Answers to the most common questions about our experience sailing around the world
This page keeps a tally of most commonly asked questions and our answers. The questions are listed under the following headings: (1) How did you learn to sail? (2) Money Questions (3) Marriage on the Boat Questions (4) Favorite Things (5) Sailing Heebie-Jeebies (6) Questions about Sonrisa (7) Sailing with a Cat Aboard; (8) Curiosities about Sailing Life and of course, (9) Why? If you can't find an answer to your question on here, it must be a new one!
Send us your question by clicking one of the social media/email links!
How DID YOU LEARN TO SAIL?
Q: How did you learn to sail?
It was a process starting from 2005 until the present day. Our strategy included reading, classroom coursework, and practical experience. in We raced as crew on other people's boats in the Great Salt Lake, then Lake Mead with the Nevada Yacht Club. We took basic ASA Certification Classes in Hawaii with a captained charter, we sailed a small lake sailor from 2008-2012, we chartered boats in Catalina, California and Key West Florida, then we practiced with Sonrisa from November 2012 - February 28, 2016 before officially casting off. The full story is detailed in blog posts with category labels: Learning to Sail.
Q: How did you find and decide on Sonrisa?
A: She found us. It was a pretty easy decision, especially after we had read John Vigor's Twenty Used Sailboats to Take You Anywhere. For more detail on this process, read the series of five posts starting with Finding Sonrisa. Probably even more helpful is Sonrisa’s series of posts on how a good sailboat goes about finding her perfect humans.
Q: How did you learn to maintain and repair Sonrisa?
A: There are three keys to maintaining a boat yourself: (1) a willingness and interest in figuring things out, (2) Nigel Caulder’s textbooks on boat maintenance, (see favorite books below), and the patience of an enlightened Buddha. Andrew started out with a solid baseline of handyman skills. He had always handled his own car maintenance, as a young man he had worked for his father and uncle in the construction trade, and in his career, he worked as a roving Chemical Engineer who did the practical design, installation, and sales for water treatment systems and chemicals in heavy industry (power plants, battery manufactures, papermills, and more.) So, the man could turn a wrench before we ever started. To learn boat specifics, he reads a lot, watches YouTube videos of other people either successfully repairing things or messing things up, and he spends hours upon hours standing there staring at Sonrisa until inspiration strikes. Then, he tests his theory before tearing into anything willy-nilly, adjusts from anything he learns during tests, and then very patiently attends to the project until it is complete. He has gotten to be very good at this process, and now can usually predict both time and expenses involved with good accuracy. It did not start out that way. A sailing mentor once told us:
You can pay someone to break your boat, or you can do it yourself and learn something in the process. - Larry Folsom, Cruising Mentor Extraordinaire.
And we have found this to be the case. We rarely hire experts to do the work. Whenever we have, we find the work has not been completed exactly as we’d hoped even when we hired “The Best” on the West Coast U.S. and paid them oodles and gobs per boat repair prices in the States. (Check out this post in which one of the key portions of our rigging broke, 700 miles offshore, after having paid an expert rigger to “REPLACE EVERYTHING!” and they obviously did not.) You can read all the posts about refitting Sonrisa both before we cast off and in the most recent mid-circumnavigation refit by clicking on the category label: Sonrisa’s Refit.
Q: How did you plan the path around the world?
A: Andrew had a handful of places in his mind he simply had to explore: Vanuatu's volcano and Thai Food are the top two reasons he cites for casting off. (I told him a while ago you can just fly to Thailand to eat Thai food, but he prefers the Long Way.) Reading various blogs and Jimmy Cornnel's books of Pilot Charts, World Cruising Routes, and World Cruising Destinations are the main tools we've used for plotting the big picture. Of course, each passage requires detailed review of charts and navigation planning.
Q: How do you figure out visa/port of entry requirements?
A: Generally an internet web search of a country's visa/port of entry requirements are sufficient to tell you what you need to know at a high level, sometimes you can even find documentation to fill out in advance. www.noonsite.com and Jimmy Cornell's World Cruising Destinations is also helpful, and in the end, a smiling face and patience with the runaround process of going from one government office to another is key.
Q: Did you read any books/blogs that helped you learn how to sail?
Many. These are a list of our favorites:
Understanding the Experience:
The Long Way, By Bernard Moitessier
Dove, By Robin Lee Graham
Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage By Arthur Lansing
Sailing Around the World Alone, By Joshua Slocum
Chasing the Horizon: The Life and Times of a Modern Sea Gypsey, By Fatty Goodlander
Love with a Chance of Drowning, By Torre DeRoche
Bumfuzzle, Blog, By Pat Schulte at www.bumfuzzle.com
76 Days Adrift, By Steve Callahan
Storm Tactics:
Storm Tactics Handbook, By Lin and Larry Pardey
Sailing a Serious Ocean, By John Kretchmer
Circumnavigating/Cruising Techniques:
The Voyager's Handbook, By Beth Leonard
How to Sail Around the World, By Hal Roth
Creative Anchoring, By Fatty Goodlander
The Practical Navigator, By Bowman
Cooking Aboard:
The Cruising Chef Cookbook, By Michael Groanwald
The Care and Feeding of Sailing Crew, By Lin Pardey
Choosing, Surveying or Refitting a Sailboat:
The Capable Cruiser, By Lin and Larry Pardey
Buy, Outfit and Sail, By Fatty Goodlander
Twenty Used Sailboats to Take You Anywhere, By John Vigor
Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual, By Nigel Caulder
Sailboat Buyer’s Guide to Conducting Your Own Survey, By Karel Doyuter
Route Planning:
World Cruising Routes, By Jimmy Cornnel
World Cruising Destinations, By Jimmy Cornnel
World Ocean Atlas, By Jimmy Cornnel
THE MONEY QUESTIONS
Q: How did you fund your trip to go sailing?
