Cruising World - February 2016

UNDERWAY

18

cruisingworld.com

P

lanning a voyage beyond your

home port is one of sailing’s great

pleasures. But a cruising dream

can quickly suffocate from too much

information.

A bewildering array of guides, charts,

passage books and websites wave like

hawkers at the breakwater, each claim-

ing to be a quintessential source. Where

to begin?

Fortunately, a number of outlets have

begun compiling voyage bundles — guides

to guides — that gather vital and useful

information, from charts to flags, for pop-

ular trips. They don’t eliminate all your

decisions — a 40-foot catamaran has dif-

ferent needs than a trawler — but they

provide both a checklist and a marine-

proven menu for new cruisers and voyag-

ing veterans looking for a new adventure.

Bluewater Books in Fort Lauderdale,

Florida (bluewaterweb.com/t-passage-

route-planners.aspx), has created eight

passage and route planners: Bermuda,

Down East Circle, Great Lakes, U.S.

Great Loop, Maine to Norfolk, Norfolk

to Florida, the South Pacific and Cuba.

A click takes you to a list of guides, elec-

tronic and paper charts, tide tables, flags

and even cookbooks. The Cuba guide

(bluewaterweb.com/t-cuba-sailing.aspx)

was put together after a visit to the island

by Bluewater owner John Mann. After

perusing these lists, call or chat online

with Bluewater’s staff to help winnow

the options to match your boat, plans

and budget.

In San Diego, Downwind Marine

(downwindmarine.com/downloads/

cruisingdownwind.pdf) publishes a free

encyclopedic paper or PDF guide to

cruising the Mexican coast. The guide

even includes information on fishing

licenses, radio nets, Spanish terms, and

drug laws and lawyers.

Capt. Henry Marx, owner of Landfall

Navigation in Stamford, Connecticut,

personally put together a Great Loop

guide (landfallnavigation.com/books

cruiseinland.html) using Bob Duthie’s

Western river charts and guidebooks for

a dream trip that can take two to three

years. Marx adds the sober warning that

in that time frame, charts change and

marinas come and go, so cruisers need to

update their data annually. — Jim Carrier

VOYAGE

BUNDLES

With all of the information available,

planning for a cruise such as the Great

Loop can be overwhelming. Voyage

bundles remove the guesswork.

COURTESY OF RAVEN COVE PUBLISHING / GREATLOOP.COM