So, You Want To Be A Cruiser?

Position: 37° 35′ 49”N 0° 58′ 48”W

Pandemic lockdown is the perfect dress rehearsal for cruising. If you’re not enjoying your time in self-isolation, you’re probably not cut out for sailing around the world. Based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, here is our take on some of the top parallels between trimming the sails and flattening the curve:

• Physiological Needs: Feeding yourself at sea is challenging. Underway, exercise drops off almost completely. So does our calorie demand. Groceries that would last three days on land, easily last a week at sea. Yet, you can’t simply walk round to the store for a bag of chips and six-pack of Mountain Dew like you used to. Provisioning a sailboat involves serious logistics. Getting on and off, dinghying to shore, tying up, walking to the shops, and buying only as much as you have capacity to carry, is simultaneously limiting and focusing. We’ve gotten used to it. For example, rather than buying cakes these days, we make them. A kilogram of flour is enough for several cakes, or at least three loaves of bread. With raw materials, you’re not committed at the point of sale and the results are always fresher.If shopping has become a pain in the butt since isolation started, things aren’t better from a boat in good weather. But if you like the challenge of planning meals days in advance, then you’re likely to enjoy provisioning.
  Maslow’s physiological needs include shelter. Room is limited on a sailboat. On Aleta, our entire living space, all three cabins, galley, office, dining room, garage, family room and toilet fit in a space smaller than our bedroom was on dry land. If you’re in a tiny studio apartment, you know the feeling. Especially if your apartment doesn’t have a balcony. If you’re lucky enough to live in something bigger and are still going bonkers, your dreams of circumnavigation need adjusting. Try taping off a space roughly 12’ by 16’ and living within those boundaries. After a couple of years, it will seem much larger.
• Safety Needs: Under sail, our daily dance with mortality is, perhaps, the thing that’s prepared us best for the pandemic. When you’re on the water you’re in a hostile environment. Nature is unforgiving. If you fall off your boat in anything but a flat calm, experts estimate that you have about 300 meters before you’re lost. Forever. That’s three football fields before your crew, if they were watching, lose sight of you. Rescue is pure luck after that. That’s why rule number one is Misneach! Stay with the boat.With practice and care, the risks of falling overboard can be minimized. There are rules that must be respected. Like wearing a harness at night in the cockpit. Like holding on with one hand at all times. Or going outside with a mask and gloves on if you’re in a pandemic. It’s not hard. You just need to form a habit. Habits take time. Take the time.
• Social Needs: Confinement with your (loved) one(s) defines this category. One of the best pieces of advice I read about cruising was, buy the boat and move onto it six months before you leave. If you don’t like living aboard at the dock, you’ll hate it at sea. We didn’t follow that advice. But we had lived and worked at home for years before we set sail, so we were less daunted. That said, we have adjusted our ‘space’ rules a bit since being on board. If I’m wearing headphones and my nose is face down in the computer, the rule is DO NOT DISTURB ME! If you break that rule for anything other than a true emergency, like dog overboard, then you should enjoy the captain’s broadside that follows.Aleta’s cockpit is a wonderful thing. It is a separate space where either of us can get away if we need. Or where, as a couple, we relax, play cribbage, and watch the world go by. It is especially nice in the middle of a calm ocean on autopilot, with a fading sunset and 15 knots of breeze.
• Esteem Needs: According to Maslow there are two parts to Esteem. The first involves self-confidence and feeling good about yourself. The second involves feeling valued by others. Perhaps that’s why we write about our adventures. Blogging allows us to look back and relive key moments and realize that, hey, we’ve done some crazy-ass things and survived. That makes us feel good about ourselves. Comments on the blog help our esteem, too. Thanks for reading! And commenting!
• Self-Actualization: Self-Actualization is about trying to be the best person you can be. That’s the underlying motif in my tattoo. Carol was unsure about the skull in the background until I pointed out it’s a traditional memento mori. A reminder to live your best life, because judgement awaits us all. (Woah, dude! – ed.) Besides, taking care of a dog is, by definition, self-actualizing. Right?

While you’re under lockdown, consider what a great character-building opportunity this is. If you’re loving it, you may want to consider hopping on a sailboat and heading towards points uncharted. After all, there’s no better means of physical distancing. Provided you can, of course, land at the other end.