Launching Insights is Nicola Rodriguez, author and long-distance cruiser who started blue water cruising as a newlywed, had two children en-route (exploring Europe, the Caribbean and the US Eastern sea board) and wrote a book about it eight years later.

Nicola shares her top ten tips to set you on the right course if you are planning on sailing away anytime soon.

Sailing Away – Top 10 Tips

1. Deadline

Set a deadline, an immovable, non-negotiable deadline for sailing away. Perhaps joining a Rally will give you that concrete date you need.

Several cruisers we know flew home within months of having “sailed away”, returning for weddings or significant celebrations, but they had already made the break. Procrastination is the thief of time and sailing dreams. A season slips by, financial circumstances change, knees give up, and the dream of letting-go the lines slips into the past tense.

Make sure it’s what you want. Focus, chutzpah and bloody mindedness will get you on your way, but you have to really want to go. Some talk-the-talk but set up the trip wires years in advance so when the “time” comes the reasons not to go seem valid.

2. Children

Our children were eight-month-old babies when they joined the crew. We found living aboard with two boys under five was a stretch but one for which we are grateful. We had ‘the best of times, and the worst of times’ because we were with them 24/7. We had time though, which is priceless.

Even if the boys have hazy memories of our time together, they learnt a huge amount through ‘osmosis’, just being with us and experiencing sailing through Europe, the Caribbean and US Eastern sea board.

Help your children document their memories. Our most precious possession was Jack’s (aged 5) ‘log book’ in which he drew, then wrote of his travels. For example, in his chart of the Caribbean a canon depicted Antigua and a volcano St Lucia.

3. Crew

A voyage can be blighted or delighted by the crew. Once on a long passage there is no escape. Choosing a good crew is a complex game of mixing sailing skills, social compatibility and experience. One skipper quipped that his best crew was an engineer who could cook. Your best friends may be a hoot in the cockpit over cocktails but do they have the skills you require? Will they take instructions from you as skipper? Will they form a cohesive team which can work together in a storm?

If you discover that your crew are not working, can you fix it? Or, ask them to leave? Where possible test out your crew by taking them for a week-long cruise including at least three or four full days and nights at sea, not just a jolly weekend, or a week with evenings ashore.

Be clear on what you expect of your crew, and vice versa.

4. Guests

The popular saying, “Like fish, after three days guest stink”, can sometimes be truer on a yacht. Make sure guests bring small, soft bags, not suitcases. After the safety briefing, introduce them to water and power efficiency, especially if you are going to be at anchor. Long hair washing sessions are for the shower block, (ditto hair dryers). Whilst lounging in paradise, limit expectations to reality. If they want to spend an extra two days in this idyllic far away anchorage, they might have to pay for it by sailing into the wind for a day.

Guests can be a delight and a drag. Always encourage guests to make their way to your location, rather than you to the nearest port to the airport. For them it adds to the adventure and for you it can save difficult passages.

We fell into this trap in July in the Chesapeake Bay, near Washington DC, when we agreed to meet a friend of John’s in Nassau for Christmas. We seemed to have plenty of time, however, a side trip to Cuba and a series of cold fronts meant time ran out and we had to sail on Christmas Day. As it turned out we were sailing with five other boats which had been waiting for the same weather window. One boat had a mother-in-law pounding the Nassau dock for five days.

5. Spares

Take plenty of spares. Sitting on a hot bus searching for a chandlery as you watch the weather window close is a bad experience wherever it happens. I have given up my precious locker space to spares, and more spares, and more spares. Take as many spares as you can.

On occasion, the wait for a spare part to be shipped can be fun. We had a ball at a fiesta in Northern Spain. However, you could find yourself grinding against a wall in port miles from a town, with aggressive fishing boats causing huge wakes twice a day.

Remember, depending on where you are in the world it may be cheaper to buy from your home port chandlery if you have negotiated a discount.

6. Shopping

In addition to a rucksack (and fold up bicycle), the “Granny” shopping trolley is an essential for easy shopping. Not the coolest look but certainly in many ways “use-full”. When wintering in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) we attached the Granny trolley to the back of the bicycle.

On small islands such as in the Bahamas, be prepared to go to several shops to complete your full shopping list. Perhaps share a taxi with other yacht crew. And, don’t expect the same items to be stocked in the same shop each week – so get them while you can.

7. Fridays

It is said never leave for a long voyage on a Friday. “A Friday’s sail, always fail”. One of many superstitions for sailors but one which has proved itself not just for us but many sailors we have met. Controversially, some say it is because Christ was crucified on a Friday. Others are more practical pointing out that the skipper and crew are tired at the end of the week working on the boat. This is just our take on yet another sailing superstition, such as whistling (or not) for wind. Who knows if they are really true?

8. Foul Weather

It is worthwhile keeping easy-to-open tins and chocolate in an accessible locker should bad weather hit while on passage. If the cook is incapacitated the crew can keep their strength up by heating up soup or mince or baked beans.

9. Bounty

A wooden fish from Antigua. A painting and a small steel drum from St Lucia. These items were expensive birthday presents at the time, but worth the extra expenditure to bring the memories back home.

My first article for Yachting monthly was about our Wedding List which was at a chandlery – ‘For Wetter or Worse’. The Wedding list was an extremely useful way to acquire all kinds of boat equipment as well as a way to take friends and family with you whether it is the barbeque or the anchor ball or money towards communications equipment.

Some gave money with instructions to buy something ‘special just for us’. Incredibly our decorated china (!) cups and saucers from Portugal sailed 25,000 miles and in Martinique we bought wonderful prints in the “How Boats are Born” collection by “Heron” in which a dolphin, a swan, and an eagle turn into a variety of yachts.

Sharing your travels: If it is someone’s Birthday back home, a real treat is a postcard. Very few people send postcards these days which makes a Birthday postcard from your latest port of call even more special.

10. Expect the Unexpected

Expect the unexpected and learn to adapt. Time and again, we would say “Just because it’s not going to our plan, doesn’t mean it’s not going to The Plan”. I saw a sign in the Florida Cays, “Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape”. Very, true.

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About the Author

John and Nicola Rodriguez sailed 25,000 miles from the UK to the Med to the Caribbean and USA, twice, over eight years. During their sailing adventure, two young crew members, their sons Jack and James joined the ‘crew’. They are now based primarily in the Solent on the south coast of the United Kingdom.

Nicola is the writer of “Sail Away, How to Escape the Rat Race”, a book which had guided and inspired many to sail away. The second edition was published by Fernhurst Books in January 2019. It has been described by Yachting Monthly as ‘A must for all aspiring ocean adventurers’.

John is a specialist yacht broker for blue water and high-quality cruising yachts.

John and Nicola are members of the OCC and RCC.

Read their cruising blog at http://theyachtseraphim.blogspot.com/

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Related Articles and Links:

• Noonsite’s Cruising Information page (with planning and preparation section)
• Noonsite’s Cruising with Children page
• Other INSIGHTS
• Bluewater Cruising: Family Boat Shares Top Tips

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.