This is the reassuring voice of the ocean sailing community. Your big adventure starts here.

For many sailors, an ocean passage is the big dream. But many will worry that they don't have the right experience, that their boat isn't strong enough, or that it will be prohibitively expensive and difficult.

Ocean Sailing: The Offshore Cruising Experience will prepare you for an ocean passage by painting a picture of what ocean sailing is really like, through the experiences of others who have gone before. Topics covered range from safety to boat kit and preparations, budgeting to staying in touch with home, equipment breakdowns to health and weather.

Members of three great cruising clubs – the Royal Cruising Club, Ocean Cruising Club, and the Cruising Club of America – share their vast wealth of experience, and by focusing on the practicalities of ocean sailing, allay the anxieties and doubts of prospective ocean cruisers to ensure a deeply satisfying ocean voyage.

Table of Contents

1. Being on the Ocean ~ a taste of what's in store
2. Where in the World Shall We Go? ~ making plans, and making your choice
3. It's Time to Buy ~ is there a perfect boat for ocean sailing?
4. The Boats They Chose ~ there are any number of craft in which you can go offshore sailing
5. How Much to go Ocean Sailing? ~ …'all of what you have plus a little bit more'
6. Can the Kids Come Too? ~ you can't leave them behind, but how do you take your kids to sea?
7. Too Old to Go? ~ does ocean-going come with an upper age limit?
8. Keep in Touch ~ …with folks back home, and with the weather
9. The Complete Engineer ~ be a jack of all trades – and master of them all
10. Look After Yourself ~ keeping well and staying safe
11. When Things Go Wrong ~ sooner or later you'll have a mishap. Why not think it through now?
12. And When It's All Over ~ coming down to earth and hitting dry land