Based on the questions that people often ask me, I feel as if many think we sail around isolated being ‘cooped-up’ in a tiny space. Readers write to me and ask, ‘How do you and your family managed to live in such small quarters?’ ‘How does your daughter get social interaction?’ ‘How can you cope with being with your family 24 hours/day 7 days a week?’
What many readers don’t understand is that, so far, our lives are not very different from when we lived on land. In fact, if I had to comment on our overall quality of life, I’d say that it’s improved drastically. Not once have any of us felt ‘cooped-up’ as our space isn’t tiny – we’re constantly looking at a massive expanse of sea. Our living room is the world, not a room with 4 walls and a TV.
As far as social interaction for my daughter (and me and my husband – we need it too!), we have more of a social life than ever before! We’ve made more friends this year than we have in our previous 16 years of being married – combined. We’ve had more parties (dinner parties, guests over for a drink, kid sleep over parties) than I’ve ever had in my life. Pictured below is Tanna and Sienna from sailboat ‘Why Knot’ and our Sienna – the girls were inseparable for 2 weeks when our boats sailed around together.
AND…we’re not all together 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In the past few weeks, my husband Simon and I spent a couple days sailing alone – Sienna sailed aboard another boat. And on the flip side, we had at least one other little person sleep over with Sienna – sometimes three! There are times when Simon and Sienna go out for the morning or afternoon leaving me to have ‘me time’ and vice versa. And we certainly don’t hang out on the boat all day every day – we’re often sightseeing, exploring or enjoying a park or dinner meal at a restaurant.
On very few occasions, while sailing, I felt I needed a break, so I simply went to the forward deck and sat with my back against the mast watching the water go by. Sienna isn’t allowed on the forward deck while sailing for safety reasons – unless accompanied by an adult.
That being said, what we’ve found in the sailing community in the Med is that it’s easy to make new friends and those new friendships turn into good friendships quickly. While in Marzamemi, Sicily, we met a boatload of 6 Italians and within a few days of meeting them, we had an ‘Italian’ night – My cousin Loryn cooked Pasta Sauce in Sicily to put on the top of Stuffed Pasta Shells and an Italian Admiral showed us how to make Admirals Bruschetta.
When we made it to Greece, we met the crew aboard Sailboat Nepenthe, Jim and Carole. After a little discussion, Simon asked them over for a drink and Carole brought her ‘Sailboat Nepenthe Eggless Cake‘ – we were fortunate to have different versions of Carole’s cake all summer long!
And while sailing in the Dodecanese (group of Greek islands off the southwest side of Turkey) we hooked up with sailboat ‘Why Knot’ (friends we made a few weeks previously) and traded cooking every other night while peppering a few taverna visits into our travels. We were fortunate to be sailing into Symi as the captain of ‘Why Knot’ caught a tuna, so one evening we all enjoyed the freshest tuna you could ever taste.
The recipe below, is one such night when ‘Why Knot’s,’ lovely First Mate, Elaine invited us over for a fratata and salad. We were anchored on in a bay off the Turkish coast and since the wind was nonexistent, ‘Why Knot’ simply tied onto us. By doing so, our daughter could quickly visit her new best friends Sienna (older Sienna) and Tanna. The kids could run back and forth and us adults didn’t have to get in a dingy to visit. When it came to ‘happy hour,’ we simply step over onto the next boat.
Not being to a store recently, we had to come up with our contribution to dinner so my husband, Simon, had some helpers help him a cook Sausage Pasta Bake. This is such a simple recipe. It’s even easier than the Spaghetti Carbonara recipe that Simon demonstrated in the post, ‘Spaghetti Carbonara – the easiest and tastiest Carbonara you can make on a boat!’
And while sailing, it’s a staple to have long lasting items in the fridge and cupboard such as sausages, cheese and pasta. Without any further ado, please enjoy the Sausage Pasta Bake video and then scroll down to view and use the print-friendly button to print the recipe for yourself.
Go here to view all the videos and recipes for the Britican Galley Italian Blend.