Transition ashore
After returning to our land home in mid august we got busy with the chores of real life. I went back to work and therefore back to sea again. This time I was at sea without my family which is not nearly as fun. We soon felt that life onshore is way busier than the cruising life. Our life on Arctic Loon without many modern conveniences was busy. In hindsight however it was a breeze (no pun intended). As busy as things seemed to be onboard the boat it paled in comparison to how busy life is onshore. For instance there is a lot more to clean and less time to spend together as a family. Our home ashore, for example, is 1500 sq ft versus less than 100 sq ft on Arctic Loon. This is why we are planning a longer sailing trip for next summer!
Building Cruising Knowledge
It’s about time to get involved with more cruising organizations to learn from, share and connect with other cruisers. We have three new avenues of knowledge to draw from.
- We joined the Bluewater Cruising Association which is a well established group of sailors with all levels of experience from “Dreamers and Doers to Doners.”
- Second, we attended the Westsail rendezvous that was held in Ladysmith BC. Here we got to see almost a dozen other W32’s. Meeting the owners and sharing sailing stories over breakfast was a real treat. We also met “Mr. Westsail” aka Bud Taplin who runs the Westsail parts company.
- We subscribed to Attainable Adventure Cruising website. This is a Canadian couple who have extensive cruising experience. They do extensive research on each topic that they write about. Their advice is open minded, easy to read and not swayed by sponsorships.
Arctic Loon is now on the hard for the winter with a long list of upgrade projects. Some are must do items and others are nice to have.
I hope you’ll help keep the wind at our backs and join us as next spring as we continue to explore new horizons.