Newsletter

"The one place I know I belong is on the ocean. There is no question about that. You know, I have never felt like I belonged anywhere as much as I feel like I belong on the ocean."

"We all have to humble ourselves and realize that we've all made bad decisions. Now, most of us get away with them."

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

"People really don't truly understand what real life is until you experience being that far offshore away from land. And it is unbelievably the best feeling on the planet. And I would do anything to be back every day."

"The gratification that I get from coaching and teaching these guys and then finishing a Bermuda race is just knowing that I facilitated getting these guys from sort of point A to point Z... look at what these guys have accomplished, and I've helped facilitate that."

"I'm in the Northwest Passage, I'm cold, I'm wet a lot, I'm hungry, I'm sleep deprived, like properly sleep deprivation at times. I had every right and reason to be miserable, right? Cold, wet, tired, hungry, and miserable. But being miserable was not going to give me sleep. It's not going to give me a warm meal. It wasn't gonna give me a hot shower. It wasn't gonna give me any of those things. So you might as well enjoy the moment, you know?"

"I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote. I love to sail forbidden seas and land on barbarous coasts."

"It must be remembered that on long offshore passages a well-built and well-equipped boat will stand up to much more rough weather than will the crew."

"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."

"That's how you succeed doing crazy stuff, right? You gotta be conservative in your day-to-day, even though the overall plan is not conservative, it's kind of crazy. But stay in the middle, man."

"In anything at all, perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away, when a body has been stripped down to its nakedness."

"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."

"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."

"Part of seamanship is making good decisions, and as we all know, at sea you don't get too many bad decisions."

"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."

"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."

"True riches cannot be bought...There is no buying the night flight with its hundred thousand stars, it's serenity, it's few hours of sovereignty."

"I live by a couple of rules concerning reefing when on long voyages. The first is that if the thought crosses my mind that I should reef, then I do it without debate. It's a great way for me not to push the boat too hard. The second is my 'cup of tea' rule. Wind, by its very nature, is unpredictable, so if the winds have eased to the point that I could easily sail with one less reef in the mainsail, I wait the time it takes me to make and drink a cup of tea before doing anything. The process normally takes around thirty minutes, so if the winds are still light when I'm done then I will shake out the reef and hoist more sail. More often than not, a gust will have come through that means I need to keep the reef in place to ensure I'm not overpowered in the gusts."

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

"The more you know, the less you need."