We've tried to answer this question about cruisers specifically, rather than sailors in general, so we'll skip the obvious blunders that occur when arrivals and departures from mooring docks are executed without adequate consideration of the wind and tide and inappropriate use of warps. Why do so few people use springs to get off a dock? And what about using the propwalk effect? Anyway that's a separate discussion about seamanship--back to the areas where new cruisers don't so much blunder as struggle to get it right.

1) FOLLOWING THE CROWD. One problem is that being new to something means there is a tendency to follow the crowd "who seem to know what they are doing". Of course it is helpful to listen to advice and to get information from more experienced cruisers, but don't just assume they are right, and anyway what's right for them and their boat may not be right for you. This is particularly the case when deciding when to leave. One man's weather window is another man's nightmare passage.

We left Tonga for New Zealand with a good albeit tight weather window for our boat and our level of experience. Other boats in the anchorage saw the rapid preparations being made for departure and called by to say did we think it was good to leave. We gave them our prognosis for the weather and all the data we had and explained we thought we could make it between two lows because we were passage planning on 1300 miles in 6 days by keeping pace with good beam winds as we moved south.

We left and none followed, which we thought was as it should be, only to discover they didn't leave because they weren't quite ready. So they left the day after, missing the beam winds (it turned very light so they had to motor), made poor time, and got caught in a nasty low while still several hundred miles north of New Zealand. Some were by then out of fuel, which meant that when the gale eventually died to nothing, leaving a nasty sea state, they were unable to motor. Their decision to leave had been made because we had left, and they knew we had good access to weather data which we transmitted to the boats behind us on the SSB--but by then we were in a very different weather area.

Every boat performs differently, and every crew has different skills and tolerance levels, so every decision must be individual, no matter how tempting it is to follow the crowd. It is one of the things we have against rallies--there is a start date and time, so there is a tendency to go, no matter that the forecast suggests that a day earlier or later would give so much better conditions. Yet new cruisers are attracted to rallies for safety reasons. That might make sense for long distance rallies in benign areas (like the ARC), but may not make so much sense in more volatile areas.

2) ADEQUATE BACK UP SYSTEMS. New cruisers tend to give some thought to the spares they should carry, but not enough thought to alternative back up systems. If our steering chain fails we can use the autopilot ram to drive the boat while we effect a repair. If the main auto pilot fails we can use the windvane, or if there is no wind we have rigged a small tiller-style auto pilot to drive the windvane. Our power generation systems have been designed with considerable resilience.

These days equipment is much more reliable than it was historically, and prices mean that most cruisers can afford a reasonably high electronic spec. But new cruisers often assume that because they have invested in good quality new equipment, they do not need back up systems. They are wrong--things will break, and can make long passages difficult for a short-handed crew if they do not have adequate back up systems.

3) TIGHT SCHEDULES. Speak to any long-term cruisers about schedules, and especially scheduling guests to stay, and you'll see eyes drift skywards and hear deep sighs as they explain how it works in reality. Schedules are anathema to cruising--they utterly defeat the purpose. New cruisers zip around like a road runner on drugs, and after a few months they feel like they've been on an exhausting holiday. Cruising is a way of life, not a holiday, so you need to think about it differently.

Not everyone has an infinite amount of time for their cruising, but those who enjoy it most do it slowly, even if that means going to fewer places/covering less distance. And not having a schedule. If you arrive somewhere and discover their annual festival is next week, you won't want to leave, but if you have a tight schedule you'll have to. You'll come to resent the guests that mean you have a 100-mile slog to windward and a 24-hour window to pick them up. Guests should be allowed to choose where they visit or when, but never both--you need to determine that.

4) ANCHORING CONFIDENCE. Most new cruisers will have some experience of anchoring. However, typically that will have been weekend/vacation anchoring in fine weather--in bad weather they are likely to have opted for a marina. When cruising, you spend a very high percentage of your time at anchor, so you need to be able to sleep comfortably even in strong winds. A yacht that often drags does not give crew uninterrupted sleep, nor does it give them the confidence to leave the boat for the day while they tour ashore.

The solution is obvious insofar as ensuring that adequate gear is carried, and proper anchoring techniques are used. However, if the yacht drags more than once, you really need to examine what's going wrong. We know of one yacht that had a miserable Pacific crossing because they were always dragging--apart from their own discomfort, no other yacht wanted them to anchor near. They knew when they set off that they often dragged, but thought that most boats did. The problem was that the anchor was worn and the flukes were not setting properly. Finally they changed their gear, and last we heard of them they had not dragged since.

5) DINGHIES. Only after you have cruised for a while do you realize how important your dinghy is. A recent survey we conducted showed that the majority of new cruisers had decided within 12 months that their dinghy/outboard combination was far from ideal (and that includes us). All of the cruisers in our survey were experienced sailors who thought they had a clear idea of what they needed by way of a dinghy, yet we all got it wrong.

However, it isn't easy to say what is ideal, as it differs by boat/stowage capabilities. The most common mistakes are:

(Colleen and Brian have finished their circumnavigation, and their beloved THETA VOLANTIS is now for sale. Even if you're not in the market for a new boat, click here to check out a very detailed listing that is full of interesting information.)