Tips to Stretch the Horizon
Cruising home waters, even for few days, can introduce you to people and places you’ve never seen before! Here’s how to make a truly unexpected adventure happen:
- Well before leaving the dock, choose a theme for your cruise, whether food, music, wine, movies, museums, golf, or whatever. Then line up theme-specific stopping spots. Yeah, a cab ride or two may be required—so what! Surf the web to organize. Get creative!
- Not into cooking/dining afloat? What about your favorite caterer? Have ’em box up a few seafaring entrees, snacks, and desserts. Refrigerator-friendly, of course.
- This is BIG! Spares, especially fuel-filter elements, impellers, gear lube, and engine oil are critical. There’s nothing fun about a balky genset. Or a main engine suffering from heat stroke.
- Spring for a top-notch cruising guide—the stuff out there in your very own backyard will blow your mind. Bring paper charts, too. They can often be more detailed than the digital stuff.
- Strategize regular maintenance chores so your oil changes, wash downs, etc. all predate your departure, but not by much. Postpone big jobs until after your trip.
- And finally, once you’re underway, scrap your plans at least once. We did. And the result was the most memorable meal of the trip, complete with some phenomenal Little Brown Farm goat cheese.
This article originally appeared in the Sept 2012 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
