Midlife Crusing
"20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So, throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
However, some people need more of an explanation as to why my husband and I would want to sell our home, our cars, and our possessions to live on a 30 foot sailboat without air conditioning, fresh water, or much living space. The idea first came about when we were vacationing in Hawaii a couple of years ago. We were on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, when we noticed tents with homeless people living in them. We thought, "Wow! If that's how homeless people live, we need a tent"! Of course, we weren't really serious about living in a tent, but after returning home we kept thinking about those homeless people in Hawaii. The idea of living in a tropical area and having no debt to tie us down was really appealing!
Not long after our trip to Hawaii, a friend of ours was telling us about some people that were living on a sailboat and cruising the Caribbean. Like the people that we tell about our future cruising plans, we raised our eyebrows. But, we weren't thinking the idea was crazy. Instead, we were thinking that this was something we might want to look into! It's odd that we've gone our whole life without ever hearing about such a lifestyle. Living and cruising on a sailboat was a totally foreign idea, and we wondered why we'd never thought of this before. We'd seen sailboats anchored, but we'd never stopped to think that these sailboats were homes and that anchoring was allowed overnight.
My husband and I have always dreamed of retiring by the age of 50 to travel and see the world. We don't have a lot of money and have always lived a frugal lifestyle. I'm proud to call myself a "low maintenance" girl! So, the idea of living on a sailboat seemed perfect for us. Without ever sailing, we decided to buy a sailboat just a few months later. We bought a 1987 Catalina 30 and named her "Nirvana", which is a Buddhist term meaning bliss and freedom from material possessions. Since then we've anchored overnight and have spent a few weekends on our sailboat. Now that we've experienced the joy of a breeze through our hair, the beautiful sunsets, going to sleep under the stars, and waking up to a sunrise and a waterfront view... we're hooked! Sailing on the water, with nothing but the sounds of the waves is truly an amazing experience!
So, this year we hope to sell our home and everything with it! When we hear the familiar saying, "The best things in life are free ... we believe it! No house, car, outfit, or piece of jewelry can compare to the beauty that this world provides! Why cruising ... why not?!
Follow us, Ken and Cheryl, as we sail and make the transition from landlubbers to liveaboards at www.mid-lifecruising.com
Holiday Decor
There are so many ways to bring your love of the water and boating into your holiday festivities. We love how Going A Little Coastal incorporated our Sailcloth Christmas Stockings into their decorations.
Anne's Weekend Trip
I spent the weekend in Florida (my oldest sister needed help celebrating a significant birthday & her entire family was most willing to provide assistance). The weather was absolutely beautiful – sunshine, blue skies and puffy, white clouds.
Now you must understand that I was born and raised in Western NY. We have short, hot summers; rainy Spring and Fall seasons; and long, snowy winters. Any weekend days with full sun and temps in the 80’s finds everyone out on the water.
In Florida, I was astonished that although I spent most of the two days by various bodies of water, I saw almost no boats! How could that be?
I guess it is all what you are used to. After all, November, even in Florida, isn’t prime boating weather. The season is in a lull, even if the boats aren’t actually pulled out and put away for the winter. Those of us from the North are always envious of the longer boating season in the South. But perhaps if our weather allowed for a longer season, we would just boat less intensely.
Can someone has lived in both climates explain this to me?
Life Aboard
Our first guest blogger Robin is often asked how she transitioned from a life on land to a life on sea and what it's like. Read on to find out.
I have been sailing and boating all my life and my husband has as well. When we first married in 1979 I wanted to move aboard a boat. The idea of living on a boat was fascinating to me. My husband wanted room for “stuff” so we lived in houses like “normal” people. We would live on a boat someday... Maybe after the kids grew up and moved away.
After two sudden deaths in the family we realized that someday never comes for many people and we decided to take action and not wait for someday.
My husband, 12yr old son and little dog found and moved aboard our Aleutian 51 sailboat in 2002. We left 3 months later and cruised Mexico, the South Pacific, Hawaii and returned to LA where we have lived aboard ever since. Our daughter joined us for a summer break from college and stayed a year cruising from Tahiti to Hawaii.
We found it interesting when visiting with other cruisers in remote anchorages that their favorite spots were our least favorite and their least favorite spots were our favorite spots. People want different things from cruising. We enjoy remote places off the beaten path. Many of our cruising buddies look for the tourist areas.
Our favorite spot so far would have to be Penrhyn ( a small atoll in the Cook Islands). The island is beautiful and people warm and welcoming. Another favorite is the Tuomotus in the South Pacific. The snorkeling is the best we’ve experienced.
After returning to California, our son graduated film school and bought a boat of his own that he lives aboard in the same marina as us. We enjoy visits from our kids and friends and also enjoy spending time alone.
