THE LATITUDE 38 INTERVIEW
Jim & Kent Milski Long-time West Coast sailors Jim and Kent Milski completed a circumnavigation aboard their Lake City, Colorado-based Schionning 49 catamaran Sea Level in June, and we caught up with them in an interview at La Cruz de Huanacaxtle, Mexico. KM: We could, however, sign in as guests at Aussie military Latitude 38: How long were you gone and how many miles or veterans clubs that served food — and usually had gambling did you cover? and allowed smoking. It was cafeteria-style food, but at least Jim Milski: We left Zihua in mid-April three years ago and arit was reasonably priced. Of course, even the best Aussie food rived back in mid-May. So three years and one month. We didn't isn't very good. The food in Thailand, on the other hand, was keep track of our mileage, but we probably covered somewhere both delicious and inexpensive. between 35,000 and 40,000 miles. We took a slightly different 38: You completed your Schionning 49, a performance cruisroute than most, as we skipped New Zealand, but sailed all ing cat, from a kit. How did she hold up? the way down the east coast of Australia and crossed the Bass JM: Really well. I was very impressed. The other thing that Strait to spend a few months in Tasmania. We then sailed up the impressed me was how comfortable she was at anchor and in east coast of Australia, continued west via Papua New Guinea, rough weather. Kent kept a big shell collection on a shelf in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Indian Ocean, the salon. We sailed all the way around the world without the South Africa, the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. pile ever falling over. 38: Would you have preferred to go by way of the Red Sea KM: Some of the shells did fall. and the Med rather than South Africa? JM: Well, a few did on one occasion, but not many. I was Kent Milski: Almost all the cruisers we met would have really impressed. preferred to go around via the Med, in part because it's shorter 38: What kind of speeds were you able to maintain on pasand easier than going by way of South Africa. sages? JM: I wished we could have gone to Turkey and Greece. But JM: We once did 985 miles in five days, which isn't bad for not France, Italy or Spain, because cruisers tell us those places a couple who weren't pushing it. This happened while we were are very expensive and it's hard to anchor out. But with the sailing from Cocos-Keeling to Rodrigues Island in the southern continuing threat of Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden at the part of the Indian Ocean. Cruisers call this stretch of water time, we had no choice. 'The Bitch', and it truly is a nasty piece of work. Every cruiser 38: Tasmania isn't exactly on the 'Milk Run', but cruisers who I talked to in Rodrigues, Mauritius, Reunion and South Africa have been there tell us they really like it. said it was the worst bit of water they ever sailed. And some JM: Tasmania was our favorite part of Australia. While folks had been cruising for 20 years. there, we stayed at the Royal Tasmanian YC, where you can KM: We might have hit it at the wrong time, too. get a mooring for $10 or less a night. JM: Part of what made 'The Bitch' so bad was that the swell KM: Hobart is very pretty. came out of the southeast and hit us on the beam. JM: They have hardy sailors down there. I saw them hold a 38: There were just two of you, you're both in your 60s, it beer can race when it was blowing 35 knots. They told me they was windy, the seas were hitting you on the beam — what kind call off races when the wind gets in the mid-40s. It's cool down of sail did you carry? there, and even colder when you JM: On that stretch we had go surfing. a double reef in the main and KM: The problem with Aus"Part of what made 'The Bitch' so bad the partially furled headsail. tralia is that it's really expensive was that the swell came out of the southeast We actually sailed much of if you have U.S. dollars. the way around the world with and hit us on the beam." 38: Which explains why so a double-reefed main. When many Aussies are coming to you go westaround, it's mostly California to buy sailboats. They downwind, so you can do that. We can't carry a full main when can actually make a profit on their cruises. sailing deep because the main rests on the shrouds. But with a JM: We met a lot of Aussies who had bought California boats double reef in the main, we could let the main out much farther and were taking them to Australia. Some of the guys were doing and therefore sail much deeper. In addition to the often doubleit for the second or third time. reefed main, we'd carry either the headsail or a spinnaker. By 38: Potential cruisers are always interested in how much it experimenting, we found that we could sometimes effectively costs to cruise. Can you give some guidance? sail wing-on-wing. JM: That's a tough question to answer because it depends KM: When it was really windy, we'd sometimes fly only the on what standard of cruising you're talking about. For example, jib. A lot of times it was almost as fast as sailing with the main we saw young couples out there who hardly had any money at and jib. all. I'd say they could easily get by on less than $10,000 a year. 38: Ever get caught with too much main up? 38: Were you able to get by on $35,000 a year? JM: Sure. [Laughter.] JM: We could have, but we like to go out to dinner and do 38: To the point where you were tentative about rounding up things when we visit places, so we spent a little more. Of course, through the 'zone of death'? we couldn't afford to go to dinner in places such as Australia JM: I know what you're talking about, but no, not really, because it was $100 for the two of us. Page 116 •
Latitude 38
• August, 2013