Cruising World May 2023

A dear, longtime colleague of mine and revered naval architect, Dudley Dawson, once told me a great story about a rather eccentric neighbor of his. This neighbor was the consummate DIY boat owner and a penny-pincher to the core. He owned a 28-footer with a diesel inboard. When it was time to replace the old engine, rather than deal with the hassle and cost to have it professionally refitted at the local boatyard, he instead made the righteous decision to attempt the project himself—off his backyard seawall, with the help of a Bobcat skid-steer loader fitted with a boom. As Dudley tells it, the owner tied the boat to a couple of oak trees near the seawall, chained the old engine to the boom, and then lifted the engine neatly…

I could smell the forest before I even opened my eyes. It was a sweet, woodsy smell with a heavy fragrance of wet earth. If I kept my eyes closed, I could easily have placed myself on the forest floor, surrounded by the refuse of the trees that were making their way to becoming soil. When I did open my eyes, I remembered that I was lying under anchor on board Triteia, my 1965 Alberg 30 sloop, in Kaneohe Bay, on the windward side of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. I climbed out of my berth and started my morning routine: filled the kettle, lit the fire, and loaded up my stainless-steel French press with ground coffee. Out on deck, I looked toward the sea, and then toward land. The…

After spending back-to-back intervals of a couple of years with us living aboard between haulouts, the white hull of our 1978 Sabre 34 began to look a bit worse for wear. Oxidation on the gelcoat gave the boat a drab finish and, to make matters worse, try as we might to keep after it with scratch pads and detergents, a dull yellowish-orange stain clung to the area just above and below the boot stripe. In the winters, we kept the boat at a marina in Newport, Rhode Island, where we had ready access to fresh water and electricity, but come spring, work and weather often conspired to keep exterior maintenance to a minimum. Sure, we made feeble attempts to wash, wax, and use an electric buffer to polish up the…

Their numbers are impressive: 45,000 miles, a couple dozen countries, islands too many to count, and 16 years with five to go before sailing completely around the world. A life’s accomplishment by any measure, with enough stories and pictures to fill a closetful of magazines. But when Sherry and Dave McCampbell talk about circumnavigating, what you more often hear is nitty-gritty — “all the mundane stuff for our visits anywhere to be fun and stress-free,” Sherry says. “If you don’t sweat the small stuff, it doesn’t get done.” Dave adds: “We plan ahead a lot. There are cruisers who say, ‘Oh, we just go.’ But I think you miss a lot if you do that. You end up in the wrong place, the wrong season, you get hit by weather…

On Halcyon, our Valiant 40, my partner, Justin, and I eat tacos at least twice a week, sometimes more. Before the two of us met in Hawaii, I’d spent years sailing the world as cook and first mate aboard boats of all sizes, power and sail. I’d also sailed in the World ARC Rally, and earned my RYA Master and 100-ton US Coast Guard licenses. Justin, a fellow captain, shares my love of Mexican cuisine. We soon we discovered that we also shared a dream: sailing the world in our own boat. We found the Valiant 40 for sale in Tahiti. It needed work, but we knew how to do it, and the price for this Bob Perry-designed bluewater cruiser was low. In Tahiti, we spent time on the hard…

For the salsa 3 Roma tomatoes or small local tomatoes, diced 1 Tbsp. jalapeño, diced (fresh or canned) ½ cup onion, diced Juice of one lime 2 tsp. sea salt ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped Seed tomatoes before dicing; if using fresh jalapeño, remove seeds. Combine all ingredients well, and let sit for 20 minutes to let the flavors develop. For the tacos 2 tsp. paprika 1 tsp. each: onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt (or simply substitute your favorite pre-made blackening spice mix) 1 pound mahimahi or other firm white fish Cooking oil, for frying 2 cups purple cabbage ¼ cup unsalted pumpkin seeds 1 tsp. sea salt 8 small soft flour or corn tortillas Makes 8 tacos Combine spices in a small bowl. Set…