Did you get any storms?

Yep, but not often. Pilot charts have the percentage likelihood of gales on them, normally 1 to 3 % along our trip. We usually got one gale in a month of sailing.

More often, maybe 10% of the time, conditions were merely unpleasant, on our boat at around 25-30kn from behind (force 6-7), or 20kn (force 5) on or in front of the beam. These would be caused by cold fronts or troughs, stationary fronts, tropical waves, or reinforced trade winds.
Forces on the boat were greater, it was hard to cook, the swells get up and waves are big enough to get into the cockpit on occasion. On average this would account for a day or so of a ten day passage, though it depended on the region. The trip from Bonaire to Panama was like this almost the whole way, as was our passage from Fiji to New Caledonia. In these conditions Alison was more likely to feel queasy, and I did almost all of the topside work. It is always fascinating to watch each wave loom over the stern and crumble, then have the stern lift and the wave pass under you without breaking.

Most of the time winds were light to medium. It is estimated that 85 – 90% of sailing is done in light winds. Putting up a nylon sail and cruising along at four knots on a flat sea is a wonderful experience.

What is it like? (cruising that is)

At least 2/3 of your time you are anchored. You are travelling but you have your home with you. Your dinghy is your car. Shopping, getting water, going places are all more difficult, but also provide challenges. Finally the frustration with transport and language difficulties changes to satisfaction and a sense of achievement. Doing every day tasks and travelling on bus or foot brings you closer to the locals and gives you a sense of a place you would not get staying in a hotel. The better organised people do it better, but alas we are not among them.
Cruising is not all roses. One person has a part time job maintaining the boat. Also route planning, formalities, weather watching, weighing up and making major decisions. There is another part time position cooking, cleaning, managing the provisions. It is an expedition and takes work. Doing repairs and being stuck in a major port, sometimes for weeks, can make you wonder why you are there.
The reward is spending weeks anchored off some tropical paradise, surfing in the morning, reading in the evening, or sitting in someone’s cockpit drinking rum and cordial.
The long passages of the Pacific become wearisome. I used to say I enjoyed passages, but I do not any longer. I think when I first started sailing long distances I felt a mix of bravado, anticipation of the change of place that comes with any travel, and I looked forward for an opportunity to prove myself to an unknown audience as I suspect many of us do.
Part of what caused this was that we tried to cross the whole Pacific in one year, and for the second half of that year we were nursing suspect rig, splitting sails, bung batteries, a slipping gearbox and an engine with almost no compression.
Now I see passages as a necessary evil.

32ft is a small boat. Is it safe?

Yep, though not without risk. And safety in a small boat doesn’t come from size or high-tech safety gear, but a solid, strong, well designed boat with heavy gear and an offshore focus. You have to take it seriously, and safe crew practices are critical. Rules around reefing, standard communications and practices, wearing harnesses when appropriate, peeing over the side (don’t), etc are very important. It almost doesn’t matter what the rules are, as long as you have them and maintain a consciousness around safety. On a two-handed boat if you fall overboard at sea you are dead.
Our boat is a heavy displacement cruiser with a full keel and a solid lay-up. The fibreglass is well over an inch thick. It weighs about 9000kg, or 9 ton. It was once blown right off the stands and fell on its side in a hurricane and suffered no real damage to the hull. We don’t fear hitting submerged objects such as shipping containers or logs at sea.
We subscribe to the passive approach to heavy weather sailing. When it really gets rough we heave too, and wait for it to be over while curled up on a bunk below. Sometimes in the foetal position. This is not possible with many modern, light displacement yachts, where it is necessary to run off while hand steering between the biggest waves. Flat bottoms, high freeboard, and low weight increase the chances of surfing down a wave, tripping over and getting the mast wet. We carried a sea anchor too but never had to use it.

Can the boat tip over?

There was only one time when our boat was knocked right down, which is where the spreaders hit the water. Again it was when I was single handing, and below asleep. It came right up again. If a boat is properly designed it will not stay upside down. The design determines the likelihood of a knockdown.

