Windom FAQ

Here are a few questions we've been asked. If you've got a question you'd like answered, or just want to say hello, send us email. We try to reply to everyone.

How did two Coloradans end up on a sailboat?

Ilana's originally from Maryland, and her parents still live there. On one visit back, we took a couple of sailing classes from the Annapolis Sailing School, with the idea of chartering boats in the Caribbean as a vacation. At the time we had a VW camper van in which we enjoyed adventurous road trips, and the idea of sailboat cruising seemed like a logical extension. We chartered a few times and read a lot of cruising magazine, books, and websites from people who were actually out there doing it. One day while hiking in the mountains above Boulder, we made the decision, set a date, and started our plan in motion.

How can you afford to not work?

We saved a lot, invested early and often, and bought a house in the early days of Boulder's real estate boom. Since we were DINKS (Dual Income No Kids; now, we suppose, we're ZINKS, or perhaps 0INKS) and lived a modest lifestyle, most of our income went straight into savings. Once we made the decision to go cruising, we became even bigger tightwads and saved even faster. Ilana had been investing in mutual funds since 1986, so we got full benefit of the enormous bull market of the 1990s. Britt had extensively remodeled our house, and it sold for far more than he had paid for it twelve years before. We're not rich, but we have enough money that we can live frugally off our savings for a long time, perhaps indefinitely.

How do you get mail?

Our mail gets sent to our box at St. Brendan's Isle. They toss the junk mail and send us the rest whenever we request it. In the US, we usually have it sent to General Delivery in a town we expect to be in for a few days, and pick it up at the post office there. In other countries, we have it sent to a reliable local business, or to a FedEx or UPS office where we can pick it up.

How do you maintain the website?

In the US, we connected to the internet using our cell phone modem or a borrowed land line, then used FTP to update the site. In 2000 in the Bahamas we connected either via an acoustic coupler used on a pay phone, or using a phone jack at a Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Co.) office or other internet-connect business. In late 2000, Ilana got her General class ham license, and is now doing email over our marine SSB radio, which operates on the ham bands as well. This is an email gateway only, not a full internet connect, so now we email new pages to a friend who FTPs them to our web computer for us. Our web computer windom.netrack.net is Britt's old Sun Sparcstation 2 which he used in his consulting business. He gave it to a friend for her business in exchange for her keeping it running for our website.

Are you going to circumnavigate?

Maybe. It's not a goal of ours, but if we end up doing the cruising thing for a long time, we will want to see lots of different places in this great big world.

Do you wish you had a bigger boat?

Ilana sometimes wishes she had a smaller boat, particularly when trying to squeeze into a marina slip! Britt wouldn't mind a few extra feet for a dedicated workshop.

Who is the captain?

There's no captain on this boat, although when pressed we'll say that Britt is the captain and Ilana the executive officer. (Britt is also chief mechanic, seamstress [seamster?] and dishwasher. Ilana doubles as communications officer, accountant, and cook.)  Ilana is always at the helm for docking, anchoring, and tight maneuvering; Britt handles the lines and the anchor. Decisions about navigation, sail trim, reefing, and so on are made by whoever happens to be doing that task at that time, although important decisions are made jointly. In a crisis, Ilana thinks Britt should have the last word because she trusts his instincts better than her own. Usually.