LESSONS LEARNED WHILE CRUISING Jamie & Behan Gifford The Joys of Cruising
When cruisers get together and start telling sea stories, the true joys of cruising come out.
Behind us, a whipped-up Tasman
Sea is pounding the Australian coast — crash-whoosh-gurgle! Kangaroos, wallabies, and an iguana larger than Totem’s youngest crew members carry on within a few meters. In this chapter of “being out there,” we are again with cruising friends from M/V Oso Blanco (White Bear). This time it’s a different kind of buddy boating: two land yachts, navigating the southeast Australian coastline national parks and campsites. It’s been over a year since we last
saw Eric, Ann, and son Robert – who really goes by the name Bear. Within hours of the start to our 11-day land trip, the theme is clear: you can take cruisers out of the anchorage, but you can’t take the anchorage out of cruisers. We spent much time together reflecting on our experiences. Observing Totem and Oso Blanco in an anchorage together is a picture of contrast.
48° NORTH, JANUARY 2012 PAGE 40
Totem is a 29-year-old, 47’ sloop:
a design easily imagined in any cruising area. Oso Blanco is a Nordhavn 64, translation: a big, shiny, 90-ton powerboat. It’s not what usually comes to mind when picturing a few cruising boats in a remote South Pacific atoll. Yet, in ten years (on Oso Blanco and two prior Nordhavns) Eric, Ann, and Bear, logged over 41,000 miles: From Alaska to Panama, the Caribbean, and a Pacific crossing. It’s true that they’ve never had to reef in a squall. It’s also true that the DNA of S/V and M/V cruising is 99% similar: anchoring, provisioning, piloting, maintenance, etc. In fact, we sailors often go in with
strong perceptions about “the proper” cruising boat. Forget about the gall of “power boaters” going trans-Pacific; a little time spent sailing around French Polynesia opens eyes to a myriad of ocean going boat styles and types. Some defy logic and sanity, yet there they are
in the same exotic locations as you, not unlike any given harbor in Puget Sound. They are in all states of pretty, or not. It’s the drive and determination that takes them around the corner and out cruising, not the state of the varnish or completeness of myriad systems. Approaching the cruising lifestyle
was different between Totem and Oso Blanco. Nine year old Bear didn’t have any trouble adjusting because his parents cast off when he was still in utero. Our children were aged 4, 6, and 9 when we started. Worries about safety, comfort, and this new-to-us task called homeschooling, kept us up late at night, but the kids had no such sleeplessness. Within one week they were acclimated to living a transient life aboard, albeit with a lot to learn. We met Oso Blanco about two
months after we sailed out of Puget Sound. The children meshed easily then, as now. Today, Bear and the Totem
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