Cruising in Searffyn – Reviewed

Book the Captain has snoozed upon:  
Cruising in Searffyn, by Lin and Larry Pardey   

The Can Opener has actually been taking my advice to heart. He’s been powering through the pages of cruising wisdom in hopes of growing…wiser. And as a happy result has just finished another great book by Lin and Larry Pardey…

Who are Lin and Larry Pardey?
Only one of the most famous cruising duos EVER! Their motto is: Go simple go modest, go small, but go!
 

‘They have sailed over 185,000 miles together, having circumnavigated the world both eastabout and westabout. They have also sailed westabout (against the prevailing winds) past all the great southern capes, including Cape Horn. Larry built the two boats they used for two circumnavigations. 

‘Both boats were under 30 feet and were designed by Lyle Hess. Neither boat had an engine (except for an outboard on the dinghy which they carried on board Taleisin)…. Together they have written eleven books and created two VHS tapes and four DVDs.’*

Topics Covered

This travelogue covers seven years of their adventures from California to Central America, Panama, Columbia, the Caribbean, back up to Virgina, USA and then on to England – a final destination that was chosen at the toss of a coin.
 
The Best Part
Lin and Larry are first rate narrators, picking out careful details to make their descriptions of the places they visit come alive. They also explain in detail their philopsophies regarding boat design choice, boat maintenance and repair, some storm tactics… and life. 

Their unique perspective has made their fascinating life possible. And it is a FASCINATING life!
 
Wishes

I wish we could have been there…. and I wish our life turns out to be half as fun as theirs!
 
Conclusion
It’s a classic. The Can Opener has previously read all their ‘how to’ type of books for cruisers (eg Capable Cruiser and Self Sufficient Sailor) and had avoided their travelogue type books. We are so glad we picked up this one. 

It had enough ‘how to’ knowledge in it to satisfy us… and we realised that it’s quite inspirational to read a well written travelogue. And this was certainly inspirational.

Ever read Cruising in Searffyn, by Lin and Larry Pardey? How did you find it? Any good recommendations for other books for the sea library?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* wikipedia

Previously: Come Hell or High Water
Next: The Reluctant Mariner

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Cruising Castles – South Shore Of England

Why do we love cruising?

It’s the places you go, the people you meet, the food, the wind on yer whiskers… but last weekend it was the castles. 

We raced out of Poole on the Sunday and there, at the harbour mouth as we headed out to the start line, was sparkly Branksea Castle just glowing back at us from the shore. 

We get a kick out of castles, thinking about the history and who’s lived in them, the stories. Sweet to view them from the water too.

We can’t find too much info about the history of this particular castle, but it sits on Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour – the island where Lord Baden-Powell and his boy scout camp started it all. 

Cruising makes learning history seem not just painless, but fascinating.                            

–Captain Cat 

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Casting Off The Bow Lines: The Delivery Begins…

Good bye Caleta del Vélez! 

Up out of my comfy cabin bed at an unseasonal 8am. Provisions and personal belongings already stowed. Sails prepped and at the ready. A hearty crew breakfast of chorizos y chocolate…

… and then we’re off!

I organised the Can Opener and the crew to cast off the spring, bow and stern lines, let the wind catch my bow to spin us around and then steered a confident course for the open sea.

These catamarans carry quite a lot of freeboard – at the wheel I sit nearly 9 feet above the water. It’s kind of like driving a small office building across the Med. Ah me, new experiences every day…

 

And hellooooo Alboran Sea! 

–Captain Cat 

 (transcribed by the Can Opener)

What’s On The First Mate’s Nightstand?

What’s On The First Mate’s Nightstand these days?

Books, books and more books to read…

The Can Opener has been toiling away at his studies and we are pleased with his progress. 

Here are the books piled sky high on his night table that are in various stages of being read:

• La Longue Route, by Bernard Moitessier
• Cruising Under Sail, by Eric Hiscock
• Mettre Les Voiles, by Antoine
• Coastal and Offshore Navigation, by Tom Cunliffe
• Ocean Sailing, by Tom Cunliffe
• The Racing Rules of Sailing, by Paul Elvestrom
• Offshore Sailing, by Seifert & Spurr
• Don Casey’s Sailboat Maintenance Manual, by Casey & Compton
• Yachtsman’s Emergency Handbook, by Hollander & Mertes
• The Voyager’s Handbook, by Beth Leonard
• The Seaworthy Offshore Boat, by John Vigor

Any other recommendations for good books for the Can Opener to read?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Cruising Texts
Previously: A Big Bunch of Book Reviews

Passage Treats

Celebrating Passage Milestones

We are looking forward to the upcoming Spain-Greece yacht delivery. Time to plan for success!

Three weeks is great, it’ll be a chance to really get a feel for long passages. It’s also a looooong time for a small group of people to be in constant contact with each other in a constricted space.

