbor picks up and moves as happened to me before I learned how to set a stern anchor.

If you drag, you can lose your boat.

At least, you will have to spend time on deck picking up and resetting.

You may be in your dink in heavy weather setting the spare anchor to kedge yourself off.

We had to call for help from nearby cruisers when our hook broke loose during heavy weather and our dinghy was not in the water.

While it affirmed the cruising support that is so much of the way of life, it was embarrassing.

Anchoring is so important, and dragging so dangerous that I will expand on this experience:We had set the anchor in Savannah Bite in Guanaja, Honduras, in 12 feet on thin sand over coral.  A couple of nights later, the wind increased to 25 knots  so we initiated our anchor watch.  We use the radar to observe our position relative to other boats and landmarks to detect dragging.  Sandy was watching the radar when the neighboring boat went off the screen at an astonishing rate.  She checked the radar and depth.  We were in five feet.  We could not power off, and we could not get the dinghy down in that weather.

Fortunately, we were not alone and a call on VHF brought four cruisers in two dinks.  They hauled our two spare anchors off at angles away from the shoal and separated by 35 or 45 degrees.  We were then able to kedge off and held until the wind died and we could pick up and move.

We did our usual post incident evaluation and concluded that the Bruce  anchor had failed to rehook after the wind shifted as it will when a cold front passes.  We had failed to back down on it when it was light and we could do it leisurely.  The anchor must have rolled over, as Bruces are designed to, and landed on a grass patch or very thin sand. where it could not bight.

Our ground tackle is good and we only dragged four times in three years.  While that may not be bad considering where we have been, after the preceeding experience we switched to ten to one scope and lost a lot of sleep doing anchor watch.

SANDY

I just read what Jack wrote.  He almost said it all.  the only thing I remember was that we had a friend that bought a boat and left the states for Mexico the next week.  He got to Puerto Vallarta and tied to the dock.  He was there a year and had not sailed the boat since.

I didn't take any courses at first and didn't know a jib from a jibe.  I was dangerous to us all.  I spent a few years learning to sail in San Francisco Bay and Santa Cruz, California.

With a good Captain and some patience I learned to sail by slowly taking over all the chores in the sailing of the boat.

Read!  there are plenty of how-to books out there.  i read not only novels but sailing infomags and especially Latitude 38.  There's more info in there and in a humorous way that makes learning fun.  Ladies read the books about boat repair and maintenance and learn!  Don't let the Captain be the only one who knows how the boat works.  You may have to sail it alone!

JACK AGAIN:

I have to brag about my wife.

On at least four occasions Sandy's sailing skills have been critical to our cruise.  I described the time we lost oil going into Xcalac Mexico before.

When we were in San Diego on a day sail the wheel jammed due to the failure of a limit pin on the arbor of the rudder.  The rudder was locked in hard to starboard.  I told Sandy to sail us off the rocks at the side of the channel while I dove into the lazarette to find the problem.  She backed the jib to turn the boat, and when I looked up we were in mid channel where we anchored to await a tow.

Our engine died due to an air leak as we were entering the harbor at Stillwater Cove in Carmel California.  The entrance is between rocks.  We managed to get the anchor down to stop.  We could not tack into the harbor as it was dead to wind and narrow.  After we had planned our escape, I raised the anchor and yelled as it came lose.  Sandy used the jib to spin the boat and missed the rocks by about 20 feet or so.

At Pureto Aventura, Mexico the fuel filters clogged.  It took me over an hour to change them and she kept us off the shore while I worked.  I don't even think about how she is doing as I know she can handle the boat, and would call me if there was a problem.

She has sailed the boat on her watch any number of times while I slept knowing that she could make the decisions that would keep us safe.  She uses the radar vector to determine if a ship is on a collision course, and makes the necessary corrections.

It is essential that all crew members be good sailors capable of single handing in emergencies.

