Jalan Jalan is the boat I used for many years of shuttling between the Bahamas and my home ports in the Caribbean. She was a relentless friend while slogging single handed to windward among the islands.

Years of European cruising in my Hallberg Rassys, Rasa Saya and Sayang, taught me there is more to cruising than sailing on the wind, that a gypsy boat is not a camper but must make a seaworthy permanent home which can easily single hand. My last Rassy filled most of the bill, but I had seen a ketch in the Mediterranean. Its accommodation, its roominess, its storage capacity and the separate shower stall I demand, had me hooked.

Sailing back to the U.S. after 10 years abroad, I set out in 1981 to find that boat with which to continue my sea gypsy life and return to Indonesia. My friends Peter Tangvald ("Sea Gypsy, and At Any Cost") and Edward Hamilton ("The Rums of the Eastern Caribbean") had both worked as inspectors at the Taiwan yard that built Jalan Jalan. They gave me invaluable help distinguishing the overbuilt diamonds from the stones among Taiwan boats. Afer looking at 18 Yankee Clippers I found the gem. I swapped the Rassy. I modified and refit the new boat inside and out. I named her Jalan Jalan and continued to wander until 15 years later when changes in my health made inevitable a change to a trawler. Scroll down, and put the cursor on the photo for a caption.