Get Ready to Cruise
by
Lin and Larry Pardey

Publishing Main Page

This is another great DVD from the Pardeys which will reward repeated viewing.  These folks are the acknowledged experts at living aboard and voyaging.  If someone says that they disagree with any one thing the Pardey's say, that's all well and good.  If the person is a true expert perhaps you should listen and evaluate what they have to say.  However if someone disagrees with a substantial amount of what the Pardey's have to teach, you better steer clear.

As one example the Pardeys have always said "go small, go simple, and go now".  They have carefully kept to modest vessels and make a good case for keeping your vessel modest in size and simply equipped.  Personally we have lived aboard boats from 25' to 48'.  Our present boat, at 30', is the largest we would ever own again and over the years as designers of a number of ultimate ocean cruisers we have seen a great many people who've been talked into 45' vessels and quit within the year.  In fact a couple on a 40' or larger boat is almost always trying to sell out.  On the other hand we've seen people extremely happy on very small vessels.  The largest vessels we have seen people be happy with for a couple or small family has been around 36'.  When people on these size boats come back for a second design for one reason or another they generally go for a smaller boat rather than a larger.  If you count everybody you initially encounter living aboard and average their boat sizes they might average near 40'.  If you average the boats of those who've lived aboard more than a year, you'll probably be down around 34'.  At five years out or more average size has dropped to a bit under or over 30'.  So if you find someone advocating 60 foot boats with tons of fancy gear and electronics you know that they either are fabulously wealthy and don't mind how much time they spend in port having people fix things or they haven't really lived aboard and travelled around.  As our friend Kent says, "The Caribbean is full of 40' boats with a guy on board who says his wife says she'll come back when he gets everything working."

Please, we beg you, treat the Pardey's books and DVDs as though they were "secret information" known only by a select few that hold the key to happiness.  It is pretty close to the truth.  $29.95

Reviewed by, Tom MacNaughton