Eagle at 3 months

Tom Brown and Jeanne Walker sail aboard SV Eagle, a 36' Freeport Islander. You can follow their journey on their blog.

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We met in 2003 and our third date was on Eagle, Tom's first time on a sailboat. We were married in 2005 and the plan to sail away began to take shape shortly there after. We already had a great boat, a Bob Perry designed Freeport Islander. She is a modified full keel sloop, with a set of three large window down each side of the main salon. She is incredibly comfortable to sail, as well as a roomy live aboard boat. After an intensive complete re-fit of the entire boat, we sailed away from the dock, full time on April 19^th, from Des Moines Washington.

What are your plans now?

Our first 90 days were spent doing a tour of the Canadian Gulf islands and Desolation Sound. Now we're back in the San Juan Islands, getting ready to head down the Pacific Coast in September on our way to Mexico.

Is there some place that you wish you could have stayed longer?

The farthest north we got was a place just above the Desolation Sound area called The Octopus Islands. We were able to take a stern tie back in a small cove in the north east corner that was just magical. Most of our travels were so early in the spring, that the weather was pretty miserable, and when we got to Octopus Islands, the sun came out and it was beautiful. There were some nice hikes, we caught fresh prawns and ling cod for dinner. Unfortunately, our water supply was running low, and there was a nasty red algae bloom in the water that prevented us from using our water maker. So we had to leave sooner than we had wanted.

What do you enjoy about cruising that you did not expect?

After a lot of years working in the corporate world, and noise and stress of the city, we have been awed by the pure quiet. Sitting in remote anchorages, the loudest thing being a song sparrow or a loon calling. Even the occasional air plane or other boat motoring by has seemed like a violation of our 'ear' space. In all our dreaming, that part never really occurred to us. Along with the silence, the clarity of the sky and the scenery. We've been so far away from even small towns that there has been relatively no smog, pollution or trash. It's nice to see a beach as it was long, long ago. The sky's are brilliant blue, the trees, deep green, the stars...well, there are stars!

Is there something from your land life that you brought with you that you feel silly about now?

Tom: I spent several years as a PGA Golf pro, and have my entire set of golf club, and two pair of shoes along. I gave up some valuable hanging locker space to have them along, and now am really considering it a bit silly. I guess time will tell on that one huh?

Jeanne : I've always wanted to try my hand at watercolor. I've got a drawer full of supplies. I've also been reading on the techniques and steps involved. I'm not sure that we have the space on board for me to start a project. Perhaps when we're in a warmer climate, I'll pull out the colors!

Is there something from your land life that you brought along that you are especially glad to have along?

Jeanne: My cookbooks, good knives, pans and utensils. After 10 years of living aboard, it was all here anyway, - I've moved many of my cookbooks to a box in an attic!

Tom: Given the amount of photography work we do, the only thing I can think of is our cameras.

Share a piece of cruising etiquette.

Every one talks about other boats anchoring too close, and that has been a problem a couple of times, but my pet peeve right now is the speed which some people run their dinghy’s around the anchorages. Even when there is no posted speed limit or “No Wake” zone, a small amount of common courtesy would go along way when you need to go from point “A” to point “B” and my boat is on that direct line. I feel that if you need to run your dinghy right next to my boat at the highest possible speed, there better be a medical emergency.

How did you (or did you?) gain off shore experience?

Jeanne: I was a participant in the 1994 Pacific Cup race from San Francisco to Hawaii on the first all women team. I also was part of the delivery crew returning a sailboat from Hawaii after it completed the Vic-Maui race, and a delivery up the Pacific Coast. I've been boating since I was a baby, and sailing since about twelve.

Tom: I had never even been on a sailboat prior to meeting Jeanne, and have yet to really have any offshore experience. I've been off shore in fishing boats, and helped deliver a large power boat to Seattle, but no real off shore sailboat experience. It was a steep learning curve, but some great coaching from Jeanne, and some local racing around the Puget Sound have helped a lot.

What would you recommend to someone preparing to cruise?

