Howling wind battered the windows. Snow was driven in drifts against the side of our apartment as we huddled around the pitiful warmth of an artificial log fire. It was Christmas in Chicago, and bloody cold.

We had moved to the US on a working holiday two years previously, and having come from Perth we were not too familiar with the snow and cold- in fact Alison had never seen snow before. That night we decided to move to Florida. Two weeks more saw us in our little four-cylinder Mustang with a 9x5 U-Haul full of our stuff, driving non-stop to Fort Lauderdale. We had flown down the previous weekend to rent a flat. It was 75F (21C) when we got there 26 hours later, and sunny.

We settled in and got back into diving. I got my PADI instructor certificate and Alison got through to Rescue. We got a flat that looked over the intercoastal waterway, and watched all the people on their own dive boats going in and out each weekend.

One night at dinner:
“Let’s buy a boat”, I said.
“What about a sailboat? You like sailing”, Alison said.
“How would we get it home to Aus?” We were not going to stay in the US for ever.
“We could sail it…” Alison said.
I held her to it.

The plan took shape. We needed to buy a boat. I went to the library. I brought home a book called “Maiden Voyage”, which I thought Alison might like, and I think this more than anything convinced her that the trip was possible.

I started reading up, reading the Pardeys, the Roths, the Dashews, and anything else on the cruising shelf. Alison was getting sick of the random comments, like “We need to learn to pickle meat”. The body of advice was overwhelming, and a bit contradictory. The Pardeys reckon thirty feet, the Dashews, fifty four. Eventually, though, a pattern emerged. Simpler is better, seaworthiness important, and you need to be able to afford to not only buy the boat but maintain her and eat during the cruise.

We settled on the idea of a thirty five footer, fibreglass, traditional in form and medium to heavy displacement. We wanted to pay cash, so we were looking at twenty year old boats at least. We bought Practical Sailor’s “Practical Boat Buying”. A short list developed- Westsail 32, Alberg 35, Allied Seawind or Mistress, and a few other boats with a proven ability to sail around the world. We bought an Allied Seawind 32. She was in a bit of a sorry state, but was sound and had oversized gear.

Then I got the West Marine catalogue and every page was packed with stuff you couldn’t possibly do without.

Fitting Out
OK, so we went a bit mad. If you ever want a really good scare and you are not rich, make a list of every thing you would do to your boat and add up the estimated cost. I maintain a list like this and it never seems to drop below about thirty thousand dollars. We were full of good ideas.
“We will need a radar. I like my sleep, and check this out—you can set a guard zone and it will wake you if a ship comes!” We never used this.
“I want refrigeration!”, Alison stated. So back to the research, engine driven was best for us, and three and a half grand was gone.

I estimate we spent $35K on equipment and services before we left. Fort Lauderdale will take whatever you are willing to hand over, with a smile and a cheerful wave. It is a great place for getting sails made and it is full of good, if expensive, boatyards. We paid to get everything done because we were both working and had no time. I did not stop to think that once we set off we would have nothing but time, and access to cheaper labour too.

Our choices were as follows:
Dinghy- we ended up with a 8ft Force Four, with a 5 horse 4 stroke that couldn’t get it on the plane. In a moment of madness I bought a 15hp Mercury in Antigua for my own birthday. This turned it into a 20kn flying machine. It is great to barrel along on long trips, but it gets expensive and I would probably not replace it. The dinghy is too lightly built (it gets holes in it) and water gets between the aluminium floor and the tubes. Our next one will probably be similar, but probably a Naiad, otherwise a rollup with inflatable floor and a 5hp that will still plane. We dive too much to go with the hard dink.
The life raft debate came up. We decided to use our inflatable. I will probably get a little life raft to move the dink off the deck, but I will have to think about it.
The sails were in OK shape, so “They will do”. Big mistake. Resewing seams every passage sucks as does hanging off the rail with a roll of tape in a 30kn cold front.
We bought a 406 EPIRB with an inbuilt GPS. Good move.
We did without an SSB transmitter. This was not a bad choice, but we felt left out socially on the really long passages when we just listened in. HAM radios are cheap now and cover all the marine bands too.
Ground Tackle- 10mm/3/8 chain, a CQR 45, an extra 25 and a big Danforth were on the boat, and were perfect. I would not go smaller. A SL 555 manual windlass came with the boat and worked great, though it needed occasional help. Carry spare springs.
Batteries- I used two cheap 6v Trojans, and with the abuse they only lasted 2 years. Did you know a 6v battery costs $USD400 in Papeete?
Windvane- we had a 25 yr old Fleming that we love. Even with a twisted oar and slack bearings, it worked great. Don’t leave home without one.

Lessons Learnt
Years later, and the lesson learnt was to go cruising with minimum gear, and maximum money. You soon learn what is important to you, and what is not. Next time we go cruising we will trade long fins for scuba gear (even though I teach), take topside video instead of underwater, and new sails and rigging for any more electronics. There will still be a fridge. We will have more solar panels, but still no wind generator. I might buy them in Asia. I am going to build a proper nav station to sit at, looking forwards. I missed it.

In hindsight we got it pretty well right, and the boat was brilliant. The important thing was to do the basic sailing machinery first, something we did not do so well. The sturdiness of the boat made up for it.