What a great book Simply Sailing: A Different Approach to a Life of Adventure is!  I haven't gotten my hands on the full book yet, only samples on Google Books, but from those samples I can tell this book is going to be a real treat.  It's written in nice little bite-sized chapters that are about 1/3 practical knowledge and 2/3 narrative from the author's cruising experiences with her husband and 3 sons (!) aboard their 34-foot (!) cutter.  But wait, that's not all! Connie and Dave also run the excellent site, http://simplysailingonline.com with lots of great information on all aspects of the project from homeschooling to maintenance to recipes.

April and I are reading The Capable Cruiser aloud to each other.  What fun!

What's up with Bavarias?  They seem to have a reputation as simultaneously chintzy and pretentious, but are they seaworthy?  I assume not, but I haven't seen a review that addresses it specifically, but hey, if they're good boats, I'm unpretentious enough to not care who thinks my boat is pretentious!