Lisa Testing the Lifelines Before Departure       We tried to plan carefully for our first big multi-day passage, but of course things never go the way you have planned.  We brought two different carloads of supplies from home, foolishly thinking that would be all we needed.  Since then, I think we've loaded 3 or 4 more car loads and probably like 50 Amazon deliveries.  Bottom line, we didn't know what we didn't know.      There is a small industry of people providing support to new boat owners like Lisa and I, catering to the fact that most of us have some combination of money and anxiety. We have taken advantage of most of the support options we could find, including what is now a few years of classes and training as well as some one on one coaching, training, hand holding, advising services. There is also a highly regarded guy who does weather planning exclusively for the cruising community (“cruising”...

     One of the joys of owning your own boat is that you actually don't get to control all the decisions.  Its a pretty expensive piece of gear and if you want to insure it, you have to conform to whatever conditions the insurer imposes on you.  Some of these are negotiable, but changes are generally associated with increased costs.  For instance, we are not permitted to have the boat south of Georgia once hurricane season starts and we can not go there until after the hurricane season ends.  You can buy insurance that covers the hurricane zone, but you pay a lot more for the privilege.  One thing that they are inflexible on is repairs to your boat that they want performed.  During the course of purchasing the boat, you get an extremely detailed inspection which the insurance company also reviews closely.  They then ask you for a plan to fix more or less everything that was noted as a defect.  We went back and forth a few times...