One of the things we are truly happy about, is that we had lived aboard for a while prior to starting this adventure. You might be cooped up for several days if the weather turns bad or you have a long crossing. You will be spending a lot of time with the other person on the boat, in a smaller space than usual if you have been living in a house or apartment. We encountered several straight days of rain when we took off to Canada and were glad we had something of a routine down for the close quarters living. Bad weather only intensifies this, so it is best to have gotten used to sharing these cramped quarters at a time when it is not forced upon you. The other thing would be to make sure that you have things to do together, and things that you can do apart. Hobbies or other interests, that can be done apart will make your time together way more enjoyable.

Make sure your communication with each other is good. Be able to say, “ I need some space”, or alone time, and don't take it personally when it's said to you. 

Get into the habit of putting things away after you've used them or removed them from a locker, and back to the place it came from. It's amazing how fast an 'explosion' of clutter can happen!

Your routine 'systems' make everything run smoothly – like how you tie up your lines, and sheets, stow things in a locker, or turn off systems at the end of a passage. If your system works, for you, do them the same way, every time.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?

Jeanne: For many years, 30 +, I've dreamed about living on a sailboat and traveling. For many years I lived in small apartments, or rooms, and didn't gather or collect 'stuff'. I read most of the cruisers stories. If there was some 'change' I could make while on land, that they did while cruising, I did it to make the transition to a boat easier.

The reality came in steps. First, I purchased a boat on which I could live and sail locally. That was good. Then, I found the best partner/mate – Tom, and together we revived the 'sailing off' part. Next, plan it: We budgeted what we wanted to leave with in our cruising kitty, how soon we could pay off the boat, the projects we wanted to do to the boat, courses to take, etc.,and how much time it would take us to reach those goals on our current incomes. Once we figured that and set a date we were very particular about any expenses not related to our goal. Being realistic about our incomes, expenses, the projects and a good balance of work and play got us here. The closer we got to our departure date, the more intense the work became, knowing the 'play' would get balanced out once we left.

What else did you do beside sail?

We both enjoy photography, exploring by dinghy, foot and sometimes bicycle when in an anchorage. Tom likes to fish, enjoys messing around with the SSB, and writing stories for our blog. Jeanne likes to cook, do an occasional sewing project, and writes stories about our adventure for our niece and nephews. We're both voracious readers and often flip a coin for time in the hammock.

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China Doll at 3 months

Nicole is 24, graduated from St. Joe's and has her masters in special education from The University of Pittsburgh. She has spent her summers on LBI, NJ waiting tables and managing the sailing program at Haven Beach Yacht Club.  She has also spent time backpacking through Western Europe and volunteering in Brazil.  I (Joe) graduated from the University of Vermont and have since spent my winters in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Lake Tahoe, California, and South America traveling every spring and fall to surf in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Central America, South America, and up and down the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

We bought China Doll, our 1973 Sabre 28, as a mutual effort to try something new and keep the traveling going.  Our boat was well maintained by the previous owners and has an 18 hp Yanmar.  While we had to upgrade a few essential systems, our boat was able to be sailed away from the dock without much trouble.  Actually we made it as far as Norfolk before we started upgrading the essential systems.  We bulked up our ground tackle, fishing equipment, water capacity, GPS, and electrical system.  All done while underway or on the hook somewhere between Norfolk and Rock Sound, Eleuthera.

The photos are of our boat, underway coming into Port Everglades inlet in Fort Lauderdale, FL, my friend and I enjoying a sundowner in Spanish Wells on the dock, and of Nicole and I with the world's largest coconut.

What mistakes did you make in your first year of cruising?
That the bad situations happen to everyone.  On our way down the ICW we constantly heard other (potentially much more experienced) boaters' stories about making mistakes and having things go awry on their journey.  Some of these seemed very obvious to us.  After a while it started to sink in that while we were relatively (I say relatively with great hesitancy) inexperienced boaters that my experience with surfing, freediving, and years of traveling, seeing, and learning different oceans had given us a great leg up on everybody else.  Second, Nicole's sailing ability of small boats really helped us with getting places quickly and keep the boat safe in appropriate conditions.  We got a strong confirmation of our united belief that we were on the right track in Harbor Island, Bahamas.  We met a crew of a mega-yacht that was pretty young.  The captain was only 36 and most of his crew was our age.  He told us a cool/funny story about how he once came out of Nassau harbor, almost hit two boats, a set of rocks, and ran the boat aground only to realize later that the computer system had malfunctioned and needed to be reset.  The boat was 176 TONS.  He remained cool and prepped for the conditions presented at each stage of the near catastrophe calmly and efficiently.  After he told us the story he simply said, "Yeah...it happens to everybody.  Even the people that look extremely professional frequently have issues with their boats and the conditions."  If he could say that, I'm no longer worried about stuff falling off the shelves when we make passages.

