Cruising World June/July 2023

Friends, we’re living through unprecedented times. I’m not referring to the recent pandemic, the current war in Ukraine, Elon Musk burning $44 billion on Twitter only to run it into the ground, or even Tom Brady finally retiring from the NFL. I’m talking about the virtual EKG machine that has been the yacht market of late. To anyone paying attention, which is probably most of us, it’s been an absolute roller-coaster ride. And, lately, a fun one at that. Oh, how times have changed. My early days in the industry date back to 2007, when I took a flyer in yacht sales. Raise your hand if you remember the US gross domestic product plummeting by 4.3 percent around 2008, taking us into the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression.…

Sailboats make their way under Chicago’s Michigan Avenue Bridge. After 10 months sailing the Great Loop, the Nor’Sea 27 Jackalope tacked into the Windy City at dawn. The sun rising over the stern reflected in the windows of the buildings lining the river. Over the span of more than a century, architects designed these buildings to rise out of the river, to live with it and alongside it. They created the impression that the quiet waters and bustling world flowed together in beauty and peace. There’s a touch of magic in the way a bluewater boat winds through a city—a pause to the story of the sea. As the bow slips by the crowds, the sails seek a hint of an ocean breeze. Around a final bend, the hull at…

The sinking of the sailboat Raindancer brought at-sea safety preparations to the forefront and reminded the Totem crew of their own whale encounters. cruisingworld.com/sailing-totem-raindancer Bonus Features The Noob Files: Good Vibes Only? It’s Complicated Our resident “noob” cruiser David Blake Fischer is at it again, this time discovering that sailing, like life, is about embracing a full spectrum of emotions. cruisingworld.com/thenoobfiles Navigating by the Stars The Polynesian Voyaging Society embarks on a four-year Pacific circumnavigation using only traditional wayfinding on sailing canoes. cruisingworld.com/pvs-voyage-2023 Prop Walk Explained If you’re not using your boat’s pivot to your advantage when leaving the dock, you’re doing it wrong. Check out this expert advice on how to make your prop work for you. cruisingworld.com/prop-walk Newsletter Cruising World Weekly Don’t miss the latest from Cruising World.…

When Behan and Jamie Gifford warn cruisers to be realistic about budgets, they know of what they speak. In 2010 in Tahiti, not even halfway through a planned three- to five-year sailing sabbatical with their three children, they had $100 left in the bank. Their house in Bainbridge, Washington, was underwater financially. “We figured that we could either pull the plug and go back, or we could figure out how to make a living out of this,” Jamie says. They proceeded to Australia, got shore jobs for a year and a half, and reinvented their sabbatical into a lifestyle: living aboard while selling stories, instructions, guidance and a fair amount of hand-holding to a growing clientele who dream of cruising. After circumnavigating and accumulating an encyclopedic body of practical knowledge,…

When I tell friends that I’m going off sailing, really, I should add, “and motoring,” because that’s what I’ll be doing with our dinghy to reach our sailboat out on its mooring. And often, the first thing we do after sailing to a new anchorage is launch the inflatable with its 4 hp gas-powered engine to putt around and explore. Don’t get me wrong: I’m all in on sailing, but I live for those little joyrides to nowhere too. But even on a good day, our Suzuki outboard requires multiple pulls to start, especially when it’s cold, or if I put it away after running the carburetor’s bowl dry (I always do) to avoid it turning into a bowl of E10 jelly. And then there’s the racket our “quiet four-stroke”…

When we first left Rhode Island for extended cruising aboard Simple Life, our Island Packet 37, landlubber friends assumed we’d be docking and dining nightly. When we told them we rarely stayed at marinas and mostly anchored out, the wide-eyed response was: But how do you eat? This question always made my husband, Joe, and me chuckle. We love good food. We especially love seafood, and I’ve always loved to cook. Cruising and living aboard have only expanded my repertoire. When the weather changes in late August, we prepare for our seasonal departure from Narragansett Bay and a monthslong cruise down the Eastern Seaboard to the Bahamas. The goal always is to arrive in northern Florida by November 1, then cross to the Bahamas from South Florida or the Keys.…