There is probably no better endorsement for the Trawler Lifestyle than the wonderful trawler adventures available to all of us on the internet.
The musings, tell all exposé's, passionate ranting and eloquent retrospectives found in the cruising blogs and websites of active power cruisers amuse, entertain and inspire!
The internet allows us to not only shop for a trawler, but also to ride along vicariously with trawler owners in boats of all sizes out enjoying time on the water spread out all over the world.
A great way to learn more is to follow the exploits of others. The popularity of blogs soared years ago, then kind of slowed down – these are labors of love, lots of time to take photos, write stories and organize the whole thing, very nice to share, but seems in many cases to take away from the actual freedom of the adventure. This is a collection of my favorite blogs (some now idle), if you have another to recommend please let me know.
Featured Blogger Profiles
Long time Nordhavn owner Ken Williams (who with wife Roberta own the Nordhavn 68 Sans Souci) has been one of the most prolific boating bloggers of all time and turned his reports into several books.
Scott and Mary Flanders on the Nordhavn 46 Egret have been magnificent in bringing the world on board with their “Voyages of Egret” which is posted on the Nordhavn.com website and set new standards for information sharing.
James and Jennifer Hamilton on the Nordhavn 52 Dirona created their own software to show their real time location on a Google Earth map and include photos with their postings, amazing to me that people can figure this kind of stuff out.
Eric and Christi Grab blogged during their circumnavigation aboard the Nordhavn 43 Kosmos and Christi has written the first two books in a planned series of four…interestingly including details in book print that she really didn't want her insurance people to read during their trip!
Buddy and Kathy Bethea had thousands of followers when they cruised from CA up to Alaska and then over to the east coast via the Panama Canal aboard their Nordhavn 55 Always Friday. They have since sold their boat, but their posts – particularly their time in Alaska – are a great resource for fellow cruisers and live-on in the internet.
I've watched young Ayla Besemer enchant the world with her “from the pilothouse” posts and videos as she gives a teenager's perspective of world cruising growing up and doing her schooling at sea aboard the Nordhavn 43 Three @ Sea.
I could go on and on about each different blog, all of them informative, most of them entertaining and each of them showing the rest of us that “mere mortals” (OK, some of them are Rock Stars) can head out to sea and enjoy grand adventures. So our goal is to see if we can try to figure out a way to join them as crew, or become fellow trawler neighbors at the next anchorage.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” — Mark Twain
Which leads me to the list below (I love compiling lists). Here are a few of my favorite blogs – not all are customers whom I sold their boat to (most are), but more importantly I consider all of them friends and am always interested to hear what they are doing and where they are traveling. The wisdom and advice passed along from those out living their dreams is in one word, priceless.