How did you remain married in that small space?

There is a formality on an offshore yacht; one person has to be the captain. I have always been amazed how on the boats crewed by couples, tasks tend to be divided along traditional male/female lines, even though the relationship is very different on land. On passage, even though it is a stressful situation when it is rough, there are proven roles and duties to fall back on such as watch keeper, captain, cook, and sometimes engineer, carpenter and fisherman. The captain takes charge. I cannot remember a single argument on passage. You are only awake at the same time for a few hours a day anyway, normally late morning and early evening. We sat three hour on and off watches, starting at 8pm, and you need to be asleep for most of three out of four of your off-watches to get eight hours sleep.
In port the roles reverse, and Alison takes charge of the logistics, provisioning, email, cleanup and social life, with me relegated to dumb, complaining, labour and general go-fer.
When you are anchored there is much more opportunity to spend time apart. I used to vanish off surfing with my mates in the mornings. Also, the way our salon is set up we cannot see each other from where we normally sit, which does make a difference. You can sit there and it is like being alone, except for a set of salty feet on the other settee.
The shared risk and joint effort develops a bond between crew that also strengthens a marriage. I know of very few relationships as close as ours.

What about seasickness?

Al gets seasick, I don’t. The worst I have ever felt was a general listlessness during a 2 day storm. Seasickness generally wears off after three days on passage. The drugs help but you must take them before you start. There was only one passage when Al was sick the whole way, and we suspect that she picked up a bug in Fiji.

What do you eat on passage?

You tend not to want to eat as much on any passage. We survive on mostly canned vegetables, noodles and pasta, cabbage when we are not sick of it, and the occasional fish. We do not drink caffeine or alcohol on passage except for events like crossing the equator, because it makes it too hard to wake up for your watch. This worked well with Alison accidentally buying a thousand decaf teabags in Panama. We make up for it when we get there! Most people lose weight on passage. I lost 6kg in eight days when I single-handed from New Caledonia to Bundaberg.

How do you navigate?

We carry 3 handheld GPS, and for celestial navigation a good sextant, a cheap backup sextant, sight reduction tables and a current almanac. The celestial stuff is for backup, primarily in case of a lightning strike, and taking sights makes me feel all nautical. We had two GPS break on one passage once, and I couldn’t repair one of them. (The other just had a corroded battery terminal.) The GPS tells you where you are, where you are headed, and how fast, and you mark it on the chart. Nothing to it, really. You do have to be careful of the map datum on the chart matching the GPS setting. We don’t have a chart plotter or anything like that, though I did buy a radar we don’t use very often. Birds like to sit on it and crap on our deck. If we use electronic charts we print them because I don’t trust PCs, especially after 20 years of sitting in front of one.

Why are you so against systems?

Rant warning- I avoid complex devices like the plague. Our boat has a fridge (I am about to replace), a manual anchor windlass, a depth gauge (I am about to replace), no wind instruments at all, no through the water speed or distance log. My fuel gauge is a piece of wire. We have kerosene lighting as well as electric. We use batteries instead of wiring devices in. I have been through three autopilots, but the windvane does most of our steering. We don’t have a watermaker, generator, pressure water or hot water heater, except from the kettle, and we shower from a sun-shower hung in the cockpit. We do have a propane stove (about to be replaced), and an SSB I have never used, a receiver we use all day, and solar panels to keep it all running (never enough, have to buy more). I keep a laptop, even though we had one die on the trip.
See a pattern yet? I like devices, they don’t like me, and they don’t like salt air either. I am not a tinkerer and I am a bit lazy. So I will take the thousands of dollars I really would like to spend on a hydraulic windlass/scuba compressor/watermaker/forward looking sonar/genset/big autopilot/full set of instruments/integrated GPS and chartplotter and use it for an extra 2 years cruising. Despite our relatively simply equipped boat it is still about a ½ time job to keep it properly maintained, so a lot of the time I don’t. There. I feel better. Pass the rum!