So the Cruising Kitty is planning ahead with crew building treats and activities.

I’ve been researching online, on sailing forums and putting my thinking cap on (the one with the feathers). 

Here are the highlights of my favourite ideas so far…

Treats 

• ‘weekly snack bag’* – filled with junk food, candy, savory treats, catnip, etc for the week… for indulging as needed
• drinks or a meal from the cuisine of an upcoming destination 
• balloons, (reusable) streamers and silly hats for celebration meals (see below)
• chocolate always
• cookie mixes*
• cake mixes
• jerk beef, chorizo and sausage sticks
• cheese and crackers

Activities

• cocktail hour – team drinks (which may or may not be alcoholic). One hour each day when the whole crew is together. Even a two-person crew may not see much of each other when running watches. A cruising tradition
• tea hour – a non-alcoholic version of the above
  

• water guns*
• magnetic travel games*
• peg board games*
• temporary tattoos*
• nautical crosswords – still looking for adult level examples of this
• movie night with popcorn
• theme music day* – 50’s, Beachboys/Beach Music, Mariachi, Polka, James Bond theme songs — with coordinating accessories: eg Beachboys with Hawaiian leis, Mariachi with maracas, Polka with polka dots (the Captain’s personal favourite)…
• silly hat day
• holiday celebration meals – any events happening during your passage? Birthdays? Half-Birthdays? Boat anniversary? Valentine’s Day? April Fools Day?
• milestone meals

Timing

• daily for ‘cocktail hour’ 
• weekly for special treats and activities – probably best brought out on the same day each week at cocktail hour
• milestones – holidays, mid-trip and end-of-trip for special meals

‘Course not every crew is going to go wild for the same treats and activities, every group being different and all. But I hope to build up a time tested bank of ‘passage treat’ ideas to draw on. I’ll be testing and having the Can Opener taking my notes as we go.

What passage treats have you tried? Or what great ones have you heard of? How’d it go?

We’re looking for suggestions – the wackier and more creative, the better!

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

* Special thanks for these great suggestions to ‘The Cruising Couple’, ‘Ex-Calif’ and ‘drew23’ on Cruisers Forum

Team Building

Next: Delivery Crew Team Building

Care and Feeding of the Sailing Crew – Reviewed

Links below at bottom of post

Book the Captain just finished for the third time: The Care and Feeding of the Sailing Crew, by Lin Pardey

On a 49 day voyage (49 days!), from Yokohama, Japan to Victoria, Canada, Lin Pardey wrote down just about everything you could want to know about food and crew care on a boat.

The stuff we loved

• specific info on how long each kind of fruit, vegetable, dairy, meat, whatever, lasts in a boat without refridgeration
• how to store food so it lasts as long as possible
• how to get the right kind of food in the first place
• how to track what you’ve got
• managing the galley organisation and layout
• planning meals for voyages
• how to cook with salt water – adapting recipes to make use of ocean water (and save your fresh water supplies)!
• managing meal prep and crew care across a variety of weather conditions…
• Actually, we loved it all.
  

Wishes

We wish this could be provided in digital form with spreadsheets for tracking inventory and how long each type of foodstuff probably lasts riiiight in that spreadsheet.

Conclusion

We loved every bit of this book without reservation. Heck, we’d buy two copies if it meant we could get even more info out of it! But Lin seems to have already covered it all.

Any other crew care/provisioning/cookbooks you would recommend for cruising? 

I am always researching the next round of additions for our sea library…

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Book Reviews
Next: Bryan Willis, The Rules in Practice – Reviewed 
Previously: Psychology of Sailing

  
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Psychology of Sailing – Reviewed

Book the Captain just finished snoozing on: Psychology of Sailing, by Michael Stadler 

Trolling the internet for books on improved First Mate management and motivation, I found Psychology of Sailing, by Michael Stadler, and decided to give it a whirl.

Since this is an out-of-print book, the used prices range from nearly free to seriously insane. By checking Amazon weekly, we finally found an offer for less than £7, shipping included. 

Topics covered

• sensory illusions at sea – what sights and sounds can ‘trick you’ at sea and why this happens
• how seasickness happens and why
• crew psychology – interactions of crews on ships, leadership and motivation

The best part 
For us, it was the crew psychology – interactions of crews on yachts, leadership and motivation. That’s why we bought it. 

Wishes 
We were hoping that the whole book would be about crew interaction on yachts and long distance passages – and how to optimize that. Unfortunately, only 45 pages (out of 120 pages) covered this. 

While this section was interesting, I’d like to find a much deeper and lengthy analysis of crew psychology. But this book is the best ( – and the only – one specifically focused on voyaging) that  we can find so far. 

Maybe analyses of parallel or similar situations would be helpful? For example, analyses of interaction of crews on submarines? Or other groups in confined spaces? 

