We’re both USCG Masters and have sailed over 30,000 nm on Starry Horizons. But we still learn all the time!
Our boat is complex. There are lots of moving parts, standing parts, parts work pretty well or parts that could use improvement. While circumnavigating, we’ve learned so much about our boat, but one of our very early lessons was on lazy jacks. What are Lazy Jacks? Our boat, Starry Horizons, a Fountaine Pajot Helia 44,…
Whether you are just starting out and learning how to sail or have completed a world circumnavigation like us, sometimes it helps to be reminded why we do this. There are many benefits to the cruising life, and some inspirational words always help me get there. And at the moment, they make me miss cruising!…
I recently wrote about our best travel destinations, talking about some of our highlights from our well-traveled life. However, there is a huge difference between a place being good to travel to (via land) versus being a good place to go cruising or sailing (via boat). We’ve been sailing around the world since 2014, and…
We do many things to prepare for offshore passages, but one of the most critical is notifying our VIPs of our plans. In discussions with other cruisers lately, it came to my attention that many cruisers do not file a float plan with anyone. What is a Float Plan? A float plan is a collection…
One of the most important pieces of equipment on a cruising boat, chartplotters aren’t often used to their full potential. What is a Chartplotter? It sounds simple enough – something that plots charts – but a chartplotter is a complicated and extremely valuable piece of equipment on the boat. In fact, the manufacturers would like…
Tying up to a mooring is one of the easiest and most common ways to secure your boat to the seabed. It takes some coordination and practice though, so here’s how we do it. What is a Swing Mooring Ball? A swing mooring ball is a very simple way to secure your boat to the…
Our AIS (Automatic Identification System) is one of our favorite electronics on the boat. It helps us make better navigational decisions, especially in high traffic areas or ship channels. However, while cruising through South East Asia, we encountered a lot of fishing boats that did not have AIS onboard. That’s when the MARPA feature on…
Rain and fog greatly reduce visibility and increase the risk of a collision while boating. Thankfully, your radar has built-in features you can use to “see” through the rain better and avoid a deadly mistake. While sailing around in the Maldives, we were near our friends Slow Flight and approaching a pass into the North…