What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you leaving the dock?
That we're not as inexperienced as we think.  We learned the hard way.  We were coming into a small marina right after Thanksgiving and even with a 30 mph cross-wind and made a very successful docking with minimal effort.  Mind you, this was only about the 5th marina we'd stayed at so docking was still extremely new to us.  Once ashore the marina owner asked us to kindly move since he had a bigger boat coming in and needed to give them preference.  This ticked me off, but he said it'd be a piece of cake and to just keep the nose into the wind when pulling into the slip on the OTHER side of the dock.  The problem wasn't pulling in, it was getting off.  We wound up getting slammed back into the dock by a 60 mph gust and lost our dinghy engine in the process.  The gust of wind was so violent that it ripped out dinghy engine right off our radar tower.  To paint a picture, the engine mounts were still attached to the radar tower after the ordeal as they'd been cracked in half.  If I had had more confidence in our abilities and our experience level I would have told that marina owner that we were only moving if he had 2 guys on the dock and a tow boat to get us off of there.  Live and learn.

Tell me your favorite thing about your boat?
It's simplicity.  Everything on the boat is easy to fix and since our boat frequently needs some sort of repair, things are just easier.  Recently while coming into Nassau, strong following seas had pushed water up our exhaust and into the engine.  It didn't get into the cylinders, but sure did get into the oil.  Our engine wouldn't stay fired on the approach in and we had to navigate the entrance to the harbor under sail.  Once on the hook, I quickly figured out what was wrong (the signs were fairly obvious, super thick, grey oil and white smoke the time the engine did fire), but didn't know quite how to fix it.  On top of that, our Balmar Digital Duo Charge wasn't working so our starting battery wasn't being charged while the engine was running.

Needless to say, I was despairing a bit.  However, after a short conversation with Marine Diesel Unlimited in Nassau, the engine was looking remarkably simple to get running again.  A few days later in Spanish Wells a mega-yacht pulled up right next to us.  Their captain was having trouble with the shore power and after 15 minutes of him telling all the problems he had with the yacht's electrical systems and wiring, I felt much better, and had a simple fix to make sure our start battery was being charged.  Since our systems are so simple, I can fix almost anything with a solid day of work on the problem or less.  This leaves more time to engine the surrounding environs and sunset drinks in the cockpit.

Tell me your least favorite thing about your boat?
That we don't have an oven.  When we first bought the boat the Kenyon Alcohol stove wouldn't work after a few cleanings and it also came with a one burner butane stove.  Once we realized this wasn't sustainable, we invested in a 15lb. propane tank, a 2 burner coleman stove, and the fittings to have that connected to the tank as well as our grill.  Now we can cook a decent meal, but Nicole loves to bake.  And is darn good at it too.  She only gets to bake when we're plugged into shore power and can use the toaster oven, which is good and bad.  Bad because she misses her hobby and good because I love eating what she bakes and now I won't come home 10 lbs. heavier than when I left!

Can you think of a sailing tip (e.g., sail trim, sail combination) specific to offshore passages (e.g., related to swells)?
Always keep in mind the direction of the swell vs. the direction of the wind.  On our passage from Chub Cay to Nassau we thought we'd have a sleigh ride.  A front had just passed through and the wind was supposed to be giving us a steady beam to broad reach the entire day.  However, I'd forgotten to check the direction of the swell from the ocean vs. the swell generated by the wind.  This proved problematic.  As we pulled out of the harbor it was fine, but as soon as we got into open water, things rapidly deteriorated.  The wind and wind swell was in the perfect direction and we were making great time, however the ocean swell generated by those big cold fronts that dump snow on New England and track a cross the north Atlantic was pushing 6-8 seas from the NE, smack on our beam.  We'd get pushed from behind by the wind swell and then spun up into the wind every time an ocean swell would meet the wind swell.  The tiller was difficult to handle for me let alone Nicole and she was seasick for the entire 6 hr crossing.  Miserable at best.  Had we known the swells would be in different directions, we would've never left the harbor.

