I figure since this is literally the very first post I’m sitting down to write, the title “Gotta Start Somewhere” is fitting since I’ve had this plan for some time now. And, since my first ever blog post is going to be about the starting point of any trip — the planning — the title is fitting there as well.

I pride myself on being organized and find that the success of many things in life — including travel, especially by sailboat — planning is critical. While not planning can be fun — just going with the flow — I find it unnerving to leave home without even the slightest semblance of a plan. It’s important to note that my husband and I are, like many married couples, not entirely alike. And I am the planner, so this task falls to me, which is typically how I like it since I’m very enthusiastic about my planning.

I like to be prepared — for good things as well as bad things — this ensures that there’s been some thinking around safety, and looking ahead to our destination to optimize our time there and have as much fun as possible. If during planning, there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to go there, then I just look for another spot.

Note about my posts. I may mention products I like and use, and sometimes, I might offer affiliate links meaning, if you click the link and buy whatever it is, I get a teensy commission on it. I don’t make my living doing this, but if I’m an advocate for a product and want to share it with others and that company is willing to pay me a little something for the lead, I’m happy to collect. I only recommend things I really like and use. I don’t just include a bunch of cheesy links to a bunch of crap I know nothing about. At the moment, all my links are just regular links to stuff I love, nobody is paying me anything!

Planning a sailing trip

The Calendar Dates

For starters, my plans always start on the calendar. Picking the days and times for things can be harder than you’d think (especially if you’re NOT an enthusiastic planner). With 2 adults and 2 (now grown) children often traveling together coordinating a trip on the boat with everyone’s work and personal schedules is difficult. When planning a sailing trip, there’s the added challenge of the weather. While any vacation plan requires some thought about the weather, a sailing trip requires 10x more thinking on this, along with some special tools (aka weather apps) because you don’t want to be on a sailboat in bad weather if you can avoid it, and you also hope to have cooler, drier weather with a nice steady breeze of at least 7 or 8 knots. Without this, it’s s-l-o-w going motoring to your destination, smelling diesel fumes because you cannot sail without wind.

Once you have a target date range, I usually try to ensure it’s flexible on either end because as we get closer, checking all the weather forecasts for every destination on our trip might alter the plans slightly. If there’s a 90% chance of rain and no wind, I’m going to get back into the calendar and look for some alternative dates.

The Sailing Destination(s)

Planning where we will sail is really done relatively concurrently with choosing the dates for the trip since the date combined with the destination equals weather. So you have to look at both simultaneously. These are also intertwined because there’s a wide range of time it might take you to get from place to place on your sailboat, not just because of the wind, but because of the miles. When looking at the map and charts, I try to choose destinations that are no more than about 5-7 hours of “sail time.” Why? Because if there’s no wind, you’ll be motoring the whole way and a 5-hour sail in 12-knot winds may take 7 hours of motoring to get there. Motoring is tedious because of the noise, but sailing itself can get tiring especially if you’re hand-steering the whole time. We don’t have an autopilot on our sailboat hooked up yet, but will soon. I’ve hand-steered for hours and hours in windy or bumpy water, it’s more exhausting than you realize to keep your boat on course.

In choosing destinations I use several resources: SavvyNavvy is a relatively new boating navigational app that I love because it’s got lots of great features and is super simple to use. There’s a totally free version or you can get the premium subscription for I think about $69/year which includes all the features – all the maps, chart data downloads (which includes not only the chart of the areas you’re sailing but 3 days of weather and tide data) for offline use, integrated weather and tide, waypoint and destination plotting. There are other apps as well that do similar things but so far, this is the only one that integrates wind and tides right on the chart which is a nice tool. I’m sure more features are coming and I’m looking forward to it. Another great app is Navionics and some like MXMariner. They all get the job done, but don’t forget to have paper charts on board, just in case!

I use these apps to look at the nautical distance between destinations and to estimate the sailing time based on projected weather and the specifics of my boat. I also check Dockwa which is a marina/yacht club database online where you can book an overnight (or longer) stay either on a mooring ball or dock. You can see the amenities each facility offers. (Another plug for SavvyNavvy is that Dockwa is integrated into the app so you click on a marina or yacht club and the Dockwa info comes up so you can see at-a-glance whether it’ll meet your needs. You can even click through and make your reservation or view more details. You need Dockwa in order to reserve your dock or mooring for many marinas and yacht clubs, although some are not listed in Dockwa and if you want to visit them or request a stay you have to either visit their website or contact them directly.

The third thing I check is the Yachting Club of America’s list of “reciprocal yacht clubs” which basically means if you’re a member of a participating yacht club, you can use the services of other participating yacht clubs. There are stipulations on fees, access, and dress codes, but if you can stay at a yacht club under the reciprocity rule, it’s lovely as you feel like you have instant friends. Everyone is always very welcoming to “family” members (by that I am YCOA family).

