by Michele | Jun 27, 2012 | Preparation Stage
I have to admit, as much as I like documentaries, I can only watch one every couple months. I just don’t think I can handle the shock to my system more often than that. If you’ve ever watched movies like Supersize Me or Sicko, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Dan and I recently watched the documentary Bag It on Netflix and it was another shocker, though I would recommend it especially for those of us who have to worry about the state of the ocean in the near future.
Bag It begins with the basic premise that disposable plastic items (such as the typical grocery bag) are wasteful and harmful to the environment. Why spend so much energy to produce something that is going to be instantly thrown away? The movie goes on to address the impact of plastic garbage in the oceans and the toxicity of plastic in our bodies. It is amazing how many chemicals are getting into our systems from the plastic products that we use everyday.
Watching this movie definitely gave me some additional confidence about our choice to move onto a sailboat in the near future. I’ve known for a while that our physical environment is toxic to us and I hope that removing ourselves from the “plastic” lifestyle will help to decrease the impact on our health and especially Carter’s health as he grows up. I understand that there will always be risks to our health anywhere we go, but why impose them on ourselves?
Bag It also drove home the responsibility that we have as consumers, and especially as future cruisers, to protect our oceans. If we intend to enjoy beautiful beaches and bountiful reefs, we should take care to preserve them. I don’t know what kind of life my son will choose to pursue, but if someday he has a boat of his own, I sure hope there is a beautiful anchorage for him to watch a sunset from. It’s our job to make sure that’s possible.
by Michele | May 4, 2012 | Preparation Stage
 You think a giant mechanical shark was scary? Just wait til you have nightmares of monster waves eating your tiny sailboat in the Southern Ocean. |
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So recently, Dan and I found this fantastic sailing blog called
Windtraveler, written by a couple from Chicago who is living the dream of sailing their boat
Rasmus on the open seas. (Actually, they are currently back in Chicago for a pit stop while they have their baby girl, but that’s irrelevant to this particular post.) So anyway, I’ve been reading their blog from the beginning and found a post about the movie Deep Water about the Golden Globe solo circumnavigation race in 1969. Windtraveler highly recommended the movie as “gripping” and says “there is definitely a lesson to be learned from Donald Crowhurst, may he rest in peace.” Well, I’d say I learned about 2 main lessons from the movie:
1. Never, for any reason, allow your husband to sail the open ocean without you.
2. Ever.
I mean, seriously, I don’t think I have ever watched or heard or read of a story that was so devastatingly heart-breaking. I mean, you could not make up a story so tragic as the story of Donald Crowhurst. Not to beat down on Brittany from Windtraveler or anything, but you could have warned me that I am going to have separation anxiety from my husband for weeks now, clinging to him like a two year old who thinks his mommy is never going to come pick him up from day care. Why? you may ask. Well let me give you a little breakdown of the solo race around the world.
Of the nine contestants, 4 didn’t make it out of the Atlantic, 1 got just past the Cape of Good Hope and gave up after having 27 straight days of terrible weather, 1 got 1100 nautical miles from the end before sinking his boat, 1 decided he would rather leave his family in France and keep on going around the world*, 1 committed suicide after losing his mind, and 1 finished. Not a great outcome if you ask me.
The movie focused mostly on the experience of Donald Crowhurst. He was left in an absolutely tragic state of trying to decide between death by drowning and absolute financial and reputational ruin after his boat started taking on water in the beginning of the race, and in the end he chose both. Truly, though, the real lesson that I took from his story was this: there is nothing so tragic as losing your life because you are afraid of losing it. You have to face your problems head on, even if there is nothing scarier that you can think of doing, especially if you have someone you love who will face them with you. It is always better to stand with your family, rebuilding out of the rubble, than being alone in the end.
So there you go, maybe I did learn something from this terribly depressing movie. (But seriously, Dan is never going to do a solo circumnavigation now.)
*So I know a lot of people are inspired by the writing of
Bernard Moitessier, but couldn’t he have just gone back for his wife and then gone to Tahiti? I mean, really.
by Dan | May 2, 2012 | Preparation Stage
As you might know, I am lucky enough to have recently purchased an awesome SCUBA gear package… in this series I will review some of the stand out items in my new SCUBA set. First up is the SUUNTO Zoop dive computer. It is SUUNTO’s entry level computer that replaces their popular Gecko line. Despite the low price, this thing does everything a recreational diver needs. It supports both air and nitrox (you can even set your O2 mixture), not too bad for less than $400. It is based on the Suunto Reduced Gradient Bubble Model (RGBM) algorithm which is on the conservative side.
My first experience with the Zoop was in St. Kitts and I was pretty impressed. Never having used a dive computer before, it was very easy to understand. Current depth, non-decompression time remaining at current depth, and dive time (among other things) are all prominently displayed on the huge screen. You can set depth alarms to alert you when you are going below your planned dive depth as well. I didn’t know it had this feature when I was in St Kitts… the coral ridge very gradually sloped downwards and let’s just say I was at 85ft before I knew it. The menus take some getting used to, but the computer comes with a handy water proof menu “map” in case you absolutely have to make an adjustment when diving.
