Living the Life on 28 Feet

This video portraying a single hander's life aboard a 28-foot wooden sailboat has been making the rounds on the various forums such as Sailing Anarchy.  If you haven't seen it, it's well worth the watch, not only for the story but the quality of the production and the photography.

The Pros and Cons of Living On A Sailboat in the Caribbean

David Welsford doesn't pay rent or have a full time job. Instead, he lives on a 50-year-old wooden boat. A few years ago, he gave up the luxuries of land for life alone in the sea. "For me, what's more important than having a big house is having a space that makes me feel good," he says.

This short documentary explores Welsford's unique, maritime lifestyle, and the sacrifices that arise along the way -- from romantic relationships to finances. "There's always a way to make money. There's always a way to live," Welsford says. "If I have enough to go and have a beer and I have enough to go to the grocery store, if I can put enough diesel in the tanks of the boat, then I think I'm one of the richest people in the world."

http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/374880/living-alone-on-a-sailboat/

Sailing My New (to me) Boat Home

Long-time readers of this blog have probably been disappointed in my lack of regular posting, but those of you who still check in from time to time will likely see a lot of new material here in the near future.  I have been on an intensive boat search for the past year, since selling my Wharram Tiki 26 catamaran project, and though I could have posted about the various ups and downs of the search, I decided to wait until I actually found a boat first.

That search has led me to a 1980 Cape Dory 27, a Carl Alberg design I have long admired that is just the right size and displacement to meet my current needs in a cruising boat.  I will be posting extensively here as I upgrade and refit this vessel, at the same time as I use her for local daysailing and cruising.  Taking my time to find the right boat paid off, as she was mostly ready to go and only required four days of preparation and outfitting to get ready for the 450-mile passage home from Tarpon Springs, Florida to Biloxi, Mississippi. Here she is at the dock in Florida:

For the trip home, I had the competent help of my friend, Scott Finazzo, who I am co-authoring a book with at the present time.  Scott is also the author of the excellent adventure and travel blog: Lure of the Horizon, and along the way he spent far more time than I shooting stills and video, mostly with his phone.  Here is a short compilation of the video clips that he put together:

Buy, Outfit & Sail: A Book for the Frugal Sea Gypsy

I've recently read through Cap'n Fatty Goodlander's recent book: Buy, Outfit & Sail,  not just once, but twice.  If you've ever even remotely entertained the idea of living the cruising life, this book is as good a place to start as any I've found.  Cap'n Fatty dispels the notion that you have to have a lot of money to acquire and outfit a seaworthy boat and sail it around the world.  While many other sailing authors have put forth essentially the same idea, few have done it in such an entertaining way as Cap'n Fatty.

The first time through, I read this book because it was full of new ideas and information that I had not seen all in one place before, and some not anywhere.  For example, unlike most other "how to get started cruising" books, Cap'n Fatty doesn't just talk about what kinds of boats to consider, he explains at length how to find them.  And not only how to find a boat - but how to find one for pennies on the dollar - especially those boats he says have a "ticking time clock" due to the current owner's need to get rid of them now due to various reasons.  And after you find the deal of a lifetime on the right boat, the outfit and the sail portions of this book will put you on course to get your vessel shipshape and keep her that way as you chase the horizon.

I read this book a second time not only to pick up tidbits of advice I might have missed the first time around, but mainly for the sheer entertainment value.  Cap'n Fatty is a natural-born storyteller, and this book is packed with fascinating glimpses of the amazing life he's lived at sea in a variety of boats.  Some of these tales will have you cracking up with laughter and some are so far out there you'll find them hard to believe, but no matter how outrageous the stories, somehow you know that Cap'n Fatty probably actually lived them.

The book is available on Amazon in Paperback or for Kindle.  For more information on this and Cap'n Fatty's other books, visit his website at:  http://fattygoodlander.com/home

Book Review: Across Islands and Oceans

I first posted this on my main site earlier today, but wanted to repost here for those of you who may not have seen it.  If you have any interest in sailing and especially cruising aboard a voyaging sailboat, you don't want to miss Across Islands and Oceans, by James Baldwin.

Across Islands and Oceans is one of those books that makes me lose focus on everything else I'm doing and seriously contemplate hauling in the anchor and setting sail for distant horizons.  The author, James Baldwin, did just that, but he was seriously focused on his dream or he wouldn't have been able to pull off such an amazing solo voyage around the world, beginning at the young age of only 25.

It was another 25 years after leaving before he put down the story in the detailed form you'll find in this book, and in the meantime he continued sailing, circumnavigating two and a half times on his engineless 28-foot Pearson Triton, Atom, and making a name for himself in the voyaging community through his many articles in Cruising World and other sailing publications.  His website, Atom Voyages, is a popular and extremely useful resource for those looking to restore and outfit older fiberglass sailboats and follow in his wake.  I referred to it extensively in my own refit of an old Grampian 26 that I owned for a few years before losing her to Hurricane Katrina.  Baldwin's advice is based on solid experience, and his recommendations are well-reasoned and budget-conscious for the self-sufficient cruising sailor who is not independently wealthy or interested in all the latest gadgets.

