Around - the - World Cruising Guide
Living is dangerous. Cars crash, diseases appear from nowhere, loved ones die, careers evaporate. There is no safety. Misfortune can hit anywhere anytime. There is nowhere to hide. The more you try the more vulnerable you are. So do not waste your life trying to be protected. Instead set out to live. We have only one life, only one chance to live. If we do not live it, it is gone and wasted. Why not think of the joys of living a full and interesting life? Why not throw your financial caution to the wind and sail off around the world? Have the courage to live!
The Milk Run
OK so you want to sail around the world. Which way and in what seasons do you go? How, when where do you do it?
"THE MILK RUN" is the route taken by most modern sailing boats wishing to circumnavigate the world. It has the warmest breezes, most pleasurable conditions, most interesting landfalls. It is the easiest and safest route for a sailing circumnavigation. There is no fog or ice and very few gales along this route. In the Pacific Ocean it is generally referred to as "The Coconut Milk Run".
This book gives the information that you will need to successfully complete your circumnavigation around the milk run. Included are plenty of maps, navigation aids and useful advice. I have tried to provide the answers to the practical and philosophical questions that you will need to consider when you are planning this voyage.
This is not a book about sailing. It is about lifestyle. The sailing is incidental to the good living. Sailing the boat is actually the easiest part of the whole operation.
In this book I will espouse a simple easy style of sailing where moderation is the key. I am not interested in hard and fast sailing. Academically correct sailing techniques are not of any interest to us totally practically people. Trying to get the best out of your boat, go faster, get there sooner is of no interest. Getting the best out of life is infinitely more important. Living a happy and interesting life with the greatest possible amount of pleasure is the objective.
Living well is an art; a learned experience - change some of the things you have been taught to think. Once you get your head together then all the physical problems disappear and the rest is easy.
This book has valuable, even priceless information - 25 years cruising, 100,000 miles at sea, two circumnavigations. This book is for dreamers, adventurers and the driven.
Live slow - Work less
The first step is to try to understand what you are doing and why - I do it for pure pleasure. Voyaging belongs to the wanderers of the world who choose or are driven to go there own way without........ Maybe the greatest risk in life is to live without risk.
I take the helm and steer by the feel of the wind.
She's in a groove balanced and true.
My spirits lift; I look back east and laugh out loud.
We are flying!
I am free now, free of the petty life, free of the cloying social restrictions, free to enjoy, free to really feel alive, free to live. Mysteriously I come alive.
The boat leaps, lunging up and over and out.
The seas thunder past.
For a day and a night the wind comes with relentless energy and the sky is clear. As I paused and gazed up I was astonished to realize that the night was perfectly clear and a million stars shone like diamonds. The seas were bald blue promontories that moved with majestic savage grace.
Another night came down and the moon rose and the constellations wheeled by in sombre solitude.
The wind took off at last; around midnight I think it was.
One more gale I thought for this faithful vessel. Wallaby Creek.
Cruising the world and sailing your boat as slow and easy as practical is probably the best way to achieve it. If you are in a hurry, if you really want to get somewhere, then catch a plane. If you really want to improve your sailing skills, then enrol at a school in your local area. On your boat life should be simply for good living.
A love affair with the sea could be a real possibility. Going fast, meeting objectives, achieving goals, sailing well, getting recognition, pushing yourself to new limits, etc are all things that, for me, would ruin this otherwise great life experience. Hopefully in this book you can find something spiritual as well as the practical. Why not relax and enjoy yourself at new heights of living? Why not fall in love with the greatest mistress on earth; the sea. In this book I am expressing my ideas on seamanship and living. I have met quite a few people who do it well. Also many who have no idea about getting the best out of their lives. (Or do I mean into their lives?).
