There’s A Lot To Do Before You Sail Away Like In A Song
Packing for a trip on a sailboat is easy.
Provisioning it is not.
In the suitcase, about all you need are a couple of bathing suits, tank tops, t-shirts, a skirt and couple of cute tops for you ladies, a towel, a hat, a light jacket in case of rain and the standard toothbrush/shampoo toiletry items.
You don’t even need shoes, for you’ll be spending your entire trip in your flip flops. Or barefoot. (This, of course, presumes you’re going to be in a warm climate for your trip; a cold climate sailboat trip is not something you’ll necessarily be doing for pleasure.)
But once you get on board, then you’ve got to stock it and carefully plan your route, and therein lies the major effort of traveling by sailboat.
I learned this while on my first trip. I was in the British Virgin Islands for the annual BVI’s Interline Regatta, and Luau Larry and I had just stepped on board our 50-foot catamaran when my buddy whom I have nicknamed “Ice” announced we needed to go to the store to get food and drinks.
“Great!,” we thought. We need rum, beer, more rum (hey I was with Luau Larry and we were in the Caribbean), ice things like that, you know. Can’t go thirsty on a sailboat!
But oh no, Ice gave us a list of groceries so long it looked like a medieval scroll. It would take Luau Larry and I the better part of two hours to get everything on that list. And those Caribbean markets are not exactly like going into American supermarkets like Von’s or Kroger.
While we did that, our fellow crew members filled up with fuel – which is important even on a sailboat – water and other essentials, things squids like us at the time didn’t think about but seasoned sailors don’t leave the dock without, of course.
Once all that was loaded we still didn’t depart as Luau Larry and I had expected, for there was a boat inspection, safety check, familiarization with all the functions of the boat, charts (so we didn’t wind up on a reef) and more planning and preparation.
Heck, we had not even had a rum drink yet!
Finally, some four hours after getting on the boat, we finally cast aside the lines and were on our sailing way.
And let me say, thanks in large part to a crew member who became our excellent chef, “Stacked” Stacy (I did not even know she could cook, ha!) we ate very well. And we did not run out of food.
Nor did we run out of rum.
We did, tho, have to make a few stops for beer and ice. But not Ice. We had plenty of that on board.
Cheers!
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