What we wanted we had known before starting
"Oh, if I had known then what I know now" is the desire of all adults to think in his youth, and most cruises over a month on his trip, thinking before you leave.
After six years and half around the world in Dolphin Spirit on top sailing twenty years, five years of planning, a year to find the right boat, and three years of actual preparation, we believe we now know what we should have known before embarking.
In fact, we thought we had most areas well covered. I was an experienced coastal sailor, we have signed all cruising and magazines, read all the books Slocum, Roth, Pardy, Hinze, and Dashew too numerous to mention, bought all the guides published cruise, got our licenses Ham, attended medicine at Sea, prediction weather, engine maintenance and refrigeration courses, learned celestial navigation, he went to every seminar cruise, and were the name with all marine, boat, motor and sailing and technical-related purchases within 50 miles of the marina.
Towards the end of our journey, in Mexico, we were asked what they wished we had known more. Carole and I immediately said, in unison, "That was going to survive." Wonderful time we had to have been better if we had known. Statistics show that the crossing is safer than driving on the highways of Los Angeles (which is not?) But that is cold comfort to get rid of the dock lines and are facing a twenty-day passage across the Pacific to the Marquesas, and compensation to Red Sea.
We went through the hell of supply in recent weeks before departure. Canned meat, soup, fruit and vegetables, pasta, dried fruits, beans, peas, flour, rice, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bath soap, laundry detergent, shampoo and the list continues. Did we have enough? If we thought of everything? When we say it? How will we meet again? We have not found the jar of Grey Poupon, but have survived anyway. Ate the last of the spaghetti Costco bought in Italy, almost four years later.
All our reading indicates that the U.S. was the last place where we could to find all types of food and commodities. In fact, in each place we visited had at least one shop where you can buy canned goods, flour, rice, meat, vegetables and fruits. Prices may have been higher for individual items in the U.S., but when storage costs, corruption and waste are into account, the real price difference is negligible.
We wish we had known that local people in each place we visit we are treated so well. During a visit to the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, said it was not a travel warning advisory to visit every place I had spent the last year to enter, and all places were to spend the coming year visit. We had no other problems being arrested by the secret police in Sudan.
We believe that all cruises were good, environmentally friendly, happy holiday, and willing to help each and every one in times of difficulty. That perception, generated through inhalation SSCA bulletins across books and journals, lasted only 19 days, we arrived in the Bay of Taiohae. The yachts at anchor and we ignored, apart from ensuring that is anchored too close.
To be fair, who had just arrived after one of those "Around the World in eighteen months" was gone. This group had completely alienated the locals and other cruisers. The formation of friendships do not really start cruising to Tahiti, when the class "96" had started to classify and stratify. The boats with the same cruising speed tended to be in the same places at the same time. The westward flow of boats became packages as groups formed and began to move together. After the FPO, the separation became even more pronounced, a lot is going to Samoa, another for Pliers, another to Hawaii.
Crew
Believe all the scare stories to read. No matter how good a person crew is that I love him / her off the ship in three weeks. The only exception we found was a boat captain and Australia with two young men, handsome, women's crew, both marine exceptional.
Radio Nets
You can spend all day, microphone in hand, in an SSB / Ham radio network or another, filling in spare time in VHF. The father of them all is the Pacific Maritime Network, which continues to vessels from Alaska to New Zealand to Mexico and the Philippines.
Each group creates its own cruise network. The hope our network was initiated by "expect" and other controllers developed in the previous intrepid moved out of range. Then there are sub-groups such as Australians in Bora Bora. In each port there is also a local network of VHF for weather, chat, advice and the sale and trade items. It becomes very difficult to find a clear frequency.
About the Author
Lawrence Pane circumnavigated with his wife and young son, and his expertise in the areas of sailing, cruising and travel, expressed through two books, numerous magazine articles and very popular seminars, has informed, assisted and entertained a wide audience of sailors and non-sailors. Visit
Chasing Sunsets
to enjoy the photos, buy the books, and check up on coming seminars.
Horizon Marine Center for sale 2001(2006)BAYLINER 2655 CIERA $29000 561-239-7414
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