NUTS & BOATS
The twice monthly newsletter for to-be and already-are cruisers Issue #9 - November 1, 2003
Publisher: Trish Lambert
www.takehersailing.com
(C) P. Lambert 2003
Welcome to new subscribers who have signed up through www.takehersailing.com! IN THIS ISSUE
THIS ISSUE'S COOL CRUISING QUOTEA man either lives life as it happens to him, meets it head-on and licks it,
or he turns his back on it and starts to wither away. Gene Roddenberry
Send me your cool cruising quotes and I will include them in future issues!
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THS TELECONSULTATION SERVICE Well, the beta testing is done and the Take Her Sailing Teleconsultation service is officially launched. My sincere thanks to the folks who participated as "test customers." I am thrilled that I was able to address some of your issues and questions about cruising.
A (LITTLE) CRUISING CONTROVERSY
$afety $tuff $ucks By Trish LambertI feel another rant coming on. This is one of those things that makes me pound my fists and drum my heels, but that I have no choice about. Which makes it even more frustrating. I was immersed in the subject of cruising gear while writing my third booklet in the Take Her Sailing Cruising Series. I had just finished writing about life rafts, man/crew overboard systems, and EPIRBs, all the while reflecting on how expensive it is to fit out with stuff you hope you'll never use. As if telepathic, Skip picked this time to tell me it is time to get the life raft repacked. Dang! I hate dealing with a life raft repack. It means spending a minimum of $500 for someone to test the raft, plus whatever it will cost to replenish outdated flares and such. AND, if the raft doesn't pass minimum requirements, it will be unceremoniously scrapped, we will still owe the money, and we will be faced with having to purchase another raft. Ugh. Still, it has to be done. We are about to take the boat out onto the Gulf of Mexico, traveling from Tarpon Springs (Florida) to Fort Walton Beach (same state), and though I might be willing to venture out without a repacked raft, Skip is not. This is not a subject to argue about-if he wants to be certain that we have a working raft, I need to respect that. The issue of safety is as much psychological as physical, and if a member of the crew feels strongly about including certain features, I don't think it's good idea to enter into debate about it. But the repacking issue always fans my internal fires over safety gear. Every time I have fitted out a cruising boat, I get into a stew about what I tend to think of as a very expensive life insurance policy. Actually, safety gear aboard a cruising boat is more like car safety features than insurance. I mean, passenger air bags and safety belts improve one's chances of survival rather than guarantee it. Same with comparable boat safety stuff. Except boats aren't like cars. They don't automatically come equipped with safety gear, and the cost of adding appropriate gear ranges from, say, a couple of hundred dollars for life jackets, sufficient flares, and a horseshoe buoy to several thousands of dollars for raft, bluewater crew overboard system, EPIRB, personal flotation vests fitted with strobes, and so on. I know that it's money that needs to be spent, but it makes me upset. On the one hand, how much safety gear is enough, and how much will it really stack the deck in favor of survival? On the other hand, every time I think about not including appropriate (and expensive) safety gear on a boat, I think about how terrible it would be to need the stuff and not have it. And therein lies my conflict, which causes the drumming of heels and pounding of fists. Wouldn't it be cool if safety gear actually DID come built in to a boat the way it does in a car? A life raft that automatically deploys the same way an airbag does in a car, a jackline system built in to the boat body, an EPIRB as part of the standard equipment. It still wouldn't avoid the periodic expense of update and maintenance, but at least the initial buy/not buy decision would be taken care of. Oh, okay, before you start pelting me with emails about the impracticality of this idea, let me dream about it for a little while! Actually, that makes me wonder: If cars were the same as boats vis-à-vis safety gear, would I spend the money to add air bags, extra structural features in the body, and safety belts? Hmmmm......good question! Well, here's hoping the raft passes inspection (cha ching goes the sound of the cash register).
