March 5, 2017
The uninvited guest
“Stop scratching!” I’m pleading with my 3 year-old daughter who has a cluster of red welts on both her calves. Yes, the cruising life is an extraordinary one, packed with fulfilling encounters and adventures. However, today [...]
December 24, 2016
A river runs through it
In our years at sea we’ve sometimes had a break from the ocean swell or bouncy anchorages and chosen to sail on a river. Yes, it is unlikely that you will get an easy sail but even motoring upriver is a lovely adventure in itself. Plus, you’re…
August 25, 2016
Beneath the keel
The very fact that our sailboat enables us to live on the water never ceases to amaze me. This may sounds obvious but, like the landlubber homeowner who always wants to spend more time entertaining in their dining room, taking a luxurious soak in…
July 21, 2016
The family car
We once left a taxi driver in St. Kitts dumbfounded when we explained that after getting out of his cab we’d be hopping into our dinghy to get to our yacht, lying at anchor. “You got TWO boats?” was his astonished response, “You even got a boat to…
July 6, 2016
Boat-themed-boat
I’ll never forget stepping on board our boat for the first time. Sure, I’d seen countless photos. It was me who found it online, added it to our list and urged my husband to visit it even though, at the time, it was out of our budget. The images of…
June 15, 2016
Food glorious food
Since moving on board, choosing to live and sail full-time, we both agree that we have never eaten better in our lives, despite being two foodies from London. The test of a gourmet galley is how to cope with the challenge of a long sea crossing and…
May 19, 2016
Saltwater family
The stereotypical view of a sailor usually implies a fairly solitary, perhaps lonely existence. One man on his boat gives the impression of being a hermit, quite private, choosing a quiet life away from others. Even we, sailing as a family of four,…
May 6, 2016
Birds of paradise
A life on board presents you with many chance encounters with animals. Stumbling across a pod of dolphins or catching sight of a whale are magical moments, which we find ourselves recounting to friends at the next port. But the more constant visitor…
March 2, 2016
You can take the girl off the boat…
...but you can't take the boat out of the girl. It may come as a surprise to learn that that are long stretches of time when we are not sailing. World cruising comes with what I refer to as ‘go times and slow times’, which are largely [...]
February 10, 2016
Ship shape and Bristol fashion
I have never been a neat freak, nor was I very messy in my land-lubber life. However, living on board a boat does teach you the advantages to being that bit tidier. But it’s a lesson that you only learn by getting it spectacularly wrong to [...]
November 10, 2015
Sick of the sea
It’s often surprising to me how many people say that they’d love to do what we’re doing and go out sailing long-term to far-off exotic lands but are unable to because they suffer from seasickness. Yet, what’s more unexpected perhaps is that I reply…
October 2, 2015
The impromptu bank holiday
Getting out on the water and sailing is a pursuit that most people have to save for their time off. It represents a respite from their other life of being defined by their weekday job and makes every weekend, every summer break and each public…
April 18, 2015
Sailing Today
We're thrilled to announce that as of July 2015 Jess will have a regular monthly column in UK publication "Sailing Today" Magazine. This is in addition to the 10 other sailing, parenting and lifestyle magazines that articles of [...]