Australian Couple Living on a Sailboat & Traveling the World
February 11th, 2016I’ve heard from a few Cryptogonners who have checked out of the rat race and are living on boats full time. A few more live very close to their boats and are ready to sail off into the sunset should the need arise. You might have heard of people who have bug out bags. Well, these guys have bug out boats.
Here are some books I typically see people buying from Amazon:
The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat by Mark Nicholas
Voyaging On A Small Income by Annie Hill
Leap of Faith: Quit Your Job and Live on a Boat by Ed Robinson
Decades ago, I spent a lot of time sailing and going on trips with a friend who’s dad had a 50 foot motorsailer. My brother was a competitive sailor and I went along to crew for him a few times. So with a bit of experience around sailing, living on a boat never seemed like a good idea to me—even assuming I’d had enough money to do it, which I didn’t. While it’s easy to imagine lolling around on deck in a calm, quiet harbor, I see a bottomless money pit, paranoia related to the anchor slipping at night (flipside might be expensive moorings), bilge issues, toilet issues, electrical issues, etc. etc. etc.
Pirates? Not a factor anywhere I’ve been, but piracy is no joke.
High-risk Areas of Yacht Piracy
Oh yeah, Captain Obvious here: Long voyages on the open ocean can be dangerous. (My brother almost went to Davy Jones’ Locker during a Transpac race.)
Yep, there are a lot of negatives, if your glass is half empty on the cruising life.
If, however, you can deal with the negatives, and you have the money to support such a lifestyle, the list of advantages is pretty impressive!
* Don’t like people? Hint: Most of them don’t have yachts. However, the few people who do spend a lot of time on the water generally have a strong sense of mutual aid for other sailors.
* Sail power works independently of whatever political and/or economic disaster is happening on shore. (But, see the links about piracy and the doldrums, depending on geography.)
* There can be good opportunities to catch fish and other sea food to eat.
* Modest solar and wind turbine builds can greatly reduce reliance on a generator.
With regard to the couple below, if you’re like me, you’ll wonder pretty quickly: Who’s paying for this?
It turns out that Riley worked in the oil industry for several years to save up for the yacht, and Elayna had the good idea to start making the videos and turning their story into an income stream.
Anyway, enough of my yammering, check out their adventure.
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My parents lived on a sailboat till I was four and continued to sail every weekend thereafter. It was a very restricted and lonely life for a kid and also dangerous if you’re not always on a lifeline. The sun damage to my skin has been a hassle all my life; I am a walking encyclopedia of skin cancers. I would not recommend it to anyone with children unless they are over 16 and permitted to opt out if they wish. No neighborhoods to play in, no new kids to hang out with and make long-term friends with, no other adults around for guidance and role models… The idea is dashing and romantic, but the reality is suitable only for consenting adults.
Living with small children on a boat is so unthinkable that my mind just blocked out the possibility of that scenario.
But I have to ask, just out of curiosity: How did your mum and dad keep you alive during squalls, for example, when it’s all hands on deck? Did they lock you down below? Did you have any sense of the crashing sounds of the boat going through rough seas and the rolling movements being frightening at all?
Yes, during times when my parents didn’t want us on deck, my brother and I could be locked in down below (in the cabin) in our bunks, which were crib mattresses surrounded by fishnet which could be lowered from the ceiling. We could not get out of them on our own. No one wore lifejackets then (late 1940’s) because you couldn’t move freely with something like a pillow tied around your chest and back; they made you more vulnerable to accident.
I have no fear of sea noise or movement or of thunder and lightening. They must have done a good job of reassuring us when that stuff started. It may be that, like some parents today, they used some kind of tranquilizer on us when the going got tough. To do so was routine when they themselves were children, perhaps laudanum (opium), by prescription to an adult, or some form of alcohol, from whiskey to cough syrup.
A lot of people think it’s cool to raise a family while island-hopping or ocean-crossing. They make the news from time to time, either when they get home from a long voyage or when things go wrong.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/us/pacific-rescue/
Apr 13, 2014 … A family rescued at sea with a sick baby is out of danger and back on dry land, but … ages 1 and 3, with them on a sailing trip across the Pacific. … Four members of the 129th Rescue Wing parachuted into the ocean, inflated a …