The key to cruising is feet. It is -really, or something similar – like hair or legs or . . .let me explain.

Love the boat you have, is one of the snippets of advice we provide in our book Cruisers’ AA. This was a tip we received from a down-to-earth, long-term cruiser.

What does this mean? Well, maybe you have a dream you aspire to – a bigger boat, a better boat, or a boat with more equipment. Well, you can wish for all this . . . but still, love the boat you have.

Maybe that won’t make sense until you are cruising. For us it means that you put whatever resources you have into the boat you have, with love, with care, with effort and respect. Then that boat will pay you back, it will love and care for you and it will even respect you.

Feet? So what the blazes has feet got to do with it?

I hate my feet. Well, I did up until about two weeks ago. You see, I have rather wide, and in my opinion, ugly feet (for one reason or another, let’s just say they aren’t the prettiest of feet).

For the last few weeks I’ve been really caring for my feet, exfoliating, moisturising, and buying and wearing nice shoes that hide the ‘not so nice bits’.

Tonight, as I rest my naked feet up on the settee they feel nice, they’re healthy, and they don’t look half bad. And that is what we mean by love the boat you have. Love what you have.

I take care and love my feet and now they feel great, so I feel great. They may take care of me for longer than they would have, had I not cared for them. Now I quite like my feet – actually, I’m quite attached to them!

Whatever you are dealt with, in either body parts or possessions – love what you have. Make of it what you will, and it will make you.