This, too, was a process starting from 2005 until we fully funded our sail kitty at the end of 2015. We did it the old fashioned way: worked, paid off debt, saved up money, then left. The full story is in the process of being told in blog posts with category labels: "Sail Kitty".
Q: How much does it cost to circumnavigate?
I would be remiss if I answered this question with anything other than: It depends. We’ve met sailors living off as little as $1,800/month US, and of course, the sky is the limit depending on your style. For us, our capital investment in Sonrisa started around $190,000 for her purchase price, refit, and three years of carrying costs (insurance, maintenance, marina, etc.) before departure, plus a mid-circumnavigation refit of $36,000. Our monthly spend rate for the first five years of our sailing lives settled in at $4,000/month. Going forward (because our circumnavigation is taking longer than planned), we are estimating $5,500 per month in order to cash flow Sonrisa’s ongoing refit/maintenance schedule and our lifestyle costs. We don’t run a tight financial ship, however, and we enjoy a whole lot of good food, land adventures, and SCUBA diving. For all our dirty details, check out www.oddgodfrey.com/costtally. And, if you want to read an article that walks you through how we predicted our costs and how you might also, check out www.oddgodfrey.com/strategies/howwepredictedourcruisingbudget.
Q: Are you retired, or what?
No. We planned a five year sabbatical to pursue the goal of circumnavigating. At the close of five years, I became your favorite Inveterate Sea Lawyer, and I’m working full time, remotely, as a complex commercial litigator in Nevada. I employ Andrew as Ship’s Engineer, Exploration Planner, and Galley Slave. Once the trip is complete, we anticipate both of us will return to gainful employment shoreside.
Q: What was it like to quit your job?
Hard. I didn't think it would be so hard until we got closer. Then, I realized how much I enjoyed the feeling of security a steady paycheck gives me. "Make hay while the sun shines!" Why would you walk away from a perfectly good job when so many do not that luxury? It seemed as insane to me as it does to you. But, I searched my soul to discern where I should go next and all signs pointed to having faith in myself, our little Oddgodfrey team, and in life to give the abundance we need. If you want to visit the experience in live time, read the following posts:
www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/quittingquitterquitting;
www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/thetestquit;
www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/anofferyoucantrefuse;
www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/theunicorncard;
www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/feettothefire;
www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/quittingcontinued;
www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/catchyoulaters;
www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/quittingtime
Q: Did you miss work in those five years you were employment-free?
A: I never missed work, because sailing Sonrisa safely, exploring places we go properly, and writing about it feels like “work” to me. It is the best kind of work, one driven by some mysterious call toward "purpose” whatever that means. I have, however, struggled with a feeling that I am not entitled to slip away from society and enjoy my sailing, exploring, and writing as my form of “work”. I feel a social responsibility to do something to help someone, especially having a law degree with which I could be advocating for people’s rights and/or helping my society remain/become peaceful. This echo of guilt has caused me to question at times whether this sailing endeavor is nothing more than a self-centered dalliance that helps no one. I have a few arguments against this, and I serve them up to myself on a frequent basis. But, I will be the first to admit these arguments are designed to help me to justify pursuing that which I want anyway - to explore, to sail, etc. These arguments likely are as selfish as the original endeavor itself, and they can be boiled down to “I do what I want, and everyone else does, too.” I’m still sailing, so you can see exactly how all that existential guilt and response turns out.
Now that I’m working and sailing, I have whole other swath of existential questions bugging me. It may just be that I have a nagging, judgmental philosopher in residence somewhere in my soul, and she simply refuses to be satisfied by anything. But, the joke’s on her because a judgmental existential philosopher is like the Boy Who Cries Wolf, and now that I’m 40, I feel entitled to ignore her completely.
Q: Will you return to the same professions?
Who knows? We both enjoyed our respective professions, and it is the business we know. It probably makes the most sense to return to the same profession. We will wait and see what opportunities present themselves at the time. I do hope we will return to shore better/smarter/with new ideas than when we left. I want to bring everything I learn to my work life and combine our industry experience with our sailing experience to offer something meaningful in the marketplace.
UPDATE: I have a legal gig! I am a practicing litigator again, with a Nevada and Utah based Hone Law. We handle commercial disputes and litigation risk analysis for business related issues.
Q: Are you afraid no one will let you enter the rat race again?
Every now and then, but we built our careers from scratch once; there is no reason we can't do that again. And this time, we are not starting from scratch. We both have 10 years experience in our respective industries, and this trip is giving us many more insights into our personal drive, endurance, extreme responsibility, project planning, independent development of expertise, team work, leadership, grit...and more. Would you have misgivings in hiring us?
UPDATE: Someone hired me, while I am still at sea!
Q: Are you afraid you won't be mentally able to enter the rat race again?
