Patrick Meyer, Sugar Grove, IL USA asks:
Hi! LOVE the reading and keeping track of your adventure! I
have spent time fishing long hours in SE Alaska and my wife and I have distinct plans to join you in The Life in a Nordhavn in the coming years.

Two questions if I could...

One is, do you see many trawler families with younger children or teens? Seems a wonderful adventure for the summer.

Second, what do you thing the next 10 years will bring to a new Nordhavn and boating your style? Tech? Design?

Curious your thoughts.

All the best
Pat

Scott Flanders from Egret responds:
Pat, Your plan certainly is a credible one. The Life in reality is so self satisfying it is difficult to put into words. The words we write are a micro speck of actuality.

Quite honestly we see very few trawlers long distance cruising in our travels. Obviously we have seen a lot coastal cruising. Other than the Nordhavn Atlantic Rally boats, which include two Nordhavn 62s, two Nord 57s and two Nord 46s, we haven't seen any other but obviously there are a lot more. Full summers aboard a trawler will give your children the gift of water, independence and responsibility. If you could work a few of their friends in for short spells it would even increase their enthusiasm by being the 'boating expert' among their friends. (Mary and I did that for years in our Fla. Keys weekend house. Our youngest son had his own little boat...Thanks Dad) We do see quite a few sailboats with 'boat kids'. Some are part time (summers) and quite a few are full time. Most we talk to use the Calvert System, a Canadian home school program. Cruising World Magazine did a survey on boat kids. Academically they score 20% higher than their peers in scholastics PLUS have learned independence and responsibility. The last two or three years boat kids are assimilated into traditional schools somewhere. This is not for scholastics but for social education.

Boat building is evolutionary, not revolutionary. The bottom designs will change little. As systems and materials are improved they will be assimilated. Engines are going through a 5-year or so program. They will be cleaner burning than today. However the engines today are better than a few years ago. Dependability has been very good for some years so I don't think that is so much of an issue. As far as new designs, who knows? I submitted my own ideas for a new design when Jim Leishman was aboard Egret for the Cape Horn rounding. I haven't heard back. They are doing a great job with what they have plus they have their plates full with the new motorsailor and long distance sportfishing boat.

If you wait for what you think is the perfect boat, your children's children will be waiting. The current boats are fabulous. They will take you comfortably and safely anywhere you would ever want to go.