What do you need to know to successfully sail your own boat around the world? A lot of the proper preparation for such a voyage comes down to gaining experience at sea, but before you point your bow towards the open water, it’s important to first gather the necessary knowledge.
In the second part of our 7-part guide to sailing your own vessel around the world, we are going to cover the most important subjects for you to study before heading for the open sea. If you dream about sailing around the world but aren’t sure what you need to know, keep reading – this is the guide for you.
Gather Information
The first important step to gather knowledge about life at sea is to read the stories that were written by people who have done what you want to do. A good first move is to head down to your local library and check out all the books you can find that were written by people who have sailed around the world. If the selection there is limited, then go online instead and find five or ten books authored by circumnavigators to order to your doorstep or download on your tablet. These stories will help you learn how ordinary people went from flipping patties at Burger Hut to sailing around the world. You can learn from the mistakes they made and the things they did right which led to success.
Great Books About Sailing
There are many excellent books out there written by talented sailors who are also writers. Here are a few of my favorites that I always recommend to people who dream about sailing around the world:
- Dove by Robin Lee Graham
- Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi
- Lionheart by Jesse Martin
- The Longest Race by Hal Roth
- The Incredible Voyage by Tristan Jones
- Close to the Wind by Pete Goss
- A World of My Own by Robin Knox Johnston
- A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols
- The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier
- The Impossible Voyage by Chay Blyth
- Ice Bird by David Lewis
- At One with the Sea by Naomi James
- Against the Flow by Dee Caffari
- 500 Days by Serge Testa
- Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum
- Cape Horn to Starboard by John Kretchmer
- Adrift by Steve Callahan
There are many more excellent books on the topic of long distance sailing, but you can’t go wrong starting with these classics. Reading accounts by well known blue water sailors will inspire you to keep working towards your goal and remind you what is possible when you succeed.
The books will be excellent for inspiration, but you will also want to go online to really dive into the nitty gritty details of how to sail around the world. Of course, you will need to be careful, because in the confusing labyrinths of the internet it’s easy to be led astray from useful, factual information. One of my favorite sailing websites is SailAndProp.com because it gives you everything you need to successfully sail around the world, without all the fluff. It’s written by actual sailors who have real life experience sailing. There are articles on everything from navigation and offshore sailing routes to boat clubs and charter destinations.
Youtube videos are a fun way to be entertained by celebrity sailors, but remember that many of these creators sell a postcard perfect story that is often far from the reality of life on the water. It’s still fun sometimes to relax and watch a few sailing videos, but remember they are aiming for more clicks, not reality based information. Keep an eye out for snake oil and remember to focus on learning the details.
Now, let’s dive into some of the specific topics that you will need to learn about before your epic world voyage.
Sailing Skills and Proper Navigation Techniques
Perhaps the most important knowledge that you need to gather will be learning how to navigate. Every day, your safety at sea will depend on how well you can navigate your vessel around a reef or through a narrow harbor entrance. You will need to learn to use the tides and current to your advantage, and how to best time your approach to port.
We will cover larger vessel sailing experience in future publications. But, at this early stage in your preparations it’s more important to continue to master sailing your small vessel. As you become more comfortable sailing your small boat in different types of conditions and in different areas, you can use your time on the water to begin to develop some of the navigation skills necessary to sail a larger vessel, as well.
Boating Apps
The cheapest and easiest way to begin learning navigation is by downloading a boating app to your smartphone or tablet. Make sure that your device is capable of obtaining a GPS fix without relying on cell towers, because you will often be out of range of cellular service while at sea. Most modern smartphones and many tablets have this feature. There are a few different boating apps available but I usually use Navionics because it’s reasonably priced and you can download detailed charts for most of the world. If you are sailing in an area that is navigable by larger vessels, you should easily be able to find nautical charts for your local region.
Nautical Charts
Nautical charts are maps made specifically for boaters. Instead of showing the details on land and blank spaces where the water is, nautical charts show depths, obstructions to navigation, buoys and channel markers, and everything that a skipper needs to safely maneuver their vessel in a certain area on the water, while leaving the landmasses mostly blank (Except for markers or prominent landmarks that are useful aids to navigation).
A nautical chart is also covered in numbers that represent the water depth in that location. Sailors use the depth markers to see where it is deep enough to safely sail and where to avoid because it’s too shallow or dangerous. If your draft (which is the depth of the vessel under the water) is five feet, then you will almost always want to stay in water that is at least ten feet or deeper. Generally speaking, the deeper the better, unless you are trying to anchor.
The chart will also show aids to navigation like buoys or channel markers. These must be taken into account when navigating through coastal waters. For example, when entering a port in North America, red buoys are to be kept to the starboard side, which is the right side of the vessel. A good way to remember which buoy goes on which side is the saying, “red, right, returning.” And, green buoys stay on the port side, which is the left side.
Note: The rules vary depending on what part of the world you are in, so do your research before sailing in international waters.
The easiest way to practice navigation is to use the boating app on your phone and sail your small boat as if it were a much larger vessel, considering hazards such as rocks and reefs, other vessels, and depth. Of course, the skipper of a shallow draft small boat doesn’t need to worry about depth in the same way as a larger vessel would, but acting like need to will give you much needed practice, without the danger of potentially grounding a larger and more expensive boat on the rocks or high and dry on the beach.
A chartplotter is a more sophisticated GPS device and electronic navigational chart (ENC) tool. The boating app on a smartphone or tablet will be very similar to a chartplotter on a bigger vessel, and can even be used in its place on larger vessels too. It also has the added advantage of being portable, so you can bring it with you as you move around on the vessel. Practicing using the boating app will be a low budget method of familiarizing yourself with marine navigation and learning how to read charts.
Of course, it is also helpful to practice using a handheld chartplotter, if you have access to one, but if you are on a limited budget it isn’t strictly necessary. You can navigate all the way around the world with only a smartphone just as well as with a $15,000 Raymarine navigation system from West Marine.
Just like a driver on the highway, there are important laws that every boater needs to understand and follow while under way on the water. You will need to read up on all the rules and regulations that apply to small vessels in the areas that you plan to cruise. Not every recreational boater needs to pass a test or obtain a captain’s license in order to legally be allowed to operate a vessel, but it’s still imperative to know the rules in order to safely maneuver around other boats and obstacles.
How to Sail Near Bigger Vessels
One of the most important skills to learn with regards to navigation is how to conduct yourself around other vessels – especially those who are much bigger than yourself. There are all sorts of rules about who is supposed to pass on which side and which vessel has the right of way in different situations, but the best course of action is to always assume that the other boat has no idea that you are there. Small boats are hit or run down by large ships all the time because they were simply not seen. Even if your boat is equipped with an AIS transponder, you can’t be sure that it will always work. That’s why it’s so important to always keep a look out for other vessels and to take early evasive action, no matter who has the legal right of way.
Paper Charts
Few vessels rely on paper charts anymore, but it’s still important to familiarize yourself with them and to practice plotting your position old fashioned style with a pencil on the paper chart. I always make sure to carry paper charts for the area that I plan to sail (along with at least one or two backup GPSs), even if they are only basic charts. Of course, unlike a chartplotter, you have to use local landmarks or your latitude and longitude to determine your position on a paper chart. Practice using landmarks to estimate your position, as well as plotting coordinates obtained from a GPS. You can use a handheld GPS or the boating app on your smartphone to get the coordinates, or to confirm your fix.
Celestial Navigation
Another once essential skill for round the world sailors that is now becoming a lost art is celestial navigation. In the digital age of smartphones and satellites it is no longer necessary to depend on a sextant to know where you are at sea, but it’s not a bad idea to carry a sextant (as well as the necessary tables) and know how to use it in case the zombie apocalypse shuts down the satellite networks while you are halfway to Hawaii – or the slightly more likely event that your GPS ceases to function.
To obtain your position with a sextant, you must observe a celestial body like the sun or a star through the scope and record the angle of observation from the horizon as well as the exact time that the observation was made. You then take this information and use the nautical almanac and star charts to make a series of calculations that give you your approximate latitude and longitude. It’s not witchcraft, but it does require some practice to become confident in your abilities.
Celestial navigation is a simple art that can be made extremely challenging by poor weather conditions or simple operator error. One small mistake can cause your position to be hundreds of miles off on the chart, and an unclear sky or rough seas can make obtaining a fix difficult or impossible. Often a navigator could spend an hour just to get a simple position that may or may not be very accurate. That’s why so few sailors regularly use a sextant anymore, but it’s still a good idea to be prepared in case it’s your only option.
The best way to learn celestial navigation is by taking a class in person or online. There are various courses available at a reasonable price.
Repair and Maintenance of Boat Mechanical Systems
It is often said that the cruising lifestyle is the fine art of fixing your boat in exotic locations around the world, and that’s not far from the truth. The reality is that things break on boats – all the time – and you will need to be prepared to either make repairs or do without the broken item until you can find someone qualified to fix it.
World cruisers have to be their own electrician, plumber, sailmaker, shipright, mechanic, welder, rigger and carpenter. It helps to have a boat that is as simple as possible, and to have as robust, waterproof equipment as you can afford, but, even then, things are still going to break sometimes on the voyage. Sailing 30,000 nautical miles is hard on any boat and many things will break the way.
After 65,000 nautical miles of offshore sailing I have yet to complete a long passage without at least one piece of equipment breaking down on me. A good rule is to carry spares for every essential piece of gear aboard. As they say – one is none, two is one. In order to complete safe offshore passages, you need to be able to set out prepared for things to break down.
In order to be able to keep a tight ship, it’s necessary to be able to maintain and repair everything on the boat. You will need to carry an extensive set of tools with you as you sail around the world, so it’s not a bad idea to start collecting them now, if you haven’t already. If you have a background as a handyman, that is a huge help with this part of cruising, but if not you have no reason to give up hope. All these skills can be learned, and cruisers from all sorts of backgrounds have been able to learn them well enough to be self-sufficient at sea.
Engine Maintenance
A good place to start is the engine. The most common failure at sea for cruising sailors is the engine, and for most sailors it’s also the most important piece of equipment on the boat. Your engine is pretty much guaranteed to fail at some point, and you will need to know how to get it going again before you drift onto those nearby rocks or are run down by a passing freighter.
Inboard Diesel Engine
Most cruising sailboats are equipped with an inboard diesel engine, so most sailors will want to become familiar with the typical maintenance and troubleshooting common issues for marine diesels. At the very least, you should know how to change the oil and filters, bleed air out of the fuel lines, and perform other basic tasks. If you don’t have a diesel to practice on yourself, it’s not a bad idea to take a class or offer to help your friend fix the old truck in his garage. Every minute gaining knowledge will be invaluable when your inboard stops purring in the doldrums.
Gasoline Outboard Motors
Along with the primary engine, most cruisers use a gasoline outboard to get around in their dinghy. These too are prone to issues, so it’s a good idea to spend some time getting to know the in’s and out’s of gas outboards, as well. Even if you choose to use a pair of oars to get to the dinghy dock, your outboard engine repair skills will likely be put to good use helping out fellow cruisers along the way.
Combustion Engine
If you are like me, combustion engines are not your favorite thing in the world, to say the least. They are smelly, noisy and always break down when they are needed most. Unfortunately, as a delivery captain, my work forces me to have to spend far more time than I would like working on the bloody things. But if you are sailing purely for pleasure then you have other options, as long as you are willing to compromise. It’s now more doable than ever to convert your vessel to electric propulsion, which makes a lot of sense if you will mostly be sailing anyway, and can charge the batteries with the plentiful sun and wind that is found throughout the trade wind regions.
You can also choose to sail a boat that is small enough not to depend on an engine for auxiliary propulsion. What you lose in space and comfort will be traded for an incredible freedom that is unknown to sailors who spend much of their time waiting in port for another part to be flown in for their generator. While most cruisers prefer a boat in the 30-50 foot size range, more micro cruisers are out there safely crossing oceans than you may think, and people have sailed around the world in boats not much larger than the average dinghy.
Marine Electronics
After marine engines, the second most common thing to break down at sea are the electronics. Most modern cruising vessels carry a sizeable array of electronic items onboard, like the GPS, radios, AIS, fridge and freezer, solar panels, wind generator, batteries, hydro alternator, computers, lights, bilge pumps, satellite phone, among other electronic devices, each of which is prone to failure with exposure to water, sun, salt and extreme motion. Any new cruiser should read up on basic marine electronics and take a class or get practice repairing electronics on other boats.
Marine Plumbing
Another part of the boat that is important to focus on is the plumbing. Marine heads, or toilets as they are known to landlubbers, are famous for their ability to stop working at the most inopportune of moments. Bilge pumps clog and need to be disassembled and put back together. The thru hulls are one of the most important parts of any vessel, and also one of the most likely parts to cause water intrusion (or sinking) if not properly maintained. Thus basic plumbing skills are an important part of any offshore sailor’s collection of skills.
Reparing Damage to the Hull
If you ever end up colliding with a floating object while underway that causes serious damage to the hull, it’s possible that you will need to make repairs to the underside of the vessel without outside assistance in order to save the boat. In order to be prepared for this situation, you need to both carry the necessary supplies to stop the leak and also have the skills to do so.
The vast majority of world cruising vessels today are built from fiberglass, so basic knowledge of how to work with fiberglass and epoxy should be part of your voyage training. You should take the time to develop a plan of attack for the best way to stop the water intrusion (likely with a collision mat that can be slung under the bottom of the hull with lines attached to the topsides) and later make longer term repairs using underwater epoxy. Having the knowledge to make this kind of repair could save your boat, possibly your life and your crews’ lives.
You can also use your laminating skills to make repairs or modifications to other parts of your vessel during the world voyage. If you plan to sail a metal or wooden vessel, it’s a good idea to learn the necessary skills to make a similar repair to those materials, and make sure that you carry the necessary supplies.
Even a fiberglass boat typically has a lot of wood used in the construction, and chances are you will have to make alterations or repairs along the way. That’s why you will want to develop basic carpentry skills before your circumnavigation too, if you aren’t already familiar with working with wood.
Understanding Weather Patterns and Getting Accurate Weather Data
For most people, the weather has little effect on their daily lives because they live and work indoors and are almost always sheltered from the elements. But as a circumnavigating sailor, the weather will rule your life, every single day. When the sun is shining and a nice trade wind is blowing, you will be able to spend time on deck enjoying the benefits of tropical boating life. But when the sky turns black and a squall rears its ugly head, you will need to be ready to shorten sail and secure the crew – fast.
Predicting the Weather
Being able to accurately interpret weather data and keep an eye on the changing elements will be imperative to safe passagemaking. It’s likely that you will spend a significant amount of time every day obtaining and analyzing weather forecasts during the circumnavigation, so it’s important to learn how to do it right before you depart.
When I’m near shore, I typically get most of my weather data through the internet. I always make sure to look at at least two or three different forecasts in case one of them isn’t accurate. My favorite places to get a weather forecast online are windy.com, passageweather.com, noaa.gov, forecast.weather.gov, marineweather.net and predictwind.com.
NOAA and forecast.weather.gov are good places to get a text style weather forecast that typically looks something like this:
PZZ135-261245-
Puget Sound and Hood Canal-
844 PM PDT Mon Oct 25 2021
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON
TONIGHT
S wind 20 to 30 kt easing to 15 to 25 kt after midnight. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft subsiding to 2 to 4 ft after midnight. Rain likely in the evening then showers likely after midnight.
TUE
S wind 15 to 25 kt easing to 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft subsiding to 1 to 3 ft in the afternoon. Rain.
TUE NIGHT
S wind 15 to 25 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. Rain.
These types of forecasts are great for getting a general idea of what to expect on the water, but to really understand the larger weather systems that are creating the local conditions, you need to get a look at the bigger picture. This is done by analyzing a GRIB file or weather map from a website like windy.com. These weather maps show the high and low pressure systems that usually drive the storms and calms that affect local areas.
A GRIB file is a map that shows the wind strength and direction in the form of arrows with small lines that represent the wind strength. Each line on the tail of the arrow represents ten knots of wind and half a line represents five knots. The wind flows in the direction that the arrows are pointing. Sometimes the map is color coded to represent the wind strength. The barometric pressure is also marked at the center of a high or low pressure weather system.
Prior to departure on your world voyage, you should make a habit of keeping an eye on the weather regularly, especially before you spend a day out on the water. After a few weeks of practice, you should have a pretty good idea of how to look over a weather forecast, and by the time your departure comes, you’ll be a pro at weather analysis.
Of course, weather forecasts are notoriously bad at accurately predicting the weather, and you will also need to develop an eye for watching the weather in real time. You will want to spend some time reading up on what kind of cloud formations correspond to certain changes in the weather, and put this knowledge into practice while on the water in your small boat. Later, you will do the same on the boat you’ll eventually take offshore.
By taking the time to learn about marine weather and getting some practice watching conditions develop on the water, you should have no problem dealing with a wide range of conditions on your circumnavigation.
