Taming The Wimp Within

by John January 1, 2005
The Wimp in his natural habitat

I  have never thought of myself as adventuresome or brave. I don’t like gales offshore and I raise worry to an art form. So when a friend exclaimed, “John, I didn’t think you were afraid of anything,” as I admitted to being a white-knuckle flier, I was stunned.

A Prairie Woman Goes To Sea

by Phyllis April 18, 2005

I was born and raised on the Canadian prairie. When I first met John—a very experienced offshore sailor—late in 1996, my only sailing experience had been as ballast on a day trip in Australia. But when he wanted someone to help sail Morgan’s Cloud, his McCurdy Rhodes Custom 56, from Bermuda to Maine in the [...]

Crew Changes On The West Coast Of Greenland

by John May 19, 2005

Question: What is your experience with changing crew in Greenland?  Should we plan to go to the large airport at Kangerlussuaq (Sondre Stromfjord) to pick up new crew?

Preparing For A Trans-Atlantic As Crew

by Phyllis September 1, 2006

Question: I have perhaps a total of 40 hours sailing the New England coast. I have been invited by an experienced sailor to sail from Newburyport to Ireland in 2008 on a 32’ boat. My question is, what could I do between now and then to better prepare myself as a useful crew member?

Motorsailer Versus Sailboat

by John May 1, 2007

Question: We are considering the purchase of a 52′ motorsailer and wanted to know your thoughts regarding at what age (we are 62 and 60) should a couple consider a trawler versus a sailboat. After reading your very detailed descriptions regarding handling of sails while voyaging we were just wondering if we are taking on [...]

What Happened To Teamwork?

by Phyllis May 18, 2007

Eleven years ago I met John and started scaling the voyaging learning curve. Since I was starting from scratch, it often seemed to me that the learning curve was vertical.

Trans-Atlantic Singlehanded

by John August 1, 2007

Question: I’m at a point in my life when it’s time to live the dream that I’ve had since childhood and that’s to sail across the Atlantic single handed. I’m a complete beginner to sailing. I’m currently doing a skipper’s course which will take me up to advanced cruising, coastal navigation and radio operation, although [...]

Sailing From Halifax To Bermuda In November

by John October 1, 2007

Question: I just brought my 34-foot sailboat down the Saint Lawrence to Nova Scotia, and I’m considering making the passage to Bermuda in November and then continuing further south for the winter. I’ve been hearing all kinds of differing opinions about the safety of heading out from Halifax in November, and I thought you could [...]

On Being A Newbie

by Phyllis June 1, 2008
Ted, our friend and crew on two extended voyages to the Arctic, had almost no sailing experience before joining us but he was a great crew. An accomplished back country skier, he was able to teach us a little about mountains and has the added advantage for a crew of having a really quick and deeply sick sense of humour.

Question: I’m planning a five-year circumnavigation. While I grew up as a live aboard cruiser, two of my crew have limited sailing experience. We have cruised the Chesapeake Bay extensively together and both are becoming good seamen but neither has been on a blue water passage. Phyllis, I understand that you had little or no [...]

Finding Crew, Finding A Boat

by Phyllis February 1, 2010

Two of the more frequent requests we have been receiving lately are how to find crew or find a boat to crew on. So we decided to post what we know about this topic and then open it up for you to add to it.

Reefing On All Points of Sail

by Phyllis May 20, 2010
Phyllis hoists the mainsail on aluminum expedition sailboat Morgan's Cloud.

Morgan’s Cloud is the only boat I have ever sailed on (I only started sailing after meeting John) and so I generally assume that the way we do things on our boat is the way it is done. Which suits John just fine—he’s been able to brainwash, I mean, teach me how he likes to [...]

Crossing The Atlantic In A 32-foot Boat

by John June 21, 2010
Cris Craft 32 Sailboat Drawing

Question: I received a Cris Craft 32′ cruiser/racer as a gift. This is my first boat and I’d like to sail it to France from NYC. I’m preparing it for solo sailing and would like your opinion on it’s survivability. A Sparkman& Stephens design…it has a fin keel and a lovely interior. It has been [...]

Racing To Cruise

by John November 4, 2010
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We recommend that those who voyage offshore or dream of doing so take the time to do some racing, preferably offshore. Now I’m not suggesting that racing, and particularly ocean racing, is for everyone. In fact, despite having done quite a bit of it, or perhaps because of that, I have a fair amount of [...]

Warm Hands, Please

by Phyllis January 3, 2011
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A while ago I wrote about how we keep our feet warm when sailing in colder climes. In this post I will address the issue of keeping our hands warm, which aren’t, unfortunately, as easy to please.

Spinlock Lifejacket

by Phyllis January 21, 2011
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One of the many things that attracted John and I to each other is that we are both gimped. John has one leg shorter than the other and a slight scoliosis and I have congenitally flat feet and knock-knees. John walks like a duck and I walk like a penguin. It is a match made [...]

Serve Your Apprenticeship

by Phyllis April 21, 2011
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Offshore sailboat voyaging is a lifestyle that endlessly challenges, exhilarates, stretches, intimidates, and fulfills us. Which is why John and I are committed to encouraging others to take up and remain in this lifestyle. Through this website we have been privileged to encounter, either personally or via email, many aspiring cruisers. A large number are [...]

Great First Aid Course For Offshore Voyagers

by John May 27, 2011
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What does spending four days in the woods of Nova Scotia getting eaten alive by black flies have to do with offshore voyaging? Well I have to admit I was asking myself the same question, particularly at ten o’clock at night when faced with a horrible lake motor boat accident: One compound fracture, one head [...]

First Aid, Prevention Is Better Than Cure

by John June 1, 2011
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Even on a gentle sailing day like this, the loads on a offshore sailboat are substantial and deserve respect. While updating our first aid skills we have been lucky enough to spend time with two doctors who both sail and, in addition, have a lot of emergency room trauma experience. They confirmed one of the [...]

A Science Project, The Crew’s Role

by John July 29, 2011
Expedition Sailboat Morgan's Cloud steams through ice in West Greenland

[Written on July 24th] The science project we are engaged in has pushed Phyllis and me hard. For us, 12 hour days have been the norm and several have stretched to 18 hours. Yesterday was typical. The morning starts early for me, as usual, with analyzing the weather (more on how in a future post), [...]

A Reluctant Voyager?

by Phyllis February 1, 2012
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Lane Finley’s comment on John’s post, A Model T Offshore Voyaging Boat, got me thinking. I agree that some of the reasons women are reluctant to go cruising are those that Lane posits: seasickness, loneliness, inconvenience, discomfort…not to mention separation from children/grandchildren…But I’m wondering if there isn’t more to the issue than that. And, as [...]