Do friends visit and how often? Do you have advice for having visitors?
We actually just had our first guests aboard.  I prepped them adamantly and specifically that our boat is small and that with the two of them and their hiking packs (they were flying to us straight from a Central/South America adventure), we'd be pretty cozy for their time with us.  However, having prepped them and making the boat sound like it was no bigger than a floating coffin, they were pleasantly surprised to find out we could all sit comfortably in the cockpit or below without being too cramped and that they'd have their own bed.  We also had to warn them that they'd be doing without, but having known Christian and Kristen for over a decade now, I knew that this wouldn't be a problem.  She didn't need to be told that showers and a hairdryer were out for the duration and Christian was happy to use our diving sessions as his showers.  One other point on prepping guests is to warn them that they will need to be flexible with arrivals and departures.  We picked up Christian and Kristen in Nassau, made the Exumas a couple days later and had planned on crossing the Exuma Sound to get to Rock Sound on southern Eleuthura.  The day we tried to leave the sound was super rough and opted to sail northward on the back to Spanish Wells.  It went from an eight hour day of slogging into the surf to sailing a broad reach and skimming over the water with near perfect sailing conditions.  They both switched their flights to out of North Eleuthura and we all had a much more pleasant experience since we didn't have to cross any gnarly bodies of water and basically slowed the pace down to just relax.

When have you felt most in danger and what was the source?
We always feel most in danger when facing tough conditions with a deadline.  The worst part is that almost every time we had serious difficulties it was within our control to stay out of those conditions!  Terrible to say, but sadly true.  On our trip down we started by always trying to make deadlines and rush the cruising pace.  Part of it was due to the weather being unseasonably cold and wanting to get south to the warmth and sunshine, another part of it was our lack of experience.  Now we're much better about letting the wind and conditions dictate our path and pace.  Being a small, albeit heavy, fin-keeler, our boat is limited in the sense that we HAVE to wait for a weather window for almost any open ocean crossing.  Whether that be the overnight we did from South Carolina to Fernandina Beach, FL, crossing the Gulf Stream, or the 30 mile island jumps in the Bahamas.  Since hitting the islands, we let the wind and weather completely dictate our course, which has alleviated a ton of our stress and made the pace much more relaxed.  Sometimes we start a trip and turn back, sometimes we never leave harbor and sometimes shortly into a trip we head to a backup destination that is more favorable and comfortable for the conditions.

How did you (or did you) gain offshore experience prior to leaving?
We didn't.  We put a deposit on the boat on Oct. 26th, scheduled a survey and handed the owner the balance in cash on Nov. 2nd and left the dock Nov. 8th.  Nicole knew how to sail boats from her job.  I knew weather and the ocean well from 20 years of surfing and a decade as an ocean lifeguard.    I had also taking an offshore sailing course through Outward Bound.  That included the basics in navigation, water reading skills, provisioning, and living very simply, not to mention I'd been spending every winter since college in the mountains of the West working, snowboarding, and doing overnight trips into the backcountry.  While there's not much snow on the boat, having to rely on myself and my friends to get into and out of hazardous places was commonplace.  This gave us a good foundation for getting off the dock and we started small.  We taught ourselves the offshore skills needed on the southbound trip along the ICW.  We started small with just anchoring properly, setting the sails, reefing the sails, learning the engine, improving our navigation skills, etc.  When we'd feel comfortable then we'd try the next thing.  Also, some of my skills from surfing make me stronger in areas such as weather, swell, and water-reading than my experience on the boat shows.  Recently, people were scoffing at us navigating the Devil's Backbone between Spanish Wells and Harbor Island without a pilot.  Nicole and I talked about it, studied the charts and did the passage without incident.  In fact, it was one of the most gorgeous days we've had on the boat yet.  If we hadn't covered 1000 miles on the way down and worked up to that moment step by step, the day might not have been so enjoyable.

What are your impressions of the cruising community?
The cruising community is great.  Not only in being the friendliest and most helpful bunch of people I've ever dealt with, but they're almost the most knowledgeable.  Often I have trouble getting info from employees at West Marine or the like, but almost any cruiser can give you a solution to a problem on your boat.  Chances are they've dealt with something similar or even that exact problem on their own boat at one time or another and they've fixed while not having ideal conditions.  Anyone can troubleshoot a problem when their boat's on the hard, they have unlimited time and resources, and good research from the internet and books.  Having to fix something correctly the first time on a budget and out at sea or in foreign country is much different.  Now whenever I need advice, I go walk around the marina docks and just start asking questions.

