CURRENT LOCATION: Tied to a mooring ball near Cayo Pirata, in Ensenada Honda, Culebra, Puerto Rico

18 18.400' N, 065 17.842' W

Cruising is all about compromise. Decisions about boat type, size, and systems all involve pros and cons. Bigger boats offer advantages in the way of speed, storage, and a smoother ride; however, cost, maintenance, and ease of handling are all increased with each foot in length. The same is true for onboard systems. Refrigeration, electric windlasses, and advanced instrumentation may ease the load and add creature comforts, but they also require power and are just a few more items on the list of things to maintain and repair.

Here aboard Prudence, a boat of moderate length (as far as cruising sailboats go), we have chosen to keep things relatively simple and have mainly stuck with those systems already aboard the boat when we purchased her. The only true additions were an SSB receiver and a bit more solar power, just to keep us from having to run our engine to recharge our house batteries. And, we were fortunate, the boat was well equipped to do this type of cruising when we found her in Annapolis a year and a half ago. Our broker was right when he said, "This boat is ready to go cruising."

One issue which has been a continual topic of conversation for us, though, has been the subject of the right dinghy. In this, perhaps more than any other decision, compromise is key. Hard dinghies row much better, but an inflatable dinghy can be stored below. The new rigid bottom-inflatable hybrids (known as RIBs) are a nice, but require a big engine to get up on a plane. When you get a big engine, then you have to consider the chore of lifting it on and off the transom. There are many, many considerations when it comes to selecting the right dinghy.

When we found our Southern Cross on the hard in Annapolis, she had a dinghy on the deck. It was hand-crafted from mahogany by the previous owner, a truly beautiful tender. When we were closing in on a deal, the seller could not remember if he had included the dinghy as a part of the sale. Since we were already getting such a great deal on the boat, we decided that we would allow him to keep the dinghy. Besides, storing a hard dinghy on deck would effectively stop us from using the cutter-rigged capability of the boat. The self-tending boom on the staysail needs that deck space.

Davits are a potential solution for dinghy storage, but we are really not comfortable storing a dinghy on davits during offshore passages. Therefore, since we had ruled out a solid dinghy and the small RIB we tried would not fit in our cockpit locker, we began to focus on inflatables. In our research, the name Achilles kept popping up as a well-made dinghy. The material used in the construction of Achilles dinghies is hypalon, which is reported to be tougher and more UV resistant than rubber or PVC. Once we set our sights on Achilles, it was only a matter of time before we found Patience, a gently used inflatable which came with a 3-horsepower Evinrude outboard for a grand total of only $650. It was an incredible deal.

So far, this inexpensive solution has worked fairly well for us and has provided reasonable transportation to and from the big boat under most circumstances. However, we often get soaked whenever there is a buildup of chop across an anchorage. The recent purchase of a used porta-bote has helped this situation (while we are here in the Ensenada Honda anchorage), but Sheryl and I do not see ourselves folding this boat down to carry on deck when we depart from here in November. And, although this solid boat is a bit faster than the inflatable Patience, a 3-horse engine can only do so much in the speed department.

I reflect upon all of these considerations, because this week we helped Paul & Jan on Irise with the transport of their new dinghy. It is a huge RIB, which they will power with their 15-horsepower outboard. They, too, were once a part of the 'Tiny Dinghy Club,' but 6 months ago they graduated to a larger inflatable with a correspondingly larger motor. Unfortunately, this rubber catamaran was not up to the task of supporting the cruising lifestyle and was already falling apart. The seller, West Marine, was good enough to replace the rubber dinghy with a RIB with tubes made of hypalon. This required Paul to make two trips on the cargo ferry to Fajardo (because they gave them the wrong dinghy on the first trip), but they are now in possession of their new (and improved) tender.

Part of me has a bit of dinghy envy, because they can now go much further, much faster, and with more people and more gear than we could ever hope to transport in either of our tenders. However, they will have the challenge of lifting and stowing this big dinghy onto their 35-foot sailboat when they are once again underway. As I said, dear Reader, everything is a compromise.

One final note before signing off on this Sunday afternoon, we have made the local paper here in Culebra, known as the Culebra Calendar. Unfortunately they looked past a suggestion for an article I submitted, but in the process they did take notice of our blog. From the blog, they asked if they could publish a few photos taken during our weekly breakfast gatherings. Although they incorrectly reported us as 'hosts' (we are merely new attendees), it is nice to see some of Sheryl's photos in the local media. So, while we are at it, just to keep our own little blog tradition going, here is a photo collage of this week's breakfast attendees: