Names of Owners:  Gemma and Andi Ross

Nationality: British and South African born respectively, but Australian for many years.

Boat Name: “Paws”

Boat Type/Model and Size: Owen Easton aluminium catamaran 13m.

Home Port: Hmm, Port: technically Brisbane, but Home: Agnes Water

Blog: www.peterpanandthemermaid.wordpress.com

Facebook: Sailing Paws

How did you start cruising?

We met on a sailing delivery from Magnetic Island to Airlie Beach, Australia, 15 years ago. I (Gemma) was a back-packer looking for a different mode of transport down the East coast & Andi was the deck-hand, a lifetime sailor living & working on the water. It was a nightmare trip (weather, and Captain ego issues!) but I fell in love with the ocean and a man in one hit.

We finally got it together permanently three and a half years later and I emigrated to Australia. We worked and saved for 10 years hopping between a unit rental, a little Polynesian cat, jobs, a camper van, a house and then finally “Paws”, before taking the plunge and setting sail offshore in June 2018.

Describe what sort of cruisers you are:

Liveaboards. We have lived on board full time since our first boat “Chimera” from early 2009, with a short interlude attempting the house thing before finding our home “Paws”. We originally based ourselves in Airlie Beach before moving to Townsville where we called home for 6 years. We managed to squeeze in a few extended sailing trips up and down the Aussie east coast in this time before relocating to Brisbane and then decided to go and explore our back yard of Asia-Pacific 18 months later. It took us the best part of ten years to pay the boat off, fix her up the way we wanted and save (enough) money to head offshore.

What type of cruising are you doing currently?

We are currently offshore and have been for 18 months. We decided to base ourselves in In-donesia for the seasonal swing as we found a safe place to leave “Paws” at Marina Del Ray in Lombok so that we could fly back to Oz for 6 months work, a reset and family catch up. We plan to get back to her in July 2020. It was never our intention to leave the boat, as she is our home, but needs must as it were.

What were the key reasons you selected your current boat?

Andi has always been a fan of Easton cats for years but I wasn’t convinced. He showed me many Eastons while we were searching for a boat and being so different in inside layout, I had not liked any of them. When he eventually persuaded me that “practical” was far better than “pretty”- we stepped onto “Paws” and we knew that she was the one.

It was essentially finding the magic formula of liveability & durability. She was big enough to be our forever-home, providing much space and load capacity but not compromising on practicalities and performance. The design is strong, built to last and simple- so gear is economical and easy to fix, which is really important when cruising remote areas.

We have been asked so many times: “Can’t you afford paint?” But being aluminium, it’s better (and far less maintenance!) to not have the topsides and deck painted as you can see if you have any issues like oxidation or electrolysis. On the inside all the lining is screwed not glued so you can inspect and access all voids and she is built out of 6.5mm aluminium plate so is almost bullet proof, which, if you have ever cruised through Asia is super handy when you are trying to navigate all the ocean debris and sunken hard objects!

What other boats have you owned?

“Chimera” a Hitchhiker 10m glass-over-ply catamaran- she was our stepping-stone home and all we could afford at the time (well, all we could borrow from the Bank of Mum!). A super simple camping-on-the-water boat which was an excellent starting point, but we outgrew her quickly.

Andi owned and lived on a tiny Seawind cat and a 19ft timber double-ender before he met me, which were not big enough for two.

What changes have you made to your current boat?

No structural changes, but we have updated systems and replaced old gear like you would with any boat. The biggest change would be the bridge deck layout as the saloon was not comfortable for sleeping on passage, so Andi resized the lounge so that it could be used as a pilot berth.

Most useful equipment fitted, and reasons for this choice:

• Lithium batteries – although a huge initial outlay, we are really impressed with how quickly and easily they charge even with a trickle going in from the wind generator when there’s no sun. We have saved tonnes of space and weight too by getting rid of the old ones.
• Spectra watermaker – it was already part of the inventory when we bought “Paws” but cruising through the countries we have it has been completely indispensable.

Equipment regrets, or things you would do differently:

• The single motor is both a blessing and a curse: only one engine to maintain but it means we don’t have the power or manoeuvrability in rough or tight conditions.
• If we ever have to replace the water maker it would be with one that has a higher litre/ hour rate.

List the countries you have cruised: Australian Queensland coast, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia.

Future cruising plans:

After 18 months of cruising parts of the SW Pacific and Indonesia, the plan is; to take the same length of time to cruise back the same route we came through the countries and islands that we consider our back yard, with the intent to continue to cruise these areas seasonally as budget and opportunity allows.

We have seen a great need for education and solutions with regards to ocean plastics, sustainable fishing practices and conservation, and we hope to become involved in some projects to support that in the future.

List the oceans/seas you have crossed: South-NW Pacific: Coral Sea- Solomon Sea- Bismarck Sea- Molucca Sea- Ceram Sea- Arafura Sea- Banda Sea- Indian Ocean: Timor Sea- Sawu Sea- Flores Sea- Bali Sea.

Approximate sea miles: Australia: 4000nm – Offshore: 9500nm

Scariest day on the water:

The clear winner by far is the day Andi was attacked by a crocodile in the Solomons, but I can’t write about that here. He is obviously still with us!

So a close second would have to be when we learnt how a perfect day can turn into a death trap in a split second.

We were sailing around the east coast of Iles des Pines in south New Caledonia, the first off-shore country we visited, and a supercell storm hit without warning. We were passing an un-dersea ridge which shallowed up sharply to the rocky shore of the island but we had given it a generous clearing bearing. The water turned from mellow and gentle downwind to a frighten-ing and immense lee shore in what felt like seconds. The waves collided from opposing directions due to the underwater topography and the image in my head was of a giant clapping his hands with us in the middle.

The seas reached a good 6 metres with no uniformity or natural swell and “Paws” was tossed about for what felt like an interminable length of time. I have never felt so sick with fear or scared for my life. After the storm had passed Andi admitted the same which shocked me to the core.

It was my first real taste of the ocean at its fiercest which was both humbling and awe inspiring. We have never taken a calm day for granted since!

Best cruising moment:

Being so in the middle of nowhere, cruising at 2.5 knots in almost no wind over the top of Papua New Guinea. We were determined not to turn the key & “Paws” was sailing beautifully on a breath with the MPS up. An Oliver Ridley turtle decided to come and say hello on the starboard transom and we were going so slow that he hung out with us for over an hour. He was so fearless it was obvious he had not encountered humans before and he treated “Paws” like another sea creature that he was just curious to come and have a look at. It was simply magic.

Favorite cruising area and why:

The Coral Sea – (Australia) – Vanuatu – Solomons – PNG.

The people in all these countries are so laid back and still living simply. Considering the relative proximity and relationship with Australia, there is much pride in living off the land and keeping traditions alive in many places. There are obviously still problems and places to avoid/ be careful, but we felt safe and warmly welcomed everywhere we went and it was possible to trade for vegetables with clothes and items that were genuinely needed and appreciated. It was like stepping back in time and I hope the race for modernity and technology doesn’t happen too fast!

Australia – still has some of the best cruising grounds around for sailors that we have visited to date, we are so lucky to call this country home.

Favorite anchorage:

This is so hard… I think it would have to be Tetepare Ranger Station lagoon in the Solomon Islands. We were expecting it to be swell-prone and difficult, there not being much information available on it – we didn’t think we would be able to stay long. It turned out to be a long-awaited paradise with very good protection from the SE trades inside the reef. It was a bit of a challenge to enter, but once we had anchored bow and stern in less than 2 metres of water (another great feature of “Paws” being able to access shallow areas AND sit on the beach) – it turned into a week-long celebration around Christmas-time with two other yachts. The weather was fantastic apart from one crazy storm which we sat out surprisingly well. It really is a stunning wilderness island that has been successfully protected from human impact.

Favourite cruising apps:

Ovitalmap is incredible. We were all old school charts and position fix kind of sailors before up-grading to a chart plotter and it took us a long time to believe what the technology was telling us. A friend introduced us to Ovitalmap with Google and Bing satellite imaging and it is so detailed and accurate for getting into reef lagoons, shallow anchorages and uncharted places we are still in disbelief.

It doesn’t replace the need for proper navigation tools and techniques of course, but it has certainly been a game-changer for allowing us to enter places we wouldn’t have even thought about before.

Windy has proved more accurate than other weather apps on subscription, and it’s free. We love the large scale forecast which allows you to see the weather formations all over the world.

Favourite cruising websites:

Ahem- Noonsite (of course!), many Facebook pages for different areas, especially in SE Asia. Let’s face it, Google has a wealth of information available in many forms, and we have obtained a lot of answers this way.

Favourite cruising books:

Landfalls of Paradise, Cruising Guide to Indonesia, Lonely Planet, Jimmy Cornell’s World Cruising Routes and Ocean Atlas. The Game of Thrones series!

What advice or message would you want to pass on to anyone new to cruising or thinking about casting off the dock lines?

There are some moments where you wish you could just get off and “go back to normality” when the going gets tough, like you break a piece of equipment in the middle of nowhere or you suffer hours and hours of disgusting sea conditions, so be realistic about your expectations of this life.

There are also some moments that all the money in the world can’t buy- a close up encounter with a whale breaching on a glass-out day, or an empty bay with only the sound of the water lapping the shore. It does take a lot of hard work to get there and to continue the dream, it’s certainly not all sunset cocktails and idyllic anchorages, but the life lessons and experience change you forever.

Oh, & PARTS PARTS PARTS: you can never have enough spares on board. In many countries it is hard and/or expensive to source boat equipment.

Why cruise? In a few sentences, what is it that inspires you to keep cruising?

I always wondered what was missing in my life and why living to work just felt like somebody else’s story. Meeting someone that just got it, and didn’t want to live an ordinary life either was a defining moment. We will probably have to work til the day we drop. but at least we will have had fun in the process. And having both lost a parent too young it just drives us to go and do it while we still can.

Gemma and Andi Ross
SY Paws

If you think you have an interesting story to tell and would like to take part in our Portrait of a Cruiser series, please contact Sue at editor@noonsite.com with some details about yourselves and your cruising and to request a questionnaire.

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.