What did you do to make your dream a reality?
This was less tough than you'd imagine, but partly because of where Nicole and I are in the phases of our lives.  We're both recent college grads with no debt and no real obligations.  She spends her summers working days as a dinghy sailing instructor, I spend my days managing a surf shop and doing lessons with that, and at night we both wait tables a local, family owner restaurant.  Adventure-wise we have our boss, Steve Dieptro to thank for getting us off the dock.  He owns four restaurants where we live and 10 years ago decided he wanted to get into sailing.  He chased a stolen Beneteau charter boat around the Caribbean and when he got it the insurance company gave him a great deal.  He never looked back and now every winter when the restaurants are closed he spends his down time cruising the Virgin Islands with his wife and two kids when they can get out of school.  Constantly, he was pushing us to do it.  Handing us articles about other budget cruisers, pulling me out of prep-work to go down to the local boat yard and bang on old boats and learn about sailboat construction, and even meeting us for our passage up the Delaware Bay within 24 hours of getting back from a charter trip with his family in Greece.  Needless to say, Steve is a major, positive, gung-ho force in our trip. 

Then there's the work side of things.  Nicole and I busted our butts and made getting the money for the trip a top priority.  Our summers are 60 hrs a week from May 1st to July 4th and the month of October.  However, from July 4th till the end of the September we're frequently pulling close to 100 hours of work a week.  Six nights a week at the restaurant X 7 hrs/shift = 42 hrs.  Plus our full time jobs during the day comes to 80 hrs a week minimum.  Add in the extra things we have to do for our day jobs and the occasional late night at the restaurant and the hours are long.  The balance is that we get serious time off in the winter and don't have to spend it in snowy, cold New Jersey.  Most importantly though in making the dream a reality is actually leaving.  You're never going to have a perfect boat, enough time, or just the right budget, but if you can make it work and just get off the dock, the dream quickly becomes an awesome reality.

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Island Bound at 3 months

Read this interview as originally published on Sailing SV Island Bound.
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Background: Kevin, along with wife Erin and daughters Hannah (age 8) and Isabel (age 5) are all lifelong boaters, but first began sailing when they purchased and restored a 25 foot sailboat in 2007. They now sail aboard a 28 foot Irwin sloop out of Grand Haven on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. During the summer of 2009, they spent the better part of 3 months and over 1000 nautical miles cruising roundtrip to Lake Huron’s North Channel and nearly every port and island in between. Future cruising ideas include a possible trip out the Erie Canal, down the ICW and into the Bahamas. This interview focuses on their 3 month North Channel cruise experience.

1) What (if anything) do you wish someone had told you before you started cruising?

That cruising is addictive and the hardest part is returning to port when the cruise is finished. There’s really no easy way to re-adjust to life back on land. The pace, distractions, complexity and consumerism of being a landlubber become much more visible after having cruised for an extended period of time.

2) What transitions did you find the most difficult during your first extended cruise?

Living in a small space with 3 other people with just a fraction of the possessions and “stuff” that we were all accustomed to back at home. While the transition can be difficult, it is not without great reward. Learning to live with less, growing together as a family, and relying on each other for companionship and our individual strengths are some of the priceless gems of cruising.

3) What mistakes did you make on your first extended cruise?

We wished we had stayed longer in certain anchorages, but felt pressure to move on to see the next great place. In retrospect, slowing down and cruising at your own pace are what it’s all about. Though the North Channel is uniquely stunning, the most beautiful part of the cruise was seeing our family work together to meet the challenge of moving a small boat a very long distance.

4) What is one piece of gear/equipment you have onboard that you couldn’t do without?

Easy answer…our autopilot! We simply can’t imagine putting any serious miles beneath the keel without the help of a good, reliable autopilot. The autopilot (or any self-steering device) not only prevents fatigue but also allows you to do other things while you’re on passage such as cooking, cleaning, repairs, etc. as long as you keep a vigilant eye on your surroundings and position. If money weren’t a factor or if we were on even longer ocean passages, we’d also install wind vane steering to supplement the autopilot and save on battery usage. You can see our Autohelm ST1000 in action in this earlier blog post from the cruise. Additionally, we really enjoyed having a hammock onboard for lazy afternoons on the hook and a small 2-gallon shop vac for easy clean-up on those rare days when we had shorepower.

