Making The Most Of Your Crossing: Productive And Fulfilling Activities At Sea

We suggest doing something life-changing instead. A crossing shouldn’t be viewed as dead time. Crossings provide a rare opportunity on a boat — a relatively relaxing period when you have limited work to do and no guests around.

One day can easily blend into another on a long crossing, the time only measured by watches, mealtimes, sunrises and sunsets. The green glow of the radar in the bridge. Endless cups of tea and coffee. Small talk. Bad weather, good weather, the occasional sighting of another boat, a bird, or, if you’re fortunate, a whale. Sure, you have daily duties to tick off, but there’s no question your days feel longer and emptier than usual.

So, here you are, with all this extra time on your hands, while you’re stuck on a bit of fibreglass/steel/aluminium/wood floating across a huge expanse of ocean. What are you going to do with this time of your life?

Here are a few ideas that might just have you come out as a better (or at least more accomplished) person on the other side.

Why Not Change The Shape Of Your Brain?

Every time we learn a new skill, such as a new language or instrument, we literally change the shape of our brains. These new brain-changing skills could include:

• Learning a language. Download a language app like Duolingo and a couple of famous movies in that language. This exercise can be really fun if you do it with another crew member, and you’ll be particularly motivated if you visit that place soon.
• Starting meditation. Is a busy season ahead? Want to tame your emotions better or reduce feelings of anxiety or depression? Brain scans have shown that meditation literally changes the shape of your brain over time, increasing the amount of grey matter in the part of the brain that relates to emotional regulation, learning and memory, as well as reducing the size of the amygdala — the region of the brain responsible for the stress and fear response.
• Writing. Start writing that book you’ve always dreamt of. Write a screenplay for TV or start a blog. Write songs! Start journaling. Or maybe you want to start writing old-school letters to friends on beautiful writing paper.
• Teaching yourself a musical instrument or returning to one you loved as a child. (We suggest using the new ‘silent technology’ for instruments where you can practice into headphones if you don’t want your cabin mate to murder you.)
• Getting fit and healthy. It’s never pleasant to arrive on the other side of the Atlantic after a couple of weeks at sea feeling stiff, saggy, and bloated, especially when you’ve just had two whole weeks to make inroads on your health and fitness! A crossing, particularly in rough weather, does limit what kind of fitness activities you can do, but there are still plenty of weights, stretching and yoga exercises available. If the sea is calm and the yacht has a gym you can use, all the better! Set this as a group challenge to maximise your chances of success, and try to get the chef on the side to cook healthy meals to accompany your program.
• Taking an online course- one that you can do offline. This might be something to do with your job or something joyously random — a certificate in editing, a clothes design course, or a photography course (a yacht is a pretty cool thing to practice your photography on!)
• Starting a crew book club. Thanks to audiobooks, book clubs no longer have to be limited to people who like reading! A great general appeal book suggestion to get you started is ‘Educated’ by Tara Westover, and it has a fantastic audiobook version. Eat cheese in the crew mess while you discuss your thoughts and rate each book you read out of 5.
• Drawing: If you loved to draw once or have always wanted to learn, a crossing is a great time to start again. Sure, some days might be a bit bouncy for clear sketch lines, but those calm days will be perfect.
• Sewing or knitting: It may sound old-fashioned, but there is a growing population of young people who love to sew, partly for the novelty of making their own clothes but also for the feeling of contentment and calmness the activity brings. Why not learn this genuinely valuable skill on your crossing? Is there something you’d like to make as a gift to get you started?

Other ideas:

• Learn how to edit videos.
• Organise your photos.
• Practice napkin folding.
• Learn origami.
• Make playlists.
• Plan a big holiday.
• Learn about interior design.
• Set yourself a reading challenge.

Top tip: Get all this stuff prepared before you leave- download sheet music, movies, meditation or language apps, buy any books, tech or supplies, and figure out any offline access you’ll need for when your internet goes dark mid-Atlantic. Don’t just think of this as your yacht leaving port…

A Crossing Is Only Dead Time If You Let It Be!

It’s easy to forget how vital hobbies are to your sense of self when the yachting life can be so all-consuming. Rediscovering them —or finding new ones— is one of the real pleasures of adult life. You might want to do these activities with other crew, or you can enjoy doing something fun that’s just for you.

Stuck for inspiration? We suggest casting your mind back to when you were young. What did you love doing? What did you like talking about? What put you in that state of ‘flow’ where the hours passed without you really noticing? Can you remember? Can you do it on a yacht? Well, you’ve found your thing!

Happy crossing!