1 // The Sailing will be Challenging

Part of a series I'm working on titled 'A Beginners Illustrated Guide to Cruising' ...

Like many day sailors, we’ve long dreamed of cruising full-time. My wife and I have sailed our Siren 17 for 5 years in the Great Lakes and over a year of careful planning and saving, we managed to buy a fully outfitted Alberg 37. Our sea going chariot that would sail us gracefully away into the sunset for a year of trouble-free Caribbean cruising. Completely new to cruising and ocean sailing we knew we had a big learning curve ahead of us, but thought that with the right attitude and preparations we would be ready. We quickly learned that having the right attitude was more important than the preparations we’d made. The majority of those preparations we’re focused in the wrong areas and over the first 6-months of cruising, learned many great lessons that weren’t illustrated in the sailing textbooks.

1/ The sailing will be challenging.
Picking the perfect 3-4 hour window to go coastal cruising is great. But, making long passage between counties in open ocean is different. You’re at sea for days and will encounter squalls, rain, headwinds, no winds, capes, shoals and conditions that’ll make you reconsider why you’ve ever sailing passed Georgetown, Bahamas.

... MORE TO COME! ...