What is the rat race? What is it that crushes our soul? Is it the monotony, lack of control over our daily lives, lack of choice, the dedication of energy toward something that we don't care much about, the wild goose chases we are cast upon for seemingly no good reason? It's been a long time since I felt like I was caught in the rat race. Regardless of whether you own your own company or you work "For The Man," your career is always your own little business and you are always "working for yourself". When I return, I fully intend to design the next phase of my career to serve my own/my family's goals and priorities - just like I did the last time I participated in the job market. I expect that will be on the whole satisfying to me, like it is now, and like it was in my previous work life.
UPDATE: It was no big deal to hit the timeclock again, at least so far. Given that I am combing sailing and legal practice, I have the best of all worlds, and gratitude does wonders for minimizing any irritation I might feel with the realities of work-life.
Q: Why did you quit rather than take a more traditional leave of absence?
Our goal has always been to circumnavigate, and we knew it would take much longer than a typical leave of absence to accomplish our aim. It’s not fair to our employers and colleagues to expect them to hold our positions while we dilly-dally about the ocean. You never know where our paths take us, and we wouldn’t rule out working with them again upon our return if it makes sense for both them and for us.
Q: Will you be broke when you return?
We have a six month “resettlement fund” saved that we are not allowed to touch unless we are actually in the act of “resettling” i.e. no cheating and blowing it all on Caribbean Rum stash. We also saved money in retirement before we left, so although we will never touch that until we are actually retiring, it exists.
UPDATE: Nothing went as planned and we are years behind on the five year circumnavigation plan. (Thanks keel bolts and thanks Covid!) In order to “keep with the plan” and run our lives in a fiscally responsible way, we rejiggered our strategy. (See the Confession of your Inveterate Sea Lawyer already mentioned above.)
KEEPING A MARRIAGE ON A BOAT
Q: I could never spend that much time, in such close quarters with my spouse. How could you do it?
Rum. Lots of rum. Marriage on the boat is an interesting dynamic. I don't think it's different from being married on land; it is just a different type of pressure test than your typical land-pressure tests i.e. career building and raising kids. You can read all of our posts about the experience of being married on a sailing circumnavigation by clicking on the category link titled "Crew."
Q: Do you ever fight?
A: Of course. For more detail read www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/squabbles.
Q: How do you fight on a boat?
A: The same way we fight at home, about the same things. For more detail read www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/squabbles2
Q: Do you think your marriage will survive living on a boat?
A: I give it a 50/50 shot, but that's just because statistically all marriages have a 50/50 shot. For more detail on this topic, read www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/therealquestion
Q: You seem like you have a pretty good marriage, how do you do it?
A: Marriage is a contract between two people who wish to work together to build the business of life. We have always been very intentional about the contract terms that apply to our marriage. We wrote our own marriage ceremony and vows, all of which are terms and conditions to keep us on track. They come into play when we fight, and they help remind us the grander purpose behind the grunt labor of day to day dream building. We consider it a shared responsibility to aim at our best life for ourselves and for each other. It all comes down to teamwork and respect for the team members. For more detail about this read www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/400sqft
Q: What about kids? Are you going to have kids on the boat? Are you ever going to have kids? Do you realize you are 35 years old and might not be able to have kids? Update: 36 years old and counting.... Update Again: 37…. Update Again: 38… Update…40.
A: When we first scheduled this sailing trip, we expected to start sailing at age 34 and return at the end of age 38. While 38 is pretty late to have children, these days it is not unheard of at all. So, we figured we would probably want to have kids and get started about then. We generally have always both assumed that at some point our “biological clock” would ring and suddenly we would “want” kids. I’ve asked many of my child bearing friends “what does it feel like to want kids?” And they’ve told me it’s like a craving for chocolate. You just want a child, badly, now. So, we wait and wait. As this trip drags on and it becomes apparent it will take longer than the five years planned, I have felt a pressure to make a decision one way or the other - so we can decide to sail faster, change course, or do something different. But each time we have that discussion, we realize if there comes a moment when we suddenly “want” kids - we can just have kids. (Until the biological reality of time takes that opportunity away or the people who control the flow of adoption say we are too old and codgery to do it, of course). Many people have kids on sail boats, many people quit their sailing trip in the middle to have children. If it becomes a priority, we will make the best decision we can at the time. But, at this point, neither of us feel that ticking clock or the craving for chocolate. We both try hard not to make decisions based on fear, so we do not intend to have kids or plan around kids to “cover our bases” on the fear that someday we might regret not having kids.
So…no kids?
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE...?
Q: What is your favorite.....?
A: Everywhere has been filled with once in a lifetime experiences, friendly people, culture, and gorgeous nature. It is hard to pick just one place. Our favorites within various categories are as follows:
Warmest Welcome: Manihi, French Polynesia; Tual, Indonesia; Badas, Indonesia
Best for chartering a sailboat: Tonga or Raitaeah/Tahaa/Bora Bora
Best anchorages: Moorea, Society Islands; Hanamoena Bay, Tahuata, Marquesas; All of them in Vava'u Group, Tonga; South Rinca, Komodo
Best hike/view: Maupiti, French Polynesia; Padas, Komodo
Best swimming holes: Niue
Most magical/best preserved culture: Vanuatu
Best volcano: Vanuatu, Bali has nice ones, too.
