Sailing across the Atlantic Ocean is a demanding undertaking! In this episode we discuss the preps and plans for a West to East crossing with two sailors, who recently made the passage. We discuss what they were thinking about before departure, the projects they did, the weather planning and routing decisions, the watch systems, maintaining morale plus managing the boat and a family of 5!

"We got our life raft re inspected a year ago in Grenada, which was a really great process. They inflated it and they let us see it and get in it with the kids, and talked about the order of operations if you were using the life raft, like who goes first, who goes second, what does that process look like and getting extra water jugs or what else needs to be part of your ditch kit that wasn't in the life raft itself. That was really eye opening, helpful, and it was really good for the kids to be able to get in it and see what that would look like." - Jillian

Chris Lobel
is a RYA Yachtmaster Instructor and the skipper/owner of Saga47swan sailing. Chris and his partner Nathalie take up to 4 crew on offshore adventure sailing trips on their classic Swan 47.
https://youtube.com/@Saga47swanSailing
www.Saga47swan.com
https://www.instagram.com/saga47swan
https://www.facebook.com/saga47swan?

Jillian Greenawalt
left upstate New York with her husband and 3 kids aboard a 1972 Bowman 46 in 2021. Together, they've cruised the east coast, the Eastern Caribbean and are now in the Mediterranean. Their boat is called Mug Up!

Music: Stands For Nothing, Ben's band with his brother Tim Eriksen

The trend in bluewater cruising, liveaboard, oceans sailing yachts has been moving towards bigger boats, comfortable living spaces with multiple cabins, galley, and larger bathrooms. But these sailboats are expensive to buy, maintain, and insure, requires more crew, are more difficult to handle, both offshore and in marinas or tight areas.

We talk with Kim Stephens & John Harries about what makes a boat too big to handle safely, and why bigger might not be better sometimes. We analyze some of the pitfalls of this trend, and some of the value added.

Kim Stephens is sailing aboard a Stevens 47, S/V Meraviglia, with her husband, Bob. They are long time health care professionals and in 2022 decided to take a break and experience life on the water while we had the physical ability to do so. They did a total refit of their vessel, working, on her full time from June of 2023 to February 2024. They are currently in Aruba after beginning our journey in Brunswick, Georgia in February and working their way down the thorny path. They plan to transit the Panama Canal in December and explore the South Pacific in 2025.

Website: https://sailingmeraviglia.com/
Instagram: @SailingMeraviglia

John Harries was born and brought up in Bermuda and started sailing as a child, racing locally and offshore before turning to cruising. He has sailed over 150,000 miles, most of it on his McCurdy & Rhodes 56, Morgan’s Cloud, including eight ocean races to Bermuda, culminating in winning his class twice in the Newport Bermuda Race. He has skippered a series of voyages in the North Atlantic, the majority of which have been to the high latitudes. John has been helping others go voyaging by sharing his experience for nearly 30 years, first in yachting magazines and, for the last 22 years, as co-editor/publisher of AAC.

Website: https://www.morganscloud.com Attainable Adventure Cruising

Music: Stands For Nothing, Ben's band with his brother Tim Eriksen

World schooling is the educational approach where learning takes place primarily through travel and experiencing different cultures and environments around the world.

Sometimes, World Schooling can involve short-term trips, like the 3-months Teresa and I are currently spending in Italy while our son, Haven, attends a school here. We’re doing this with a program called Boundless Life. Sometimes, world schooling involves long-term travel or even a full-time nomadic lifestyle, like the many sailing families we’ve had on this show in the past.

By the way, If you've got remote work and want to try living in another country, let us know! Boundless Life is amazing, and I'm happy to pay it forward with a discount. Just mention "Carey Family." 👩‍💻🌐

So, while we’re here in Italy, Teresa sat down with two world schooling parents. Her first guest is Steve Crider, a self-employed consultant with a lot of work flexibility. He and his family just started some extended travel across the US and Europe. We met them here in Italy through the Boundless Life program, and their children attend school with our son.

Our other guest is Maggie Hirt, an author and mother who “boatschooled” her four children on a global voyage with her family. The trip lasted several years and she is planning to get back to it.

Steve, Maggie, and Teresa talked about worldschooling and what works best for their families.

Music: Stands For Nothing, Ben's band with his brother Tim Eriksen