We have spent the last two years refitting Mermaid and are heading to Mexico in mid-November. From there... Who knows? You can follow our adventures on our blog www.svmermaid.com.
Our Customer Service Philosophy
Hello everyone! Today I want to talk about SailorBags’s second core value - customer service. We know that our customers are real people, just like us. Each of you has a reason for purchasing one of our products, and that reason is probably pretty important to you. Well, its really important to us as well.
It might be a duffel bag needed for a cruise, a purse for a birthday gift, or a backpack to make your child’s first day of school a little more fun. Usually, there is a time element involved – you ordered your bag because of a shortly upcoming event. You don’t have weeks to wait, and we know that. We consider every order to be urgent, and each one is the most important; because to you, your order is the most important!
We are always on the alert for delivery timing issues – especially around gift giving holidays. We have been known to upgrade shipping when it is obvious the order involves a gift, because a timely delivery is as important to us as it is to you. We want your holidays to be as fun, joyful and easy as possible, and we do everything we can at our end to make sure your gifts will get to your doorstep on time. We consider each order on an individual basis because each customer’s situation is unique.
We get a lot of orders that specify embroidery. Each embroidery order is carefully scrutinized by our staff for spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and other potential problems. If there is any question in our minds about what you actually want on your bag, we contact you right away – just to be sure. Here at SailorBags we are constantly checking to make sure that everything is ship shape!
Customers contact us for all sorts of reasons – to ask for help selecting the right product, to change an order after it has been placed, or for help with a special embroidery request. We respond to every customer contact within 24 hours, and usually even sooner than that.
Our goal is for you, the SailorBags customer, to be utterly delighted with your purchasing experience as well as the purchase itself. We hope that, after your experience with us, you can truthfully say “that was phenomenal customer service” - because the greatest compliment we can receive is our customers telling their friends about the experience they had dealing with this terrific company.
Ahoy there!
Today’s post is about SailorBags’ dedication to our first core value - product quality. When you’re out on the water an equipment failure can be more than inconvenient, it can be deadly. I think you’d agree that boaters tend to be people who understand and appreciate the need for well designed and reliable products.
People use bags to carry, organize and protect ‘something’. It’s the ‘something’ in the bag that is most important, not the bag itself. So that’s where our design process begins – how to make a bag that best protects, organizes, insulates, etc. whatever important ‘somethings’ you’ve decided to carry with you in our bags.
We make our totes with zipper tops so that when the bag falls off the bunk, your clothes don’t tumble all over the cabin. Sailcloth naturally repels water, but we use waterproof lining material so that your jacket and towel will stay dry in our duffels, even when the spray comes over the rail. Our computer bags and iPad sleeves add padding to protect delicate electronics from bumps, along with these other features that are needed for the marine environment. There isn’t a lot of refrigeration available on most boats, so we use really thick insulation in our CoolerBags – because you want your drinks to still be ice cold in the evening when you’re headed back to port after a long day on the water. Every product in the SailorBag line is designed, first and foremost, to function in a way that best suits your needs as a customer and boater.
After designing the overall shape and materials of the bag, we think about the smallest details. We know that everyone needs pockets to keep small items from getting lost in big bags. And there need to be shoulder straps as well as handles. Each bag has been designed with your convenience in mind – down to the smallest pocket and zipper.
And finally, we believe that fashionable style and practical functionality do not have to be mutually exclusive in a bag. SailorBags are proof that you can have both style and practicality in the same product.
Every SailorBag comes with a tag attached that states: “Your SailorBag is guaranteed for life. If it wears out or underperforms in any way, just return it. We’ll repair it or replace it for free.” And we really mean it – we’re so certain that our bags will hold up under the wear and tear of your boating life, that we insure them for life. That’s a guarantee that really means something.
Thanks for stopping by again, and I hope to see you later this week when I talk about our second core value – customer service.
Welcome Aboard!
I am Anne Zimmer, President of Sailorbags, and I’m very excited to be able to connect directly with SailorBags customers through this blog.
My plans are to comment on the latest sailing news, share customer stories, introduce you to our products and crew members, and have some interesting guest bloggers.
I want our customers to really get to know what SailorBags is all about – high quality products and outstanding customer service. I’d like this to be a place where customers can talk about sailing to each other, and to us. From cruising to racing to living aboard, our love of boating is what brings us all together. This blog is all about you and how SailorBags can best meet your needs as a customer and boater. Customers can interact with each other, share their own stories and give feedback on current products – or new product ideas that would enhance their boating lifestyle.
Look forward to more posts this week about the philosophy behind our product design and our passion for customer service. Thanks for stopping by and may the rest of your week be smooth sailing!
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