A comment about the clogged filters.  After we had trouble on the second day of our cruise and had to return to San Francisco Bay to filter our fuel, we decided to put in dual filters.  We added a second set of primary filters and a y-valve so that we could switch to a new filter if the first one clogged.  In addition, we changed our filters every six months as insurance.  the new filter was rated at 0.5 microns and should protect the secondary filter which should never clog.  We expected that if our primary filter clogged we would turn the valve to the unused one and start the engine again.  At Puerto Aventura I switched the valve and the engine would not start.  Somhow the dirt had gotten by the primary filter and clogged the secondary.  After I had changed all three, the engine ran OK.

What we learned was that it is necessary to change the filters on a regular schedule we think that 500 hours is reasonable.

CAN YOU FIX IT?

You can't hire a mechanic on the open ocean or even in many safe anchorages.

It is not if, but when something will break.  Some corollary of Murphy's law must cover this event.

A good set of tools and test equipment is essential.

If you need it, take a good course in maintenance of the various systems, and buy lots of how-to-do-it books.

Take plenty of spares.

JACK

In fact, I threatened to buy a sister ship to tow for scavenging.

I learned a lot while I set up the boat.  when I had to hire experts, I tried to watch and learn so as to be able to maintain and fix.

The knowledge gained during the installation and modification was very valuable when things broke.

Cruising is very social.  A number of others have come aboard to help solve problems.  I have paid a few who make a living doing boat repairs, but a lot of amateurs have just helped out as I have helped others.

We often give and get advice by radio.  the radio nets are a good source of fixit advice and sources of parts.

Parts have come from other cruisers' stores, and from local sources that other cruisers knew about.

The bottom line (I hate that expression) is that if you are a mechanical klutz, take up back packing.

SANDY

You definitely learn a new language out sailing and repairing.  Four letter words are very aptly stated.

Patience, perseverance, and problem solving are our guide book.  Mixed with ingenuity and inventiveness.  You can fix it.  Or do without it until you get to shore or store.

I have seen more jury rigging that works in the cruising community.  Sometimes even better than the original.

One of the best activities is to go on other boats and see how they have solved problems with their systems and their environment.  Happy hour conversations sound like mechanics 101 courses.  Guaranteed to get you a visit and a great conversation.  Sailors love to share their solutions; just ask them, but make sure you have enough time to listen.

I got a book on knots and tied everything up on the boat.  I use only a few but refer to the book for special knots as needed.

I had to repair sails and splice lines.  these techniques came out of a how-to  book, and have helped us many times in the course of the cruise.

We had to make gaskets out of an old inner tube.  the size and shape we needed were 3000 miles away.

CAN YOU AFORD IT?

You can cruise the world on a shoestring, but that is seldom the American way, particularly for those of us who have lived the middle class "good life".

JACK

We bought our 32 foot boat with about half of our cash.

It was well rigged for a day sailor and in good condition.

It had a very good engine, a Chrysler-Nissan 58 horse power diesel.  This is the largest engine we have seen in such a small boat.  We are very pleased because it has gotten us out of some uncomfortable situations.  Remember the dangerous lee shore.  we avoid those by planning, weather watching and navigation, but that engine does give us a warm feeling.

The cat thinks its too noisy.

We have been pleased with it on two occasions.  We got caught in 35 knots of wind on the nose while rounding Cabo Corientes south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  Another boat had to turn back because he could not make headway.  We did not want to go back 30 miles to face the same conditions the next day, so we cranked it up and made 5.5 knots for six hours until we were around the corner.

We were wet but safe.

The other occasion was during our Panama Canal  transit.  If you cannot complete the transit before dark, you have to spend the night in Gatun Lake.  Some cruisers find that fun, but we had five extra people on board without room to sleep them all.  We were delayed at the first lock so our advisor said that we could not make it.  We asked if we could make it if we made seven knots across the 28 mile lake.  He replied that we could, but he doubted that our little boat could go that fast for four hours.  We did and made it down through the locks to Colon before dark.  That is not a life threatening situation, but definitely a quality of life, or sleep, issue.

