The Essentials

[Bolo]

There are many things that we find essential in keeping aboard our boats. Life jackets, a good compass, foul weather gear, VHF radio just to name a few. But there are some items that although others may not consider a must to have on board we do and wouldn't leave the dock without them. I offer my personal list not in any order of preference.

Dinty Moore Beef Stew



You've just finished a long, cold solo sail to an anchorage and the cool wind is coming up. All you want to do is to eat something hot and tasty that will stick with you until morning but thats quick and easy to fix up. Comfort food. Well sailor, just reach into the food locker and pull out that shiny can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew (with no preservatives added) and heat it up in minutes. That and a fine adult beverage and you're ready to hit the sack for the night. Frankly my wife considers the stuff to be one of the worst things humans have put into a can but I think it's great. But then again I was raised Polish and we ate pigs feet when I was a kid so maybe canned beef stew is a step up for me.

SPAM



Strangely enough, although my wife can't get Dinty Moore Beef Stew past her lips, she loves SPAM which she refers to as "boat bacon". She likes it done extra crispy with two eggs over easy. Another one of the canned meats that dates back to WW II and is something my dad, who served in North Africa, remembers with a certain fondness along with SOS which I'm not going to explain here today. The stuff is great for obvious reasons. It needs no refrigeration, its easy to slice, you can eat it cold (an acquired taste) or hot and I've had it aboard as a breakfast and dinner meat. Although it doesn't have the pure decadence of real bacon it's a good substitute, IMO.

Bonine



Almost all of us have suffered at one time or another with "mal de mer" except for my wife who's completely immune to it. I've sort of grown out of it after years of sailing except when a confused sea and the sky are an equal gray. So knowing the conditions I pop one of these babies into my mouth and I'm good to go without wanting to take a nap later as with the medicated patches I use to wear or Dramamine. When I want to feel like that I just have a nice martini back at the dock after a sail. I think though that most sea sickness is a combination of mental and physical so taking a Bonine sort of has a placebo effect, IMO. We once had a friend and his wife aboard for her first sailboat experience and he said that she suffered terribly from sea sickness. Why she wanted to go sailing was something that wasn't explained to me. She wore those wrist bands that were suppose to ward off nausea but refused the Bonine that was offered because she didn't want to feel "loopy". I could tell that she was still nervous about going out so after I got us under way with the sails flying I put her at the wheel. She was so worried about "hitting something" that it took her mind off of getting sick and she had a good time. Like I said, all in the mind.

Well, those are the few essentials that I have and I'd love to read about yours.

 

[Alan Gomes]

When I was in high school (late 60's), my friends and I had the run of a Cal 20 that belonged to the dad of one of my friends. We would do frequent trips on it over to Catalina. Our main fare consisted of pork and beans heated on a Sterno stove, followed by a hearty round of Twinkies.

Good times....

 

[Geoff W.]

I've got a relatively short career as "captain" so the standard gear list is still being formed, but I can say almost every journey is accompanied by:

Smartfood White Cheddar Popcorn



This stuff is delicious and incredibly addictive - almost aggravatingly so. It gets to the point where someone holding the bag near you becomes an affront to good sense, like if you told someone you were quitting cigarettes and they refused to stop blowing Marlboro smoke in your face. Eventually it gets stashed out of sight, only for some unwitting crew member to bring it back into the cockpit, thinking they're doing a good deed. They get booed and jeered at, but the bag still gets eaten.

Boat Water



No explanation needed, here. The crew stops working without it. Boat Water comes in boxes and cans of varied designs, but the swill contained within is nearly identical across brands.


Ginger Beer (the captain's one request of any visiting crew)

Delicious, spicy, sweet, and an exotic / "adult" enough soda drink that crew members partaking in Boat Water tend to forget that I am NOT partaking alongside them. My persistence and dedication to ginger beer is making converts of most people I know - it's friggin' delicious. If you're in the PNW and haven't had Rachel's Ginger Beer, you've been missing out on a local delight.

 

[toddster]

Wow, I don’t think I’ve bought a box of “Vitamin R” since college days. I wasn’t even sure it was still made - didn’t they tear down the brewery to make real estate? But I haven’t really looked for it either. Somewhere along the line we all turned into beer snobs. When I cleaned out the ice box at the end of the summer, there were odds and ends of various esoteric craft beers,ciders and teas that people had brought on board. Way down at the bottom, there were two cans of Coors and two bottles of Coke. I was scratching my head trying to figure out 1. Who on earth brought these on board? And 2. What the heck do I do with these?