But back to the book at hand: Across Islands and Oceans is not simply the narrative of the kind of adventure many of us sailors can only dream about, it is also so well-written and interesting that it could capture the imagination of the most land-locked dirt dweller with no intention of ever setting foot aboard a cruising boat.  Baldwin's descriptions of not only the offshore passages but his explorations ashore and interactions with the natives showcase not only his writing abilities, but his keen and genuine interest in the history and culture of the places he visited.  Because he was alone with no companion to answer to or distract him, he was able to devote his full attention to the new people and places he encountered over each new horizon.  Having traveled solo for extended periods of time myself, I can relate to the difference this makes in the experience, and especially in this case, the difference it makes in the finished book that is the narrative of the voyage.  I learned new things about out-of-the-way places that I hope to someday visit throughout the book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in sailing or travel of any kind, but that recommendation comes with a warning:  reading this book may leave you discontent with your current life!  You may find yourself perusing the online listings of used cruising boats for sale, and if you do, you'll find that in the current economy, this is perhaps the best buyer's market ever for a solid old fiberglass sailboat.  For less than the cost of even the most basic new car, and a good bit of elbow grease, you can find and prepare an old boat that can take you around the world.   On Baldwin's website, you'll find examples of people who did exactly that, many of them bringing their project boats to him for advice and assistance on the refit before setting out on their own ocean crossings.

Across Islands and Oceans is available in print or in the Kindle version on Amazon.

Cruising on $500 per Month?

I first ran across the 185-page "Cruising on $500 per Month" thread on the Cruising and Sailing Forums from a link in a post on Boat Bits, a blog that often features observations on the cost of cruising and the cost of cruising boats.

That this thread could generate that many pages and 2767 replies (and still counting) is a testament to the amount of interest there is in the concept of low-budget cruising in these tough economic times.  What many of the contributors to the thread have pointed out is that despite what the glossy sailing magazines would have you believe, there are lots of people out there cruising and even voyaging all over the world on simple, low-cost boats they have either built themselves or refit after buying cheap in a market that is saturated with neglected used boats.

Having made the transition over the years from sea kayaks to cruising size boats myself, both by the refit route and the home building route, I understand the appeal from the point of view of someone who would never consider boats of this type if I had to buy new at today's prices.

One of the biggest considerations that keeps resurfacing again and again in this ongoing discussion is the size boat you need to go long-term cruising.  Again, if you believe the popular yachting press, anything under about 40 feet is unsuitable.  But among those who are actually making the break from land and seeing the world on their boats, smaller boats are not nearly as uncommon as the magazines would have you believe.  Boats in the 25-30 foot range are cheaper to buy, cheaper to refit and equip, cheaper to haul-out and maintain, and cheaper to dock if find the need to do so.  Plenty of designs in this size range are seaworthy enough to go anywhere you might care to go.  You might have to give up some of the comforts, but what is better - being slightly more uncomfortable while out there living the dream - or working year after year to get the bigger boat paid for and equip it with every modern convenience while never getting away from the dock?

Whether you want to try and live as cheaply as some on this thread advocate is another matter, but it can be done even today with the right boat and the right attitude, and some knowledge of which places to spend your time in and which to avoid.  After buying and outfitting the boat itself, the biggest expenses for cruisers on any size boats are almost always associated with shoreside conveniences and services.  You certainly won't be cruising on $500 per month if you plan to tie up to the docks of a marina every night, or if you want to eat most of your meals out in restaurants.  Cruisers wanting to travel in that style will need a monthly budget in the thousands of dollars, rather than the hundreds.  But if you don't mind doing your own cooking, and you're happier anchoring out in a secluded cove and rowing the dinghy ashore to ferry supplies to the boat, you can avoid most of the expenses that make the cost cruising so prohibitive in most peoples perspective.

The key to low-budget cruising and the gist of the thousands of posts on this thread can be summed up in a few points:

• Choose the smallest boat that will accommodate you and your crew and safely take you to the destinations you plan to explore.  Researching the proven voyages of others who have gone before you or are out there cruising now will point you to the best designs to choose from.
• Keep the systems on the boat as simple as possible and make sure you have the tools and skills to do all of the maintenance and most if not all repairs yourself.  Carry spare parts you anticipate needing rather than having to pay expensive shipping and import duties to get them later.
• Carry a hard dinghy with oars rather than an inflatable with an outboard, as it is cheaper to buy, build or replace, less likely to get stolen and can be equipped with a simple sail rig if desired.   
• Plan on anchoring out 99 percent of the time, wherever you go.  Good ground tackle is essential for this and should be your top priority in equipment purchases.
• Shallow-draft boats open up many more anchoring possibilities than deep draft boats, making it much easier to avoid marina fees in popular cruising areas where there are few good, deepwater harbors.  Shallow draft also lets you explore remote regions that see few if any other cruisers.  Such places are often much less expensive to spend time in, as the locals are not used to making profits off of wealthy yachtsmen in their big boats.
• Plan on cooking and eating aboard 99 percent of the time, and if you do eat out, go where the locals go rather to that to expensive tourist traps.  
• Acquire useful skills that you can use along the way anywhere you go.  Welding, sailmaking, diesel repair and similar skills can allow you to cruise indefinitely without having to wait until you have enough money in the bank to live off the interest.  Go now while you still have your health and enthusiasm for adventure.  

These are the main points brought out in this thread, though I'm sure I missed a few.  Many of the posts became painfully repetitive, with the same ideas rehashed over and over.  The discussion also led to quite a few arguments about choices of boats: especially the same tired old monohull vs. multihull debate.  But quite a few of those participating in the conversation extolled the virtues of Wharram catamarans, as well as shoal-draft sharpie monohulls - two of the boat types long-time readers here know that I post about most often.  My own choice of a Wharram Tiki 26 catamaran as the perfect boat for me to build and sail was influenced by the same line of thinking that led to this discussion - shallow draft and simplicity being top priorities.  

If you've got hours to kill, you can read the full thread on the forum and will probably find it both entertaining and informative.