It's HELLO from Sail-World Cruising

by Nancy Knudsen on 23 Dec 2005 It’s Hello from Sail-World’s Cruising Editor, Nancy Knudsen, and welcome to Sail-World’s Cruising Website and Newsletter.

Every week we will be bringing you news and stories for the cruising sailor – everything NOT to do with racing. From interesting boat shows to the best sailing destinations, from hints to make your sailing life easier to ‘what’s on’ in the sail cruising world.

I’ve now been sailing for – o' well – too long to count, and, after many years of thinking that one had to race to enjoy sailing, I finally saw the light. With my husband Ted Nobbs, we are in the middle of a world circumnavigation on our good old Peterson 46 called Blackwattle – the two of us make a great combination of brawn and brain, but I haven’t worked out yet where I fit in.

We set out in March 2003 from Pittwater in Sydney, taking our time up to Darwin. The best sailing was north of Lizard Island, glorious day sailing, 20kt winds on the quarter, flat seas (protected by a very close reef), great weather, idyllic coral atolls to hide behind at night.

Across across the Gulf of Carpentaria the wind piped up a little, 35-45kts, like riding a surfboard.

From Darwin, we took pretty standard route from Jimmy Cornell's 'World Cruising Routes' and visited Christmas Island and Cocos Keeling. Then, after being caught in the ITCZ (doldrums to me) for a couple of weeks, we finally made it to Addu Atoll, the most southerly Atoll in the Maldives. Sailing our way directly north along the atolls, we then went to Cochin in India, which no-one should miss.

Then it was Oman, into the Red Sea, Eritrea, the Sudan and Egypt before transversing the Suez Canal at great expense. Into the Mediterranean, we spent time in Israel before reaching Turkey. We’ve cruised the entire Turkish Coast now, and it’s hard to drag ourselves away.

Our 2006 plans, however, are to cross the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to the Caribbean.

Boy have we learned a lot along the way. Just a fleabite, however, compared to what’s out there, so I am hoping for lots of valuable feedback from you, our reader.

For me, it’s going to be the greatest pleasure to bring you an online sailing magazine and newsletter which will be entertaining at the same time as bringing the most important information right to your email box.

You know, the problem with the Internet, is not that you can’t find everything there, but there’s TOO MUCH information. Along with the ‘good stuff’ there are millions of records that are old, outdated, incorrect, or just plain irrelevant. Sometimes finding the valuable stuff is like the proverbial needle in the haystack, except the needle’s black and so is the hay.

With Sail-World Cruising’s Newsletter, you’ll have all the on-the-button, up-to-the-minute information just where you need it. If you’d like to receive this Cruising Newsletter, AS WELL AS still receiving your current newsletter, you will need to click on 'Subscription' and modify your subscription profile. The Cruising Newsletter will arrive weekly.

To access Sail-World's Cruising Website, go to www.sail-world.com/home

Let’s go cruising together!