A new book by Port Townsend artist Susan Fox puts an amusing spin on the cruising life. Images courtesy of Susan Fox

Soon after embarking on a long-distance cruise in 2004, Susan Fox was struck by how comical the cruising life was, from the salty characters she came across to the foibles of daily life particular to cruisers.

So Fox, a Port Townsend artist, started sketching her observations into what would eventually become “The Cruising Life Illustrated,” a self-published cartoon book that chronicles the life that Fox came to know intimately during the four and a half years she and her partner cruised the Caribbean on their CSY 44 sailboat, Pacifico.

It was an existence that inspired through amusement, she says.

“Everything was so funny,” says Fox, who will be at the Seattle Boat Show this week. “We were always laughing. It was such a humorous life.”

Fox made this painting after a visit to the Panama Canal Yacht Club.

The 75-plus cartoons in Fox’s book depict situations most long-term cruisers can relate from, from miscommunications between skippers and first mates to tacky cruise ship tourists, windswept hair and tripping over each other in confined spaces.

One cartoon shows a couple standing at the counter in a store, trying to explain to the confused clerk that they need a turkey sixed 16 by 9 by 13 inches to fit in their boat oven. Another depicts four people wearing “cruiser fashion” — flip flops, tank tops and shorts.

Fox recalls the day she and her partner, Gary were checking in on Isla Porvenir in Panama’s San Blas Islands. A cruise ship arrived soon after, its passengers undocking as the island’s indigenous Kuna people looked on in bemused curiosity. A Swedish man was decked out in tight white shorts and a white belt straight out of the 1970s. One woman wore a hat topped with a pompom. Other passengers spilled out of their bathing suits.

“They looked hilarious,” Fox says. “Gary said, ‘I wish we’d brought the camera. I said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll draw it when we get back.’”

Fox's other work includes realistic paintings of boats and Northwest scenes.

Fox began drawing at age 4. She drew ”constantly,” she says, even during classes at school. For years she made intricate pen drawings, then started combining pen and ink with watercolor in her 20s. Later, she began painting with acrylics.

The cartoons in the new book are far removed from Fox’s other work, which includes realistic paintings depicting Northwest scenes — boats and waterways are favorite subjects — as well as more whimsical paintings. Her work can be seen in the state capitol building, as well as at Earthenworks Gallery in Port Townsend.

The level of refinement in Fox’s cartoons varies and was dictated by the journey. The rougher cartoons were drawn while the boat was moving, while the more refined ones sketched while Fox was ashore doing laundry or sitting at cafes.

But all are exact copies of Fox’s original drawings. A fan of rustic-styled cartoons, Fox avoided changing or refining any of her drawings, believing that doing so would detract from their humor.

“I think it’s funnier the first time you draw it,” she says. “If you try to redraw it, a lot of times it’ll lose it.”

Fox will be at the Captain’s Nautical Supplies booth at the Seattle Boat Show today, Jan. 30, through Sunday, the last day of the show. Her book is currently available at Captain’s and at Earthenworks Gallery.

About Deborah Bach

Deborah Bach is the editor and co-founder of Three Sheets Northwest. She is an avid sailor and long-time professional journalist. You can find Deborah aboard Three Sheets, an Island Packet 38, with her husband Marty and their cat Lily.

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