Plans aren’t necessarily bad. They can help you pick a route, time a crossing, or make sure you show up with enough daylight to get into an anchorage safely.
But the real trick is staying willing to change the plan when the underlying assumptions change.
One example from our own cruising life:
As I’m writing this on Sunday, June 9, we had planned to leave early tomorrow morning from Fox Town in the Abacos (Bahamas) for a 40-mile run to Wells Harbor. But Dave’s favorite hockey team is playing for the Stanley Cup tonight, in a game that’s likely to go to midnight. That makes for a lack of sleep if we wanted to get underway at dawn..
And the latest forecast called for very light wind. Wells Bay can be a little tricky to get into; good light is a big plus. We’d be in hurry-up mode and probably motoring the whole way to get there by mid-afternoon. Lack of sleep and trying to hurry all day added up to a lot of potential stress.
But guess what? There’s a nice anchorage about halfway there. And it’s easy to get into, even at sunset.
So instead of trying to force the original plan, we can get up a little later and head out late morning. Sail, even if it’s slow. No time stress and, we hope, an enjoyable day.
All it took was a willingness to look at alternatives. To not insist on following the plan just because it was, well, “the plan.”
And honestly, this is one of the biggest mindset shifts that makes cruising feel good instead of exhausting:
The plan isn’t the point.
Enjoying the trip is the point.
When you feel stress building, it’s a great time to ask yourself a few questions:
- Am I pushing for a specific destination just because I said I would?
- Am I trying to keep an unrealistic schedule?
- Am I depending on a weather forecast that isn’t matching reality?
- Am I making this harder than it needs to be?
Sometimes the best move is simply giving yourself one extra day. Or one shorter travel leg. Or choosing a backup spot that you know is easy to enter and comfortable to anchor in.
The funny thing is that “changing the plan” often doesn’t mean giving up on the goal. It just means adjusting how you get there.
And when you make that adjustment early—before you’re tired, stressed, and out of patience—you get to keep cruising fun. You get to enjoy the sailing day instead of forcing it. You stop treating every travel day like a race. And you usually end up making better decisions, too.
If your plan is causing too much stress, think about how you could change it and put a smile back on your face. Cruising—and everything leading up to it—is supposed to be fun.
Want an easier way to change plans on the fly?
The Boat Galley’s Quick Reference Cruising Guides make it easy to pivot when the forecast changes. You can quickly spot alternate anchorages with protection from the predicted wind, find the services you need, and keep moving without digging through paragraphs of information. Learn more here
Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
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