No-Comfort Zone
One of the best things about my job is the opportunity it provides to connect with so many adventurous people. Just the other day, Joe Borrison, a subscriber to the magazine, pinged me with a question for our tech team about the props on his 250-hp Yamaha outboards. One email led to another, and I learned that Joe makes a trip to the Abacos each year aboard his Grady-White Freedom 285 Dual Console. He trailers the boat all the way from his home in Rockville, Maryland, to a launch ramp in West Palm Beach, Florida, and then runs it across to the Abacos.
“People in Florida do the trip over to the Bahamas all the time, but I haven’t met many boaters in the Chesapeake who’ve cruised to the islands. They think it’s beyond their reach,” he wrote. “Maybe you can do a story on those of us who trailer to distant places. Not that I want hordes of visitors ruining my favorite beaches, but I wish more people would try it. The vast majority of boaters in the Northeast go to the same spots every weekend and never take advantage of the mobility afforded by a trailer and a decent tow vehicle.”
Joe is one of those boat owners who embraces the idea of moving just outside his comfort zone. He acknowledges that he has a healthy level of apprehension about navigating in unfamiliar waters, but he doesn’t let it dampen his enthusiasm to see and experience new places.
You’ll meet others like Joe in this issue. In “The Wanderers,” Executive Editor Pim van Hemmen introduces us to Dan Prigmore and Marcia Hayes, a couple who have put about 45,000 nautical miles in their wake since they started cruising together a decade ago, first on a Legacy 32 and then on a Sabre 48. In 2011, they started a blog to document their nautical travels, which have taken them all over North America and, more recently, along coastlines and canals in Europe.
“We want to encourage other people to be more adventuresome,” says Dan, who is a native of the East Coast and began boating as a young man off the Connecticut shoreline. “As we travel around, we see lots of pretty boats tied to docks, just going nowhere. We feel bad about that, because, you know, a lot of people don’t realize that the hardest part is the first 25 miles.”
Dan and Marcia, who are now retired, spend about five months of the year boating. They acknowledge the liveaboard lifestyle they have chosen isn’t quite right for everyone, but they believe most cruisers can benefit from pointing the bow toward an unknown shore.
“Every cruise to a new place has brought surprises,” Marcia says. “Dan has a favorite expression: ‘You learn nothing from success. Get out there and go explore.’”
That’s good advice, and words I’ll remember when the time comes to cast off from the dock this spring.