5) What is one piece of gear/equipment you wish you had onboard?

A bigger solar panel. We carry two very small (2 watt each) trickle-charge solar panels, but they don’t do much. It would be really nice to harvest enough solar energy from the sun to keep our little Norcold refrigerator going instead of relying on block ice. A small (perhaps foldable) bicycle would also be a nice addition for those occasional long treks for provisions while in port.

6) What do you enjoy about cruising that you didn't expect to enjoy?

The food! I was pleasantly surprised that we were usually able to make healthy and delicious meals while cruising. Some of our favorites included fresh caught walleye encrusted with Frosted Flakes cereal, freshly picked wild blueberries in blueberry pancakes, and banana and nut oatmeal. Prior to cruising, I expected that we’d be eating a lot of mac and cheese, ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches, but I’m happy to report we mostly avoided those. All in all, cruising seems to keep you healthy because you tend to eat smaller meals (small galley = small meals) and stay active trimming sails, washing the boat, paddling to shore, hiking to the store, etc.

7) What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you didn't find to be true?

We thought we’d find lots of other cruising boats with kids onboard, but after nearly 3 months we hardly ever crossed paths with any other cruising kids. This may or may not be something specific to the Great Lakes, but we fully expected that our two daughters would make lots of new friends. Fortunately, they had a great time being each other’s own best friend. They weren’t bored by any stretch, but I’m sure more kids would have made the cruise that much more enjoyable for them.

8) What is something that you read or heard about cruising, that you found particularly accurate?

We had always been told and read how friendly and helpful the cruising community is and are happy to say that our experience backs this up. For example, the crews of the other boats in the many anchorages we stayed in were always stopping by in their dinghies to welcome us and share tips on the current anchorage and suggestions for the next anchorage. Cruisers are a very self-sufficient lot, but that’s not to say they don’t enjoy community and socializing with other cruisers.

9) What piece(s) of gear would you leave on the dock next time? Why?

We have a relatively small boat for a crew of four and therefore spent a lot of pre-cruise time planning what we should take and where we would store it so there really wasn’t anything onboard that we’d leave behind next time. In fact, we’ll probably take more the next time we go. There are pieces of safety gear (climbing harness for mast climbing) and electronic gadgets (WindMate anemometer) that rarely were used, but we’d still bring them along again either because they are essential for safety and/or repairs or simply small enough, in the case of the WindMate, that they didn’t take up unnecessary space.

10) What question do you wish I had asked you besides the ones I've asked you and how would you answer it?

We always find it interesting to hear how people are able to afford to cruise, both from a temporal and financial perspective. In our case, we have a very modest paid-for boat and only cruised as long as we were able to be away from shore. Erin is a schoolteacher so naturally she can be away from her job for three months in the summer. Kevin is fortunate enough to have a part-time position that allows him to telecommute during a cruise. This of course meant we had to bring along a laptop and printer and find reliable WiFi signals on a regular basis, but it worked out and allowed us to cruise for a summer. If cruising is a priority, you’ll find a way to make it work. There’s definitely trade-offs to cruising, like missing your family back at home, but we’ve the rewards found across large stretches of blue water are not to be missed.

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Windtraveler at 3 months

Read this interview as originally published on Windtraveler.
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Us, the very day we left Chicago!  Taken by our good friend, Les.

We are about three months into our journey.  I cannot even believe how far we have come!  We have come over 2,500 nautical miles, traveled through 11 states, endured all sorts of mishaps and adventures, met some incredible people and had the best time.  In a lot of ways it feels like we've been gone longer than three months - and in some ways it feels like we just left yesterday.

I got the idea for this post from Livia of s/v Estrellita who also happens to be the author of the super cool Interview With A Cruiser Project .  She granted us permission and encouraged us to use questions from their 'question bank'.  So with no further ado - here's our little version of he said/she said - cruising style - in ten questions.  Keep in mind we are only three months in - so these answers should be taken with the understanding that we are still "newbies".

