For those old sailors who are now land locked

I saw this on the internet and it made me smile a lot. When I'm old get me one of these!

Provisions for a small boat under 21 foot (Nano Project)

Tiny Galley
Like most people with a small yacht between 17 and 21 feet long you are more than likely only going to have a very simple camping style single burner stove. You would think that cooking would be rather straight forward. But unless you are happy with eating beans every day, this is far from the truth.

HUNTER 19 Galley - not mine!

Assuming you only have a single burner stove here's a few ideas on how I stock a few items in order to be ready for a quick dart to the boat at a moments notice for a long weekends sailing.

Just as a side note, cruising in New Zealand on a small boat is a little different from the UK as there are not so many places to come ashore for provisions. Its closer to sailing the west coast of Scotland! The popular Bay of Islands is no exception, either, so when provisioning it's best to a have a couple of days of food more stored aboard as well as all important water! 


Cooking Kit
You'll need a few simple items to keep aboard in a single, appropriately sized box (plastic box with a lid in my case) to allow you to have everything to hand to cook easily and not have to worry you don't have everything you need. Also make sure you also have a least 2 
spare cans of gas on board for the stove and store them outside in the lockers to stop gas leak issues.

Cooking Hardware
I have a small but deep frying pan and a medium sized pan with a lid that make up my main cooking set. I also have a kettle so I can boil water for drinks and also for washing up without worrying too much about spillages. I then have a large bowl for mixing in and a wooden spoon to go with it and stirring the pot. I then have a small and medium sharp knife, a tin opener and a chopping board and that all important pair of scissors. I also carry enough cutlery for 4 people (4 bowls, 4 plates and 4 mugs) and have a 1litre flask for those long night watches. It's also great to have some foil to hand and a couple of small seal-able plastic boxes (like you get form the takeaway) so you can keep opened items a little fresher and free from spills.

All these items can be packed into a small box and stowed easily under the stove along with the supplies you'll bring aboard later.

Basic Foods

I try and always have in a small plastic box with the following items in it ready to go, this way I can make a run for the boat and not worry I have left anything behind.

• Tin of Baked Beans
• Tin of Tomatoes
• Tin of Tuna
• 2 small tin Sardines
• Chorizo sausage 
• Tin of mixed fruit
• Pasta (small bag)
• Jar of Pesto
• Pancake Mix
• Bagels (4 or as per the size of the crew!)
• Muesli Bars
• 4 instant Porridge sachets
• Cream Cheese spread and Butter Spread
• Dried mixed herbs
• Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper, Sugar.
• Tomato sauce and Mustard
• Tea Bags and Coffee (Fresh coffee for a French Press is best but instant at a push)
• Hot Chocolate (great for the kids in the evening)
• Milk 2 ltr (long life is the best for longer and hotter voyages)
• An unopened pack of ginger biscuits (or what ever you like)
• Large bag of sweats and a couple of chocolate bars for me and bag of marshmallows for the kids!
• 8 Litres of water min
• Trash bags

Extras to have to hand for longer journeys or a little more luxury.

• Bread - Fajitas keep longer than loaves and are just as good.
• Eggs (6 is a good number)
• Bacon
• Sun dried Tomatoes
• Bag of mixed leaf salad
• Fresh Apples and Bananas  

Simple Meals

I'm no cook (as you will see) but this is just a sample of what I like to do on a days sail and for the following day I'll just mix it all up again.

Breakfast - 

You can still have your cereal in the morning, but I'm not too keen on eating cereal on a pitching boat and long life milk doesn't taste so great on cornflakes for me. It also drains the milk supply very quickly!

You can get porridge quick packets now so these are a good option, even with long life milk. But if its a little more you're looking for try a Breakfast Bagel - Cream cheese one side, crispy Bacon a few loose leaves and sun dried tomatoes on the other served with a great mug of fresh coffee. You can always switch these around for lunches too! Bacon and Eggs is always a winner too. Simple to do and all in the same pan! A Boiled egg and toasted soldiers is also a firm favourite for the kids too. 

Lunch - 

It's the middle of the day and you're well under way on your voyage so something you can do quickly and eat at the helm is always a good idea. Scrambled eggs loaded with Ham or Chorizo is also great for lunch when the seas calm enough for cooking but more often than not in open seas it won't be. In some cases it's a good idea to prep lunch a little after breakfast so you can get it to hand quickly, especially if sailing short handed. When the sun is out I love a little sardine salad made up of a tin of sardines (drained) salad leaves, sun dried tomatoes and some olive oil drizzled on with salt and pepper and finished off with some nice crusty bread. If the weathers not so good then I try and have a trusty bagel to hand with cream cheese and thinly sliced Chorizo and a few leaves from the salad bag! Bread sandwiches can fall apart in the sea spray and rain, which I why I favour the bagel (they also last longer!)

Dinner - 

I love a fresh pasta and they can be had hot or cold and more importantly can be made in a single pan. Tuna Pasta is a favourite and just needs the pasta cooked off and then when cooked mix in some sun dried tomatoes, mixed herbs, some pesto sauce and then the tuna. Serve into a bowl and then throw on some salad and a shot of olive oil, salt and pepper to your taste and you're good to go. If you have some crust bread then use this to bulk it out. If you don't like Tuna try Chorizo instead, or even sliced Ham. 

