Newsletter

"The single most important thing you can do, by far and bar none, to become a safe and happy offshore cruiser is to go to sea as crew with an experienced skipper on a good boat. No amount of inshore sailing or reading replaces this vital step on the road to becoming a competent offshore sailor."

"Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, For somewhere deep in their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid; A soul that sings with the ship along through plunging hills of blue, And fills her canvas cups of white with winds that drive her through."

"If you're going to build anything that endures, it's got to have a really clear purpose, a really great sense of belonging, and a sense of belief as well."

"I knew that weather can turn concrete plans into vague abstractions, but that's no reason to forgo the pleasure of laying them."

"You can just look at the globe and just see you can cross oceans from where you are now, and that's like a mind-blowing thought for me."

"Cause without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet."

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth, a nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present. In this limitless nation, this nation of wind, light, and peace, there is no other ruler besides the sea."

"The least advertised tragedy is the fear or dislike of sailing that can be instilled in your prospective sailing partners when your lack of skill leads to a few incidents that could have been avoided if you'd spent a little more time practicing sailing skills."

"The tough part is making departures, shedding the shackles of society's expectations, kicking the addiction of electronic connections, subverting the guilt of our own obligations, and pushing off the dock physically and metaphorically."

"If you want to sail around the world to say that you've done it, well, don't do it because you have the wrong attitude. If you really, really want to do something because you love the ocean, you want to see the world as it is still now before it is too late, then do it."

"It's called wayfinding, princess. It's not just sails and knots. It's seeing where you're going in your mind. Knowing where you are, by knowing where you've been."

"A lot of risk comes from trying to speed things up. A lack of patience changes the outcome."

"While I supposed myself to be looking as salt as Neptune himself, I was, no doubt, known for a landsman by everyone onboard as soon as I give in sight. A sailor has a peculiar cut to his clothes, and a way of wearing them which a green hand can never get."

"You'll be bothered from time to time by storms, fog, snow. When you are, think of those who went through it before you, and say to yourself, 'What they can do, I can do.'"

"To me, seamanship is what we do. It's like breathing... It's not just a checklist of knowing how to tie a bowline... it's an attitude."

"You've got it in you, alright, everyone's got it in them, it isn't a special dispensation from a selective Providence. It is just a question of whether you have the guts to apply it. It struck me that I must be pretty dumb, for most people come by it naturally, but I had to sail across thousands of miles of ocean to find out that courage is the key to living."

"The word 'experienced' often refers to someone who's gotten away with doing the wrong thing more frequently than you have."

"There are few events filled with as much promise as the prospect of stepping ashore after a long passage."

"There was no hurry now, Joshua was to spend the winter in Casablanca, where the local yacht club had provided us with a safe mooring in extremely pleasant and gay company. The club members are really keen sailors who go out every weekend even if a howling gale whistles through the rigging, and many of them perform quite admirable feats of seamanship in leaving their moorings under sail alone, without a hitch and as though it were the most natural thing in the world. A real pleasure to watch."

"The more technology we add, the more likely we are to get ourselves into a situation where that stuff absolutely must work, and the less likely it is that we will be able to manage safely without it."