What is the biggest lesson you have learned so far?
Brittany:  That your imagination is much worse than the reality. That, and the fact that we selected a FANTASTIC, dare I say, "kick ass" cruising boat.
Scott: As of yet, cruising doesn't offer as much "free time"... or "down time" as you'd expect.

What is your favorite part about cruising?
Brittany:  Living freely, traveling in your home, seeing new places, meeting new people.  There is nothing that compares to traveling to a place by boat.  Somehow it's just 'different'.  I love it.
Scott:  After hoisting the sails, the moment you turn off the engine... as well as the moment you turn off the engine after dropping anchor in a calm anchorage at sunset. [Editor note:  true dat!]

What is your least favorite part about cruising?
Brittany: The fact that everything (even tiny things like making a cup of tea) require 10X more effort than they do on land. But you just learn to live with it.  I hate doing dishes the most.  Dish washing is the current bane of my existence.  I have mastered dirtying as few dishes as possible and pretty much don't cook if it requires more than one pot.
Scott: All the motoring that's been necessary through all of the canals and ICW.  As we head out to the Caribbean after the new year, I'm really looking forward to having the canvas up more and letting the horses rest.

What is something potential cruisers worry about that they shouldn't?  And something they don't worry about that they should?
Brittany:  I would say people worry about the basics like, "how do you shower? how do you eat? what will I pack?" - all this is really minor stuff that requires nothing more than some adaptation and a little homework.  More people should worry about whether or not they are willing to do this 'adapting'.  An "endless vacation" this is not, but a bad day on the water still beats a bad day on land!
Scott: Brittany will tell you, I do not believe in worry.  My favorite Zen proverb is... If the problem has a solution, worrying is pointless, in the end the problem will be solved. If the problem has no solution, there is no reason to worry, because it can't be solved." That being said... stop worrying and just go! [Editor note:  Yes.  This is 100% true.  I am slowly getting there.]

What was the biggest mistake you have made?
Brittany:  We've made lots of little mistakes, but the biggest is probably when we went outside a channel marker and hit a rock.  That sucked.
Scott: Actually, that was my mistake... not "we."  The other was when I put out a fishing lure to troll for lunch and forgot that it was there.  Then we came in to get fuel and had to do a few circles to wait for a boat to leave the fuel dock and proceeded to wrap the fishing line all around the prop.  This was probably the 4th time I had to put on the wetsuit to dive under the boat.  The others being... retrieving my cell phone I dropped in the water at the dock in Michigan, checking the prop shaft for what might have been causing the noise that we were hearing in the transmission, and checking the keel for damage after I hit the rock.

What is the most important attribute for successful cruising?
Brittany: Open mind, no agenda, realistic expectations, ability and willingness to adapt.  Oh - and you should probably like sailing.
Scott: Not having inflated expectations.  With anything, when you expect to much, your chances of being disappointed are much higher.  We both looked forward to everything that cruising had to offer - including the ups and the downs.

What do you miss about living on land?
Brittany:  Not much!  Bikram yoga, unlimited water for showers/dishes, and access to free laundry.  That's about it (besides friends and family, of course!).
Scott: I've gotta admit, every time I pull out the credit card, I miss having an income.  Don't get me wrong, as much as I miss all of you at SweatVac, I don't miss sitting in front of a computer and phone all day.

How would you recommend someone prepare to cruise?
Brittany:  Read as much as you can in books and forums (and learn to take some advice with a grain of salt - otherwise you'll never leave) and do as much of the work on your boat that you can - you will learn, pun intended, a 'boat load'.  As first time boat owners and cruisers we didn't feel super 'prepared' when we left, per se - but we have learned that we were actually very prepared and know a lot more than we thought!  Also - SAIL!  Both of us raced for years and found this taught us a lot of the basics.  Though racing on a boat and owning a boat are HUGELY different.
Scott: Don't get attached to your "stuff."  Garbage bags and dumpsters... and craigslist... are your friends. Get rid of it!

When you are offshore, what keeps you awake at night?
Brittany: Gear failure.  Period.
Scott: That mysterious ticking noise.

Is cruising as good or better than you imagined?
Brittany:  Better.  I already have no idea how we're going to go back to "land life"!  Out here, away from the constraints of 'society', anything seems possible and that is a pretty incredible place to be.
Scott: As good and better and it get's better every day as we gain more experience and confidence with our abilities and our boat.

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