John Gibson of San Antonio, TX USA asks:
We just found your website on your wonderful adventure. Thankyou for sharring this wonderful trip and allowing us to live vicariously through you. We wish you the best of luck and will look forward to checking the captains log each day. If someone was considering a Nordhavn I assume you would have nothing but excellent things to say about the vessel? We now have a Pacific Seacraft 4O and are considering going over to the darkside and buying a motor vessel - Nordhavn. Will Egret be the first Nordhavn to transit Cape Horn? We admire both of you and hope to follow one of these days soon. Good luck and fair winds.

Scott Flanders of Egret responds:
John, thank you for the kind words of encouragement. I believe Egret will be the first Nordhavn to round Cape Horn. We hope to travel from east to west 'doubling the horn'. (The hard way)

Now let's talk about what is important, your new Nordhavn. First let me preface this with a fact we haven't shared to date with the readership but will in the future to preface an upcoming article. I spent my entire working life in the marine wholesale boat parts business and founded and owned a boat building business for 9 years prior to retirement. I don't claim to be anything but do have more knowledge than most simply by vocation.

I can see by your choice in sailboats you believe in 'the real deal'. Your PS 40 is a great boat. Cecil Newsome, one of Egret's crew on the NAR owns a PS 40. When he was first aboard Egret he asked what we do with the water glass in the master head (sitting on the counter). I told him "we leave it". He just laughed.

Nordhavns are the 'real deal', Egret's highest compliment. Beware of the slick ad guys and the 'pretender' boats with raked back windshields. They are sheep in wolves' clothing. Having been in the business I know a fair amount of the inside stuff but will never repeat it.

If anything happened to Egret we would order a new 43, partially because of budget. Other than personal option preferences including paravanes and ELECTRONIC stabilizers we would have a washer only, not the combo unit, to wash more clothes faster. We hang out clothes now and use our dryer just occasionally. We would kill for their 200 gallons more fuel than Egret carries. My advice to you if you are within a couple years of casting off is to go to the Ft Lauderdale boat show the end of October and order a 43 or whatever. They are hugely popular and will take a while to get. This will give you time to sell the PS 40. We have 2 43s planning to join Egret when we cross the Pacific next year.

Egret has no affiliation with PAE or Nordhavn. This is not a commercial venture. They are kind in letting us use their website as a tool to encourage newbies or wannabees as the Egret crew once was to put in their coastal miles then spread their wings when ready and go long distance cruising. We also pass along a few tech items it took us years to learn. Long distance cruising will literally change your life.