Members' Online Book: Getting Out There Cruising, Chapter 1 of 16

10 Tips to Help You Get Out There Cruising

Published Oct 16, 2013 36 comments Updated April 7, 2018

"Morgan's Cloud" lies at anchor in the glow of the setting sun and the rising moon at Maidens Arm, a very sheltered and uninhabited anchorage on the Great Northern Peninsula. Though uninhabited by people, we had lots of company from otters, moose and birds.

We have now been living ashore for a year with, all going well, six months to go. And, while we’re enjoying focusing on new and different things other than voyaging (mostly this site), we’re starting to get a serious Jones on for the liveaboard cruising life that we have been privileged to enjoy for so long.

And that got me thinking about what it takes to get out there in the first place or to get back out after a break. So here are 10 tips:

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Meet the Author

John

John was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 100,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan's Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for twenty years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 12 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

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Nothing on this website or in direct communications received from us, or in our articles in the media, should be construed to mean or imply that offshore voyaging is anything other than potentially hazardous. Dangers such as, but not limited to, extreme weather, cold, ice, lack of help or assistance, gear failure, grounding, and falling overboard could injure or kill you and wreck your boat.

Decisions such as, but not limited to, heading offshore, where you go, and how you equip your boat, are yours and yours alone. The information on this web site is based on what has worked for the authors in the past, but that does not mean it will work for you, or that it is the best, or even a good way for you to do things.