Conclusion 
So – it’s still a good add to the sea library. 

It gives a bit of insight on what I’m doing right in Can Opener management and some ideas about where to investigate to improve even further. I’d really like to find more expert coverage of this topic, however. 

Got any good recommendations on ‘crew psychology’ for the sea library? 
What other books are a must for the cruising life? 

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener) 

Book Reviews
Previously: How to Sail Around the World – Book Review

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How Much Does ‘Cruising’ Fitness Cost?

How Much Does ‘Cruising’ Fitness Equipment Cost? 

How much will it cost to keep the Can Opener in fine form? The First Mate and I industriously researched a few items of interest along ‘Cruising’ Fitness Equipment lines. 

Here’s a sampling of prices for some popular on-board fitness items we found at the websites of a few big retailers. 

Of course, caveat emptor and prices change all the time. This is just a baseline price trawl for rough budget estimating purposes.

 
Here we go… 

Some Ballpark Prices in the USA  

• resistance tubing ($5-15 at Walmart)
• yoga DVD ($7-20 at Amazon depending which one you buy, $5 if you buy used)
• snorkeling gear (about $30 at Amazon for a medium quality set)
• skipping rope ($5-10 at Amazon, you can spend $40 if you want somebody’s idea of the ‘Olympic’ version…)
• Mini Stepper, Stairmaster-type equipment ($40-70 at Walmart depending on what brand you buy) 
• TRX Suspension Trainer ($150-200 at Amazon depending on what package you buy)
• folding bike – good for getting to the store and back ($140-260 at Amazon) and bike repair kit ($25-38 at Amazon)

Some Ballpark Prices in the UK

• resistance tubing (£9-12 at Sports Direct)
• yoga DVD (£2-10 at Amazon UK depending which one you buy)
• snorkeling gear (£18-26 at Sports Direct for just a ‘fun set’)
• skipping rope (£5-14 at Sports Direct) 
• Mini Stepper, Stairmaster-type equipment (£35-120 at Amazon UK depending on what brand you buy)
• TRX Suspension Trainer (£160-200 at Amazon UK depending on what package you buy)
• folding bike – good for getting to the store and back (£100-210 at Amazon UK) and bike repair kit (£10-15 at Amazon UK)

 
Observed  

Above samples are for ‘new’ prices. eBay pros and secondhand treasure-hunters, of course, can drive great bargains.

If you’re into scuba, kayaking or high end bikes and boards, you could spend a bundle. 

But if you’re like us, you can stay in shape with a pair of running shoes, a swimsuit and some pretty nominal purchases. And… no more gym fees! Which is good news for the budget-conscious crowd.


Conclusion
We will probably choose get most of the above – except for the Mini Stepper and the TRX. We’re not yet convinced.  I’d like to investigate more to see if the TRX really adds that much value beyond what the resistance tubing provides.

The folding bike, on the other hand, will probably pay for itself pronto by getting us past the tourist-priced areas near marinas and out to the food and shopping markets used by locals. 

Where did you buy your play/exercise stuff? Would you buy it there again? Any recommendations for good price-value brands?

–Captain Cat

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Life Aboard 
Previously: Fitness on Boats

Fitness on Boats

If Captain Cat were human, he would look just like this. The Can Opener does not.

Can Opener: So. This Voyaging Fitness Routine you’ve been researching for me… result?

Captain Cat: It’s a work in progress. Here’s what I’ve got so far…

    While at sea

    Muscles

• muscle work with resistance tubing ($10-15 at Walmart)
• TRX Suspension Trainer (costs about $150-200)
• stretches and yoga (cost of a DVD)
• giving the Captain his daily massages
• heavy lifting of fresh-caught fish into Captain’s dinner dish

      

    Aerobics

• This is a lot harder to find an answer for at sea. The Voyager’s Handbook recommended some ship-size Mini Stepper, Stairmaster-type equipment ($40 at Walmart). Don’t know how well it would work if we were heeling. It looks like just one more thing to pack, but we’ll check it out.

    

    While at the dock:

    Add more aerobic exercise to the above…

• jogging
• skipping rope like a boxer
• cycling and kayaking (folding bike and kayak on the ‘potential equipment’ list) 
• swimming / snorkeling excursions
• dragging the Captain’s groceries home

That should about do it.

Can Opener: Er… what about fitness for you, mon capitaine?

Captain Cat: I am a perfect specimen. There is no improving upon this. 

And I will exert myself to keep our yacht mouse-free at all times. Just as I do in our current abode.

Can Opener: How would anyone know if you’re any good with mice? There’s nothing here to catch!

Captain Cat: Exactly.

(transcribed by the Can Opener)

Life Aboard 
Next: How Much Does ‘Cruising’ Fitness Cost?
Previously: Sailing Strength Training