Least spoiled by tourism: The Marquesas, the eastern islands of Indonesia
Best wildlife: Galapagos
Best scuba diving: Fakarava (Sharks!), Niue (water clarity, caves, snakes, whales), Tonga (tiny colorful creatures, swim throughs), Fiji (Sea Turtles), Vanuatu (Coolidge Wreck), Kei Islands (Coral and Sponge Diversity/Condition) Komodo Indonesia (EVERYTHING! Turtles, Mantas, Nudibrach, Variety of Coral)
Best manta rays: Maupiti, Society Islands; Komodo, Indonesia
Best fat and friendly eel named Princess: Bora Bora, Society Islands
Best beach food: Thailand. With Mexico or Galapagos as a close second.
Best food, generally: Thailand. Sri Lanka. Mexico. Indonesia.
Best fresh veggies and fruit: New Zealand and South Africa, Tanzania is pretty good, too.
Best hamburger: Rarotonga, Cook Islands (World Famous, you know!)
Best French Pastries: Huahine, French Polynesia; Port Vila, Vanuatu
Best beer: New Zealand has great craft beers, but they are ungodly expensive.
Best wine: New Zealand for light reds and whites. Australia for rich, jammy reds or dry reds. I bet South Africa will give these guys a run for their money, though.
Best Beer Label: Papua New Guinea
Q: What are your favorite sailing movies?
#1, BEST SAILING MOVIE EVER MADE: Captain Ron.
If you have to watch anything else (which, you don't) then Wind, a 1980s movie about Americas Cup. But it is best viewed in the company of Australians. I don't think they've made any good sailing movies since the 80's. Tell me if you find something new!
I also enjoy Maiden Trip. When you realize a 14 year old girl can circumnavigate all by herself, you realize I have no valid excuse.
QUESTIONS ABOUT Sailing Heebie-jeebies
Q: Are you afraid of heavy weather?
A: We enjoy a healthy fear of heavy weather.
Q: Have you hit any heavy weather?
At sea, the worst we have seen so far is 12-16 foot waves, with a 7 second period between, and 37 knots of wind that lasted for three days between Namibia and St. Helena. This produced waves that broke on top of Sonrisa, and that was a bit nerve wracking. We saw 57 knot gusts after rounding Cape of Good Hope and trying to get ourselves to Cape Town. Because this wind was a “Shore-breeze” the sea had some choppy fetch, but we weren’t dealing with the usual MONSTER waves I’d expect from 57 knots. We have ridden out storms at anchor with gusts up to 50 knots (Indonesia, Maldives - both when we were behind our sailing schedule skirting around a cyclone season). We have not experienced anything unmanageable yet, thank goodness.
Q: What do you plan to do about heavy weather?
A: There are books written on storm tactics. For a summary of our planned strategy and our favorite tactics, see a more detailed post: www.oddgodfrey/oddlog/darkandstormies. Our favorite book on storm tactics is Jack Kretchmer's Sailing a Serious Ocean, I like to call this book "Storm Poetry".
Q: Are you afraid of Pirates? What do you plan to do about Pirates? Aren’t there Pirates in Indonesia?
A: Like weather, we enjoy a healthy fear of pirates. We research areas of the world with piracy problems using live piracy maps tracked for commercial shipping and and other maritime vessels: https://icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map. We have not yet traveled anywhere that piracy has been a problem. Generally speaking, we try to stay aware of what is around us. Sailors talk about getting a “feeling” about a location, hackles get raised, your spidey sense goes crazy. We will trust the sense we get about a place and move on if it isn’t quite right. We lock up Sonrisa when we are ashore. We have a car alarm hooked up that makes a god awful noise if the trip wire is tripped. We will not fight an intruder if one happens to board Sonrisa unless we absolutely must to save our selves from harm. Things can be replaced, people cannot. It hasn’t been a problem at all, yet. So, in a certain sense this is all theoretical. We hope it continues to be no problem at all.
With regard to Indonesia, there have been some instances of piracy near Java/Jakarta and Sarong near West Papua. Indonesia spans an area of almost 3,000 miles, so worrying about piracy in these areas is like worrying about crime in Oregon while kicking around in Tennessee. We plan to keep our distance from these locations, and enjoy the rest of the country safely. Of some amusement to me are the fishermen who wear black face masks to keep off the sun. Their curiosity often gets the best of them, and they motor up next to Sonrisa, faces blacked out by their scarves. It could be scary, if you didn't know their intentions, but they always wave, take selfies, and offer to give us fish. I don't think they are pirates.
Q: Aren't there terrorists in predominantly Muslim countries you travel to?
None of the countries we have visited have any more terrorism than the United States has, and I would venture to say less when you consider the frequency of our mass shootings. In the Asian/Muslim Communities like Indonesia and Malaysia, people we met are actively speaking out against extremism and terrorism. Furthermore, in many Muslim cultures we’ve visited, hospitality is a top religious priority, and we are given a warm welcome. These people are some of the kindest, most friendly people we have ever met. Throughout Indonesia, for example, they speak directly to us about the idea that Christians, Hindu, Buddhists, and Muslims are brothers. Observing their cities and neighborhoods, it is clear they live that way on a daily basis. We have not sailed through any Middle Eastern countries, and so I cannot speak to the cultures there. However, as a general rule, this sailing adventure has made me more skeptical of the stories we are told in news media. I’m not naïve, I know there are bad people everywhere, but there are also wonderful people everywhere, too. And, where the lines are drawn between bad and good are not drawn between religious followings, cultures, or race. We’ve made wonderful friends even in the “scariest” ports we’ve sailed through. We take our personal safety seriously, but also, we try not to live in fear based on what we’ve been told. Local knowledge is always the more accurate assessment anyway.
