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How are you going to beat this?  Life in the Bahamas is about pretty water… Georgetown and having the right guests show up at the Exuma Market!

I have been looking at some of the you tube videos on the Bahamas.  There’s some good stuff out there that really brings me back.  I recognize all the places because my wife and I have been there on our catamaran.. most of them many times.  Some of the video should be sponsored by the people that sell boats…lol!  It almost made me want to buy a different boat and “go bigger” but I really love my Seawind 1000.  I might trade even for a lagoon 440 or a Leopard 47…. but that’s about it.  I second what most of the videos relating to cruising say regarding the cruiser community.  There is no other group in the world like cruisers.  Think about it…. if you meet somebody on a boat 400 miles from nowhere.. that guy pretty much qualifies… right.. he did what you did so you automatically share a unique commonality.

Sailing a boat to a remote location isn’t something you do by accident.  That being said… I like to tell folks that the picture perfect moments only constitute 10% of what you get as a cruiser.. but they make the other 90% well worth it!  And… the very worst of the 90% get burned into your memory forever.  If you were meant to be a cruiser those scary moments eventually become the highlight reels, a life reference that grounds you rather than being a deal breaker.  So often.. the wild times of an adventure become the best part.

I contend that the bad things that always happen (given time) become a life base, a steak in the ground that keeps you from worrying about the stupid stuff that truly doesn’t matter. While cruising you may discover more than pristine beaches, you may find out who you are.  You may discover that happiness is more about reducing how long it takes to smile after the bad times, than it is about what color shoes to wear.  Go fill your eyes with the memory of baby blue waters, I promise it makes you see things differently.  I contend… your about as happy as you make up your mind to be.  Especially if you understand that the outcome of the really bad stuff was settled before you even left the dock.

99% of the bad stuff is handled up front if you chose a great boat, it will take care of your learning curve without bloodshed, you can smile about your presumed “near catastrophe” much sooner if you have the “right stuff”.  You would be amazed what a boat will handle, normally much, much more than the occupants…..  How many reports have you heard where the sailors are rescued from certain death in a storm… then they find the boat happy as a lark on the open ocean all alone… without a skipper.  It makes you realize that the skipper and crew are certainly the weakest link in a bad weather survival situation.  Any “failure” during a storm is more often related to the human element, if his first decision was a good one.

If your living life with no chance of your day to day activities making a scab or at least a sunburn… your not really living.  I’m not saying be dumb and dangerous, but go… throw off your lines with the best boat you can afford because you’ll probably need it.  Here’s the apparently secret “key” to the all important and much debated question of “whats the right boat”…  here it is… free of charge…. if you learn quickly buy a light fast boat.. if not buy something big, slow and heavy so you will be able to smile quicker after the storm.  Some folks need more “training” than others…..lol.

That’s it.. that’s the golden rule of boat buying.  You don’t need to know how to do it all before you go… all you need to do is buy an appropriate vessel, arrange to get good weather information and get out there!   Getting good weather data these days is a snap.  You might not know how to sail when you leave.. but you dang sure will when you get back!!!  and remember, the 10% on both ends of the “amazing scale” are what life is all about.  The middle 80% just gets you there…..

sv Sea Yawl Later !!