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.

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?

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 [...]

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.

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 [...]

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 [...]