ASA’s Plastic Pollution Purge campaign asked our fellow sailors to “bring back more plastic than you take to your boat”, and to have fun practicing your crew overboard drills as you recover trash on the water. But to break the vicious cycle of plastic pollution in the water we must prevent it from getting to the ocean in the first place. An analysis of our results from the Landfill Challenge showed us that most of the plastic waste we create in our day-to-day lives comes from the way we eat and drink. Since we usually do this 3 times daily, it’s a great place to start when tackling the reduction of our plastic footprint. Continue reading →
Modernist author and noted sea enthusiast Ernest Hemingway once said, “The sea is the same as it has been before men ever went on it in boats.” While that may be true, a great deal has changed about the boats, the lifestyle of seagoing, and perhaps the men and women themselves. For many, bareboat chartering–renting a boat and skippering it yourself–is now the ultimate goal of learning to sail, and with good reason. The charter options, variety of destinations, and accessibility we enjoy today might make even the notoriously adventurous Hemingway jealous.
The question, then, is how to get the most out of the bareboat charter experience. Likely you already have an idea of where you see yourself spending a dream vacation, whether it’s the Virgin Islands, down-island in the Grenadines, exploring the nooks and inlets of Chesapeake Bay, or navigating the cliffside fishing villages of the Mediterranean. But what do you need to know before you embark? Here are 5 essential skills to master before you leave the dock. 1. Basic Sailing Proficiency
If you’re going to be the skipper, it’s crucial that your sailing competency is up to the job. Each sailing ground is different, and some are far more challenging than others. Being honest with yourself about your experience and skill level is the best way to have a fun, stress-free adventure. Necessary seamanship skills include: Competency in steering under power and sail, trimming, reefing, and handling the sails, anchoring and mooring, and navigating using charts and line-of-sight. All of these skills and more are taught in ASA 101 (Basic Keelboat), 103 (Basic Coastal Cruising), and 104 (Bareboat Cruising). Sailors who have completed these courses have proven their ability to safely skipper a bareboat charter and are welcomed by charter companies virtually everywhere.
2. Any Special Skills Needed Where You’re Going
Again, with apologies to Ernest, the sea may not have changed, but neither is it any single, comprehensible entity. Everywhere you go, there are differences, both subtle and drastic, in the sailing conditions. If you’re chartering in the San Juan Islands, for example, you need to make sure you have a grip on tides and currents, while these are a complete non-factor in many other places. In the Mediterranean, you need to know how to pull off the famous “med-moor,” which involves tying up with your stern to the dock. The Caribbean is popular with beginning charterers for its steady tradewinds, light seas, and easy navigation, but even so, there are always things to watch out for. Make sure you consult with your charter company about what you need to know for the area you’re visiting. Pick up a copy of the local Cruising Guide and seek out those who have been there before. (The ASA community on Facebook and Twitter is a great place to bring your questions.)
3. How to Inspect Your Charter Boat
Like Odysseus escaping the island of Calypso, or Jimmy Buffett getting ejected from a Miami Heat game, the Charter Check-Out is one of those rites of passage every sailor must undergo. No, it’s not the most fun part of your trip, but don’t underestimate its importance. This is your chance to go over the boat and make sure everything is in working order, that you know how to use everything on board, and that you’re getting exactly what you paid for. A representative from the charter company should be on hand to show you around, answer any questions, and repair anything that isn’t working. It’s mandatory for the skipper, but we recommend having some or all of your crew participate. The more people on board who understand the vessel’s systems, the greater the likelihood that you can solve any problems that may arise.