Staples that are always on board: A few cans of chili, oatmeal, plastic jars of Costco raw almonds, dried blueberries, and beef jerky. I also found about four boxes of Ritz crackers in various states of decay and two ancient jars of Adams peanut butter, so I guess I’ll make it a point not to leave those on board any more.

 

[Bolo]

Boat Water

Having a good supply of "Boat Water" on board (or some other libations) goes with out saying and should have been on my list. I beg forgiveness.

 

[frick]

Sardines

I always keep a supply of sardines on board.
My wife hates it, but I have often had a can of sardines with some chips while sailing as a quick lunch.

Also the Mylar Tuna Fish bags never rust and never make any noise in the cupboards

Rick+

 

[Christian Williams]

Um, a Bible is good to have.



And a spiritual consultant

 

[Kenneth K]

Ramen Noodles

3 minutes in boiling water and you have a hot satisfying meal. In survival mode you can eat them dry.

$.25 a bag. How can you beat that?

 

[bgary]

coffffeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Just sayin'.

 

[ignacio]

Dang. You sure that's not a misplaced image of used engine oil?

coffffeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

 

[bgary]

Dang.

(laughing) that's not even "strong" coffee. See, it won't even hold the spoon upright...



It can be thinned out a bit, as circumstances warrant.

 

[ignacio]

I thought for sure that was the dipstick. What's in the bottle? Jet-A?

(laughing) that's not even "strong" coffee. See, it won't even hold the spoon upright...



It can be thinned out a bit, as circumstances warrant.

View attachment 25599

 

[toddster]

Well yeah, but you have to take freshly-roasted coffee beans to the boat every day. They don't "keep" there.

 

[Loren Beach]

We always take some packages of "Ramen" noodles (chicken flavor) and also some cans of chicken. The later is about the size of a can of tuna which we also have a bunch of.
Add the chicken and a small can of veggies to the ramen and it's a worthy meal.
As long as there is bread left we can enjoy tuna sandwiches.
And, then there are boxes of instant oatmeal and cream of wheat......

Those little boxes of rice and red beans or combined with wild rice are wonderful , too.

Whatever else is in the fridge or dry stored, these are just good basics to have around.

The Admiral is not fond of Dinty Moore, but I like it as a good comfort food for the mid watch, offshore.

 

[mjsouleman]

Boat Coffee is not original unless you add a pinch or two of Pusser's Royal Navy Rum

Discovery is always fully stocked on launch day

 

[toddster]

Well I might have to give Dinty Moore and Spam another try - Can't recall buying either since early Boy Scout days, before we started buying the freeze-dried stuff for hiking. I do sometimes take canned chicken and canned roast beef (Costco) on the boat but it's not an essential provision. They're passable as an ingredient, but maybe not as a stand-alone dish. I've heard that Spam is very popular in Hawaii, and I think a recent sailing magazine even recommended it as "trade goods" for the Caribbean!

About the expensive freeze-dried stuff. I know nobody is going there, but... A few years back I "hit the wall" during an unexpectedly long hike. I sat down in the middle of the trail and cooked and ate about three servings of freeze-dried beef stew. Then I read the label. No wonder! There are only 190 calories in a serving! Probably because they've extracted the fats. You can't live on that. You certainly can't do work all day on that!

 

[Bolo]

Um, a Bible is good to have.

View attachment 25591

And a spiritual consultant

View attachment 25592

I don’t need a bible on board Christian because I pray to Him all the time. At times like, “Please Lord don’t let me screw up this docking!”

 

[bgary]

What's in the bottle? Jet-A?

Close. It's a "spiced rum" from the distillery at the Sidney BC marina. It's a very...uh... "young" spirit. My suspicion is that the spices are added so you can tell it isn't lighter fluid.

 

[Kevin A Wright]

Never been a fan of the DM beef stew, but always keep several cans of Nally's Chilli on board for exactly the same reason. Also a fan of the Costco canned roast beef which I keep on board with dry rice and cans of gravy (yes you can get it in cans). Cook one cup of rice and just before it is done dump the can of beef and the can of gravy on top and put the cover back on the pan till heated through. Mix all together and add some black pepper. One pot meal of beef and gravy with rice. And it can sit on the boat for a year or more and still be good.

Of course coffee is an absolute must although I do admit to going with preground on the boat.

Other liquid consumables are an absolute given. Some boats are wind powered, some diesel powered. I know my crew and it is definitely alcohol powered. If 'anchoring medicine' is not administered shortly after the hook hits bottom, there will probably be a mutiny.

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy