Interview With A Cruiser. Brilliant Idea for a Blog

I recently learned about a cracking new blog, Interview with a Cruiser. It is based on a brilliantly simple premise: Once a week they post an interview with a long-term cruiser. The only stipulation is that the interviewee must have cruised for two years and must have sailed elsewhere than just the US of A. It makes compelling reading already and I can see that over time this will become a great resource for people like me who dream of some day setting sail for an extended period. The author of this blog, Livia sets cruisers 10 standard questions but lets others ask them questions too. Here is a flavor.

Describe a perfect cruising moment that will make cruisers-to-be drool with anticipation I have two that come to mind immediately, one serious and heart-warming, and one funny. a) Hanging onto the wheel with both hands, as the Lavante wind driven spray drenches my glasses, I'm smiling ear to ear. Yes, I'm tired, and we're close hauled, beating hard into steep 6' - 8' seas, with 20 - 25 knots of wind across the deck, but I'm smiling. I haven't slept more than 4 to 6 hours out of every 24 in weeks, and we've been hand steering for the final 300 miles, and I'm still smiling. There are more than a dozen freighters, container ships, and tankers, whizzing by at full cruising speed, in both directions, just a few hundred yards off my starboard side, but this doesn't phase me at all. After more than 4000 miles of sailing, the Rock of Gibraltar is just a few miles ahead and Jebel Meza, the pillar marking the entrance to the continent of Africa, is visible thru my salt stained lenses. And while I excuse most, including my crew of 2 (my sister Laurie and our friend Jordan, who are busy staring in awe through their camera lenses), from misunderstanding my smile, there are 2 people on the planet that do understand my smile, even though they are 4000 miles away, and won't see me for some time, those 2 understanding souls are my Mom and Dad. b) Freaking out dozens of Europeans, when grilling some "Bubba Burgers" on my gas grill off the stern in Marina Horta (Faial, Azores), in celebration of a 3000+ passage from Florida. Some onlookers were certain we were on fire, and a few even ran down the quay shouting in multiple foreign tongues...but, alas we were just friendly outgoing Americans, "sharing some of our culture"!!!

The excellent Three Sheets recently profiled this blog that I shall now abbreviate to IWAC. Enjoy y'all!