4. Provisioning
A sailing voyage without good food and drink is unthinkable. You have two main choices when bareboat chartering: The charter company can provision the boat for you, or you can provision it yourself. Many charter companies will provide you with a comprehensive order form, allowing you to have the boat stocked with exactly what you want. Others have more generic provisioning “packages.” Depending on where you’re chartering, the most delicious and cost-effective method might be to buy your own provisions from local vendors or markets. Nothing can compare with local fruits and fresh-caught seafood. Many charterers opt for a combination of the two strategies: Buy your “staple” provisions from the charter company, and garnish it with those specialty items you can only get from the locals. 5. Choosing and Managing Your Crew
You don’t always get to choose the people who surround you in your daily life, but you can choose whether or not to bring them sailing. Do it wisely. Many bareboat charters are family trips, in which case you can skip this step. But if you’re planning a vacation with friends, spend some time thinking over the arrangements carefully. Remember, a sailboat is a smaller living space than you’re used to. People will be in tight quarters, and it’s important that they get along. It’s also key to consider whether they share the same interests. Will they want to stay up late or turn in early? Are they party animals or soul-searchers looking for serenity and relaxation? Some people prefer to spend more time ashore, and others will be looking for any excuse to dive, snorkel, and kayak. To keep everyone happy, make sure they understand the itinerary beforehand.
Ready to cast off? Visit Find My Charter to book your very own bareboat charter anywhere in the world.
Continuing the “Voyaging with Velella” series by ASA writer-at-large Meghan Cleary. Meghan, Prescott and their kitten Nessie are on a planned 9-month cruise in the tropics.
Have a sailing or cruising question you’d like to ask Meghan? Send them here or leave a comment.
Santiago Bay is heavy with moisture, and today we crossed our fingers for rain. A downpour of freshwater would mean a bath for the boat as well as ourselves; our plan was to suds up and stand there, letting the rain rinse off all salt and sweat and soap. With the sun still fresh on our faces, it’s easy to believe in the restorative balm of thundery gloom. Prescott starts writing and I start getting crafty with fabric and ribbon. But the heavy shroud of air nuzzles the purple mountains, and a flock of pelicans flurrying in the dusky waterline, and no drops fall. The swell rolls slowly under a glass surface, broken only by a nearby sunken ship, half submerged, and the occasional jumping smelt. We’re just rocking here and reading about fishes and birds of Mexico, dueling each other in cribbage, fighting over games of Scrabble.
When we flip on the SSB radio and listen to the weather nets at night, our faithful forecaster Don Anderson says in his slight British accent that we’ve got a bit of a Pineapple Express on the Mexican Riviera, a system bringing warm, wet clouds from Hawaii. With the solar panels rendered useless by the persistent clouds, we no longer have the battery power to support our fridge, so we flipped it off and went to bed.
A lot of cruisers go without refrigeration–not to mention all the people around the world who live without it. But for a gallon-of-milk-a-week girl from the diary heartland, it’s taken quite a shift to force my provisioning habits to conform to room temperature. We’re lucky that so far, all the way from Seattle to Mexico, we’ve managed to keep cold milk onboard–a perfect bowl of cereal, a splash in coffee, a creamy pancake ingredient, an essential side to a garlicky pizza. As our last quart started to turn with a sharp rancid tinge, I realized I have no idea what people do who live with no refrigeration.
I went to the market with a weak plan, hoping that brilliance would strike. Powdered milk is gross no matter how you deal with it. Coffeemate tastes fake. I was almost ready to give in to black coffee forever when we stumbled on boxed milk. The picture is repulsive, showing a dopey looking cartoon cow smelling daises in a huge green field. But it’s sold on the shelves unrefrigerated, and I’ve seen it used in restaurants down here too. Lo and behold, it’s not a milk-like non-dairy product, it’s real cow’s milk, and it tastes like real cow’s milk! (It’s pasteurized in such a way that it doesn’t require refrigeration. Do we have this in the states? I wouldn’t know because I’ve never had reason to go looking in the dairy substitute aisle…) Of course, cold milk is nice. But room temp milk that’s not gone bad is completely fine!
After our week in Santiago impressed upon us how much we depend on our solar panels, we decided to head around the corner to a quiet, wild anchorage reputed to have great snorkeling. Plus, turning on the engine to motor out of the bay would mean we could also turn on the refrigerator again. But the morning we were scheduled to leave, I awoke to a buttery finger of sunlight stretching down through the open hatch to our white pillows. I laid there thinking about how the solar panels would already be drinking it in, and how we have fresh produce swinging in the bulging galley hammock, and how the sun and the fruit at my fingertips made me feel incredibly rich. The more we learn to go without, the more I realize how comfortable our lives really are.
Here’s where the crew of Velella are drinking milk right now:
