[HN Gopher] 13 years sailing around the world
___________________________________________________________________
13 years sailing around the world
Author : squiggy22
Score : 144 points
Date : 2022-01-26 11:25 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.mailasail.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.mailasail.com)
| noughtme wrote:
| At first, I thought this was going to be about Sven Yrvind, whose
| self built tiny boats are pretty incredible.
|
| You can follow his latest build on
| https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCptM0nqGDJLz14oP6ROdKRw
| leobg wrote:
| Can you recommend an entry point to learn who he is, how he
| started, etc.? How did you learn about him?
| noughtme wrote:
| He's kind of a legend, and seems to give interviews to anyone
| who runs into him. Here's a pretty good recent one and a tour
| of his boat:
|
| https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bca5_uyH9E4
|
| His actual videos might be more interesting to someone with
| an interest in (unconventional) boat building.
| leobg wrote:
| That was amazing. Thank you
| eCa wrote:
| There's always https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Yrvind
| leobg wrote:
| I had no idea he was that famous.
| mastermedo wrote:
| I hope he doesn't do large distances in such a small boat O.O
| wlll wrote:
| He does: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Yrvind
| sdfjkl wrote:
| Been doing this since 2015 now on a 40ft mono(hull). Currently
| wintering in Sicily. Picked up a wife along the way.
|
| If you aim to do this on a budget like us, you best be good at
| fixing things. Plumbing, rigging, engines, fibreglass repairs,
| more plumbing, sewing, electrical and electronics problems, etc.
|
| The reward is remote anchorages where you're away from everyone
| else and getting absolutely unenthusiastic about yet another
| spectacular sunset.
|
| Also dramatic moments in storms, dragging anchors, other boaters
| being incompetent and inconsiderate, many great friendships and a
| spirit of community amongst other liveaboards like none other.
| ryandvm wrote:
| How do you support yourself?
| jbkiv wrote:
| Plenty of ways. In the past being a good mechanic was handy.
| Today being an engineer is highly valuable:
|
| Electrical: 110v 60 Hz, 220v 50 Hz and 12v for 12v DC for
| electronics while you run 24v dc for the rest. Networking
| radars, GPS, AIS, plotters has become incredibly complex.
|
| Sewing: having a commercial sewing machine has proven to be
| useful (to make friends). Repair sails, awning, various
| canvas
|
| Digital media: most popular boats have satellite com on board
| and produce one quality youtube video every week. Photos,
| blogs, manage fans on Instagram. You were hoping to get away
| from the hustle? You will be back in it quickly.
|
| Refrigeration skills: get yourself a set of gauges ($50),
| vacuum pump, several cans of refrigerant, soldering
| equipment. Whomever can produce cold (freezer, cold beers or
| ice cubes) is king in the tropics.
|
| I can add to this list. The world of handymen is incredibly
| unskilled. Come with a mechanical engineering or EE/CS
| background, you will be making friends faster than you can
| think.
| entaloneralie wrote:
| Vessels with fridges are the kings of the happy hours
| blorpledorple wrote:
| > Digital media: most popular boats have satellite com on
| board and produce one quality youtube video every week.
| Photos, blogs, manage fans on Instagram. You were hoping to
| get away from the hustle? You will be back in it quickly.
|
| There is a subtle assumption here in your aside remark that
| you think those interested in sailing are also interested
| in being popular doing it, probably because you're
| interested in being popular doing it, and are very, very
| comfortably the outlier in the global sailing community.
| I've heard this from some hands, too, who are obsessed with
| the appearance of the vessel when near harbor.
|
| When I bought my boat I didn't see Instagram fan management
| nor sailing for others in the requirements of taking care
| of it. That's your interest, and casting it as an
| inevitable future of boat ownership is almost as
| insufferable as what's happened to camping and vans. Please
| keep in mind that most do pursue this hobby precisely to
| avoid getting on with that faff, and your experiences make
| you unique, not representative of ownership.
|
| The experience is for you. Share it with those you love.
| That's my take, and we will clearly disagree, so don't
| think I'm trying to convince you. I say that because you've
| just become an advocate for sailing in this thread, and I'd
| rather the vast majority of people who find that type of
| thing intolerable don't come to think it's all sailors do
| and get turned off the hobby.
| crusty wrote:
| So how do you really feel about monetizing recreational
| lifestyle activities on social media?
|
| A couple things. OP is specifically referring to how
| people make money while sailing (non-commercially)
| indefinitely, not hobbyists who presumably have a day
| job, a traditional source of income, or are retired with
| savings, and sailing occasionally. Also, OP caveats their
| assertion about social media posting schedules with "most
| _popular_ boats " - not simply most boats - it's in your
| quote. If you're not pimping your boat and yourself on
| the gram (or wherever), you're boat's not going to
| qualify as popular, and the statement will not apply to
| you.
| blorpledorple wrote:
| How do I really feel about it? That it's insufferable. I
| already wrote that. We are moving toward a society where
| pursuit of revenue no longer has off hours. That's
| horrific and dystopian. I don't consider this position
| contrarian nor neckbeard nor particularly weird.
|
| It is positively horrifying that some people set out on a
| hobby to fulfill others, and also that we're establishing
| that as financially rewarding. Sailing, in particular, is
| about returning to the sea and charting your own path.
| There's varying levels of mysticism to that in peoples'
| relationships with it, but most entry-level zealots,
| even, would cock their head at the notion of spending
| your time sailing caring what other people think about
| it. What is the point of a hobby in the end? If you want
| a business, call it a business. A satellite dish for
| YouTube posting means your sailing is a business. And
| that's fine. Just say that.
|
| I also considered your entire litigation on the precision
| of the person's language before even creating this
| account. It's telling that your substantive rebuttal is
| lawyering the language, not addressing the point. I
| considered your "couple things" before you said them and
| disregarded them. You're arguing that 10% charity in
| comprehension dispenses 100% of the point.
| Unsuccessfully.
| rthille wrote:
| I watch Sailing Uma on Youtube. Young couple started with
| very little money and have over 6+ years built up quite a
| following and apparent income. They in one video
| addressed the idea that they have to put their entire
| life online to pay for their lifestyle with the statement
| that they put out <60 minutes/week, certainly much less
| than "their entire life" and they seem to spend much more
| time enjoying life than I do as a computer programmer.
| sdfjkl wrote:
| Mostly savings, small rental income to supplement, some stock
| trading. The trick is to reduce spending, mostly by not
| buying too big a boat.
|
| People have ideas about remote work on board, but for various
| reasons this rarely works out in practice. Internet
| connectivity is poor and intermittent, your schedule is ruled
| by the weather and having to work seriously distracts from
| the fulltime job that cruising is by itself.
| imglorp wrote:
| How well would Star Link work on a rocking boat? Is its
| aiming good enough to keep a lock? Is there a problem
| moving around where they don't expect you?
| driverdan wrote:
| It wouldn't work well since the hardware isn't designed
| for this purpose and coverage is focused on US land.
| sdfjkl wrote:
| It doesn't work at all. Even in marinas (stationary) it
| has issues - out at sea or even at anchor you can forget
| about it _. There are also problems with them not liking
| you moving around. Related
| article:https://seabits.com/using-starlink-aboard-and-in-
| a-marina/
|
| _ There may be a mobile base unit at some point in the
| future, but it will be comparable to the current
| Fleetbroadband units and therefore too power hungry and
| too big for your average cruising sailboat. Essentially
| you need a motorized dish which tracks and counteracts
| boat movements the entire time it's active. That's what
| is inside those Inmarsat domes you can sometimes see on
| big racing boats with satellite uplinks like the Volvo
| Ocean Race.
| pingec wrote:
| How does one get started? How does one get the necessary
| experience without taking unnecessary risks?
| _whiteCaps_ wrote:
| You might be able to find a sailing co-op in your area. I'm a
| member of one that requires 30 hours of volunteer work, which
| you can gain experience in a wide variety of things -
| fibreglassing, painting, plumbing, electrical, rigging, etc.
|
| We've got a fleet of 6 27' - 30' boats which are great for
| day sailing and week long vacations.
| wlll wrote:
| How I started, YMMV:
|
| 1. Watching a lot of YouTube, see my list of channels in
| another comment, and the note about not believing everythin
| they do is correct.
|
| 2. Joining the local dinghy sailing club. It's cheap, and
| although I don't really care about racing the skills were
| mostly directly transferrable to larger boats. Plust
| _contacts_ are really useful.
|
| 3. Get on other people's boats as crew. I own a 43ft yacht,
| my friend sails it with me. It costs him nothing :)
|
| Later, when you have tried it out and got some experience,
| take your Day Skipper (RYA) or equivalent course (the ASA in
| the US runs some). You should at this point have a reasonably
| good idea of your skills.
|
| At some point in the process, start looking at yacht
| listings. Yacht World would be a good start. Get an idea of
| the market. You will work out how much you need to save, and
| what sort of prices are reaonable.
| jbkiv wrote:
| get classes, pretty unexpensive. After your first 5-7 days
| when you learn basic skills you will receive plenty of
| invitations to crew. Not unlike the corporate world, too many
| chiefs, not enough workers. Good crews are in high demand
| (and you can bring significant other, friends). Lots of
| owners are clueless. Lots of big boats are looking for crews,
| typically an ocean crossing. Think Panama-Tahiti. Expenses,
| including flights, paid
| sdfjkl wrote:
| By getting a boat. Getting on someone else's boat is good
| too, as you can get experience and learn from them. Sailing
| is easy - you don't need to win races when cruising around
| the world, so the finer details of trimming will be wasted on
| cruisers (you can always pick them up on the way). Navigation
| and traffic rules shouldn't be hard to pick up for the
| average HN crowd, although yachties like to make a fuss about
| it.
|
| I did a few RYA training things that cost a lot of money and
| got me some papers that nobody ever wanted to see (they're
| important if you want to charter a boat though). You can just
| buy the syllabus and gain the knowledge by online learning or
| video courses instead. I recommend going that route - the
| knowledge in the syllabus is important and very useful. The
| formal course in a classroom and the certificate are not.
| Practical knowledge is gained only by going sailing, making
| mistakes and learning from them, but it helps if you know the
| knots and the parts of the rigging beforehand.
|
| But the real learning only begins when you get your own boat
| and have to fit it out and keep it going. Boat maintenance is
| hard and there's a lot to learn. You can initially substitute
| money, but that stops working once you get to remote areas
| where there is simply nobody else to pay to fix your boat and
| you will have to do it yourself or give up. Many decrepit
| boats in remote locations are on the market very cheaply for
| exactly that reason.
| jimmaswell wrote:
| > you don't need to win races when cruising around the
| world
|
| Brings to mind this interesting story of a race like that
| gone wrong: https://youtu.be/h0WgqMn5lTI
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Do you recommend Jimmy Cornell's world sailing routes
| books? I have about $100 worth in my wish list, spiral
| bound, I've been waiting to purchase until closer to
| departing on a circumnavigation.
| wlll wrote:
| Jimmy Cornell's world cruising routes are widely
| considered to be a great resource.
| sdfjkl wrote:
| They're great, but you'll end up looking at them once a
| year when you do your passage planning for the next
| season. Excellent resource, but a bit pricey and heavy to
| sail around with.
| hnuser847 wrote:
| This is my dream (especially the part about sailing around the
| Med). I bought a 34' boat two years ago, however I still work
| full time and have a six-month old. The best I'll be able to do
| this summer is go on a three week long trip on Lake Michigan,
| which is a great start but a far cry from sailing around the
| world for years on end. I have a few rental properties but not
| nearly enough to sustain my family without a job.
|
| If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Do you still have
| a job or freelance? Or are you living entirely on savings at
| this point? Did you buy the boat in Europe or sail across the
| Atlantic?
| sdfjkl wrote:
| Was 39 or so when I left. I still did remote consulting work
| from the boat the first year while doing the refit, but it
| meant the refit was going too slow :) No job since, see other
| comment about money.
|
| Bought boat in UK, sailed across the English channel a few
| times and then down Biscay, Galicia & the Rias, Portugal, up
| the Rio Guadiana (amazing), through Gibraltar, Costa del Sol
| (yuck), Baleares, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece, then Sicily and
| Greece again (because Greece is great and also because
| Covid). Couple other trips on friendboats.
|
| Atlantic crossing E-W with the trades is no big deal, but
| going the other way (Americas to Europe) can be scary and is
| not for inexperienced sailors.
|
| If the Med is your dream, might be best to buy a boat here
| instead. Boats that are great at ocean crossings aren't best
| at Med sailing and vice versa.
| js2 wrote:
| Paul Lutus went from no experience to spending three years
| sailing around the world in 1988-1991. He wrote a book about it
| which he published on his web site:
|
| https://www.arachnoid.com/sailbook/index.html
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=lutusp
| oh_sigh wrote:
| Boy...that brings back memories. Paul's writings, as well as
| reading "An Island to Oneself" by Tom Neale, and "We, the
| Drowned" meant that most of my early 20s were filled with
| visions of sailing around the south pacific. Never quite made
| it there, but life is long...
| d00wgnir wrote:
| I remember reading this as a teenager. It was one of the first
| accounts on the WWW of this sort of lifestyle/activity and it
| inspired me for life.
| unixhero wrote:
| Nice to be a millionaire sure.
| coldtea wrote:
| Always the same cheap resentment, as if only millionaires do
| such things.
|
| There are tons of regular working and middle class and even
| poorer people bicycling, walking, etc huge trips for months and
| years. Some are basking, some are working odd jobs, some save
| money up for half a year (and I'm talking random job money, not
| FAANG level salaries) and travel the rest, etc. I had a friend
| who spent his 20s working at supermarkets, retail, or sometimes
| as a waiter for half year (the hot, demand-wise season) and
| doing nothing the rest, leaving off the money.
|
| If you don't have a family (or health problem) all it takes is
| the willingness to do it and to withstand some hardship - that
| is, not expect to also keep all regular luxuries). If you're
| worried about how it would look on your resume, or can't fathom
| leaving your cushy desk job, then that's on you.
|
| Heck, in this day you can even travel, leave abroad, have fun,
| while keeping a regular remote job. I've done 2-3 large trips
| abroad while working remotely, and it was covid time too! Yes,
| I had to work late night shifts to sync, because I was on a
| totally another timezone to the expected by the customer. But I
| still had my 8 hours for sleep and 8 hours for play.
| imperialdrive wrote:
| I kinda wanna say "Shhhhh" but the whole world benefits from
| enlightening, so thanks for spreading the good word.
| unixhero wrote:
| Thank you for an uplifting counterpoint.
| cft wrote:
| I met a couple of argentinian teachers in the southern Mexico
| with two small kids, that lived in a hostel and drove from
| Argentina in a 1960s Ford. It took them 4 years. One kid was
| born on the road, in Costa Rica. The other was about 6. When
| they needed money, they would stop in a hostel for 6 months
| and teach.
| politelemon wrote:
| I can attest to this. I have met quite a few 'transient'
| coworkers who join the org for 6 months. They then use that
| money to go away to their actual pursuits for 6 months
| (sometimes 2 years). One of them went on a bicycle from
| London to Beijing. Another went on a 'back of the truck' tour
| of South America. They are competent enough at our job
| (software dev) to drop back in when they feel like, and orgs
| are happy to have them back, but it's not their passion, just
| a means of support.
| Axien wrote:
| You can sail around the world for about $25k/year in expenses.
| Figure 50k for the boat, so about $100k in savings will get you
| two years of sailing.
|
| Do some side jobs and you can go longer.
| vertis wrote:
| My partner and I bought a 36" yacht in Greece in Sept last
| year. We really haven't gotten to take advantage of it yet
| because it was so close to the end of the season (and we're
| both beginners). The plan is to live on it from April with our
| dog Miles (we've been digital nomads for 3+ years).
|
| Learned to sail last year, and got my RYA Day Skipper (which
| allows for ICC).
|
| We're not millionares, we both run businesses and make alright
| money, but no more than most of the HN crowd. If you're
| prepared to put the work in you can get cheaper, older yachts
| as well.
|
| It's a decision. Like most things in life, you can prioritize
| it or not. Wanting desperately to do something and not putting
| in any effort towards it is a sure way for it never to happen.
| Note: Whether you're interested in sailing I can't tell from
| your throw away comment.
|
| Since becoming a digital nomad it's been a real journey of
| understanding the trade-offs that one makes in life. There are
| things that are gravity wells in life -- family, kids, friends,
| jobs, commitments. They all have a pull that complicates
| things.
|
| But not so much that they can't be overcome. I'm friends with a
| few people that travel with kids. Travelling with a dog can
| make things more complicated, but not impossible.
| deltaonefour wrote:
| I'm interested in the story of the digital nomad part.
| Certainly easier to start sailing once you get that part
| done. How did you guys become digital nomads and what exactly
| is it you guys do?
| vertis wrote:
| I don't really remember where I discovered the concept of
| being a digital nomad. After discovering it in 2018, we
| decided to give it a try. I left an awesome job in
| Australia and we put the little 1 bedroom apartment we'd
| renovated on the market and became digital nomads.
|
| Australia is great, but we both felt a little bored with
| Australia and with a desire to explore the rest of the
| world (in a way that holidays had only compounded the
| desire).
|
| We put everything in storage and started by flying a cheap
| one way flight from Australia to Greece and from there we
| went to Romania. Early on, the digital nomad thing was part
| 'budget', so going to cheap places.
|
| We weren't really sure how sustainable it would be. It felt
| a little like skipping school. I started splitting my time
| between working on a startup and remote contracting work,
| and my partner has a business she can run remotely.
|
| If you come from a place where rent is quite expensive (UK,
| Australia), then there are plenty of places where a months
| AirBnB will set you back roughly the same or less than a
| rental property.
|
| Over time we've calibrated our costs, and we no longer try
| to travel to cheaper places in the same way, and we don't
| stay at the bottom end of the accommodation spectrum
| (hostels, etc). Better to have a desk, kitchen and be
| productive.
|
| In 2018 and 2019 we did a lot of Europe and Asia. When the
| pandemic hit we briefly went back to Australia (March ->
| end of May) but realised we couldn't stay, didn't have
| long-term accomodation (and didn't really want it) and we
| were crawling up the wall.
|
| We flew back to London and then spent the summer of 2020 in
| Europe, ending up on a long-term visa in Estonia for a few
| months. It hasn't been the same, of course. The whole time
| we've complied with local restrictions wherever we've been
| -- it's been interesting seeing the way the pandemic is
| perceived and responded to in different places.
|
| For example, we caught the train from Denmark to Sweden to
| visit an embassy and it crossed the bridge into Sweden and
| the announcer said 'ok you can take off your masks now'.
|
| It's meant much more work than play over the last little
| while. It's allowed me to be very clear on not putting
| things off (mostly pre-pandemic). So often we have excuses
| as to why things can't happen. Sailing, our next adventure,
| has been on my "life list" since 2009 and never really
| progressed.
|
| Miles, our English Cocker Spaniel is a new challenge (he
| just turned 1). Having to balance visa issues, covid travel
| restrictions and pet travel, is one hell of a dependency
| tree at times. Worth it though.
|
| The whole digital nomad thing is an overloaded term. It
| means a lot of different things to different people. But if
| you can work online remotely (and a large number of white-
| collar/no-collar employees have discovered they can), then
| you can do it from anywhere in the world. You can explore
| places in a different way, less pressured and more just
| soaking in the way people live. It's a balance.
|
| Sailing cruising is supposed to be an extension of that,
| and we'll split our time between the sailing seasons and
| continuing to do digital nomad things (or at least that's
| the plan so far).
| deltaonefour wrote:
| Cool. Thanks for the write. Always interested in hearing
| other peoples' experiences.
| emilecantin wrote:
| My marina is mostly full of working-class people. It's just
| that they chose to buy a boat instead of an RV (total cost of
| ownership is similar).
| Ekaros wrote:
| Now that I think about it that is true. RV, boat and summer
| cottage are pretty much in same ballpark. From purchase price
| and maintenance. Not very cheap, but affordable. Also used
| boats keep their value and last for decades.
| emilecantin wrote:
| I've sold all my previous boats for more than I bought
| them. Once the boat is 30+ years old, price depends a lot
| on condition.
|
| For example, I bought my second boat in some dude's
| backyard, in the middle of some major renovations the guy
| was too old to finish. I wrapped up all the critical stuff,
| sailed on it for 2 seasons with my family, and sold it in
| the water at a marina (meaning it was at least navigable;
| it wasn't when I bought it). If you only look at purchase
| price, I almost doubled it, but when you account for
| everything I spent to make it navigable, I'm probably close
| to even (especially if you count my labor).
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| Nonsense. For every couple on a million dollar catamaran
| sailing around the world there's someone in a cheap boat
| they've fixed up themselves.
|
| Check out Wind Hippie Sailing on YouTube for a young woman
| sailing her boat in the pacific (She's probably spent less than
| many people do on a car) Or Sam Holmes - sailing the North
| Atlantic. Yes they have patreon funding - but many others do by
| saving money from working before or while they're travelling.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JPc1AxRSWA
| https://www.youtube.com/c/samholmessailing
| Axien wrote:
| Also sailing project Atticus. They started with 2k:
|
| https://m.youtube.com/user/ProjectAtticus
| larrysalibra wrote:
| Or check out Moxie Marlinspike's old boat he fixed up in
| Florida with friends and sailed away in:
| https://vimeo.com/15351476
| asimpletune wrote:
| My friend from college bought a $2k 29' piece of junk upon
| graduation, and sailed it to the Bahamas, then up and down the
| Atlantic seaboard. Granted he was exceptional, which may be a
| prerequisite if you're not rich.
| wlll wrote:
| The more money you have the easier it will be, but you don't
| need to be anywhere close to a millionaire to do this.
|
| Many people sail in sub-100k, or even sub-20k boats. Sure, you
| might not want to sail the Indian Ocean in something small
| and/or cheap, but there's a lot of other places to sail.
|
| Plus, it's totally possible to live on a boat full time. If you
| don't have to pay rent or pay a deposit and pay a mortgage many
| people could buy a bigger boat and live on it. Not many people
| do, there's downsides, but some do.
|
| I once thought that most people who owned yachts were in a
| different wealth strata of society than "regular" people, but
| that's only partially true, and now myself own a boat too, and
| I'm not a millionaire.
|
| Peer at some listings if you're curious about the startup
| costs:
|
| https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats-for-sale/condition-used/t...
| unixhero wrote:
| Thank you for an uplifting counterpoint.
| Tabular-Iceberg wrote:
| Being a millionaire makes it a whole lot easier, but it's not
| absolutely necessary.
|
| I know a blue collar family who spent six years or so cruising
| and living entirely on parental leave and child benefits. The
| catch being that they had to make one baby for each year of
| cruising, so the boat ended up jam packed with them.
|
| I really admire those people, and can you imagine a more
| exciting childhood?
| deltaonefour wrote:
| For the child born into it.. it becomes the norm, and getting
| off the boat becomes the exciting thing.
| zriha wrote:
| That's amazing! Last year was the first year that I sailed, and I
| just fell in love with. I live in Croatia, so Adriatic sea is my
| first sea to sail. And I really started seriously consider to
| sell my flat, buy a sailing boat and just live.
|
| Captain I wish you calm see and happy voyage!
| Kon-Peki wrote:
| Consider looking around your area for a sailboat racing team
| that needs some extra crew (almost all of them need crew). Aim
| for a team that is not too serious and a boat that is not too
| big (10-15 meters maximum, perhaps).
|
| It's a fantastic way to learn a lot about sailing in a very
| short amount of time. You will especially learn about dealing
| with problems!
|
| There are a few yacht clubs near me that group together and
| have a "Wednesday night beer can racing" league [1]. The prize
| for winning a race is a bottle of rum, so nobody is trying too
| hard. And for most of the crew, you spend the majority of your
| time on the water as ballast - sitting on the windward rail
| watching the scenery and chatting with your friends.
|
| [1] https://www.chicagobeercan.org
| zriha wrote:
| Thank you for the great advice, I will try to team up, I can
| defiantly be useful on the boat. I know how to sail, but not
| on the wind. :) So I need to learn a lot.
| Kon-Peki wrote:
| Good luck, I hope you find a team! You don't need to know a
| lot to start; they will teach you.
|
| Your value to them is not your sailing ability!
|
| As the new, inexperienced person on the team, you are
| valuable if you sit where they tell you to sit - the boat
| goes faster if the weight is distributed just so. You are
| valuable if you say "I will be there" and then you show up
| (at the right time), every single time. The race starts
| whether they are at the starting line or not; once they
| leave the dock it's really hard to pick up new crew
| members. If you can manage those two things, you are
| really, really valuable if you pay attention, learn, and
| ask good questions.
| pabs3 wrote:
| 100 Rabbits are some other tech sailing folks:
|
| https://100r.co/
| hiidrew wrote:
| just shared this, based of their site they seem freaking
| awesome. what a life
| frontman1988 wrote:
| Can starlink provide services worldwide in the middle of the
| ocean? If that happens I can see a lot of digital sailors coming
| up.
| jackpeterfletch wrote:
| I think the dish needs to remain static unfortunately.
| mrep wrote:
| The current production ones yes but they got some models
| working on air force planes 2 years ago [0] so they can
| probably handle a boat. Probably won't be cheap though.
|
| [0]: https://www.investors.com/news/spacex-starlink-
| impressed-air...
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| Not yet. Systems like Inmarsat Fleet One can cost $1K a month
| to get an OK connection. Many sailors make do with the good 4G
| connections when they're near shore and use satelite to get
| weather files and send/receive text messages.
| throw0101a wrote:
| SV _Delos_ put a (large-ish: 50kg) satellite dish from Viasat
| on their boat a while ago:
|
| * https://svdelos.com/sailing-videos/how-to-get-super-fast-
| int...
|
| Not cheap, but it seems you can get roughly DSL-equivalent
| speeds.
| wlll wrote:
| A couple of points:
|
| - They got the dish/connection (I believe) free, they did
| an episode on it.
|
| - As far as I can tell (I've watched all their episodes)
| they've never actually said it is any good, so maybe that
| tells me something? I don't know, I'd love to hear a
| yay/nay from them.
| wingworks wrote:
| I remember watching there install video, always wondered
| how it performed in real world conditions. A bit sad to
| hear there were no follow up videos.
| helsinkiandrew wrote:
| I remember looking up the prices at the time and the Sailor
| 600 unit they got costs about $25K and with the modem uses
| 200+ Watts of power (plus $1K a month)
| jbkiv wrote:
| Agree, but the rumor is that their social media business
| (YT, ads) brings US$ 800K/year
| wlll wrote:
| Pretty sure they got the dish free, they did an episode
| on it. I've watched Delos since the beginning. I'd be
| surprised if they make that sort of money.
| wingworks wrote:
| IDK, don't think it's far off. Just from there patreon
| income alone they'll be pulling over 500k/y (this just by
| calculating there base fee $5 per vid, they have 2,062
| patreons, so assuming some will be paying more, they'll
| likely be getting more than 500k/y just from patreon) ex
| taxes, fees etc.
|
| Nevermind the income they get from merch, sponsors and YT
| ads.
|
| Not trying to be negative, I say good on them, they
| worked hard on it, and have been doing it for years.
| wlll wrote:
| In the middle of the ocean you're generally not going to be
| getting much work done due to the time required to look after
| the boat and yourself. Plus theere's the motion, needing lots
| of sleep as it's tiring and the need to interact with other
| people on the crew. Some people do manage it, but I'd not count
| on it.
|
| Where Starlink will really shine is when you get somewhere.
| Sitting at anchor off a small uninhabited Carrribean or
| Bahamian island though, or even just to boost your chances of
| getting a zoom call to work when the wifi at the local marina
| is spotty, that's where it's going to be most useful.
| Tepix wrote:
| Eventually, yes. They need more satellites with laser
| interconnects. Until then you can only go around 500km from the
| nearest ground station until you lose your connection. In
| practice there are other issues yet to be solved but those are
| likely to be smaller.
| DoingIsLearning wrote:
| As I understand it Starlink forces you to use a specific sector
| of coverage. I assume because they have capacity limitations
| per sector (you can only have so many users per satelite
| cluster before you start deteriorating speeds). Might be a
| different story for their priority customers (Military)
|
| Basically with Starlink you can go remote but not itenerant.
| wlll wrote:
| I heard that _right now_ you have to pick a spot, but the
| rumour is that in the future you will be able to move around.
| I don 't have much more than that, Musk may have tweeted
| about it at some point.
| cloutchaser wrote:
| I remember reading that potentially the hardware is there
| to do this, but it's not going to be working for a while.
| mrep wrote:
| Only for now. They wouldn't be sending out surveys about RV
| usage [0] if that is going to be permanently the case.
|
| [0]: https://old.reddit.com/r/Starlink/comments/prgrbb/starli
| nk_r...
| jbkiv wrote:
| Not yet. But we use Iridium + predict wind. Unit cost $1,000
| then you pay $250/year for Predict Wind (weather prediction and
| routing) and $200/month for unlimited data. Video streaming non
| stop: find yourself another hobby
| [deleted]
| hiidrew wrote:
| Here's a great site over two nomads that sail around the pacific.
| They have some interesting reads, here's their advice over
| internet + sailing:
| https://100r.co/site/off_the_grid.html#internet
| wlll wrote:
| For people interested in sailing you could do worse than check
| out some of the more popular sailing YouTube videos out there.
| That's how I got started. The first step was realising that
| "regular" people like me could do it and it wasn't just the
| preserve of yacht club douch bags (they're still out there I'm
| sure). The fact that Brian from Delos turned out to be an (ex)
| programmer was also a pretty big inspiration to me.
|
| Here's my favourites from my subscriptions.
|
| - SV Delos -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvLc83k5o11EIF1lEo0VmuQ /
| https://svdelos.com/ - Ex programmer, may have worked at MS
|
| - Ran Sailing -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLYd5EnTTwUKhouIkHoqzMw
|
| - Sailing Uma -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXbWsGV_cjG3gOsSnNJPVlg
|
| - Erik Aanderaa -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUH6fLsV6J7WKEmf7vJKfAw
|
| - Sam Holmes Sailing -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE4vct4tqxSuG4JH6vMVZSA
|
| - Sailing Project Atticus -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF45qzioJ_0FVdZVG2NJTWg
|
| - Christian Williams -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS6qLhh5YBeL42HRMh3dc1A
|
| - How to Sail Oceans -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTmJcC_Yw3IL7Bvtf_7nTLw
|
| - Sailing Yacht Florence -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkExLY1E6CE-GPsMCdSjmxQ - The
| guy is/was an electronic engineer?
|
| - Calico Skies Sailing -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGFbz7qMXCm28EPCkZWSMKg
|
| - Sail Life - https://www.youtube.com/c/SailLife - Lots of DIY
| boat work, but nicely done.
|
| - Sailing Kittiwake -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT9U1fPkHj0mJjC4LWGH26g
|
| - Gone with the Wynns -
| https://www.youtube.com/user/gonewiththewynns
|
| - Sailing Soulianis -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRqsOR0Y2zru-jXSzLcMcxg
|
| - Sailing La Vagabonde -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZdQjaSoLjIzFnWsDQOv4ww
|
| - MJ Sailing -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvJGfEEg7R04-ifkg_FFnaw
|
| - Sailing Ruby Rose -
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9rRsBE2nFbnUSjtmv6Jq6w (not so
| keen on this one now, lots of catamaran reviews)
|
| It's important to realise that not everything these people do is
| always a "correct" or good practice, but watching all of these
| people /definitely/ helped me get my qualifications down the
| line, and I still enjoy the escapism of watching someone sail
| around the Bahamas on a cold winter evening (my boat is up on the
| hard in N Wales, UK. The Bahamas it isn't).
|
| For me (YMMV) another thing that helped was joining the local
| dinghy sailing club. I'm really not interested in racing, but it
| was cheap (they rent out boats, or you can crew on someone
| elses), and a lot of what I learned about sailing there was
| directly translatable to the 43ft (13.1m) boat I now sail.
|
| There is also a sailing slack run buy a couple of tech people
| that you might be able to join if you're interested in getting
| started and want some more pointers.
|
| https://join.slack.com/t/sailboatguide/shared_invite/zt-g0b1...
|
| *edit* And if anyone is curious, I post about my boat adventures
| here https://twitter.com/SYSilverGirl
| mythrwy wrote:
| You left out my two favorites!
|
| - Sailing Nahoha - https://www.youtube.com/c/SailingNahoa
|
| - Project Atticus - https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjectAtticus
|
| (edit, on second look Atticus was included)
| wlll wrote:
| Ah yeah, I guess I missed Nahoa! They're in my subs list and
| worth a place on the list.
| prawn wrote:
| I can't claim to be any enthusiast about the topic, but I like
| adventurous people and had come across this guy at some point:
|
| "Sailing Alone Across an Ocean on a 30ft Sailboat and Losing
| the Rudder 1000 Miles from Hawaii"
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AZXXKj0p0s
|
| Worth skimming through.
|
| I checked your Twitter and something stood out - got Australian
| family currently living in Aberystwyth!
| wlll wrote:
| I was in Aber until last month! Sailed there from Falmouth,
| but now in Pwllheli further up the coast.
|
| Losing your rudder would kinda suck.
| mongol wrote:
| Perhaps you will appreciate this: Sven Yrvind
| https://youtube.com/channel/UCptM0nqGDJLz14oP6ROdKRw
| wlll wrote:
| Thanks, will take a look!
| gvb wrote:
| - White Spot Pirates:
| https://www.youtube.com/c/WhiteSpotPirates/videos
| entaloneralie wrote:
| Nike inspired us to become sailors, infinitely grateful for
| her work with the channel.
|
| Here are some extra suggestions for anyone interested in the
| lifestyle:
|
| - Life on a Little Wooden Boat: https://vimeo.com/94842405
|
| - Minimalism in a Tiny Home at Sea:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkaH_UUH0Ek
|
| - Untie the Lines:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VERYUyO93_Y
|
| - Gypsea Stories: Wylo II: https://vimeo.com/284310686
|
| - A Rogue Mariner on the upper Thames:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbPgP6wIF44
|
| - Deep Water: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460766/
|
| - Cinq Ans Pour la Banquise: https://youtu.be/QBrvPaNz1Bo
| wingworks wrote:
| Also Family traveling (ex heli pilot):
| https://www.youtube.com/c/SailingZatara New channel, videos are
| a bit raw, but some interesting vids (around Australia)-
| https://www.youtube.com/c/SVSunrise/ Currently in NZ I think -
| https://www.youtube.com/c/AdventuresofanoldSeadog/
|
| also recommend, Gone with the Wynns, love their videos.
| gregn610 wrote:
| Good list, one more you might like:
|
| https://youtube.com/c/FreeRangeSailing
| snowwrestler wrote:
| Watching Delos made me realize that the actual mix of
| activities in this lifestyle is about 50% boat maintenance and
| tinkering, 40% sitting at anchor somewhere looking for things
| to do, and 10% actually sailing the boat.
|
| The Delos folks have some presentations on their channel about
| the finances of it and the #1 message is basically "this only
| works financially if you do all the work yourself."
|
| My takeaway is that it seems like a fun lifestyle for people
| who like to tinker with things constantly, but it's maybe not
| as relaxing as it seems from YouTube videos (which are edited,
| after all).
| wlll wrote:
| Yeah, Delos are pretty open about there being a lot of
| maintenance, and video editing (~80 hours work total per
| episode), they just don't show that most of the time because
| people (like me) want to see the other stuff.
|
| As a boat owner, a lot of this is true. My boat is on the
| hard right now and the yard will handle some of the stuff
| that needs fixing, but I'm doing a lot myself for two
| reasons:
|
| 1. It costs me less real money
|
| 2. I enjoy it.
|
| I'm a CTO, I spend my life in meetings, spreadsheets,
| documents, and sometimes a text editor, terminal or database
| console. On Friday I am heading to the boat with a friend. We
| will drink some beer, then on Saturday we will break out the
| spanners and service the seacocks, replace some interior trim
| we took out last time, fix the cockpit manual bilge pump and
| a few other things.
|
| Honestly, this is the stuff I've been looking forward to more
| than anything in the last two weeks since I was last there.
|
| If you want relaxing, charter a boat, pay a skipper, or get a
| hotel, no judgement :) I've never really been able to relax
| for more than a few hours without wanting to _do_ something
| though, and sailing, or the inevitable maintenance, is a
| really happy thing for me to do.
|
| Of course another advantage of doing this stuff yourself is
| that you can afford to hang around the Bahamas, or sail
| around the world, something that you can't do so well if you
| aren't willing to do maintenance yourself.
| gvb wrote:
| Well known saying: "Cruising is repairing your boat in exotic
| places." Getting replacement parts in exotic places tends to
| be expensive and takes a lot of time and energy. The more
| "modern" your boat is, the more expensive and difficult it is
| to repair.
|
| As you note, most of the cruising time is spent at anchor. A
| lot of time spent at anchor is dealing with provisioning
| because everything takes a dinghy ride (first pump out the
| water and maybe fix the outboard) and walking to the (small)
| store to buy from what they have on hand.
| ngngngng wrote:
| Are there sailboat owners offering ocean crossings as a paid
| "experience"? This is something I'd love to try without making it
| my entire lifestyle immediately.
| theresistor wrote:
| 59 North run by Andy Schell is exactly this. There are a few
| others out there as well.
| ngngngng wrote:
| Perfect, thank you
| wlll wrote:
| They also have a pretty decent podcast
| https://www.59-north.com/podcast
| jbkiv wrote:
| Owners rarely pay for crew. They only pay for a skipper and
| first mate. But the rest of the crew is not paid, but all
| expenses paid. Got to be careful when picking the boat and the
| skipper. Bad boat, differed maintenance can be the kiss of
| death in the middle of the ocean. Bad crew can result in
| conflicts: alcool and drug use, bad hygiene. You can get away
| from the boat, for 20-40 days...
| andygroundwater wrote:
| This just begs the question why?
|
| It's not the 18th century anyone, if you want to get from A to B
| there's better ways. Even if you want to go sailing, just go and
| do it and have it done. This seems like some form of nautical
| itinerancy.
| monkeynotes wrote:
| I am honestly confused by this comment. I am struggling to
| understand how anyone could miss the point of sailing around
| the world for no other reason than the experience. The journey
| is the destination is an idiom for a reason.
| deltaonefour wrote:
| Some people don't have the travel bug. My dad sees the world
| as just going to work and making money and that's all he
| cares about.
| wlll wrote:
| Can you really not think up any reason people might want to do
| this?
| pcl wrote:
| > This seems like some form of nautical itinerancy.
|
| Yes, this is exactly one of the reasons people do this.
| dustintrex wrote:
| No entries since Sep 2021. Is he alright?
|
| Edit: heldtec@ just posted a link to what appears to be his boat
| for sale: https://www.sailboatlistings.com/photographs/60853
| mastermedo wrote:
| I was wondering the same thing. Hope he's well.
| em-bee wrote:
| there was no post before that since may, just nothing to
| write about.
|
| last blog entry mentions deck repairs which can't be done
| during rain season. so it appears they are stranded until
| then.
|
| the boat-sale was posted on 30-Aug-2016, but updated later
| (mentions 2018 engine replacement which also correlates to a
| blog entry: http://blog.mailasail.com/wildfox/posts/2018/9/20
| /496-a-new-...)
|
| so yeah, i am sure that's the boat. i guess they are just
| living on it until they find a buyer.