Q: Do you carry guns on board?
We plead the 5th on this question. There are many things to consider when deciding whether to bring a gun aboard a boat. In most places in the world, it is illegal to possess a firearm. In many countries, you must hand over your firearms to officials when you check in and pay fees for the officials to hold those firearms until you leave. Most countries do not allow a person to kill another person in furtherance of self-defense like we do in the United States, so while you may save your life with an intruder you may find yourself at the sharp end of a guillotine anyway. Pirates do not use little handguns; they generally have weapons of war they've gotten a hold of on the black market. So, if you really wish to fight off pirates, you should probably consider a rocket launcher or an AK-47. Further, customs in regard to personal space and approaching other vessels varies from country to country; one must be mindful that he or she does not shoot a kind person wearing a face mask for sun protection, hoping to bum a cigarette and say hello. So far, most places we have traveled are incredibly safe. Except one instance in which someone helped themselves to Andrew’s shoes left sitting on deck (in the most “dangerous” port we’ve entered so far) we haven’t had narry a towel lost to theft or nefarious intentions. But then again, none of this matters if you find yourself in the however unlikely scenario you are doing battle for your life. It’s a personal decision, and one we aren’t willing to advise other people about.
Q: Any close calls?
A: Our scariest moment was probably the day Sonrisa hit a whale, but Sonrisa shook this off like a champ. www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/whaletale Our second scariest moment was the day a "sea tornado" or water spout formed a mile or so away from us. We aimed Sonrisa full steam ahead away from the area, and were no worse for the wear.
Q: What does Leslie's Dad think of this?
I'm sure he'd rather wrap me in bubble wrap and keep me close regardless of where I am. We miss being able to spend time with each other during this phase of our respective lives. But, he also knows the things I learned from him play a large part in my desire and ability to be capturing this dream, and I think that makes him happy. He also enjoys reading about all the learning and fun we are experiencing out here. If you want to read more about getting Dad "on board", check out the blog post www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/dadonboard.
Q: What are you most afraid of?
A: Onboard fire at sea, lightning strikes, a medical emergency at sea, collisions with uncharted reef or floating cargo ship containers, having so much fun and drinking so many beach cocktails that my brain goes slushy.
Q: Has this trip changed your relationship with fear?
A: This trip has caused me to become more comfortable acting and making decisions while experiencing fear. Fear exists, you have to keep moving (hopefully with wisdom) anyway.
ALL ABOUT S/V SONRISA
Q: What does S/V mean?
A: Sailing Vessel. M/V means Motor Vessel. You might also see S/Y which means Sailing Yacht. SS means Sailing Ship, USS "Name" means a Sailing Ship under the U.S. Flag.
Q: What kind of boat is Sonrisa?
A: Sonrisa is a 1981 Valiant 40, cutter rigged sloop. In regular English that means she was built in 1981 by a company called Uniflite (at the time), her model is Valiant 40. "Cutter Rigged" means she has two sails in front of her mast: one large sail and a second smaller sail. A "Sloop" is a sailboat that its mast near her centerline, with one main sail behind and at least one sail in front.
Q: Why did you choose Sonrisa?
A: As a design, the Valiant 40 is known for her balance of strength and speed, her smooth sailing motion, and her ability to keep her passengers safe and sound. Rumor has it, Sonrisa has more sisters cruising the blue water than any other sailboat design; I have no way of confirming this rumor - other than to confirm that Sonrisa has had three sets of owners, and all three of them have trusted her enough to venture offshore long distances.
Sonrisa herself has a spirit you can feel from the moment you climb aboard; you know for sure she loves being at sea. Her two prior owners took careful care of her, so she was in good shape the day we bought her. Our refit focused on maintenance items that are wise to replace on a re-occurring cycle like rigging and chainplates. For a fully summary of her refit projects and costs, go to www.oddgodfrey.com/costtally.
Q: How did you find Sonrisa?
A: Sonrisa found us, really. She tells her story in the blog as well, starting here. (Click “previous post” at the bottom of the page to continue forward with the story.) Sonrisa considers this whole series to be chock full of good advice; sailors should know what their potential future boat might be thinking!
The story from the human perspective is set out in three posts starting here. (Click “previous post” to move forward in the story from there.)
And, if you just want the nuts and bolts: check out this technical write up for more information. www.oddgodfrey.com/technicalwriteups/howandwhywechoseourcruisingboat
Q: Can we have a grand tour?
A: Yep! Check out the blog post: www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/thegrandtour
Q: Where has Sonrisa sailed before?
A: Sonrisa was built in Bellingham, Washington in 1981. She served as a charter boat in the Caribbean for a while - Neptune only knows what those days were like. We all know she's tough, though, so whatever those days brought to her she took it on the chin and kept sailing. We’ve been in touch with her second owners and third sets of owners, and so have captured her whole story going from 1987 forward.
After her charter days, she was purchased by two lawyers in Fort Lauderdale in 1987. They spent that Summer sailing from Fort Lauderdale to the Saint John River in New Brunswick, Canada and back. In February 1989, she left on her first “Pacific Circle.” Sailing through San Juan, Puerto Rico, the US and British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saint Maartin, Nevis, St. Barts, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, the Grenadines and Grenada, she waited through the 1989 hurricane season in Cumina, Venezuela. She stopped in Bonaire was to allow her crew to enjoy the spectacular scuba diving, then to Curacao for provisioning and Panama.
