About 6 months ago, we realized there was simply too much material to learn for each of us to study everything we’ll need to know to make this thing happen, so we split the work up 3 ways. As it stands, Alex is tasked with studying weather patterns, our boat’s electronics, and linguistics. I’m in charge of marine life, navigation, and diesel engines, and Dave Green is learning about provisioning and medical considerations.
This list doesn’t actually look that bad until you really look at the details. My three categories mean I need to determine which fishing gear we need, learn about dangerous and edible marine animals, learn celestial navigation, study best practices for coastal navigation, know our autopilot and wind vane inside out, and become intimately close with our inboard diesel engine.
Some of these things can be learned by reading books, but others require hands on experience. This weekend I got my Ham radio technicians license, and next month I’ll be taking a course on marine diesel engine repair. If all this doesn’t seem daunting enough, keep in mind that categories like navigation, medical, and weather need to be learned and taught to the others. Tack on to that the list of boat projects we need to complete before departure, and we’ve got enough work to make sure we’re not bored until the trip is finished.
