Why cruise where you cruise?

[CharlzO]

I'm on SE Lake Ontario, and my cruising areas are largely dictated by how much time off I have. I started on Cayuga Lake, but needed more room to stretch out my runs, so I added a couple hours to the drive but countless miles more water. Most of the time, I only have the weekends, and with the weather being finicky sometimes, there's only so far I dare sail for a night before needing to come back the next day, ideally without needing to motor for 8 hours straight to get back. With more time though, for example over the holiday weekends, I like to get out farther - couple years ago we sailed to Sackets for the 4th of July (and by sailed, I mean motored a lot each direction). So right now, my cruising area is dictated by proximity to home, and by association, distance from the marina for the day.

[CassidyNZ]

I’m not sure that I would call our local sailing “cruising”, we’re mostly only out for a few days, couple of weeks when we’re at home. But the upper east coast of the North Island is a nice place to live and sail.

Cruising for us is mostly Fiji. Why do we like it? Well, it is a large island group spread over a huge area (7000 sq.miles) covered in islands (over 300 of them) that “float” in pristinely clean water with an abundance of life and beautiful coral. But I guess the main reason is that the spread of the islands provides a wide range of sailing experiences from a short hop to another anchorage to a longer sail to another island chain.

We also like to spend time with the locals who live on out-lying islands and rarely see any city life. We like to get involved in their lives in a positive way, fixing stuff that we understand and they don’t, offering skilled “labour” to repair storm-damaged buildings and so on.

Before we leave we load up with inexpensive toys, comic books for the kids, sewing stuff for the ladies, fishing tackle for the men, Readers spectacles (it’s amazing how many folks out there have poor reading vision), building consumables (screws, nails, etc.), inexpensive tools, just a collection of stuff that may be useful. It’s wonderful to see how much difference things we take for granted make to the lives of folks living in virtual isolation with very limited financial resource.

And in return the wonderful people of Fiji offer us the freedom to live in their paradise for short while. It’s a great trade.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Mike,

If you aren't looking for really warm weather, the Baltic is the finest cruising area in the world.... The only problem is the weather. The Baltic is generally cool and it may rain a bit. But the evenings are long (you are at 56+ degrees north so darkness never really falls in the early summer.) and generally comfortable.

Sounds great to me. The climate sounds wonderful, and the geography even better. We have been discussing whether to head south or to head east towards Europe (if we ever go anywhere else). I guess the Baltic would be the place to aim. I'll have to look into logistics and legalities of having a Canadian boat there long term.

Originally Posted by redhead

...But without a doubt the most magical, unexpected waters I think I will ever be on. We're getting ready to go south now and to tell the truth, a huge part of me isn't ready yet. I want to see more. Come out to the PNW!

I'm sold! Actually, it sounds a lot like my current cruising ground over here in Newfoundland. Breathtaking scenery, lots of sea life, and few recreational boaters at all.

I did spend a glorious week sailing out of Vancouver, doing a big loop around Texada Island and getting just south of Desolation Sound. It was grand. At the time the landscape and remoteness reminded me a lot of the north shore of Lake Superior. Newfoundland also is similar. You'd probably love it here

[Exctyengr]

I have had the privilege in my many decades of life to cruise all over the world. Jersey coast, Chesapeake, Florida, Japan, parts of Britain, SoCal, Caribbean. To my mind the absolute best cruising waters are the coast of British Columbia from Desolation Sound to Prince Rupert. Absolutely magnificent scenery, great seafood directly from the water (crab, salmon, halibut, etc). As crowded as you might like (Desolation sound July/August) or desolate as you might want (Fiordland). All protected waters, just enough navigation challenges to keep you sharp. I could go on and on.

[Smokeys Kitchen]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

A few of you have teased us with the joys of the PNW.

Or maybe global warming will really get going and the NW Passage will become less of a crazy route. If that happens I could be there in a season, and I wouldn't even have to dig out my speedo .

I can only echo the good boating in the PNW like Redhead, Macblaze, and others, and yes - it does go to light wind mostly in the summer, but not always; and there are literally countless places to see. We lived here raising the family and have many friends here now so when we started sailing it was a great place to learn and still a great place to explore. We do have plans to go where it's 'warmer than my age' at some point, but not this season. It does sound similar to what you are experiencing now so come on out and give it a go!

But please - leave the speedo in the storage unit - and I'll do the same. Everyone will be better off ...