Care and Feeding of the Crew
One aspect of life at sea that not everyone gives a lot of thought before heading out is food. On your world voyage, finding and preparing good quality meals will probably take more time and consideration than you might think. Nobody wants to crew on a boat that is only stocked with tasteless canned foods. Serving delicious and nutritious meals can make the difference between a pleasant passage and one that you want to end as soon as possible.
Nutrition at Sea
Food selection, stowage and cooking are all different at sea than back home on dry land. First, for long passages you will need to bring large quantities of foods that don’t require refrigeration. Even if your boat is equipped with a fridge and freezer, it’s unlikely that they will be able to hold enough provisions to keep the crew fed for 3,000+ NM, and you need to carry backup provisions in case the electronics die on you mid-passage.
While provisioning for ocean passages, it’s important to purchase a combination of foods that can be quickly prepared with minimal effort. Stock up on freeze dried meals, quality ingredients for delicious meals that can be prepared when conditions are nice, and quick snacks for fast calories on watch. I like to bring about 50% easy freeze dried meals, 50% things that need some preparation time, and an abundant supply of snacks. It’s also a good idea to bring enough foods that don’t require any cooking to make it to port if the stove stops working, and to have a separate supply just for unexpected delays and emergencies. You will also want to get used to cooking on a propane stove and conserving fuel.
Another factor to consider is nutrition. In the early days of sail, crew often became sick or died from scurvy on long passages because they went months without getting any vitamin C. Today there is a wide enough variety of foods suitable for long voyages that scurvy is no longer a problem, but it’s still a good idea to bring vitamins and supplements to make up for lack of fresh foods on long passages. I also like to grow fresh sprouts in a jar for some fresh greens after the first week or two at sea.
Water at Sea
Even more important than food at sea, is water. Unless your boat has a reverse osmosis water system, you will need to be very careful with your water supply. Typically, crew consume one gallon of fresh water each per day at sea. That includes water for drinking, cooking, washing, brushing your teeth and laundry. Of course, salt water can be used to substitute for fresh water for cleaning and some purposes, with a small amount of freshwater used at the end to wash away the salt.
People unaccustomed to living without abundant fresh water will need to give this serious consideration. I always plan to bring twice the amount of freshwater that I expect to need for the passage, including at least ten gallons in separate containers that are set aside just for emergencies.
If you have spent some time camping in the wilderness, then you are probably already used to many of these considerations with regards to long life foods, cooking on a propane stove, and water conservation. That’s another reason that spending time camping outdoors is a great way to practice developing many of the skills that will be later put to use at sea.
Earning Money While Sailing – Remote Work
As you prepare for the sailing side of things, your other main focus should be preparing to manage your business so that you can keep the funds coming in as you cruise. Depending on the kind of work that you plan to do, your business scheme could take many different forms, but at this stage the important thing is to put together a solid plan.
After choosing the type of business that you want to run, you will want to take some time to put together a budget and monetary goals, making sure to account for periods of time when it’s difficult or impossible to find work. Next, it’s important to put together a schedule for what jobs will be done at what times and figure out a plan for how you will connect with clients as you travel around the world.
Internet While Sailing
One major concern for working world cruisers is how to keep the business running while you are in the middle of the ocean. If you are wealthy enough to afford satellite internet service, that will make things much easier, but for most cruisers this simply isn’t affordable. Since about 100 days per year will be spent at sea on a three year circumnavigation, you’ll need to find a way to keep the business afloat while you are off grid.
There are a few potential ways to handle this. You can choose to only work while you are near shore and in reach of internet service. Alternatively, you can have a trusted business partner manage things while you are offshore. For certain types of work, like writing, it may be possible to keep working while offshore without internet access and then send the work out once you reach shore. If all you need to send is text, you can use an Iridium Go email system to communicate with people back in the real world and send medium length blocks of text. Or you may choose just to do work that is shore based, like working on farms or as a doctor.
Working in A Foreign Country
Another obstacle to overcome is how to work on foreign soil. Whenever I am planning a long ocean voyage, I make a list of all the countries that I plan to visit and then research the local laws and regulations with regards to working there as a foreigner. In some cases, it’s necessary to obtain a special permit or work visa.
As you travel around the world you will find yourself having to conduct business in countries that speak a variety of languages. Fortunately, most destinations that are on popular world cruising circuits have enough people who speak English to get by, but it’s certainly helpful if you have a fundamental grasp on the local language. A basic understanding of English, French and Spanish will cover more than half of the typical stopovers on a world cruise.