| bogwog wrote:
| Slightly unrelated, but why does Open Street Map display location
| names using the native language of the country? Japan for example
| has the names displayed in Japanese, China in Chinese, Russia in
| Russian, etc.
|
| That means the map is basically useless for anyone who isn't
| fluent in every single language on the planet. Imagine you're
| traveling in Japan and you're looking for Kyoto. If you use OSM,
| you're screwed unless you can read Japanese.
| exhilaration wrote:
| The problem is that the local volunteers feeding the data into
| OSM don't necessarily speak your language. Google can afford to
| hire translators and/or use machine translation for the regions
| they cover. That same isn't true for a volunteer-driven
| organization like OSM.
| volent wrote:
| > useless for anyone who isn't fluent in every single language
| on the planet
|
| It's not about languages but about alphabets. Translating names
| doesn't make sense.
| jonathanlb wrote:
| Aren't some toponyms different from language to language
| though? What English speakers know as "Japan" is "Nihon" in
| Japanese.
| samatman wrote:
| To add to a sibling comment, Open Street Map isn't like the
| proprietary services at all.
|
| It's an enormous volunteer database, OSM doesn't _display_
| anything, the client does, and there isn 't a single sensible
| default for that data.
| paulsutter wrote:
| You could contribute translations
| iso1631 wrote:
| That's not the problem
| OsmMapper wrote:
| The osm.org main site is primarily intended to be used by
| mappers, not end users. So for this purpose it makes sense to
| use local languages since most people doing the mapping will be
| locals.
|
| Other renderings such as the maps with me app use the
| appropriate names for the users language if available.
| heldtec wrote:
| https://www.sailboatlistings.com/photographs/60853 for sail for
| $200,000
| csunbird wrote:
| From the boat owners I know, boats are relatively cheap
| compared to their operating costs.
| mediaman wrote:
| My operating costs for a 38' are around $10-15k annually,
| including a slip at a (low-cost) marina and maintenance, but
| doing most maintenance myself. The first year had at least
| $10k more in "catch-up" maintenance items. I do pay others to
| periodically haul the boat, repaint the hull, check zincs,
| etc.
|
| It would be considerably higher paying shop rates for most
| maintenance, or if you had expensive tastes in sails or
| electronics.
|
| For me this works out to about 15-20% of the cost per boat in
| ongoing annual opex cost. Kind of like a software maintenance
| contract!
|
| Ongoing maintenance includes stuff like:
|
| * Engine maintenance: oil, fuel filters, oil filters,
| impeller, occasional corrosion repainting, occasional
| replacement of wear parts (belts, exhaust elbow, flex piping)
|
| * Fixing leaks from things like deck prisms, portholes, deck,
| chainplates. Usually involves epoxy, sealant, disassembly of
| components
|
| * Care of interior and exterior wood - varnish, or oiling, or
| other protection as preferred
|
| * Regular lubrication of moving parts, such as the helm and
| steering assembly
|
| * Replacement of running rigging (ropes that control sails)
| when it gets tired
|
| * Checking standing rigging (steel cables that keep the mast
| up), replacing when needed, though these last a long time.
| This usually needs professional riggers and is more
| expensive.
|
| * Keeping corrosion under control - stainless is never as
| stainless as you want
|
| * Replacing sails every 10-15 years, assuming you are ok with
| more tired sails toward the end
|
| * Having diver clean hull, also repainting hull every 2
| years, replacing zincs as needed, usually 1-2x annually
| depending on water type
|
| And other stuff. Replacing marine toilet pumps, fixing shower
| sumps, replacing bilge pumps, fresh water pumps, etc.
|
| These things aren't as bad as they sound if you like working
| with your hands and have time. I like it because my day job
| limits the use of my hands to the keyboard. And you don't
| need to know how to do all this stuff - I learned almost all
| of it while attempting to do it, and I still learn all the
| time. But if hands-on work isn't your cup of tea, it will get
| very expensive.
|
| The reward, beyond the fun of doing the work, is sitting on
| the deck, anchored at a remote island looking at incredible
| sunsets in the summer. Or being the only boat out on a winter
| day and seeing a humpback whale surface near your boat, hang
| around for a while. Or sitting down below next to a warm
| fireplace in the winter with a good book listening to the
| patter of rain. Sleeping on a comfortable bed in absolute
| silence in remote areas, far away from any cars, sirens, or
| other people. Trimming the sails and feeling the power of the
| wind energize the boat, pulling it forward as your boat
| nearly silently cuts through the water.
|
| For me, totally worth it, but it does become a fairly
| important part of your life.
| creeble wrote:
| The understatement of the universe.
|
| Plastic (fiberglass) boats can "last" (continue floating, at
| least) a very long time. But they can go from well-maintained
| and usable to immobile and dangerous in months without
| attention.
|
| Source: owner of a 45-year-old, well-maintained sailboat (not
| my first).
| Dan_- wrote:
| My operating costs are about the same as my marine mortgage
| payments.
| ct0 wrote:
| I dont think that is in USD.
| deltarholamda wrote:
| The Benford designed boats are really interesting. They're
| dories, so they have a flat bottom, which seems daft, but under
| sail when they heel over, the chine presents as a "V". You can
| put either a full keel or a wing keel, or I think I've read
| that twin wing keels work as well.
|
| Annie Hill has a book, "Voyaging on a Small Income" that talks
| a lot about their Benford dory "Badger". The layout is really
| smart, it doesn't try to jam in 9 million sleeping
| accomodations, the galley is large, and there's a ton of
| storage.
|
| And with the junk rig, it's really easy to build, maintain, and
| repair yourself. Blondie Hasler (mentioned in the For Sale ad),
| put a junk rig on a Folkboat, which doesn't seem sane, but he
| made it work. The design of the junk rig is very forgiving of
| not-very-precise sailmaking. Reefing in a blow is particularly
| nice, as you don't have to struggle with it. The weight of the
| battens just naturally let the sail drop.
| BoxOfRain wrote:
| I love this!
|
| I'm actually planning to move full-time into a sailing yacht
| either this year or next, though the fact I'm doing this while
| working a full time job (remotely of course) will mean it's a
| rather slow rate of travel! I'm hoping to buy a forty footer of
| some description (probably a ketch but that could change between
| now and then) and do a lot of the work making it a comfortable
| place to live and work myself.
| frontman1988 wrote:
| How do you plan on being connected to the internet while
| sailing in the middle of nowhere? Someone here said starlink is
| geo-limited.
| BoxOfRain wrote:
| A good directional aerial and a 4G/5G modem at first which
| will be a big limiting factor on where we can travel but
| eventually we'll go for Starlink or another satellite
| internet provider when they're no longer geofenced. I believe
| that there are plans for Starlink to support mobile
| installations in the next few years and honestly in a fair
| few places I've lived in recent years the 4G has been faster
| and more reliable than the ADSL or even FTTC connection
| anyway.
