The Things We Keep, Yet Rarely Use

Let’s take a light-hearted summer detour and talk about something a bit frivolous, but still very real for us cruisers.

Sailing “Rules”

I know many a sailor/cruiser that believes every item aboard should have multiple uses. This is sage advice, but as Zephyros has been our home for 8 years, there are certainly whimsical items, useful items, things to be fixed, clothes that have been outgrown and/or worn out, comprehensive tools and spares, and everything in between.

We try to do an annual purge and deep clean, but much like Sarah Streeland’s Comic above, we aren’t the best minimalists. Living aboard Zephyros with four full-sized humans means space is always at a premium, but at 47 feet she is still large enough for us to live with less discipline and strictness when it comes to those sailing rules of “at least 3 uses for every item” or “for every item brought on, one or two must leave.” She’s also a heavy monohull, so we aren’t weighing everything brought aboard like racers or multi-hull sailors might do.

Does every long-term cruiser have something that they brought aboard thinking that they would use it and then find that they don’t use it, but still can’t quite throw it away? Maybe it is just me.

Our Nemesis

Our nemesis? The salad spinner. A top-notch OXO model that performs well and has lasted years with no sign of giving up. It’s large, has no real home, and mostly lives under the salon table. We haven’t used it in years—maybe in St. Helena? Or was it the Caribbean?

Yet, we just can’t bring ourselves to throw it away. We have cruised remote places where you get lettuce straight from the grower. We know how valuable it is to be able to wash a lot of lettuce and to really get it clean and dry with the salad spinner. Plus, when it does get called back into service, we know we won’t be able to find one again. Why do these things only exist where you least need them?

One never knows when one might find a farmer’s market with unwashed lettuce, and it will be just the right tool. In reality though, I’m lazy and bagged, pre-washed lettuce keeps us eating salad for 4 and isn’t breaking the food budget. For the time being, at least, if I can’t find bagged, pre-washed lettuce, I’m most likely to skip it rather than use that salad spinner – even with it close at hand. Still, I know, we will again, at some point, find ourselves in a more remote area craving some salad greens and it will be dragged into service once more.

Alternative Uses

Could it be used for something else while in standby mode? Sure, but the bottom has a point to ensure the basket part spins effectively. This makes it less useful as a big bowl and harder to clean. The basket could work as a strainer, but it’s slightly bendy, difficult to clean and we have better strainers for pasta and vegetables. We could leave the bowl and the strainer together, but then what could we do with the lid? I have no good ideas.

So, the salad spinner stays under the table; biding its time, ready and waiting for the day it’s called back into action. Until then, it’s just another quirky part of life aboard.

What trinket or white elephant do you keep on board that doesn’t really have a home, yet you can’t quite part with it? What alternative use ideas do you have for a salad spinner?

Thank you for this space and joining me on my musings! May you enjoy your own safe and inspiring adventures and let us know any topics about life on board and long- distance cruising that you would like covered.

Megan Schwartz
SV Zephyros
Noonsite Sub-Editor

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About the Author

Noonsite editorial team member, Megan Schwartz, joined Noonsite in October 2024 concentrating on research and updating country formalities. She lives on board SV Zephyros with her husband and two teenage boys (18 and 15 years old) and they have been cruising full-time, since 2017. Zephyros is an aluminum, expedition monohull which suits the family’s style of cruising perfectly as they enjoy high-latitudes and places less travelled, but have also cruised popular Mediterranean and Caribbean destinations.

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Other Noonsite reports in the Cruising Musing Series:

• Cruising Musings: Finding Balance

• Cruising Musings: Life is Easier, But the Easy Things are Harder

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The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of Noonsite.com or World Cruising Club.