The Zoop comes standard as a wrist mount. Its huge, however. I opted for the gauge mount (with retractor) version to keep things more streamlined. The Zoop has the ability to connect to your personal computer with a not-included ridiculously priced ($100!) usb cable. I haven’t purchased the cable yet due to the stupidly high price. I work in IT and I know you can buy usb cables for under $3… I feel like the cable should have been included for free in the first place.
Overall I’m happy with the computer. Are there better ones? Sure. Better value? I don’t think so. Maybe if I get into technical diving or other crazy things I will look into a high end computer… but this will work for years to come. It definitely beats using dive tables.
Looking for your own Zoop? Go to your local dive shop or [amazon_link id=”B004060D8Y” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link].
by Dan | Mar 20, 2012 | Preparation Stage
Years ago, before I had even heard of the idea of cruising, I was terrified. I was terrified that I would wake up one day at the sunset of life and regret. Not regret what I had done, regret what I had not done. This is where Bronnie Ware comes in. Bronnie was a nurse that cared for people during the last days and weeks of their lives. People tend to gain clarity during their last days and often look back on the life they have lived. Bronnie was there to experience this with her patients. She blogged, and later wrote a book, about her experiences.
In her book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing Bronnie explains how we can live better lives by addressing these top five regrets:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
It seems natural that unfulfilled dreams would be the greatest regret. I still have plenty of things that I want to accomplish in life. The key to this regret is not failure to achieve your dreams… it is the much more disheartening failure to pursue your dreams. To rephrase the famous saying: it is better to have pursued your dreams and fail than to not pursue them at all.
2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.
Bronnie says it best herself:
All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Be yourself. Much easier said than done. Are you afraid that you will not fit in to the mold others have crammed you into? Who cares? Life is far too short to worry about the negative people in your life. Cherish and nurture relationships with the people in your life who care about you instead. You are much more likely to pursue your dreams when you aren’t worried about what the next person in line thinks about you.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
This ties in to regret #3 for me. Do you spend more time with your family and friends or fake TV characters? How about your work? Prioritize your time. It is the only resource you can’t get more of.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Happiness is a choice. Live your life intentionally and you will be better for it. Do not coast (maybe you could cruise!) down the river of life. What makes you happy? Do that. There are many best selling books just about this subject including Live Like You Mean It: The 10 Crucial Questions That Will Help You Clarify Your Purpose / Live Intentionally / Make the Most of the Rest of Your Life and The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
As Michele and I work toward our goal of becoming live aboard cruisers, it helps to look back on what started us on our journey. It helps add perspective and provide motivation when we are dealing with the daily grind of saving money, learning to sail (ok, not so much a grind but a jump off a cliff), and many other non-cruising activities.
Cruising might not be for you, it isn’t for most people. But please… for your own sake, do what is for you.
by Dan | Feb 16, 2012 | Preparation Stage
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| The interior of a Beneteau Oceanis 45 looks inviting and livable. |
So its the middle of February in Illinois… about as far from the sailing life as you can imagine. To keep our spirits up we visited Strictly Sail Chicago at the end of January. There were quite a few useful seminars on cruising. Of particular interest was Jimmy Cornell’s seminar on World Cruising Routes. For those of you who don’t know, Jimmy is the author of World Cruising Routes
which is the best selling cruising atlas of all time. This guy knows what he’s doing. His main point was to make sure that you are in the right place at the right time and not in the wrong place at the wrong time. Seems obvious, but he is extremely detailed in his seminar about which months have the best winds to travel any part of the world.
Strictly Sail Chicago also has quite a few boats on display (for indoors, at least) that we were able to look through. To be honest I was quite disappointed in the Island Packet Estero. At over $350,000 and only 36ft, you don’t get very much boat for the money. In fairness the boat does not feel like 36ft inside but it didn’t compare to the much cheaper an larger Beneteau Oceanis 45. Cruising World Magazine
‘s newest edition actually has a wonderful review of this newly designed boat. I must say that I am impressed. The owner’s cabin features a queen sized bed with plenty of storage. Two heads, ample storage space, and you don’t feel like you are in a sardine can while in the cabin! For cruising features it has a larger than average 151 gallon water tank but a quite small 21 gallon holding tank. I am not sure if that’s an issue for crusing or not… just thinking out loud.
That’s it for now… hopefully the weather breaks soon and I can start accruing dives for my divemaster training and get some sailing experience!
We are normal (well ok, not so normal) people that have a dream to see the world and live life as it was meant to be. We both have successful careers in the healthcare industry, even in this terrible economy. We want to break free of the current cycle of trading time for dollars and dollars for more and more things we don't need. So, we have decided to forego the fruits of our economic success and "retire" well before we are 30 and set out to see what is over the Horizon.