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Smokeys Kitchen

I can only echo the good boating in the PNW like Redhead, Macblaze, and others, and yes - it does go to light wind mostly in the summer, but not always; and there are literally countless places to see. We lived here raising the family and have many friends here now so when we started sailing it was a great place to learn and still a great place to explore. We do have plans to go where it's 'warmer than my age' at some point, but not this season. It does sound similar to what you are experiencing now so come on out and give it a go!

But please - leave the speedo in the storage unit - and I'll do the same. Everyone will be better off ...

Thanks Smokey (and all who have encouraged me to consider the PNW). Like I say, I do have a vision of washing up on your fine shore eventually. Just gotta get there ... somehow.

And yes, I promise to keep the speedo well hidden .

[Siberian Sea]

Myself Im not really a cruiser but rather I use my boat to explore and preferably far away from the over crowded anchorages and charter fleets. The harder it is to get to the better it seems.

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by carstenb

Mike,

If you aren't looking for really warm weather, the Baltic is the finest cruising area in the world.

...

The only problem is the weather. The Baltic is generally cool and it may rain a bit. But the evenings are long (you are at 56+ degrees north so darkness never really falls in the early summer.) and generally comfortable.

I've been keeping an eye on the Ran videos lately as they are back in Sweden in the winter on a new boat. So far the weather looks pretty compatible with the PNW which is just fine by me. It is definitely on my to hit list.

[Mike OReilly]

It seems I'd drifting my own thread ... on the topic at hand, I'm loving all the various stories and reasons people have for cruising the areas they do.

Makes sense that people cruise where they live. And I love the notion of going where the wind takes you ... that's kinda what we've been doing. It's great to hear the passion most people have for their areas of choice. It's sure giving me lots to consider.

Hmmm, Baltic or the PNW or maybe just never leave Newfoundland ... where to go...?

[Howler]

Lake Léman (aka Geneva), Switzerland, the largest inland European lake. Fresh, clean water, breathtaking scenery (the Alps), ports in quaint medieval towns on the French and Swiss shores, no pirates, sharks or salt. The ports are within walking distance of train stations so if you want to change scenery you can leave your boat, hop on a train and be hiking or skiing in the Alps in 45 minutes or in the center of Geneva or Lausanne. And for RaymondR, drinkable tap water and plenty of access to coffee, groceries and morning papers. Sounds decadent, but the sailing is great and often challenging due to the 25+ named winds that can occur spontaneously. That’s why little Switzerland has produced more than its fair share of competitive ocean racers such as Ernesto Bertarelli (America’s Cup), Dominique Wavre (Vendée Globe) and Bernard Stamm (Around Alone). It’s different but good, especially since as a landlocked country, we don’t have many alternatives.

[Don C L]

At the tiller is my “happy place.” The local islands are my happy place. Taken together that makes happy place squared.
Hence my affliction

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Or do we head east, across the Atlantic to Norway or Ireland?

Don't miss the Faroes on the way. It's on our bucket list along with the Scottish Western Isles, and if you want a canal, well Scotland has a mast up one too, complete with a deep loch and rumours of a monster

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Don't miss the Faroes on the way. It's on our bucket list along with the Scottish Western Isles, and if you want a canal, well Scotland has a mast up one too, complete with a deep loch and rumours of a monster

CF members Matt and Jessica:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPtRwQwDgkA

[Tayana42]

Mike, I understand that you prefer cooler places, pristine nature and lack of crowds. That sounds pretty attractive in many ways. In much of North America it is pretty hard to find pristine anything. Still, you only stay on board half of the year. Any thoughts about sailing somewhere south and warm where water doesn’t get hard in that half of the year? If you and your better half are ever in Southern California look me up and we can go out on my boat for a while and see what charms are here waiting to seduce you.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Mike, I understand that you prefer cooler places, pristine nature and lack of crowds. That sounds pretty attractive in many ways. In much of North America it is pretty hard to find pristine anything. Still, you only stay on board half of the year. Any thoughts about sailing somewhere south and warm where water doesn’t get hard in that half of the year? If you and your better half are ever in Southern California look me up and we can go out on my boat for a while and see what charms are here waiting to seduce you.

This is exactly the reason for my musings about other places. Newfoundland is paradise on Earth -- at least for someone like me. But I'm just not tough enough, or perhaps crazy enough, to try and winter over on board. This is one of the big attractions of the PNW. At least there it is only slightly crazy to live on board year round.

Who knows ... we may yet pass by your way. Although I'm probably more likely to make it there via motorcycle than boat.

That's one of the benefits of not living year round on the boat; we get to do other things during the cold months. One year we motorcycled across Canada and down through much of the USA. We made it to northern California last time before turning inland. But there's always next winter .