Ask the Captain

Answered

A few questions from readers of my old voyage blog, Bobbie Rounds the World, while I was sailing alone around the world. My answers, as I gave them then (2012 to 2014).

What kind of boat was Bobbie?

SV BOBBIE is a Magellan 36 Ketch. She’s a hefty girl at 10 tons.

How did you get a boat in the first place?

Just trolling online for bargains. The boat was only $11k I believe… one upside to the recession. You can buy a yacht for less money than you pay in rent for one year in LA or NYC. Something to think about…

I’d been sailing a fair bit solo before this trek, but when I started out (aged 21) I’d just got a little junk boat and took off. Trial by fire. It’s not for everyone but it’s always served me well…

How did you learn to sail and navigate?

Everything I learned just by getting on boats and trying stuff… more or less. No teachers, no lessons. I probably read one book on sailing theory early on. I read a lot of sailing books in general, but more of the classic cruising accounts: DOVE, MAIDEN VOYAGE, Tristan Jones’s stuff…

I’m always breaking stuff, you sort of just deal with it as it comes. The biggie was when my forestay broke on passage to Easter Island and that really disabled the rig. I ended up sailing on a really small rig. It was slow, but you get there eventually…

How do you stay connected at sea?

I quite like being disconnected most of the time. Things just feel clearer that way. But for my family back home, I use a SPOT tracker which sends them regular position updates so they know I’m alive and well. For emails at sea I’ve been using an Iridium satellite phone. It’s pretty pricey, but less cumbersome than trying to get stuff through on an SSB/modem.

Aren’t you afraid of getting sick or hurt, alone in the middle of nowhere?

Mostly, I think I just deal. I have a basic first-aid kit on board for minor things, and then a small arsenal of supplies for more pointed needs. Knock on wood, I’ve yet to break anything, but there have been some deep gashes along the way. I just go to great lengths to be exceedingly careful whilst out in the remote bits…

How do you manage fresh water on long passages?

For the big passages I do nearly all washing in seawater. The silverware doesn’t enjoy the salt bath so much, so it gets an occasional freshwater rinse. I also do all my personal rub-a-dub-dubbing in seawater: a bucket bath and then, if I’m feeling rich (water-wise), a quick freshwater rinse to feel human again.

Laundry I wash in fresh; the salt-washed stuff never dries properly. Cooking with seawater isn’t so nice. Bread is fine, but pasta needs fresh water to be edible. Rain-catching is still on the list of arts to perfect, as it’s really the best solution…

What about pirates?

I get that question a lot everywhere I go… the truth is it’s a lot more dangerous and terrifying in sketchy ports than it is out on the open seas. You can track piracy reports online; I use noonsite.com for that, and route around the known hot spots.

What’s a typical day, at sea and on land?

At sea, things are much slower. The days all sort of blend together, life locks into this nice rhythmic cycle of plotting positions, fixing things as they break, chatting on the single-sideband radio, checking the horizon for ships, studying GRIB files for weather.

On land it’s this weird, lovely mix of repair-making and art projects, with bizarre conversations about gold prospecting, late-night jaunts to secret caves, bonfires, coral reefs, farmers markets. It’s a simple life, but by no means boring. It’s probably the closest I’ve yet gotten to how I think we’re all supposed to live. A little less boxed in, a lot more inspired…

If you could start over, would you design a different boat?

I’m probably one of the few sailors I know who doesn’t care about the obsession with the perfect yacht. It’s all romance, the little things that interest me: brass lamps burning, charts strewn across the table, love letters scrawled in various languages, constant day-dreaming of what I’m gonna find over the horizon… none of it has anything to do with being a gear-head.

BOBBIE really is the perfect boat for me. The only thing I’ve wished I had is some sort of bimini/dodger combo. The sun’s brutal out there.

Got your own question? Send it to the boat. Or follow where I am now in my dispatches on Substack.