Top Quotes About the Sailing Life

Life aboard a boat sounds romantic and freeing, partly due to some famous quotes making it sound ideal. We cruisers know the difficulties of onboard living, and we have our share of sayings about the crazy parts of this lifestyle. Here are my top quotes about the sailing life and where they originate. These are quotes that resonate with me because they are so relatable.

Quotes about sailing

One of the first quotes that comes to mind is one cruisers say to each other often:

“May you Have Fair Winds and Following Seas”

Unknown

I don’t know who started saying this, but it’s obvious why we say it. Everyone wants good winds and the seas pushing us forward when we sail and so we wish each other the best.

Sailing is about taking risks, and seeing new places, so I like these quotes:

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

Andre Gide

“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt
Quotes about the sailing life FDR

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Cruiser Dos and Don’ts

Brian and I made our first crossing a year ago and have made mistakes, many mistakes. For those interested in exploring a life on board a boat, this post is for you. I don’t claim to be any sort of expert here, in fact, I started out as a complete novice. Maybe you can avoid our mistakes through my cruiser dos and don’ts to hopefully help you slide into this lifestyle with ease!

Boat Ownership Dos and Don’ts

Do Like To Fix Things

If Brian wasn’t so handy, and didn’t enjoy fixing things and working with his hands, we wouldn’t be here. If you already like to fix things, you are golden, but if you don’t, or don’t know how, take a class in mechanics or something before you buy the boat.

The sea finds out everything you did wrong.

Boats are more likely to break when and where no one else is around, so you will have to fix it or at least stop it from getting worse. I am not handy at all and even I am getting better at that stuff. In my opinion, people who can’t or don’t want to fix things won’t be happy in this life.

Do Lock Up Your Valuables

If it’s something you need, lock it up. Dinghies get stolen all the time, and we even had our gas tank stolen out of our dinghy in Martinique. It sucks, but people need money (or gas, when there was a strike in the French islands) and if you make it easy for them to steal, they just might.

Locked Dinghy Cruisers Dos and Don'ts
Lock Up!
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Martinique Musts

After two visits to Martinique, first for a week and again for a month, we have seen and done a lot in this French Caribbean paradise! Here are my top things to do when you visit, my Martinique musts.

Why We Love Martinique

The food, the scenery, the culture, the water, the variety: all are reasons to fall in love with Martinique. You can spend a day eating delicious French food, swimming with starfish and turtles in clear Caribbean water, and end it sampling rum while listening to reggae music. It’s a pretty good life on a boat in Martinique and it could be easy to sleep and repeat day after day. Some may have less time than we did and I know what you don’t want to miss so on to my list of Martinique musts.

The Southern Beaches

Do you like long swathes of soft sand? Beach bars with great food, drinks and lively company? Both are on offer at the southern strip of Martinique, south of the lovely Sainte Anne anchorage. 

Martinique Must Saline Beach
Clear blue water and soft sand at Saline Beach, Martinique
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