Hey Dave,

...for me...) LOL!

Problem nowadays, as I see it, is people are going off cruising before they learn how to SAIL, or whether they really like it , or not... Hell, they enjoyed their charter in the BVIs, why wouldn't they just LOVE extended cruising?

Brian is right, the Thornless Path to the Eastern Caribbean can be a real bitch... One of the dumbest ways I can think of to begin a Caribbean cruising sabbatical is to motor the entire length of the ICW, then motor to the Antilles against the winter trades.... Only way to make it dumber, is to do it in a catamaran (grin) People should just jump in with both feet, and head south offshore... Most will realize by the time they get to Bermuda they're not cut out to Live The Dream, and might save themselves a lot of time and money in the end...

I don't know why it's so hard for people to understand that in order to love distance Cruising, you've first got to love SAILING... Learn how to sail first, then see how much you like it even when it sucks, accept the fact that it can suck a lot of the time, spend your last outfitting dollars on a light-air sail inventory rather than the latest and greatest 4-D navigational software, THEN think about changing your life to go off cruising... I don't care how much you love travel, making new friends, and all that other bullshit - unless you truly love to SAIL, you're not cut out for distance cruising in the long run...

Or, just take off on a Nordhavn, instead.... (grin)

best regards,

Jon