There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures. William…
Category: Sailing Blog
Boat Show Addicts
Boat show addicts We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities. – Ralph Waldo Emerson The search for our boat continues. Dan and I flew to California last week to attend a sailboat show…
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 5
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 5 ” A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives.” – Anne Davison We remained on course, sailing forward with an eye behind, watching the large ship following us drift farther and farther away. We went…
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 4
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 4 “She watched the gap between ship and shore grow to a huge gulf. Perhaps this was a little like dying, the departed no longer visible to the others, yet both still existed, only in different worlds.” ― Susan Wiggs, The Charm School It is an eerie feeling the first…
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 3
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 3 “That’s what sailing is, a dance, and your partner is the sea. And with the sea you never take liberties. You ask her, you don’t tell her. You have to remember always that she’s the leader, not you. You and your boat are dancing to her tune.” ― Michael…
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 2
John Kretschmer Passage – Part 2 “I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it’s because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it’s because we all came from the sea. And it is…
Getting There – John Kretschmer Training Passage – Part I
“To believe in luck, you must believe that the universe is a roulette wheel and instead of paying out to us what we have earned, it pays out only what it wishes. But it is not a spinning wheel of chance, it is a work of art, complete and framed by eternity.” (Dean Koontz, Innocence) …
Staying Healthy at Sea
Staying Healthy at Sea With the prospect of leaving behind the safety of home and land, there comes to mind a plethora of concerns. The first thing people usually ask me when they learn that my husband and I are planning on sailing around the world for 10 years, is…”Aren’t you afraid of storms?”. Only…
Countdown to Cruising
Twelve days until the big trip. A growing feeling is gnawing at my insides, a feeling of uneasiness and self doubt. I have talked a good game, pretended that I am capable of throwing caution to the wind, but in reality, do I really have what it takes? 10 days aboard a boat with 5…
Storm Chasing 101
Storm Chasing 101 Sixty-foot waves, hurricane force winds, boats being tossed about like peas in a giant, boiling cauldron. Stories of mariners battling the force of stormy seas are legendary. I’ve watched The Perfect Storm, read stories by John Kretchmer such as At the Mercy of the Sea, where sailors battle a hurricane and…