Utopia is equipped differently now that it is a cruiser and not a day sailor/home.  we added or replaced a lot before we left San Francisco, and even more in San Diego based upon the experience of two months cruising down the coast.  I will add comments where, with experience, I would have made different choices.

Roller furling

Storm jib and detachable fore stay to support it.  It is masthead rigged as I did not want to fuss with running back stays.

Two new Fortress 16X anchors for bow and stern, with a new rope rode and hause pipe for the second bow anchor.

Three hundred feet of 5/16 chain for the main anchor which was a 25 pound plow.  We replaced that with a 44 pound Bruce the next year.  Our reason was that we wanted a bigger anchor and we noticed that the fishermen of Northern California use Bruces.  They see a lot of rough weather and I hope they know what they are doing.

Replaced the old battery charger with a Heart Interface charger and inverter to provide 115 volt power.

Added a second 200 amp-hour gel cell battery.

Ham radio with automatic tuner, and insulated back stay.

Lined the lazarettes below the waterline with copper sheet protected by fiberglass to establish a ground plane for the ground plane.

An electric windlass.

New VHF radio.

A laptop computer so I could write to you and record weather fax..

Weather fax program and demodulator.

Pressure cooker for safety at sea.  It is sealed so soups and the like can be kept without refrigeration.  Easy to warm and safe.

Replaced the symmetrical spinnaker with a cruising type

Three solar panels.  They will support the entire electrical load except the refrigerator.

Propane refrigerator.  Experts recommend against propane as it can be a fire hazard, but we keep ours in the cockpit where leaks are not a danger.  Also they will fail if operated very long out of a level position.  We sail our boat flat because it is comfortable, and heel adds little to boat speed.  If we are close hauled (great sailor word) for a long time we do prop the refrigerator to keep it mostly level.  In any case, we find that we save fuel and life on our 22 year old engine by leaving the electric refrigerator off and using the propane one.  It will work on 12 and 115 volts so it becomes the drink and vegetable  cooler in marinas.  These are lifestyle choices.

Two GPSs, a plastic sextant, and sight reduction tables.  We used the sextant to observe the eclipse of the sun.  the GPS is one of the great bargains, so a backup is cheap.

16 mile radar.

Plexiglas companion way doors for light and so the helmsman can see the radar.

Mounted the radar on a swing arm so that at sea it could be visible from the helm, but out of the way at anchor.

Modified the propellor.  The previous owner bought the biggest three blade prop that would fit the shaft.  The diesel mechanic tied the boat down and ran the engine up until he found that it put out black smoke at bout 2200 RPM which is well below the maximum cruising range of 2600.  He explained that a propeller should be matched to the horsepower curve of the engine.  My friendly boat expert took an inch of the diameter and changed the pitch by a degree.  then the boat did 7;6 knots in flat water without black smoke.  That is 0.4 knots above hull speed.

Backup Auto helm.  Our budget did not cover a wind vane,  I wish it had.
 

Water maker

Life raft.

EPRIB

Many spares and tools.

Now that we are preparing for a second cruise, I have had to change the batteries as I wore the gel cells out by running them to too low a voltage too often  The new batteries are golf cart 6V types.  They are more trouble, but cost about a fifth as much.  They can spill if tipped so they are in boxes.  We also increased our energy capacity from 400 to 660 amp-hours by adding two additional batteries.  This will let us anchor for up to five days with refrigeration.  Liquid batteries also can stand many more cycles if maintained properly.

We have replaced the entire head and holding tank.  We now have a MSD which makes it legal to discharge in most waters.  This is convenient, legal, and environmentally proper.

We have replaced the automatic antenna tuner with a manual one as we had trouble with the original.

These additions differ depending upon the equipment on used boats and the lifestyle of the cruiser.  The costs can be reduced by careful shopping for used equipment.