She sailed through the Panama Canal February 15 1990, passing through her first lock at 10 a.m. that morning, tied up in the center of a fleet of six sailboats. From there, she sailed into the South Pacific, crossing as far west as New Caledonia, then looping northward through Solomon Islands, Micronesia, Japan and back to San Francisco by December of 1993.
There, she was sold to her next set of owners - two aeronautical engineers - who sailed her to Mexico and back, twice before casting off in 2005 on on what they intended to be their own circumnavigation. She crossed the South Pacific, sailing safely all the way to New Zealand. Much to her chagrin, she had to be lofted onto a container ship in New Zealand and moved back to the US under another ship's power because her owners ran into health troubles. The container ship delivered her to the East Coast, and then she sailed the Intercostal Waterway to Texas. From Texas, she was taken over land by truck to San Diego. Her owners hoped to restart their circumnavigation but age and illness persisted, and they were forced to put up for sale in 2010. There she waited until November of 2012 for the Oddgodfreys to find her. She dreams of completing her own circumnavigation, and we have promised to help her achieve that goal.
08/30/2022 UPDATE: Holy Moly! We are in Natal, Brazil and our next planned destination is Grenada where Sonrisa will cross her own path!
sailing with a cat on board
Q: Does she like it?
After her initial process of getting used to an unfamiliar space, Katherine Hepburn seems to really like sailing. She enjoys standing night watches with us, she doesn’t mind the motion of the boat, whenever we are sailing, she continues about her normal life with the exception that she doesn’t really like to carouse on deck while we are under way. This makes us happy, because we feel safer with her either down below or under the dodger while we are moving. She still hates the engine noise, though, so if we turn on the engine she will always retreat to the bathroom where it seems to be the quietest spot on the boat. She scowls about it, but otherwise does not complain.
She is the happiest cat alive whenever we catch fresh fish.
Q: How do you keep her safe?
In a lot of ways, we rely on her own intelligence to keep her safe. We’ve tried harnesses, life jackets, and other safety features, but she becomes downright wild when we try to put them on her. We’ve tried working up to it with training and bribery, but it only made her fat and us bloody. We’ll keep trying, but I don’t predict Katherine Hepburn will wear a harness anytime soon. She is smart, though, and after a few forays onto deck while we were under way in the early days, she now either stays below, perches on a shelf just inside the companionway, or perches under the dodger while we are sailing. These places are safe for her (as safe as they would be for us), and in bad weather she immediately retreats below.
At night, in anchorages, she is free to roam on deck. This isn’t how all sailors handle things, and we know it is a possibility that she could fall overboard. We have several boarding ropes for her to climb if this happens, Grin is usually in the water, and we think she could climb him, and so on. We’ve tried to train her on swimming and climbing the ropes, but she is too adept at leaping to use them. We have taken her out in Grin, showed her the boarding rope and encouraged her to climb, but instead, she waits until the right moment to jump and then just goes straight from Grin to Sonrisa. Short of literally just dumping her in the water, I don’t know what else to do. She knows Sonrisa, she knows the ropes are there for her, and I do think if she fell in, she would climb the rope.
That being said, she has a healthy fear of the edge of Sonrisa. She thinks we are half insane when we jump in to swim on purpose, and sometimes even this scares her enough to make her tail poof. She’s a roof cat, she spent her life judging the jumps from ledge to ledge on a three story building. I think this trained her to judge what is safe and what is not while aboard.
Q: How do you manage quarantine?
This is something we deal with on a country-by-country basis. In most countries, if the cat is just transiting and she will not leave the boat for any reason, then we don’t have to undertake the quarantine process. There is usually a difference between transit through and importing a cat. She has all her vaccinations current, a microchip, and a passport. We check the requirements for transiting with pets on www.noonsite.com (a sailor’s website) and information you can find on government websites before you arrive in a new country. There are some countries that would make transiting with a cat impossible, we won’t be going there with Katherine Hepburn on board. (Australia).
Curiosities about the Sailing Life
Q: What is your longest passage?
A: So far, the longest passage was from Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas. We completed the crossing in 22 days, 3,009 miles. Our second longest passage was from Cabo San Lucas to the Galapagos Islands was 21 days, 2587 miles. We were in Galapagos for only three weeks between these two major passages. That is a lot of sailing in the span of three months!
Q: You stay close to land, right? What is the furthest you've ever sailed away from land?
A: No, we don't stay close to land. Many passages require us to cross vast swaths of Ocean. The furthest we've ever sailed from land was on the 22-day crossing to the Marquesas. At the midpoint, we were 1,500 miles away from any piece of land in any direction.
Q: Do you anchor at night while on passages?
A: No, we don't anchor. Each of us take watch shifts in a 24 hour cycle as follows:
0900 - 1130 (9a.m. - 11:30 a.m.) Leslie is on watch. Captain Andrew naps.
1130 - 1500 (11:30a.m. - 3 p.m.) Lunch and watch together.
1500 - 1730 (3 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.) Andrew is on watch. Leslie naps.
