Bob Arrington

St. Petersburg, FL, USA

Writer at Freelance

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Articles

Why Boat Handling Skills Require Ongoing Training

1 week ago | passagemaker.com | Bob Arrington

Let’s talk about the foundation of skilled boat handling. I will begin, of course, with field-goal kickers in the National Football League. No, I haven’t gone off the deep end. Stay with me. In the 1990 NFL season, the chances of a kicker making a field goal from 50 yards was about 35 percent. Compare that to today, when kickers have improved their success rate to nearly 75 percent. That’s a staggering improvement in a sport where games are often decided by three points or less. What changed?
Fuel Management for Long-Range Cruising Success

1 month ago | passagemaker.com | Bob Arrington

The forecast was perfect. A high-pressure system was going to remain stationary just north of the Greater Antilles for the next 48 hours, giving us ample time to make the 500-mile run from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands. My friends Josh and Caitlin had looked forward to this trip for months. After purchasing their 45-foot Symbol trawler in St. Thomas, they were finally ready to bring it back to their home in North Carolina.
How Life Aboard Builds Global Friendships

1 month ago | powerandmotoryacht.com | Bob Arrington

An Englishman, Frenchman and Norwegian walk into a bar together… No, this isn’t the beginning of a good joke, this is the life of cruising yachtsmen, and part of our story aboard Liberdade. When my wife Dori and I were considering moving our home port to St. Petersburg, Florida, a friend we met when cruising up in Nova Scotia offered to introduce us to his sister and brother-in-law who lived there.
Life Aboard: When the Work is the Reward

Mar 6, 2025 | powerandmotoryacht.com | Bob Arrington

If I had a dollar for every time someone told one of my parents that I looked just like Opie Taylor, Liberdade would probably be a much bigger boat. As a young redheaded boy in the ‘60s with a striking resemblance to Ron Howard’s character on The Andy Griffith Show, it was something I grew accustomed to hearing. While being a fan of the popular show, interestingly, Opie wasn’t my favorite character.
Living Aboard: The Original Tiny Home Lifestyle

Feb 10, 2025 | powerandmotoryacht.com | Bob Arrington

When people hear that we live aboard our boat for extended periods of time, one of the most frequent questions we’re asked is: How do the two of you get along living in such a small space? I’m going to share a secret with you about my marriage to Dori—we actually get along better the more time we spend on our boat. The small space of our boat demands that we cooperate and communicate with each other more than when we’re living in the larger space of a house.
How to Navigate Safely in Fog

Jan 27, 2025 | passagemaker.com | Bob Arrington

When my wife, Dori, and I decided to cruise south in the winter and north in the summer, we didn’t consider the increased number of days we would be boating in fog. Our summer months are now spent aboard our trawler, Liberdade, in New England, so we have learned to live with, and possibly even enjoy, a cool, foggy morning. We also can acknowledge that knowing we would be boating more in fog wouldn’t have caused us to change our plans, because in many ways, it has made us better boaters.
Life Aboard: Leap of Faith

Jan 9, 2025 | powerandmotoryacht.com | Bob Arrington

How did flying hang gliders lead me to life aboard a cruising yacht and writing this column? Indulge me for a minute. Standing on a grassy slope, which gently falls away to an 800-foot vertical cliff is risky enough, but being willing to run as fast as you can down that slope would seem crazy to many. Yet this is where I found myself as a young man learning to fly hang gliders.
Life Aboard: Comfort Zones

Dec 16, 2024 | powerandmotoryacht.com | Bob Arrington

Have you ever noticed when going somewhere you’ve never been before, the trip getting there seems to take longer than when returning? When going somewhere unfamiliar, your mind needs to stay fixed firmly in the present; all your concentration is needed to navigate an unfamiliar area. In this scenario, time seems to pass more slowly because you are hyper-aware of every moment.
Tide and Currents

Oct 2, 2024 | passagemaker.com | Bob Arrington

Anyone boating in coastal waters is familiar with ocean tides, the daily cycle of rising and falling water levels. You also likely remember from grade school science class that tides are caused by the moon and the sun’s gravity. In most coastal locations, you will see, twice daily, the tide come in and the tide go out. But what if I told you that the water doesn’t actually come in and the water doesn’t actually go out? Your science teacher was right.
On Finding the Perfect Boat

Sep 25, 2024 | powerandmotoryacht.com | Bob Arrington

Numbers don’t lie. If one hundred couples dream of living aboard a long-distance cruising yacht, only ten will actually buy the boat and begin the adventure. Of those ten, four will miscalculate and buy the wrong boat. Two of these four couples will dream too big, believing they can sail the seven seas, only to find they aren’t comfortable on the open ocean. Their problem is that they will have bought a globe-circling boat not well suited for inland waters. The other two couples will dream too small.