Our cruising costs are about half again our estimate.  Things have been more expensive and we had more repair problems that we expected.

Still, for the first time since the 1940's I have not had to pay income taxes.  If we draw less that $12,000 from our retirement funds we owe no income taxes since I am over 65 and Social Security is not taxed at that income level.  We have drawn exactly the $12,000 a year from our IRA and reinvested what we did not use outside our IRA.  We are running a money laundry here.

SANDY

Cruising is more expensive now than it was years ago.  we were trying to live on a budget, but our credit cards still grew.

Be realistic, what you may want to live on may be a drastic reduction in the way you lead your life now.  Is this a problem?  Try it!

I know now that I have not really changed the way I like to live.  I still like to eat out and have people over for a special dinner.

I like things to be quality and this means either the best or close.  I don't need many clothes, but clothes have never been a priority for me.

Changing for me comes only through necessity and with a lot of pain.  Habits are hard to change.  Especially if you like the habit!

If the budget you need to live on is a drastic reduction, work thru the emotional problems that can be a factor.

We saw a lot of people, who did not live in their budget, got stuck out there trying to make a living and trying to raise money by selling off parts of their boat.

Don't do this.  It sure spoils the fun.

WHAT KIND OF BOAT WILL YOU TAKE?

Do you already have a cruisable boat?

What is your budget?

Do you want a performance cruiser or what some call a crab crusher?

How big a boat do you want to handle?

Where are you going?

How will you equip it?

JACK

If you already have a cruisable boat, skip ahead.

The size of the boat depends upon your budget, life style, the type of cruising (blue or green water), foreign or domestic waters, and any number of factors.

We believe that our 32 foot boat is strong enough for ocean crossings,b ut probably not as comfortable as a larger and heavier boat would be.  We choose not to take long passages because we don't like the pain and the boat is too small for additional crew.

Challenger yachts were designed for space and ours is the largest 32 we have seen.  It has an 11 foot beam and 4 foot 10 inch draft.  It has tremendous storage.  The rig is small, and though it is light at 14,000 pounds it is not very fast needing over 20 knots of wind to reach hull speed with the 450 square feet of sails we use.  The bow is full and pushes a lot of water, which probably contributes to the slow speed but keeps the boat dry.  With the 40 foot mast I don't get a nose bleed when I have to go up the mast.

This is a sloop which is small enough for the two of us to handle easily.  Many of the larger boats are ketches.  That makes for more sails to handle, but does give more options for a small crew.

I have heard many arguments for heavy and large boats for cruising.  Is fast better for short passages and avoiding trouble?  I do know that you live in a boat the vast majority of the time, and living comfort such as fat Utopia provides is important.  So, for our size, it takes longer to get there, but we are comfortable when we do.  The presence of the large motor takes care of the speed if we need it.  In general, there are few things that I would change given our budget and other circumstances.

The boat has a fin keel, skeg mounted rudder, and a flat bottom.  I have recently read a few books discussing stability and this hull shape and width is not as stable as one with a wine glass cross section.  If I understand the issue corruptly, this means that if it rolls beyond 120 degrees, it will not necessarily come back up.  Now that I have read this, we will be even more careful about getting caught out in large seas.

We left Sausalito with our options open as to turning right to go to the South Pacific or left as we did.  I should have looked into this stability thing before making that decision, and it would have been a factor.  As it turned out we decided on left for other reasons and have avoided rough weather and high seas because we are uncomfortable.  We are not masochists.

I am guilty of inconsistency since I have done some backpacking and quite a bit of scuba diving in the cold waters of Northern California.  If that isn't masochism, as they say it will do until the real thing comes along.

When I started I did not want a multihull as it was not as safe as a monohull.  Now that seems not to be that important in view of our experience and the stability factor of Utopia.  Multihulls are faster, don't roll as much at anchor and can be very roomy.

Multihulls don't fit into most marinas and when they do the fees are larger.

Older fiberglass boats are relatively less expensive than the new ones, and seem to be just as sturdy.  I have heard that in 1974 when Utopia was built they did not know how strong or how long lived fiberglass would be.  Consequently, the old boats are thick.  Ours has ten layers of hand laid fiberglass in the hull.  we have not heard of any old fiberglass boats having trouble with this issue.

I believe that infant mortality of boat parts is as much a problem as old age.  Cruisers are fixing things all the time regardless of the age of the boats.  I would have an expert check the engine in an old boat, as that is one of the most expensive and difficult to replace things especially in most third world locations.  Having a spectrographic analysis of engine oil for metal wear is a good idea.  My surveyor did it as a matter of course.

This is not a book about boat selection, others with more knowledge than me have written about it.  I only want to give you an idea of our selection process, and the evolution of our opinions.

SANDY

I wanted a boat that would get me out of my own way!  The engine had to be able to get us off a lee shore in heavy winds.

I wanted a boat that would not crumble when we parked in the slip by "feel".  Old boats that are layered with many fiberglass layers provide this security.

I wanted comfort living aboard.  I didn't want a mast stepped in my living area.  the mast is the head.  I don't spend much time there.

I wanted a galley that was small and in a U shape so that I could balance under way and not have to attach myself to the stove in a harness.

I wanted lines led aft.  I don't like going forward and tying the main down for sail changes or hanking on the jib.

I wanted the comfort of radar.  We knew what fog really is.   We're from Sausalito.

I wanted a salon that had good day light coming in.  I get claustrophobic in dark places.  Jack changed the companionway door to thick plastic for more light.  I changed the curtains so that there was a filtered light available when they were closed.  They were dark burgundy when we bought the boat.

I wanted lots of storage space!  Living aboard is 90% of cruising and sailing is the rest.

WHERE WILL YOU GO?

How do you tell if this is the way to go?

Many have invested years of dreams and large amounts only to find out that they don't like the life and abandon it all.  Devise a test that fits your location and circumstances before you commit so much.

Many of the preceding issues need to be addressed.  There are a number of tests that can be tried.

Chartering is good, but a week or 10 days does not tell you much.

Chartering seldom takes you on an overnighter or for a number of days at sea.

Chartering seldom gets you in storms or rough seas, because the companies do not like to risk their boats.

Talk to charter or sail training companies about options that will give you the information and experiences to answer these questions.

Before investing in your dream boat, you might buy a lesser vessel and do a less ambitious cruise to test your interest.  You can probably sell such a boat for a loss that is less than chartering and get more time on the water.  State sales taxes are a problem in that case, but there are states such as Oregon that do not have sales taxes.

Crew for other cruisers.

Many cruisers have friends crew on long passages or when one of the regular crew can't make it.  Belonging to a Yacht Club helps in finding such opportunities.  Sailing magazines frequently run adds for such crew.

Make a test run.  When your boat is ready, cruise locally for a considerable period to evaluate your boat and procedures.

My dream came true when.
I saw my reflection
upon the morning glass.

Paul

JACK

I had cruised my 25 footer in sheltered waters so knew I could handle the small space and isolation.

I raced an eighteen foot keel boat for 20 years in the usual brisk winds for which San Francisco Bay is famous.

I did get caught out on a day sail off Monterey and found that I could sail a friend's 36 foot boat in 35 knots and ocean swells.

I knew from these sails and my Navy experience that I did not get seasick.

Our first cruising down the California coast and in the Santa Barbara Islands was a good test of ourselves and our boat.

Our handling of the gale force winds that we had off Point Sur during that period convinced us that we could handle heavy weather even if we did not like it.

That experience probably contributed to our decision, months later, to be green water cruisers.

In our terms green water cruising includes unavoidable overnighters with some unavoidable blue water

The weather report predicted 25 knots and we got over 40 around the point.  I think that it was not a storm, but the usual California coastal winds accelerated around the point.