Desserts - 

If you like a dessert (which I do) then there's a couple of very simple and quick ones you can make. If you have a tin of mixed fruit then I like to heat it up in a small pan and then smash up a couple of ginger nut biscuits with some chocolate which I then sprinkle over the top. If you have a little more time then make up the pancake mix and get it in the frying pan and then add the warmed fruit on top, perhaps try a little cream cheese on top too. If you have bananas on board, split these down the middle and add in broken chocolate (or marshmallows for the kids) wrap them in foil and place them in the frying pan on a low heat for 5 mins.

Snacks - 

Fruit is a simple one to snack on, but is also one of those things that is easily forgotten. I try to have muesli bars to hand especially with nuts on as these keep me going a little longer and help perk me up, along with a good cup of coffee. Don't forget to also call on the basics here, plenty of cups of tea for the skipper with a few biscuits to soak it up.

Keep the kids happy with the Marshmallows and in the evening have them toasted over the stove and to keep their sugar levels up (if you dare) serve with a small mug hot chocolate, perhaps having one for yourself before you turn in.

So that's about it. There's no gourmet meals here but they do make me happy when I'm sailing. Hope you found this helpful and it helps you break out of those endless tinned breakfasts and soggy sandwiches!

Bon Voyage!

Other great articles on provisions

This is a Blue Water Sailing guide to selecting food for you longer voyages...  
http://www.bwsailing.com/bw/cruising-news/food-for-thought-provisioning-101/

Again this is a very detailed article and has spreadsheets you can fill in your hearts content. There is an extensive list of items you can use to kit out your galley too. Aimed at the more serious journeys rather than my weekend runs!
https://theboatgalley.com/provisioning/

Cruising on small craft – Travel guide at Wikivoyage

Here's a great article about crusing, perhaps not the type of cruising I have in mind, but a great read anyway.

https://en.m.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Cruising_on_small_craft

Focus on the new year - Pico

Winter creeps on in the UK but here in New Zealand we start the summer and so thoughts turn to the great outdoors and what could be, rather than what should have been.

So with a renewed vigour I am going to be pushing for the Pico option this year. This is based around limited funds (whole project to be completed for less than  NZ$2000 - $1000 Boat and $1000 refit and kit buying) and simply scaling back to weekend and evening cruising in a Dinghy, something Mirror-esk would be great.

This means that putting the Dinghy to one side I need to look at simpler ways of sailing and what I would be doing for an overnight as well as accommodating our 6 year old, should he want to venture out with his old dad!

NZ Maritime Restricted Operators Certificate (MROC) VHF License

So, I may as well keep current and so I was looking at ways of complying with the NZ 'rules of the road' and I happened to find eNautical. They offer the Maritime Restricted Operators Certificate (MROC) on-line (no exam, this is purchase separately for those that need it) for a remarkable NZ$59! For this you receive all your material and course-ware.

As the site says 
    "Study anywhere in the world online in the comfort of your own home"

So if this is of interest perhaps an offering on the other side of the world can help!? 

New Zealand pocket yachts- NOT UK pocket yachts

So, very occasionally, my afternoons may give me a few minutes to have a trawl over TradeMe (New Zealand’s equivalent to eBay) looking for possible boats and/or projects.
What's very obvious, other than the odd Hunter 18, the small yachts I have seen are not common in the UK and so I have spent a little time digging around in the small yacht market that is here in Australia and New Zealand.

This afternoon I have come across what appears to be a great little Trailer Sailor at only NZ$1800! Which sadly is $1650 more than I have spare at the moment ;o)

17 ft Pelin Caribou - ready to sail!

New Zealand, city of sails. Hauraki Gulf.

We are fast coming up to a year here in New Zealand and sadly, still no sign of a boat. More to the point, still no spare cash to buy a boat! So this has left me looking for very large projects (complete rebuilds) or give aways, which are very few and far between.

While I trudge onwards with my slow search, I take solice in crossing the harbour bridge every morning and being able I admire other people yachts in the city centres marina. Online scouting for New Zealand cruising books proved to be difficult. But now here the odd gem (books are insanely expensive here) does turn up in the clearance store. Cue William Owen's Hauraki Gulf guide for $15 

The Hauraki Gulf is, broadly speaking, the expanse water that stretches between the East coast of the North Island up to Cape Rodney and the mirrored west coast of the Coromandel up to the top of the Great Barrier.
Calling home the North Shore, and working in the city, this would be my cruising ground and ny the looks of things I don't think I would need to look outside of here for a good few years to fulfil my simple sailing needs.

The book gives a great guide to the region for both fishing and cruising, as well as some great insites from the authors 50 years experience in the area.

Complete with anchorage suggestions and simple outlines of the areas, this book will be a firm favourite on the bus to work as well as, hopefully, in my future "micro sailers" library.

Anyone wanting to get a copy here's the ISBN. 978-1-86953-750-0

Apologies for spellings and brevity as this post has been sent from my mobile