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The Cruiser's Code
We
didn’t invent these ‘rules’ for cruising, we just observe them in
action. It seems to us that they help explain how cruisers think and act.
Sort of. But then again cruisers are notoriously hard to pin down . . .
We have no plans, and we’re
sticking to them.
 Most of us have a vague idea of where
we’d like to go and roughly when. But if someplace looks good, we might
just stay. Many boats seem to grow roots when they reach places like
Puerto Vallarta, or Papeete. The weather is warm, the local people are
terrific, the living is easy. So some people’s ideas of sailing around
the world just fade away under the tropical sun, and that’s just fine.
Whatever floats your boat . . .
 No one has a last name.
We’re always ‘Jan & Signe of
Raven’, or just 'the Ravens.'
No one asks the old cocktail party
question: ‘Whaddya do?”
 It’s a bit like the French Foreign
Legion: whatever you were or did back home doesn’t matter very much. But
if you can repair watermakers or diesel engines, you will quickly become the most
popular person in port!
Everybody needs a little help
sometimes.
 The cruisers-helping-cruisers network is
astonishing. There’s always someone in the fleet who knows all about
that outboard motor or sail track problem and, even better, is willing to
spend hours helping someone else in need. Or we can tell you where to find that
local, back-alley wizard who can rebuild any alternator ever made to
like-new condition.
Respect the local people.
 It’s their country, and if we don’t
like it we shouldn’t be here. So no whining, and no disrespectful
treatment of the locals. A ‘New York Minute’ approach to life isn’t
going to work in Mañanaland (or any others of the tropical cruising
grounds), so let’s just cool our jets. Besides, Mexican self-sufficiency
has a lot to offer cruisers. “Si no hay pan, hacemos tortillas”
(“If there's no bread, we make tortillas”) is an insightful proverb
that implies that we can get almost anything fixed, rebuilt, or made new
here!
Leave a clean wake.
 More
than just disposing of your trash and used engine oil properly, this motto
of the Seven Seas Cruising Association means a great deal to most
cruisers. It implies making sure by our behavior that the next cruisers to
arrive will be just as welcome and well-received as we were. |