Still, we only had to put up with it for twelve hours, and had a good harbor at the end.

If it had been a storm, we would not have gone, but returned to Monterey as there is no good storm shelter at or near San Simeon.  It is open to the south and the Morro Bay entrance is difficult.

Where you will go is an evolving issue in a proper cruise.  As the Water Rat says it isn't important

When we left San Francisco going to the Northwest to cruise the San Juan Islands and Southwestern Canada the dirty fuel caused us to turn back.  Still we were cruising, and we may try another day.  It just doesn't matter.

SANDY

We sure thought that we were going to the Straight of San Juan De Fuca and Victoria, Canada.  We tried but couldn't get there.  All those charts and expense getting ready to go north!

We learned and didn't buy charts until we got closer to a decision and tried out our idea of what we could do.

We finally bought charts of Central America after our test run of eight days at sea to know whether we wanted to really go to the South Pacific or not.

We changed our idea of where we would go and were flexible when we had to change our plans, after all we were living our dream, cruising.

WHEN WILL YOU GO?

Will you wait until you retire?

Will you retire early and quit the rat race?

Even if you may have won the rat race, you're still a rat

                                             Roger Irvine in Latitude 38.  He said he heard it somewhere.

Will you take a leave of absence to go for a year or less for a change of pace and a test run?

Will you arrange your work life to cruise part time.

JACK

We have met only a few who waited as long as I did to go cruising.

I think that the average age is 50.

Most of these are couples who have done well in their careers and could afford to retire early.

Many have invested wisely and cashed in.  California real estate was unbelievable, and I missed it, because at no point did I think that it could continue.  So much for my business acumen.

Some cruisers are retired military, police, or firefighters.

Some own businesses from which they can take long breaks then park their boat in a marina and go back.

Some cruise awhile, work to refill the cruising kitty, then are off again.

There are some out there who do odd jobs in the cruising community to keep it going.

One airline pilot arranged to have a month off at a time in his regular schedule.  He had already cruised in the Pacific, and was working on the Caribbean when we met him.

Of course there are a lot of couples who have good jobs or other sources of funds who can cruise  for a period and return to work.  Most of them are younger.

I met one young man who had a yard maintenance business in Washington where he had no work in the winter.  He kept a small boat in Mexico and cruised seasonally.

Ditto for a pool maintenance guy.

There was a taxi driver in Key West who cruised the northern rivers in the summer.  It can work both ways.

A dream begins,
by Xing of the calander.

Paul

SANDY

I met women that were cruising before starting a family.

I met women that were cutting out of their careers and living the life of work wherever they could get jobs.  Usually their husbands, or significant others, were doing odd jobs in the cruising community.

I met women that were retired and living a cruising life.

I guess it's time to go when you need to leave!

IS IT WORTH ALL THIS TROUBLE?

You will spend a lot of money time and effort.

You will sometimes be uncomfortable

You may even be scared out of your wits.

Summer sags
sweetly, slowly
into the time of long dreaming
the dreamers longing

Paul

JACK

You bet it is!!!!!!

We have seen beauty that includes rain forests, deserts meeting beautiful seas, birds, fish, coral, fabulous clear water, a volcano erupting, sunsets, sunrises, jungle rivers, coconut palm islands, beautiful sand beaches that go on for miles with no footprints, foreign towns and cities, new cultures, beautiful children, friendly people, and much more.

Night watches far off shore when the sky is clear and there is no moon provide a better view of the stars than I have had at 9,000 feet in the Sierra Nevadas.

One night there was a half moon so I could watch the booby bird that was trying to catch a ride on the end of the boom.  We had 10 to 15 knots of wind for a comfortable sail.  Otto the autopilot was steering, and I was listening to Glen Yarborough on the Walkman as I watched, and I was having one of the fabulous nights of my life.

When the moon is just rising and a slight breeze is blowing, the moonshine across the water twinkles like a million candles flickering.

