ABSTRACT
Travelling by sail across oceans for leisure, whether for personal mobility and/ or tourist sightseeing motivations, is perceived in the twenty-first century as a pleasurable lifestyle pursuit. Research on international arrivals of small sailing vessels is scarce, but the number of ‘bluewater’ sailors on ocean-going sailboats is thought to be increasing, even in polar regions (Hall and Wilson, 2010; Bergmann and Klages, 2012; Cater, 2013). Bluewater or offshore sailing – that is, oceanic non-motorised voyaging away from continental coastlines – has certainly been spurred by popular literature that romanticised ocean sailing in fiction (Treasure Island by Stevenson, 1883; Moby Dick by Melville, 1851), history (Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle (1839), Mutiny on the Bounty by Nordhoff and Hall, 1932), and biography (Kontiki by Heyerdahl, 1948; Shackleton’s Antarctic journeys, by Lansing, 1959). However, over the last four decades, technological advances in navigation, forecasting and communications have been the primary drivers of this burgeoning trans-global movement of small boats. Global positioning has replaced the sextant and chronometer, mid-ocean weather forecasts received through email now supplement barometer readings, satellite communications are now the norm, the latest generation of affordable collision-avoidance radar for small ships increases safety margins, and innovations in food supplies and personal equipment all make onboard life more comfortable. One can speculate that the global financial situation may have slowed the entry of the middle class into ocean sailing; however, sectoral experts estimate that at any one time several thousand small yachts are traversing the world’s oceans, with the busiest traffic in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic (Cornell, 2008).
