Around the world under sails - how much reality can this dream take? The first German ethnography of »ordinary« circumnavigations discusses the life of cruising sailors in a uniquely comprehensive way.Cultural anthropologist and film maker Martina Kleinert investigates the social relationships on board and within the »cruising community«, but also the material culture of the cruising yacht itself in the context of mobile culture studies and travel and migration research. And she raises the central question about the historical development: Did GPS really change everything, and does this mark the end of an era? Furthermore: Did only young civilization escapists sail in the 1970s, while only wealthy retirement migrants searching for the southern sun remain today?