{"id":4392,"date":"2015-04-27T20:25:18","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T20:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/?p=4392"},"modified":"2015-04-27T20:25:55","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T20:25:55","slug":"no-adventure-too-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/?p=4392","title":{"rendered":"No Adventure Too Small"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"morro\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Joshua Colvin<\/strong><\/p>\n

The concept isn\u2019t particularly new\u2014especially not to Small Craft Advisor<\/em> readers\u2014but the more general outdoors crowd is beginning to figure out you don\u2019t need to trek to the Himalayas or row across the Atlantic to have a satisfying, challenging experience in nature. More would-be adventurers, it seems, are recognizing that with the demands of work, family and other responsibilities, they may never find the time and money to schedule that grand expedition. Magazines and blogs are buzzing about so-called \u201cmicro adventures,\u201d short, thrilling trips that fit in around work and family commitments.<\/p>\n

Author and adventurer, Alastair Humphreys<\/a>, is the most prominent voice of the microadventure movement. On his blog he offers five bullet-pointed reasons to live more adventurously:<\/p>\n

\u2022 To experience the wild and escape from the rushed, mundane real world.
\n\u2022 To do something new, fun and different.
\n\u2022 To spend memorable time with your friends, family or by yourself.
\n\u2022 To challenge yourself, surprise yourself, and achieve something to be proud of.<\/p>\n

The fifth is, of course, to put into practice the fun suggestions you\u2019ve seen in his best-selling microadventures book. <\/a><\/p>\n

Some of Humphreys\u2019 microadventure suggestions include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sleep in your garden.
\n\u2022 Swim wild\u2014in a river, lake or sea
\n\u2022 Sleep under a full moon
\n\u2022 Forage for your food, or at least pick some blackberries
\n\u2022 Learn to identify a new bird or new tree each month<\/p>\n

The list of possible microadventures is limited only by your imagination, but it occurred to me that our small boats are like microadventure magic carpets\u2014perfectly facilitating our desires to be out in nature exploring, escaping, or challenging ourselves. How quickly we could make our own list:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Sleep aboard your boat
\n\u2022 Sleep in your cockpit under a full moon\u2014heck, even in your driveway!
\n\u2022 Row or sail to that shore or island and forage for food or pick berries
\n\u2022 Beach your boat in that tidal creek down the road and stay overnight
\n\u2022 Carry that dinghy, inflatable, or kayak to a nearby mountain lake or pond and be maybe be the first to explore it by boat<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking a lot lately about using our small boats to their best advantage. In fact I write about the topic and a recent shallow-water cruise in the coming issue (#94). I think we small-boat sailors sometimes have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, or the estuaries for the bays, if you will. I remember when I sailed California\u2019s Morro Bay being determined to push myself and my small boats by venturing out of the harbor mouth and into the open Pacific. I\u2019d sometimes sail out and away from shore and then realize there wasn\u2019t much to see or do. Now what? <\/p>\n

Meanwhile the scenic, protected back bay\u2014a tortuous maze of shallow channels and tidal currents\u2014was teeming with marine life and just begging to be explored by a shallow draft boat. Today I regret I didn\u2019t spend more of my sailing time back there solving my own little Riddle of the Sands and beach-camping the dunes. <\/p>\n

Here in Port Townsend it\u2019s a similar story, as nearby islands, bays and creeks offer endless opportunities for micro-adventuring, yet so many sailors race off under outboard power toward the San Juan Islands for a rushed, sometimes stressful few days of cruising. It\u2019s good to stretch sometimes, but we shouldn\u2019t forget that with a small enough boat, we don\u2019t need a lot of time, money, or energy to have remarkable experiences. <\/p>\n

What kinds of small-boat microadventure possibilities do you have near you? Leave a comment and let us know\u2014maybe we\u2019ll see you out there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Joshua Colvin The concept isn\u2019t particularly new\u2014especially not to Small Craft Advisor readers\u2014but the more general outdoors crowd is beginning to figure out you don\u2019t need to trek to the Himalayas or row across the Atlantic to have a satisfying, challenging experience in nature. More would-be adventurers, it seems, are recognizing that with the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4392"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4397,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4392\/revisions\/4397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smallcraftadvisor.com\/our-blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}