Interview: DrC At One Year

Contemplating the View
Originally uploaded by toastfloats.

Roughly a year ago, Keet asked me to interview the girls about their experience as boating kids and their thoughts on the future. The time has come to update and ask a few new questions as well as get some thoughts from DrC.

* * *

Q: What do you think about our plans for the coming year?
Vague. They may change. Except for Sea of Cortez revisiting same places again less appealing. If job in NZ or AU comes we may cross the Pacific.

Q: What was your favorite place to go or thing to do during our first year?
I like the hikes. There are lots of hikes: hikes in Canada, hikes here in the sea. I like playing my guitar. Other things I liked are not printable in a family format.

Q: What was your worst time during the first year?
Probably that gale in Oregon or actually dragging anchor off Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands at three o'clock in the morning with 35 knots of wind in a Santa Ana in a tiny little rocky anchorage with a reef 50 yards behind us. Both were scary. In the case of the gale, it was good to have experienced it, and it wasn't really as bad in retrospect as it seemed at the time. It makes me glad we were going downwind. Basically, even if we weren't we would have turned around... so it's kind of just the way you do it. As far as the gale goes that's just kind of inevitable and if handled properly it need not be a dangerous thing.

With dragging anchor, it was more anxiety provoking of passengers/crew. That's not an experience I need to repeat. There was no benefit to that experience other than being better able to avoid it in the future.

Q: What is the best thing about being a full time cruising sailor?
It's interesting being a vagabond and not having any major responsibilities to the outside world. And watching to see if that would be a liberating experience or not over time. Any conclusions drawn so far...is it liberating? Possibly. Don't know yet. Take another year.

Q: What is the thing you hate most about the cruising life?
I guess having things break down that I've already fixed once before. Also, the dirtiness of the boat, inside and out. When we visit boats that only have an older couple on board, their boats are always so clean and orderly, it looks more luxurious, less like camping.

Q: Are there any places you want to go or see during the coming year? Where would you insist that we go again?
Well, I think the Sea of Cortez is nice. I'm looking forward to exploring it. It's all kind of nice, but I think the SoC is the only place I'd want to visit more than once. Las Hadas and Manzanillo were nice. Not having anything to do but go to the pool all day... It would be nice to do some inland traveling. I'd like to go to the village where they make guitars... see where the Zapatotec weavers do their thing.

Q: Can you tell us one thing that makes boating families special?
Well, the interactions of the family members with strangers. Openness to new experiences, especially the kids. Probably, an enlightened trait. What does that mean?Well you know this is what Buddha would say you should do with your life in some aspects. I think it seems like what life is supposed to be about. So, to the extent that we achieve that, I think that we are leading an enlightened life, succeeding in the way that the kids and you are open to meeting people, trying things, doing new things, rather than just sitting at home watching tv and living the old life.

It's not so much the travel itsef which is liberating or whatever you want to call it. It's the reactions of the kids and the interactions of the kids with other people and their growth.

Q: Anything else you'd like to add?
Um. The extent to which I don't worry about things as much is an advantage. I don't think I've achieved any sort of goal there, but I've made progress. It wasn't really a goal to become blasé about things, more so just to be able to appreciate the benefits of this type of lifestyle.

Proud Papa
Originally uploaded by toastfloats.