Many people ask me how I enjoy the holidays as a live aboard cruiser. Well…this festive season marks our fourth year on the boat and fifth year owning her. Looking back, we have celebrated Christmas in various countries with a variety of friends and family. Amazingly, each year Santa seems to get the Lat and Long that I send him, much to Sienna’s delight.
Most boat crashes and hull crunches happen when docking and leaving a dock. Why? There’s a variety of reasons. Some new (and experienced) boat owners misread the elements (wind, tide, current). Other’s misjudge the space available. And it’s very common for inexperienced marina dock hands or crew to mess things up with the lines. Boat handling leaving a dock is a key skill to learn.
Unfortunately, once a new boat owner has a crunch it can be quite a setback.
Sure, there’s a cost associated to a scratch or hole but the real issue is with confidence. We’ve met many new boat owners that have a few small accidents and decide to call it a day. Take a look at all the boats you’ll find in a marina on a perfect sailing day – many people want to live the dream, buy access to the dream and then lose steam when it comes to actually making the dream happen (leaving the dock).
The crazy thing is that there are very safe and easy steps regarding boat handling leaving a dock.
In fact, the steps that we use make docking and leaving a dock look like a breeze – even for newbies. Like so many things with boat ownership, having a blueprint or a checklist can help you make a success out of it more times than not. Below you’ll find a video where Simon explains the procedure, we then demonstrate leaving a dock and we also provide an alternative. Furthermore, you’ll find the steps written below the video.
How does one become liveaboard cruiser? What do they do with their land based stuff? How do they get a boat? What motivates them to do it? How do they fund it? What are the biggest lessons they’ve learned? What would they change? What’s their favorite memory? What recommendations to they have for you? Find out here!
What’s the number one thing a boater should do in the hopes of preventing boat engine failure? To ensure routine engine checks are completed. On Britican, we do a series of routine engine checks before EVERY voyage. On the video below, Simon will show you how he completes each check.
Members Only Extended Video. Here’s what Simon does to check our engine before every start. These key steps are in place to reduce the likelihood of engine failure. Additionally, for our members only, Simon goes through his thoughts about taking a week-long Diesel Marine Engine course – should you do the same or is there a better way to spend your time and money? Finally, Simon offers the four main reasons that we’ve experienced engine failure on Britican over the last four years so that you learn from our mistakes and are better prepared!
There are many amazing things that go along with becoming a liveaboard cruiser. One of them is fresh fish for dinner. But how do you catch a fish and once you have it, how do you fillet it? More specifically, the question to ask is how to fillet a Mahi Mahi? Watch this video to[Read More]
For Members Only! We catch Mahi Mahi often and it’s usually loved by all those aboard. The fish doesn’t have a strong flavor and it’s nice flaky white meat so most people love it. Below you’ll find our top three favorite easy Mahi Mahi recipes. Filleting a Mahi Mahi might take a while but these[Read More]
For Members Only! Listed are the 10 must-have tools/equipment and the 13 steps to catching and filleting a Mahi Mahi. Follow these instructions and you’ll be enjoying fish night after night. Here’s our Checklist Guide For Fishing Success:
After living aboard our sailboat for over four years now, we know the sail boat shoes. Surprisingly, in the tropics, it’s not deck shoes. Before leaving land we had to choose between what we took on board and what we left behind. While sailing over 40,000 nautical miles we’ve actually gotten rid of more things[Read More]
In this video, Simon demonstrates how we use the Safe Anchor app on our Ipad. Using an anchor alarm app alone or conjunction with the boat’s system is advisable. There are a variety of apps on the market for Iphone’s and Androids. They all work similarly. The key is to try them out and see what one works best for you.
