SAIL.SailMagazine

A new sailing friend asked me recently, “Do you ever buddy boat?” “Not really,” I started to say, but then changed my answer to, “Sure, often.” She could see the confusion her simple question had created and laughed. “Betsy, is everything about sailing and cruising always so complicated?” Let this article be my answer to my friend and to others who wonder the same.

When we arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, after a year of cruising, I knew we had work to do. While we had kept up with the necessary (read: constant) maintenance on our 45-year-old Bill Tripp yawl Papillon during our first year aboard, now it was finally time for some major upgrades.

For dreamers of all ages, the idea of cruising has an inescapable allure. But the question always remains: “When should I go? When can I realistically trade my current life for the freedom of cruising?”

Attending the latest edition of Les Salons du Multicoques, a small but influential European boatshow in Lorient in Brittany this past April, we were amused to find that one of the more intriguing new boats on display wasn’t some cutting-edge high-performance job...

Without a doubt the most magical moments I’ve experienced as a sailor have occurred after the sun was down. I will always recall one summer night I spent off the Carolina coast—horizon lost in a low-lying blanket of fog, brilliant shotgun blasts of starlight directly overhead...