Cruising World November/December 2022

MASTERING the Art of CONTROL Having had the privilege of messing about on boats for the better part of my lifetime, I’ve found (or, more accurately, placed) myself in a few precarious positions at the helm. There was the time I finally scored a date with the prettiest girl in school, who took me up on the offer of an easy daysail across Fishers Island Sound, just off mainland Connecticut. I had planned a picnic between the Dumpling Islands aboard my family’s Hunter 31, Ragtime. As it turned out, my attempt to will away some stiff forecast northerlies was futile. Hell-bent on not letting 30 knots of stink get in the way of puppy love, I forced my date to endure a white-knuckled shotgun drill, helping me frenetically tack back…

FINGERPRINTS of Change Revisiting some of her favorite destinations from decades ago, avid cruiser and climate scientist Jennifer Francis chronicles her findings related to climate change from marine life and weather to water condition and geography. cruisingworld.com/fingerprints-of-change Bonus Features The Noob Files: Dream a Little Dream When noob cruiser David Blake Fischer first got his boat, he dreamed of heading out to sea on all sorts of heroic adventures. But in reality, after 18 months at the helm of his Cape Dory 25, he’s barely sailed beyond California’s Santa Monica Bay. And that’s just fine with him. Find out why in his latest installment of The Noob Files. cruisingworld.com/thenoobfiles Trauma to Triumph Cruising veteran Katherine Gonzalez recalls how she fought her own demons to get back to boating after disaster…

HAVE Kids WENT SAILING The idea was perfectly realistic: I’ll get a little pocket cruiser, we’ll take the kids sailing, they’ll be angels, and life will be perfect. I imagined sunset cruises, my wife and I canoodling in the cockpit, both of us giggling and drinking spritzers while the boat sailed itself and the kids never spoke. And if they did, they’d speak in nautical (read: British) accents. Look what I’ve spotted in the sextant! I’m just chuffed to bits you’ve taken us sailing, Mum and Dad. We’ve had a sailboat for a year now, and I still haven’t heard that. My wife and I haven’t had a single sail that felt like a date. And there isn’t a kid aboard who speaks at a volume lower than 80 decibels.…

Electronic LIFE INSURANCE I still remember waving goodbye to my mom, as my dad, three of his buddies and I pulled away from the dock in Bar Harbor, Maine. We were bound for the Gulf of Maine and, eventually, our home port on Long Island Sound. The year was 1987; I was 10, and I had begged to go offshore. Consequentially, I had made my share of promises so that I might find myself—a mere boy—on a bona fide delivery. Among them were a promise not to venture forward of the cockpit and to wear an (awful) orange Type II life jacket with a homemade chest harness and safety tether. While my dad’s old C&C 37 got us through in fine form, I quickly learned that I hate being seasick…

REEFING Off the WIND The morning breeze was light as we ghosted past Sable Island. The mainsail and asymmetrical spinnaker were keeping us moving off the Canadian coast, and we embraced the moment, knowing it wouldn’t last. Wind was coming our way: The forecast called for near-gale-force winds by midnight. We were bound for St. John’s, Newfoundland, 400 miles across the Grand Banks. By late afternoon, with the apparent winds steady at 18 knots, we doused the spinnaker, unfurled the genoa, and set the whisker pole. By evening twilight, it was time to reef the main. Quetzal, our Kaufman 47 cutter, is fitted with traditional slab reefing. We were on a sweet reach with the apparent winds 110 degrees off on port tack. Without changing course—that’s right, keeping the apparent…

Wild HARVEST: Salty Sea ASPARAGUS Remember when not a single grocery store in America sold pomegranate juice? When tofu was hard to find? When quinoa was almost unheard of? Well, let me introduce you to sea asparagus. My family and I were in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on Del Viento, our Fuji 40, headed for Alaska. It was the beginning of what would be an eight-year Pacific cruise. A few nights before we left, cruising friends gave us a briefing. It included pictures, stories and need-to-know information from their multiple trips north. Then they told us about this thing called sea asparagus. They said we’d find it just at the high-tide line. They said to pick only the tender ends, and to pick around the edges of beds to avoid…