So far, all I’ve done is try to pick a journey with one or more destinations and I’m already looking at many weather and tide apps, navigation charts, Dockwa, and the YCOA reciprocity list just to nail all this down. I may have to design a website that integrates all these things more easily…. but that’s a task for another day!

The Lists

I have a list of everything. Literally. I always make a “pack” list and a “to-do” list for every trip. But I’ve evolved over time, and instead of making a fresh list every time, I use a digital notebook (Microsoft One Note) and now have a standard pack list that I just copy over to the current trip entry and revise it accordingly. Since I typically always need and want the same things, why not just use the same list over and over?

I’ve also done this for the “instructions” list – what I leave behind for friends or family staying at our house and caring for the cat, the pool, etc. It makes travel planning so much easier to set up the list information once and just update the little bits that might change over time. This way, I’m reasonably sure I won’t forget anything.

Planning Meals While Sailing

A wise captain once said “Being at sea is no excuse for a bad meal” and I agree! But I also agree that cooking on the boat in summer is not my favorite thing. Right now, our stove/oven requires conversion from natural gas to propane, and its not on the top of our list of things to do. What I have in its place is a one-burner butane camping cooktop, which we must have to make great french-press coffee in the morning. I love nothing more than that fresh cup of coffee, served in my favorite latte mug, doctored up the way I like it (with a teaspoon of hot coco mix and frothy half and half).

So to avoid doing too much cooking, I prepare a menu ahead of time and basically make things ahead of time that will keep in the fridge (or in our case at the moment, on ice) on the boat for about 5-7 days. In NJ, the summer days can be very humid so eating cold foods is ideal. Some great foods I like to pack for our sailing trips:

• Egg salad – I usually use about 18 eggs and make a big container since it’s got lots of protein, it’s good warm or cold, and my whole family loves it.
• Chicken salad – and by this, I mean start with a whole chicken, boil it (you can use the broth for soups later), then peel all the meat off the bones and use that for the chicken salad. It’s far better than just using chicken breast.
• Fromage (cheese). I love to have a nice “captains hour” which is happy hour on the boat when we arrive at our destination. I like to serve a full cheese board with assorted cheeses, crackers, and slicing meats like pate or Italian salamis.
• Instant oatmeal – which I would never eat at home (I like old-fashioned oats) but it’s very handy on the boat as it’s so easy to keep and make.
• Fresh fruit – I like to bring grapefruit, mangoes, and pineapple and cut them up and serve them fresh.
• Rolls and wraps for sandwiches
• A bag of fresh spinach, some cherry tomatoes, cucumber, carrot – whip up an easy salad or use the spinach in sandwiches or wraps
• Lunchmeat – ham, turkey, swiss cheese – my husband would die without these things
• Crackers, nuts, cookies and some chocolate – everyone needs a snack and a little bit of chocolate or a cookie after dinner is nice.

We typically eat dinner off the boat, and enjoy whatever the local area has to offer.

The On-Board Bar

Now this, is critical. Captain’s hour is fun for the whole family and we all have special drinks we like. We always travel heavy with the bar stuff! Here’s what we have as standard items for the bar:

• Vodka
• Tequila
• Gin
• Specialty bourbon
• Malibu Coconut Rum
• Appletini Mix
• Olives
• Margarita Mix
• Pina Colada Mix
• Diet Pepsi
• Assorted Beer
• Prosecco

Might seem excessive, but it’s just so nice to have that cocktail while you’re watching the sunset. And sunsets on the water are usually more beautiful than not.

Personal Needs

I keep a toiletry bag full of the typical items on the boat so I know I won’t forget any of that stuff. I also always pack earplugs and a sleep mask since I don’t particularly like to get up at dawn. 🙂 I always bring my Cures brand body wash as I hate carrying little bars of soap all over, and I love, love, love the smell of this particular brand of body wash (it’s not cheap!). And, after a long day of sailing (or in some cases, motoring, nothing is better than taking a hot shower with a fabulous body wash.

I also bring fresh cotton bed linens since it feels more like bed than using a sleeping bag or just lying on the cushions and using a blanket. I have two light weigh fleece blankets and 4 large waffle-weave cotton blankets on board which seem to work for everyone. We all bring our own pillow from home.

I also have my earbuds and download movies onto my iPad since I do a lot of reading on the boat, but at night, I like to watch a movie before going to sleep.

Wrapping it up

So this is a bit of a ramble since I started this post one day and finished it at least 2 weeks later…. and sort of forgot what my main point was. I think I just wanted to share some of the things I do to plan a trip, especially since I am certain there’s a better way to integrate all the various apps needed to come up with a good trip plan. And my listing tools and use of lists might be helpful to other people. So with that, I’m going to leave this rambling as evidence of my first foray into blogging!

If anyone actually reads this, thank you for spending your valuable time to read my ramblings.