1730 - 1900 (5:30 p.m - 7 p.m.) Make and eat dinner. Leslie on watch/Andrew prepares dinner
1900 - 0100 (7 p.m. - 1 a.m.) Leslie is on watch. Captain Andrew sleeps.
0100 - 0700 (1 a.m. - 7 a.m.) Captain Andrew is on watch, Leslie sleeps, The Ghost of Richard Henry Dana causes floods.
0700-0900 (7 a.m. - 9 a.m.) Breakfast. Leslie is on watch, Andrew prepares breakfast.
Q: Is there a way to stop the boat in the middle of the ocean to rest if you need to?
A: Yes. If we need a rest for any reason, we can Hove To to slow and steady the boat. “Hoving-to” is a strategy with which you back-wind the headsail, trim the main to push her upwind, and balance the helm essentially create a “fight” between her two sails and keep her bow pointed upwind making very little speed. When Sonrisa is "hove to" she scuttles sideways rather than forward at a slow pace of 1 knot or less. As she drags sideways through the water, she creates a "slick" behind her that calms the waves a little bit and prevents them from crashing down on us. It's actually a rather nifty strategy that is also used as a defensive tactic during heavy weather.
Q: Who is the Captain?
Andrew. This post tells the story of how that happened and why.
Q: Where are you going next?
A: Our current goal is to make it around Cape of Good Hope by end of 2021. From there, it’s anyone’s guess. Covid has changed the political layout in front of us, with various countries closed or effectively closed due to quarantines, PCR Test requirements, added expenses and other issues. Right now, we are in the “Make the Next Decision Next” mode.
Q: It seems like you are really far behind your original route plan.
A: We are. Sailor’s plans are written in sand, apparently. We will hit “Year Six” in our “Five Year Circumnavigation” in February of 2022, and we are only really half way around. There are many reasons for this: (1) our original timeline did not match our natural pace; (2) Sonrisa needed a full keel bolt refit in Malaysia; (3) Covid trapped us in the Indian Ocean for more than a year longer than we ever planned. Apparently, one of the lessons we are set on this circumnavigation to learn is how to better “go with the flow.” I think sometimes we feel a bit untethered, but here we are.
Q: Are you going to have to quit?
A: Nope. Not unless we get tired of the whole thing and decide to quit of our own accord. We’ll figure it out, and figuring it out is all part of the adventure.
Q: How do you decide where you are going next?
This is always a mix of weather, destinations on the circumnavigation track, and serendipity. For more detail, read www.oddgodfrey.com/oddlog/wherenext
Q: Do you ever get seasick? What do you do to manage it?
A: Yes. Seasickness is a tricky beast. It's unique to the individual and the sea conditions. Some people never get seasick no matter what is going on, and some people never get over seasickness no matter what they do. Andrew and I both fall in the middle category of people who are mildly miserable for the first three days of any passage, but get over it after that. To minimize our misery in the first three days we try to do the following: Hydrate really well starting 3 days before the passage and continue throughout the passage; start medication 24 hours prior to departure and continue every 12 hours thereafter until it starts to abate, drawing down dosage slowly (Dramamine puts me to sleep so I can’t use that. Other “motion sick” meds in the US don’t work for me. I’ve found antihistamine based anti-nausea meds like Sturgeron and promethazine work best for me.) Relax and visualize a successful passage from start to finish (anxiety increases likelihood of seasickness); pre cook three days worth of meals; have small snacks always at the ready and nibble every half hour (ginger snap cookies are great for this though make me fat); try not to do small movements close up (like chopping vegetables) if you don’t have to; pre-cook as many passage meals as I can; minimize time below deck except to sleep; and avoid the boat’s bow unless you absolutely must go up there. Finally, I have to relax and be patient. The more I engage in negativity and internal fights with myself about how stupid this whole sailing idea is, how weak/scared/sick I am, how annoying the sea conditions are, etc. etc. etc. the worse it gets.
Q: How do you manage medical care?
A: We have a pretty comprehensive medical kit on the boat with splints, wraps, tourniquets, burn care, IV equipment, saline solutions, and medicines we hope will tide us over if things go drastically awry. We have a general physician who has agreed to be on call if we ever need any guidance in remote areas. We both are certified as first responders, and we have a few medical first aid books on board to help if we need reference. We have currently use Geo Blue Xplorer Policy, a medical insurance policy that covers us in the United States and in foreign countries. It also offers a $250,000 coverage for plucking us away from a remote area and flying us somewhere that has medical care. On a day to day basis, taking care of our health is part of the challenge of living abroad. Its different everywhere we go, and can formulate the focus of some fun adventures. If you want to read more in depth about our experience with annual physical exams in Malaysia, or the run around we enjoy just trying to get a common prescription filled in Indonesia, click these links.
Q: Do you ever get bored?
A: No. My mother says boredom is an infliction of those who lack creativity and curiosity, punishable by hard labor. This parenting-policy permanently cured me of boredom.
Q: Do you miss living in a land-house?
A: Not really. Sonrisa is both our home and a good friend. She has a comfy bed, a fridge with cold beer, a stunning backyard patio, a beautiful swimming pool, and a stellar personality. Whenever the neighbors get annoying, we move. And many nights, I take my shower under a blanket of stars.
Q: What has been the hardest part about sailing?
A: Quitting our jobs, sea sickness, leaving people we love - including all our new friends we make as we go.
Q: What do you eat?