Even if I only plan to be in the country for a couple weeks, I always make sure to learn at least a few important phrases in every country I visit. Any effort to speak the local language is usually much appreciated by clients in a foreign country.
Foreign Tax Law
Last, but not least, are the much hated tax laws. In many countries, it’s necessary to pay local taxes in order to find work in that country. This isn’t always an issue for remote workers, but it’s still necessary to do your research before heading out, just in case. If you have any questions about this, it’s always a good idea to hire a professional tax consultant who can help you navigate foreign tax laws and regulations.
Maintaining Your Health on the Voyage
Cruisers are typically healthy people when compared to the general population because the cruising lifestyle keeps them fit and active everyday. Offshore sailing means spending much of your time outside in the sun, and we tend to spend a lot of our spare time hiking, swimming and engaging in physical activities. Tropical fruits and lots of seafood make for a generally healthy diet. And most importantly, living on a boat challenges the mind every day to find solutions to problems that arise.
That said, it’s still important to give some thought into maintaining health at sea. The most serious problem is the unlikely event of needing medical care in a remote area, far from any hospital or doctors. You will definitely need to make sure to create a serious medical kit and learn how to use it in case of an emergency. It should also be a requirement for any serious offshore sailor to take a course in wilderness medicine, and learn how to perform CPR and other lifesaving medical procedures. You hope to never need to use it, but it could save a life if an unfortunate health situation arises.
You will want to keep a wilderness medical guide onboard, preferably one that was written specifically for boaters, Where There Are No Doctors is a good place to start. You will also want to always carry an EPIRB and satellite communication system and know how to use it if the day ever comes when it’s needed.
Mental Health at Sea
Another issue that you need to be prepared for is to take care of your mental health. It takes an ocean of patience (pun intended) and persistence to sail around the world, and at times your mental endurance will be stretched to the limit. At times, you will deal with extreme isolation and loneliness that most people back ashore cannot imagine. You need to be ready to keep calm and collected in the face of danger, and to make quick yet calculated decisions to keep your crew safe. That’s why it’s so important to have a sound mind before heading to sea in your own boat.
Despite the many difficulties that offshore sailors regularly face at sea, the greatest challenge with regards to mental health often comes unexpectedly at the end of the voyage. They say that the worst thing to happen to someone is to fail at achieving their goal – or to succeed. After years working to save up and prepare a boat to sail around the world, followed by three years or more at sea, the end of the voyage can often be a great anti climax. At sea, there is always the next port to focus on, but back on land, it’s easy for someone used to the excitement and adventure of a life on the ocean to feel a sense of emptiness.
Many round the world sailors have fallen into a deep depression following the successful completion of their voyages, and numerous have attempted to end their own lives as a result. That’s why it’s so important to have goals that go beyond just the voyage, like growing your business or going on another type of adventure.
Safety and Survival – Preparing for the Worst
This section will be very brief because we will go into this subject in more detail later, but it’s important to touch on this here. Even after taking all the necessary precautions to sail as safely as possible, emergencies happen at sea all the time, and you need to be prepared to deal with a crisis on your world voyage if things ever turn south. Of course, the most important thing is to take preventative measures to avoid dangerous situations, but there is always a certain level of risk involved with offshore sailing.
A prudent sailor takes the time to consider every possible catastrophe – a medical emergency at sea, a broken thru hull that threatens to sink the boat, running aground, dismasting, a bad storm, piracy, etcetera – and come up with a plan to deal with each potential situation. You will want to purchase safety equipment like a liferaft, EPIRB, and satellite phone and keep them ready in case they are ever needed. By taking the time to be prepared for the worst, you can keep your crew safe no matter what happens.
Putting Your Knowledge to Work
Once you have taken the time to get a solid grasp on each of these subjects, it’s time to start putting your knowledge to work. You should now have developed strong basic sailing skills by regularly getting out on the water in your small vessel, and know enough about life at sea to be ready for your first taste of the ocean. In the next article, we will discuss how to crew on your first ocean passage and gain the real life experience that will prepare you for the greatest voyage of your life – sailing around the world on your own boat.
Final Thoughts
Being prepared for a journey around the world at sea is a big commitment. Having enough food, water, medical knowledge, and mechanical ability will help you keep everyone safe. Read more to learn your next steps to sailing around the world.