Spending time aboard a sailing yacht is great fun. Otherwise, we would not like it, would we? As soon as we decide to charter one for our sailing holidays, we usually start thinking about the destinations we want to sail. And the sights we would be able to see, the beaches, restaurants and bars we would be able to visit. None or very few of us would think about limiting factors that always go together with planning a sailing trip. One of them is onboard water supplies.
When at home, very few of us would consider water consumption. Especially in regions where it does not make a large part of monthly households bills. There is nothing better than a hot shower in winter or after physical activities. However, the capacity of fresh water tanks and daily water consumption on a yacht is one of the priorities when planning the sailing trip. Why?
Water supplies aboard a sailing yacht are not indefinite. When you read this text, it seems self-explanatory, but you would not believe how many people find themselves helpless when they realize that they have spent few hundreds of litres of fresh water in only one day of sailing. Usually they start searching the charts and pilots looking for the closest harbour that provides fresh water. Sometimes it is quite a problem. Because commercial ports and marinas are usually completely full in popular sailing destinations, especially during the high season. Worth mentioning is that you are able to use shower facilities in marinas if needed.
Furthermore, in some areas water supplying shortages may occur in high summer season and after long time without rain. Visitors of Vis Island in the Croatian Adriatic experienced such a situation in summer of 2017. Not a pleasant situation at all. So, a few tricks are offered about how to save fresh water in a sailing holiday and extend your sailing legs without visiting ports and marinas if you did not intend to.
Reduce your time spent under the shower along with the number of showers per day. There was a story about using water. One of clients tried to convince the skipper that fresh water tank was leaking. In fact, the tank was in perfect condition, but it was the clients that used to sing opera while taking a shower – three times a day, every one of them. I think you get the point – the technique of taking a shower aboard a sailing yacht considers just wetting the body with running water, putting shower gel and rubbing the body and hair without running water, and finally rinsing out with water.
Since bathrooms aboard many sailing boats are quite small, many people take so-called open-air showers on the stern (backside) of their boats. Keep in mind that you do not have to rinse salt from your skin after every swim you take. Do it only if you do not intend to swim any more.
To conclude the shower part of water consumption, there are nature-friendly shower gels available for use with salty water – wet yourself by jumping overboard, do the rubbing at the swimming platform, and jump again. Afterwards, you only need a short rinse with fresh water.
When it comes to doing the dishes, the basics are the same. Try to reduce the dishes needed to prepare and serve the food. For example, you do not need a plate for each crew member if the sandwiches are served. Just one paper napkin per person would do the purpose. Many of our clients did not realize that seawater is very good diluent, so all the dishes can be washed on the swimming platform. All you need to do is to be careful not to lose the dishes in the deep waters, and rinse it with freshwater. By using this technique, not only should you save the water supplies, but protect the nature from aggressive washing liquids.
Here one more anecdote is needed to mention in context of saving the freshwater supplies. Some clients took plastic plates and cups to be used only once, so no water would be used for dishwashing. Fine, that is a good idea at the first sight. But after two days without docking, the plastic litter produced by a seven-people crew was like a mountain, while the degradation time for plastic in the nature would take hundreds of years. It is about being lazy and not concerned about for water supplies.
In the end, wish you calm seas, fair winds, a strong mast and enough fresh water at sea!
By the way, modern boats often have a watermaker on the boat :-)
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