Rants & Musings

We pursue a technical vein here at AAC. But sometimes it’s nice to take a break from anchors and electrons. To that end, John is trying his hand at fiction. 

Are the gear awards given by panels of marine journalists useful and worth your time?

The first of Colin’s voyaging articles on their 2018 season cruising Atlantic Canada.

More and more cruisers are working while cruising at jobs that require long hours at a computer. And even among cruisers who leave their jobs completely behind when they head out, many are blogging as well as editing photographs and video; all computer intensive. Here’s a look at the gear we use and where we work day to day.

Many waterborne cruisers have thought about trying the land-based version. Matt, who has done a bunch of the later, explores the challenges and rewards.

John takes a look at recent disturbing trends that could result in bad outcomes for us voyaging cruisers.

After 20 years of full-time live-aboard cruising, John and Phyllis are making the transition to part-time voyaging. Phyllis shares how intense a transition this is.

There are so many skills required to be a competent seaman. The trick to getting out there cruising is prioritizing the ones that really matter.

Thinking smart, rather than lazy, can make all the difference when voyaging…and in life.

I recently came across a video that asks adventurers how they define “adventure”, which made me think about how I define it. This is important—we call our business Attainable Adventure Cruising!

This post is going to get me in all kinds of hot water, but I just can’t stand it any more. I tried to ignore it, I really did, but it’s no good, I have to say something. What’s making me crazy is the current fashion for recreational mariners, particularly on VHF radio, to call each other […]

Writing our High Latitude Voyaging course materials reminded me of four great quotes that really apply to cruising, and then I added one. Also a quick report on our activities at Boreal.

Funny the triggers that get me thinking about larger issues. A few weeks ago, while we were visiting Bermuda and out with friends on the water, we passed the house in the picture above. It’s a pretty nice house. It shares an island in Hamilton Harbour with several other private residences. It has a small […]

My father was an engineer and I like to think that if I was not dyslexic, with the resulting poor academic record at school, I would be one too. In any event, I ended up being a technician  (mainframe computer), which meant that I got to hang out with a lot of engineers, thereby developing […]

I’m an electronics technician by trade and a believer in logic and scientific method. When I ran my businesses I was an analytical manager delving into the numbers as a foundation for my decisions. And when voyaging, I’m a compulsive list keeper, boat preparer and weather analyzer. Yes, I’m the hard cold facts guy. Well…except […]

Over the years we’ve been voyaging, we’ve occasionally heard from people who accuse cruisers of being parasites—wandering the globe without giving back. And, yes, we’ve run across some cruisers like that. We call them “user cruisers”. They come into town, take from the generous locals (sometimes from people who have less than them), and then […]

In reading the headline of this post, you could be forgiven for thinking that I have completely lost my mind and decided to leave the nautical arena to become an investment blogger. Not so. Almost everyone out there voyaging is relying on their savings, to at least some extent, and most of you who are […]

Ever since John took up photography, our hikes have turned into strolls interspersed with numerous long hiatuses while he records our surroundings for posterity. This initially caused a certain amount of friction, until I developed my own obsession—sea glass.

Due to John’s and my penchant for sailing in the high latitudes, “Closed For The Season” signs have become somewhat of a theme for our cruises. In early spring we are on our way north and nothing is open yet, and by the time we turn south in the fall, it’s all over.

For various reasons we spent most of the summer at our cabin in Nova Scotia, working way too much and sailing way too little. While preparing to get back out cruising, we were once again reminded of the difficulties and sheer work of leaving a land base: Get car ready for storage, store same, move […]

Last week a friend gave us a catalogue of “expedition” cruises offered by National Geographic and Lindblad Expeditions. The glossy photograph-filled magazine touts cruises that you can take to some of the world’s most remote places. The sales pitch runs along the lines of: Buy a ticket, fly to Chile, board a luxury small cruise […]