Richard Cook

Cindy and I have been lucky enough to spend some 1,300 days cruising more than 40,000 miles in our own small boats, mainly on the pristine waters of the Pacific Northwest. We aren't wealthy, and we sure didn't come into cruising as expert boaters - far from it. We were tent campers, who enjoyed fishing and liked being around the water.

We've wandered the Inside Passage as far as Glacier Bay, and floated in front of the great tidewater glaciers while they calved huge chunks of ice. We've been surrounded by whales, porpoises, sea otters, seals and sea lions, eagles, and bears prowling the shoreline. We've feasted on succulent Dungeness crab, huge spot prawns, salmon, and halibut - all caught by us.

Extended cruising of the Inside Passage is not without its challenges, but it certainly is do-able by mere humans like us. We learned step by step.

I had fished from skiffs with oars or outboard motors, and done a little charter sailing in the Bahamas. Cindy and I had done some canoe paddling, but we knew nothing about owning and operating a power cruiser. Luckily for us, our C-Dory was an uncomplicated but very sound and seaworthy boat. It was a great learning environment - we concentrated on boating skills, not on stuff that didn't work, or systems we just didn't understand.

Before we took delivery, we attended the Boating Skills and Seamanship course put on by the Coast Guard Auxiliary. It cost only a few dollars, and couple of hours for each of six weeks - well worth it for us beginners.

For two years we were lake cruisers, staying out at first just a few days at a time, then working up to a couple of weeks. We built boating skills at Lake Powell, a low-risk and delightful place, with drop-dead gorgeous red rock canyon scenery. We learned what to take with us, how to load and provision the boat, towing, launching, docking, anchoring, boat handling in various conditions, and many aspects of living successfully aboard a small boat.

Then some friends in Seattle suggested that we tow up to Washington and meet them for a couple of weeks on the ocean. What an opportunity! A guided trip in the San Juan Islands and into British Columbia, expanding our envelope of skills and experience.

For our first ocean trip, we had to be prepared for many new things: tougher weather, bigger waves, huge tides, rapids, rain, fog, charts, navigation skills, and different kinds of fishing. We did our homework, and the cruise was a great success.

It was convenient that our boating buddies were leading the way, but with a cruising guide book and some common sense, we would probably have been OK in the San Juans. We planned ahead, and paid attention to what we were doing and how well it was working. As we ventured further north on subsequent trips, we encountered greater challenges with weather, waves, and distance. We took it one step at a time, learning as we went, rather than making great leaps beyond our abilities.

Over the next two summers, we spent six weeks cruising southern BC. We had built up our skills to a pretty solid level, while both of us still held demanding jobs. Then came an opportunity to expand our envelope in a big way: both our employers were flexible enough to let us take extended leave.

We thought about it for a while, and decided to really go for it - a summer's cruise in Southeast Alaska. It was incredibly wonderful, the experience of a lifetime. Since that first Alaska trip we've done many more long cruises, continually improving our skills, and loving (almost) every minute of it.

If you'd like to go confidently into the wilds of the Inside Passage in your own small boat, "Cruising in a Big Way" is for you.