AND SPEAKING OF EQUIPMENT Booklet #3 of the Take Her Sailing Cruising Series is published! This has been quite something....figuring out what items to include and then discussing each one has reminded me that this cruising thing can be veeerrrry involved. In fact, as a result of writing this booklet, I am modifying my plans.... THIS booklet is Messing About with Boats, Part 2: Equipment, The Macro View. It deals with the larger and/or more expensive items that are either essential or good to have for one reason or another. I limited the list to 50 things, but the booklet still went (slightly) over 90 pages!!! So, I've made an executive decision. The NEXT booklet will be "Messing About with Boats, Part 2.5: Equipment, The Micro View," and will discuss the smaller stuff that we need to take aboard with us, the spares that we need to stock, and the tools we should consider taking with us. Without this information, the fitting out picture just isn't complete....actually, the picture won't be thoroughly complete until my provisioning/equipment booklet comes out (third in line now that I've added this extra one). Order Booklet #3 More Info
CRUISING STRATEGY
Your Cruising Personality By Trish LambertThe boat you own isn't defined simply by its type and make. It is made unique by your personality, circumstances, and way of doing things. The same is true of cruising: There are at least as many styles of cruising are there are styles of land life-maybe more. On the land side, ask a farmer how he disposes of garbage, for example, and you will get a very different answer than the one you will get from a high rise apartment dweller. Not only that, but the farmer's likely solution-composting it or feeding it to the pigs-would definitely not work for the city person. Back to cruising: How YOU cruise will be a style among many styles on the water. When it comes to taking to the sea in small boats, singlehanders, doublehanders, families with small children, retirees, social butterflies, hermits, marina dwellers, island hoppers, bar hoppers, divers, hikers, and other types of folk go cruising. One person's shrimp taco (or conch fritter) may be another person's poison. When preparing to cruise, it is important to clearly define your plans. Where will you be going? How long will you be gone? Will you be in port a lot or spend most of your time in unpopulated anchorages? Will you be a land tourist some of the time? How much can you spend? Granted, the answers (and the questions themselves) might change once you're out there, but that doesn't take away from the importance to clearly define at least an initial plan when you are first starting out. The answers to these and other questions will lay the foundation for the kind equipment you purchase, what you bring aboard, and how you manage affairs back home. Here's an example. In my second cruising experience aboard Ciao Bella, we planned to cruise permanently, so we decided to liquidate all property and close all financial accounts (except one credit card for emergency use). Our original itinerary was Mexico, then the South Pacific and on from there. (We actually did something different, but that's another story, and an example of how things can change once you're gone.) Our anchoring system needed to be versatile enough to meet a variety of requirements; we added an electric windlass to handle the 250 feet of chain on our primary anchor. The wind vane was installed in anticipation of the tradewinds of the Southern Hemisphere. We wanted to be in port as little as possible, spending most of our time in unpopulated anchorages, so our water- and fuel-carrying capacities were important. Also, even when in port, we planned to live at anchor, so we needed to have an efficient battery charging system. Our primary activity away from port would be diving, both for pleasure and for food. We installed an air compressor for dive tanks (the diesel engine that ran the compressor also powered a charging alternator), bought two different types of spear guns, and had plenty of spare dive gear. We bought a hard-bottom inflatable dinghy and a four-stroke 10-horsepower outboard so that we would have a wide range of diving choices without having to move the big boat. Our fitting-out budget was finite, of course. In addition to the speed log and anemometer, we chose to include a ham radio, a SatNav (which was replaced by a GPS later), a fish-finder type depth sounder, and a personal computer with a radio link to pull down weather faxes. A water maker, radar, and solar panels were on the list, but the money ran out before we got to them. We planned to live on $200 to $250 per month while in Mexico, and did just that. Needless to say, our restaurant visits were few and limited mainly to taco and hot dog stands. For entertainment, we had a TV/VCR combo and a collection of video tapes that we traded regularly with other cruisers. Our library of books regularly overflowed. There's plenty more to tell about that preparation, but this should give you an idea of how plans impact fitting out decisions. Now a question: Based on what I listed above, how would you fit out based on your plans and preferences? While it may not provide complete certainty, starting out by defining your own cruising style will help negotiate the maze of questions that will arise as you progress toward your goal.
THREE-DAY SPECIAL: GET $2 OFF THS BOOKLET #1 ARE YOU DECIDING ON YOUR CRUISING PERSONALITY? Cruising on a Boat: Joining the World's Largest Village defines and discusses some of the most common assumptions and misconceptions about cruising. It also puts the cruising life in the context of five core principles that are independent of boat, gear, and itinerary. The better you understand and embrace these principles, the more prepared you will be to follow through on your plan. This is not a booklet about stuff-boats, hardware, provisions, and the like. Other booklets in this series deal with those subjects. This booklet focuses on the intangibles that often get overlooked or underestimated and that can deal a big blow to the dream if you don't get them right from the beginning. Until November 3rd, Purchase Booklet #1 for $9.97
$2 off the regular price of $11.97
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