November 1, 2018
What’s in a name?
Once you’ve been cruising for a while you develop a shorthand, referring to every couple or family onboard by their boat name. We get cards or emails to “the Adamastors” and we never take offence at it, although it’s a far cry from our much cooler…
October 1, 2018
It all comes out in the wash
We’re back in the UK, enjoying the reunions with family and friends that our brief sojourns from our ‘proper’ life at sea allow us. And there is one acquaintance that I must admit I am incredibly glad to see again – a washing machine. Not a bucket,…
June 1, 2018
Becalmed
Where has the wind gone? There’s an eerie feeling to losing even the merest scrap of breeze. We know the familiar adage “calm before a storm” so it’s wise to be on the alert when the air goes so quiet. Sometimes, a stillness in the immediate……
May 15, 2018
Water, water everywhere
One of the most basic and fundamental needs of living on a true bluewater boat is carrying enough fresh water. You can have large tanks, you can store extra containers, you can install a water-maker or even harvest rainwater but the crucial and main…
May 1, 2018
The beach
Summer has begun. For us Brits the snatched breaks of bank holidays and family vacations send us flocking to the beach. Whether it’s the English seaside - complete with donkey rides, rockpools, and someone selling jellied eels - or jetting off to…
April 18, 2018
Worse things happen at sea
A boat is really a house combined with a car and put into an environment that constantly attacks it. Saltwater and sun destroy whatever they can without mercy. It’s a matter of constant maintenance as things will always break. Some items you can…
April 1, 2018
The pay off
Once the initial questions about storm avoidance and pirate dodging have come to an end we quite often find ourselves in conversations about how we can afford to sail the world. There are countless useful articles and several helpful books that lay…
March 1, 2018
Favours for sailors
It seems that the kindness of cruising strangers is the glue that holds the sailing population together. It’s funny when you think of how the stereotypical image of a sailor is a rather solitary figure. In order to separate the flesh of a fresh…
February 1, 2018
Land ho!
Making landfall brings mixed feelings to even a seasoned sailor. That first sight of new terrain, the initial glimpse of green, a form taking shape above sea-level is significant. Perhaps it is accompanied by birds wheeling overhead and the…
January 1, 2018
Risky business
When embarking out on cruising life you will inevitably come across a certain amount of nervous questioning about your plans. Stepping from the safety of the land and onto the wildness of the sea tends to be perceived, quite rightly, as waving…
December 20, 2017
Radio ga-ga
James hates talking on the VHF. Whenever we need to do so he always shakes his head vehemently and thrusts the microphone in my direction. Without regular access to a mobile phone or your own personal wifi your boat’s radio systems become your…
November 20, 2017
S-l-o-w time
The nature of the experience of travel is hugely dependent on the speed at which you move. When we first told people that we had grand plans to sail around the world, those that didn’t simply blink back at us in disbelief would nod slowly, as if the…
October 20, 2017
Maiden voyage
One thing that I’ve learned is that sailors are suckers for ritual celebrations. Crossing the Equator, cutting over the International Date Line, transiting the Panama canal and “closing the circle” upon circumnavigation are all [...]
September 20, 2017
The sun has got his hat on
“Oooh, aren’t you lovely and brown!” our families cooed in awe soon after we started our sailing adventures. Funnily enough, their admiration actually made us turn rather pink with embarrassment as, in our books, that meant that [...]
August 20, 2017
The perfect wind
Sailors, true sailors, know how to grab their moments. A mere ten knots of wind guarantees them swiftly casting off the lines or, for the truly skilled, stylishly sailing off the anchor, to go out and play in the light breeze. Strengthening winds…
July 20, 2017
V-berth vacations
The in-laws are coming to visit. Having friends or relatives coming to stay is always an interesting exercise. Visitors to a boat, however, have a completely different set of challenges to meet [...]
June 20, 2017
Going overboard
“Bagpuss is floating away!!!” Comes the fervent cry from our daughter. Every sailor has a plan for a man overboard situation. You consider how you’d manoeuvre the boat to recover someone from the water and the process for getting them safely back…
May 20, 2017
Cabin fever
I know that one of the things it’s hard to get your head around if you don’t live on a boat is how a couple or even a family could be comfortable in so little space. The living area equates to far less than a tiny studio flat and yet we all seem to…
April 24, 2017
Rub-a-dub-dub
Living aboard full-time means that sometimes even the simplest of tasks isn’t straightforward. Like having a shower. Unlike many other boats, we don’t have a water-maker on board so the fresh water that we carry is a precious, finite amount stored…
March 17, 2017
London buses…
...You wait ages for one and then three come along at once. The month of March is a bit like that for us and the publications we're in. It seems that we're everywhere this month. So, if you're missing us in person, chances are that you can pop into…