A: When we are touring around on land, we eat at restaurants serving local food. Our best strategy is to find a place that has a big crowd of locals, it's guaranteed to be delicious and less likely to give you food poisoning regardless of outer appearances. On Sonrisa, we eat very much like we eat at home. There are grocery stores and fruit and veggie markets anywhere that people live. Sometimes it is difficult to find the specific food or brand you want (cheese is very hard to find in Indonesia!), but you always can find something to stock your cupboards.
Q: What do you eat on long passages?
Generally, we try to prepare at least the first three days of meals and snacks so we don't have to do any cooking/chopping, etc. We want to be able to pull them out of the fridge and heat them up. This is because we both get a little seasick the first three days and cooking, down below is miserable. After that, we plan to eat delicate fruits and veggies first, saving the harder items like apples, pears, potatoes, onions, squash, pumpkins, etc for the third/fourth week of the voyage. Did you know eggs do not have to be refrigerated? If you buy fresh eggs that have never been refrigerated and turn them over or shake them every few days or so, they will last more than a month. We also have a freezer on board Sonrisa. So, we can vacuum seal packets of marinated meats or pre-prepared meals and pull them out of the freezer even in the fourth week of a passage.
Q: Does Andrew do all the cooking?
A: We usually split this job. Andrew does most the cooking on passage, but I try to pre-cook a lot of meals so he only has to warm things up. Anytime I’ve been earning money while out and about, Andrew takes a higher proportion of the cooking to free me up for blog writing and legal work.
Q: What do you do with your garbage?
A: Anything that composts like food waste can be thrown into the ocean with no bad impact. We try to only use things packaged in cardboard, paper, aluminum, or tin as much as possible. Then we crush these items, save them in a garbage can in Sonrisa, and take them to shore when we arrive at a city. We try not to buy products wrapped in plastic, but when it inevitably makes its way into our hands, we try to burn it on a beach. The garbage collection/recycling is non-existent and/or poorly handled in most of the places we have visited (New Zealand excluded). Cardboard, paper, aluminum and tin degrade in salt water environments and won't be around to poison the environment for infinite time. Plastic, never goes away and it is very likely to end up back in the ocean if we don't burn it. The plastic situation out here is dire; its killing us all slowly. Stop using plastic in every instance you possibly can, pressure the companies you buy from to stop packaging their products in plastic, and let your representatives know you support regulations that reduce or eliminate non-biodegradable packaging and single use plastic items.
Q: What is something that surprised you?
I know far less than I thought I knew. Did you know there are six seasons in Northern Australia and eighteen in the Maldives?
The world is at the same time so much larger and so much smaller than I imagined.
Internet is not easy, fast, or cheap.
I'm not as brave and fearless as I hoped.
So far, the local people are more friendly and welcoming than I expected them to be.
We love scuba diving even more than we thought we would.
It's a strange feeling to have to trust your self and your spouse with every aspect of your physical and emotional survival.
You build quick friendships with other sailors.
Sailboat kids and their parents are awesome.
Feelings like depression, anxiety, and uncertainty do not abate while in the middle of a large life goal. If you are stricken with these feelings while working, raising families, or doing other normal things, they are likely to continue to exist even while trying to capture some crazy dream in remote paradise. Peace, satisfaction, meaning, and happiness are feelings of themselves developed by something other than surrounding circumstances or the achievement of whatever it is you think you want.
There are many places in the world that have ZERO garbage management plans, so people just burn their garbage or toss it in the sea. America, Australia and other first world nations ship our “recycling” to some of these places in Asia and tell ourselves we have a great garbage management plan. We don’t. They don’t. And anything in our garbage supply that doesn’t naturally biodegrade is largely floating around in the ocean with us.
Q: How has this trip changed you?
I'm not sure, yet. As of today, I feel like it has unraveled things that I thought I knew and values I thought I held, but it has yet to weave anything back together to a stronger, better whole. I am hoping something meaningful will come together and make itself known to me before the end of the trip. Experiencing what it means to be trapped, at the mercy of the weather and the passage of time, in the embrace of deep patience has probably been the most transformative of lessons so far. There is nothing like the ocean to make you realize you are NOT in control of anything. Andrew says he would agree with this answer, so we are on the same page.
Q: If you had to pick one thing that is the best about this sailing trip, what is it?
The best thing about this trip excitement of continuous change and challenge. Every single day throws something unexpected at us and we have to figure out what to do next. Sometimes it's something fun (like the day a local decided to take us to a formal wedding attire shop and dress us up in the Sultan's wedding clothes) and sometimes its more challenging like retrieving Grin while he is washing away to sea. Everything is harder out here - even the simplest tasks like grocery shopping can be a mind bender. We learn something new every day about people, nature, sailing, maintaining diesel engines, scuba diving, or ourselves. The reward at the end of the day is seeing some of the most beautiful places in the world.
Q: Isn't it all the same?
Does it all start to blend together? My apologies if my blog does not adequately describe the daily challenge and joy of seeing different types of nature, people, challenges, fears, and internal personal characteristics inside ourselves. It's an art in life to see and appreciate the tiny details, an art that we all can and should practice no matter where we live, what our opportunities, or our goals. Read two more detailed post about how I processed this question when it first hit me, here and here.
JUST, WHY?
Q: Why do you want to sail around the world?
Captain Andrew's Answer: Because it's there.
Leslie's Answer: To make a bigger piece of the world my own.