Every boat should have a medical kit and every boat venturing offshore should have a well-stocked and well-thought out medical kit. It has taken me some time to compile ours and while I think it is “good enough” it still isn’t 100% where I want it to be – but then, neither is the boat!

After taking a wilderness medical course that was geared for offshore sailors I felt better prepared to deal with medical emergencies on board. Actually, before taking the course the most medical proficiency I could claim was competence in applying a band-aid. Great strides have been made since and now I have a little more knowledge of the subject. While that may be dangerous I still think it better than my previous complete ignorance!

Our medical kit is designed for a family of four as we have two small children.

Six months after the fact I figure it’s about time to write about our first trip on Asmara Sky. I have been a little busy so this has not received the attention it deserves. We have made many smaller trips since our first but this was our maiden voyage, up to the San Juan Islands and Canada’s Gulf Islands, and it requires a separate post.

I had been working on the boat all summer and my last glamorous job, replacing the two toilets, was finally complete. Both shitters flushed. It was time to go. Sailing, that is. We just had two weeks off, like most working class morons, so the San Juan Islands were the destination. I also wanted to go further north and see the Gulf Islands in BC, if time permitted. My original plan had been to go to Barkley Sound on

We are made of sea water. Salt runs through our veins, our sweat and our tears. It is always with us and we feel its presence most in those powerful moments when we live with great intensity. Living on salt water takes us closer to where life began. Exploring the planet by sea allows us to remain connected to our origins and nature itself.

One part of the great beauty that is self-propelled travel by sea is the independence and freedom it bestows. The oceans are vast tabletops of potential transport opportunity that touch and connect all continents. Every time I stood on a sandy beach in California as a young man and looked out to sea I thought, Hawaii is “over there.” Those same waves lapping at my feet and gurgling around my ankles washed sandy beaches in

(Note: This article I wrote for the SSCA Bulletin. The SSCA is the Seven Seas Cruising Association and they publish a monthly “bulletin” of mostly useful ideas and trips submitted by various cruising members from around the world. I recommend joining: www.ssca.org).

“Pirate Alley”

Piracy has become a new concern for cruising yachts contemplating a circumnavigation as the most popular route takes you through two of the choke points where the pirates lurk: the Strait of Malacca and the even more notorious and colorfully named “Pirate Alley:” past Somalia through the Gulf of Aden. This evil stretch of water is 450 miles long and only just over 100 miles wide, leading you between a rock (Somalia) and a hard place (Yemen). As a yachtie, you don’t have to worry about the Strait of Malacca; those pirates currently prey on shipping and are harried by the Malaysian and