MERMAID: Our Family in Paradise
“A One Year Cruise in the Caribbean Islands and the Bahamas”
Philip Rink, Published by PRPR LLC, Stanwood, WA, copyright 2003
Paperback, 165 pages. Also Available - a companion video at www.caribmermaid.com

For every boater out there who has dreamed of “sailing away,” this little hot-off-the-press paperback is a must buy. Why? Because it is a clearly written log of one Northwest family’s sailing adventures and a detailed how- to-do-it manual.

Many of us talk (or dream) of taking off to cruise through warm seas. But when it comes to acting, we don’t have the money, or the right boat, or the time, the skills, the, the, the . . . The Rink family didn’t either. In fact, they were not even experienced sailors. While they both taken sailing and pilotage courses, they had never cruised off shore. They had kids in school and profitable work that they enjoyed (mostly). But they dropped, massaged, and changed their commitments to “pursue something new to all of us that would be difficult to complete. We wanted a trip that would present problems and challenges that we could solve only as a family.”

So Nancy and Philip Rink approached their adventure with all the logic and consideration you might expect from two engineers. They were very thorough in their research, preparation and execution. They sought expert advice and utilized all things modern to insure their family safety. They were very cautious sailors, patiently waiting until conditions suited their level of skill. As a result, while they were often worried or scared, they were never in real danger.

After considering various voyages, they concluded that an “up-down” cruise of the Caribbean would provide all the adventure they needed with a minimum of risk. But first they needed a boat! Utilizing friends and contacts in the islands they purchased a retired Beneteau Oceanis 400 charter boat. It proved an excellent choice, never failing them in any major way. When they bought the boat, it seemed quite possible to use it for a year, truck it back to the Northwest and sell it for a profit - maybe as much as the trip cost! But then 9/11 happened and the market collapsed and trucking it to Seattle cost much more than they had expected. Aw, well, they had a great cruise anyway.

Rink details the boat’s equipment upon purchase, what they added, and most important, tells us what worked well and what didn’t. They hated their noisy wind generator and loved their watermaker. They also loved their RIB dinghy and their Iridium satellite telephone (also good for email) . For reasons never explained, Rink feared a lightning strike more than anything else so he fashioned a mast head dissipater which did the job - at least they never got struck by lightning!

Taking good advice not to leave from Miami (why battle headwinds?), they picked up the boat and began their adventure on the island of St. Maarten, a departure-outfitting point Rink can’t write enough good things about. During the month of November, they fixed and outfitted the boat while suffering from the cold! Yes, they wished they had brought more fleece clothing and Northwest quality foulweather gear. Eventually they set off island hoping south “and because we were extremely conservative, we had a great time and proved to be more than qualified.”

In and around their passages and island exploration, they did a lot of swimming and snorkeling, but only after the kids, Lena and Pender, completed their school work. Home(boat) schooling was not easy at first, but they all settled into a routine that ended the year with the kids probably better educated than they would have been in the Northwest! Plus - they had all these great adventures! As you might expect, the kids matured rapidly during the trip. Soon they were in charge of dinghy operations and even sailed the big boat at times. Everybody got real tan and improved their swimming skills.

They began their cruise very nervous about the passages between islands, at first only doing short daytime crossings. By the adventure’s end, they had the confidence to make multi-day overnight passages and they had become comfortable with big seas. If being on the “big” ocean makes you nervous, dear reader, spending time with this account may help.

While the book loosely describes their overall voyage, it really is a compendium of information and advice. There are chapters on such topics as: anchoring, money, health and safety, food, our favorite places, shipping the boat home and so on. Rink includes tidbits like: “Cleanliness is a big deal when buying and storing food. We managed to keep Mermaid completely cockroach free, but is was a lot of work. We saw more than a few boats that were infested with ants or cockroaches.” There is even a section titled: “Calendar” laying out exactly what to do as well as telling when and where to be during your own Caribbean adventure. The equipment list alone is worth the book price. For anyone gravitating toward a similar adventure, this paperback (and their video) is a treasure.

Would they do it again? “Nancy and I will take another trip, once the kids are out of school. The kids can do it again when they grow up, assuming they marry well.”

Would they recommend other people taking such a trip? “ There is no way we would talk anybody into doing this. It was more of an adventure than a vacation, and at times was very dangerous and/or uncomfortable. On the other hand, we are extremely glad we went, we all grew a lot, and as time goes on we remember the trip as more and more fun.”