When I see these things and try to describe them on the tape recorder to my friend Sam, the blind man, I tell him that I have died and gone to heaven.

In anchorages Sandy and I put folding chairs on our fore deck where we have a better view than from the cockpit.  We have our happy hour, or more, while we watch the sun set and the moon rise.  We frequently talk to Sam then and rate the sunsets on a scale of one to ten.  So far we have had a few twelves.

The towns and cities are special

This is not a travel guide, but I will comment on those places that impressed me.

There are many that Sandy calls T-shirt towns.  Some like Xtapa, Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, and Cancun are almost Norte Americana del Sur as the Spanish speakers would call them.

Acapulco has a better Walmart and Price Club than I have seen in the States.  They are larger, cleaner and better shelved.

Panama City is very Americanized and modern.  We ate in a good Italian restaurant, and at a sit down place that had linen and table settings and served good steaks.  the steaks were a luxury since Central American beef is range bred and fed and not aged.

At the other end of the canal, Colon is a run down dump that the cruisers refer to by the English pronunciation of the name.

There are many towns like Chacala, Mexico where the beach is lined with palapa restaurants, catering to local vacationers, that are very colorful and serve great food and reasonable drinks.  We avoid salads and drink beer or soft drinks.  we were successful in avoiding Motezuma's revenge except when we bought so-called purified water in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico after a terrible storm.

Our inland trip to the Mayan ruins at Copan, Honduras was great.  Including the bus rides and a ride in a vintage DC3.

We have ridden busses in every country that we visited for as much as 700 miles on one trip, and have yet to smell body odor.  I could name a number of  first world countries where that has not been my experience.

The Mexican people are particularly clean.  They may live in bamboo shacks where they have to carry water from the river, but they send their children to school in clean, ironed, white shirts and blue skirts or pants.

In many anchorages we have snorkeled in beautiful waters to watch fish swim among the coral.  I have done the same on vacation, but it is not the same as diving off your home and swimming a few yards to an aqueous garden any time you choose.

More important than all the beauty and culture that we have seen is the freedom.

We are free to go anywhere our desire and sailing skills will take us.  There are places where we are not welcome and others where we prefer not to go, but we are free to try if we wish.

We can and have done the same with a motor home, ut we had to stick to the road and there are always traffic cops.  Of course, there are cops at sea that are called Navy or Coast Guard who have the right to board you with less legal limitations than the land variety.  Fortunately there are few and have never stopped us at sea.  Of course, others have been stopped, and say it was not an enjoyable part of the cruise.

Another freedom is to completely control what you do.  Work or play as you please.  for the first time in my life I have taken naps in the heat of the day.  the siesta is one Spanish custom that I like.  Of course, I don't like it when I am shopping between twelve and two.

The most important single reward we got from cruising is the many people we met who became friends.  they were from many nations and regions, but mostly were out there for the same reasons: to see the world, meet it's people and freedom.

This section is headed, IS IT WORTH ALL THIS TROUBLE?

YOU BET IT IS !!!!!!!

In a parody on the famous bumper sticker, I will cruise 'til I drop.

SANDY

Can a middle aged woman say, "I've grown a lot since I started cruising"?  Well I have.  I have begun to feel confident in my ability to solve whatever comes my way.

I feel that I have found a fountain of youth.

On the T.V. and in newspapers around the world you hear, read, and see violence and destruction by people.  I started to tune out.

Cruising separates you from the constant barrage of media hype.  Your news is the cloud forming or the sun setting.  The birds going back to roost for the evening in their favorite tree. I never had time to watch nature!  I never realized how beautiful and perfect our world can be without people destroying it.

A  beautiful world of people laughing, smiling and helping each other even though they are poor!

A world of small boys entertaining themselves down by the shore without being told how to have fun.

A world of families loving and sharing, all generations together in a plaza enjoying a stroll.

I am a better person for having lived this dream.

Is it worth all this trouble?

YOU BET IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!