|
| The long passages are only a part of the appeal too, a large
| motivation is being able to explore coastal places on land
| without the issue holidaying has of trying to cram in as much
| as possible before you go to back to work. Also being able to
| opt-out of the miserable grey British winter is a part of it
| too, even three months on a mooring bouy somewhere with
| longer days would make it worthwhile!
| Thlom wrote:
| Inmarsat have full global coverage on L-band (except in
| Antarctica and the North Pole). KA-band is still a bit
| difficult and expensive on a small vessel as it's currently
| dependent on very expensive steerable antennas. There's also
| Iridium.
| asimpletune wrote:
| If you are looking to actually sail, like ocean cross, I highly
| recommend getting the smallest boat that fits your other
| requirements. This is counter-intuitive, and a lot of
| information out there is from people who either want to sell
| boats or don't know what they're talking about. The reason why
| I recommend this is that a small boat is much safer, because
| they're much cheaper to rig well and have back systems for
| everything. I.e. the the difference between a 31' and 45' will
| not make one bit of difference to the sea, however the 31' will
| be like 4-8x cheaper to supply. Boat costs scale geometrically,
| not linearly.
| throw0101a wrote:
| > _I.e. the the difference between a 31 ' and 45' will not
| make one bit of difference to the sea, however the 31' will
| be like 4-8x cheaper to supply._
|
| Not wrong from a financial point of view, but the it should
| be noted that (generally speaking) a boat's maximum speed is
| proportional to its length:
|
| * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hull_speed
|
| You _can_ cross oceans in a small boat, but you will probably
| do it much slower than a longer boat. There is some
| probability that something will go wrong every day you 're
| out on the water, so the longer it takes the higher the
| chances that something bad will happen (never mind all the
| extra provisioning needed for those days). Also, the longer
| you're out, the more likely the weather will shift to
| something you won't like and you won't be able to avoid it
| because of your slow(er) speed.
|
| Just another factor to consider.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Proportional to the square root of the length, unless it's
| a planing catamaran.
| BoxOfRain wrote:
| It's mad how much faster catamarans can be than
| monohulls. When I was a student me and some friends got
| together and bought a used Dart 16 with the spinnaker
| kit, it was the fastest thing there by a huge margin
| (albiet because most of the boats were the usual student
| fare, Fireflies, Laser 2s, GP14s). We played a fun game
| called 'cat and mouse' which was basically British
| bulldog but on dinghies, the club boats had to avoid
| getting caught by the much faster catamaran but it was a
| fair game because the cat was hopeless upwind and the
| slower club boats could point far further and escape.
|
| The most fun I ever had on that boat was at Bala Lake in
| north Wales, honestly one of the most underrated dinghy
| sailing places on the planet in my opinion.
| entaloneralie wrote:
| We've been doing 50+ days passages across the Pacific on a
| 33 footer, while keeping in touch with other boats doing
| the same transits, in the same season with similar problem.
| But from our experience, when shit hits the fan, I rather
| be on a small boat with sails I can pull down with my bare
| hands.
|
| bigger boats - bigger problems.
| BoxOfRain wrote:
| If I was going alone I would definitely seek a smaller boat,
| I spent quite a bit of time on a Moody 34 as a kid and that
| would make a great liveaboard for a single person or a couple
| I think. I'm going to be living with friends from my old
| uni's sailing club so the extra space might justify the extra
| cost, although as you say the tradeoff between space and
| safety is a vital one and it won't be a decision taken
| lightly. Serious ocean crossings won't be on the table
| initially too which will help, we'll mainly be sticking to
| our native Britain at first and then venturing into longer
| passages once we're confident in the boat. Obviously it'll
| depend on what's on the market when I'm ready to buy too, but
| I'm in no hurry and can wait for the right one to come along.
| Axien wrote:
| I disagree. The difference between 31' and 45' is huge. 45'
| will give you a much more comfortable ride and is safer in
| rough weather. Of course with both you want a blue ocean
| capable sailboat and not a coastal cruiser.
| deltarholamda wrote:
| > 45' will give you a much more comfortable ride and is
| safer in rough weather.
|
| There are lots of arguments about this. The 45' will have
| everything scaled up, so sail handling is more difficult.
| Assistive devices, like roller furling, while a lot better
| than they used to be are still finicky. Ground tackle,
| especially, is so much larger and heavier that without
| mechanized assistance, you'd better be in really great
| shape.
|
| Also, don't forget, all marinas rent slips by the foot. The
| cost difference is quite a bit between 31' and 45'.
|
| If you go single handed, it's hard to beat something like a
| Pearson Triton 28'. It's really old, but it's stupidly
| solidly built. The sea keeping abilities of these smaller
| cruisers are underappreciated. Whatever one goes with,
| figure out how well you can heave-to in it. Lin and Larry
| Pardey discuss this at length in "Storm Tactics." They
| describe weathering shocking storms while heaving-to, and
| watching their sideways wake break up dangerous waves. I
| have no idea whether newer boats are still built to perform
| with this formerly common tactic.
| pettycashstash2 wrote:
| I do love the mission statement...
|
| "Adventure before dementia..."
| unixhero wrote:
| Edgy, but too depressive for my tastes.
| [deleted]
| doitLP wrote:
| More context on the skipper
| https://www.noonsite.com/news/portrait-of-a-cruiser-long-ter...
| thom wrote:
| Ken and Roberta Williams (of Sierra fame) spend most of their
| time sailing around the world, and blog about the experience:
| https://www.kensblog.com/blog-2/.
|
| Blogs like these convinced me to start doing my yachtmaster
| qualifications. We're a good 15 years away from all the kids
| moving out but I can think of much worse ways to spend
| retirement.
| ryantgtg wrote:
| My aunt and uncle did this. My uncle worked for uncle sam as an
| engineer of some sort, spent the last few years before
| retirement building a sailboat, and then retired at 55. They
| lived on their boat about 10 months out of the year for the
| next 15 years. They stuck to the east coast of the US. They
| loved it.
| novok wrote:
| When I was a kid, I knew a kid who lived on a sailboat with his
| parents for a while and sailed around. It's definitely a
| possible thing to have a traveling lifestyle with young
| children!
| wingworks wrote:
| It really is, lots of families do it, e.g.
| https://www.youtube.com/c/SailingZatara and more recently:
| https://www.youtube.com/c/SailingLaVagabonde
| jabl wrote:
| Does it really work with multiple kids? I live with multiple
| kids in a somewhat spacious (for a city!) apartment, and man,
| it drives me and the spouse crazy when the kids are staying
| indoors for the entire day, not to mention multiple days on
| end, for whatever reason (terrible weather, covid
| quarantines, etc.). I just can't imagine what it would be
| like doing an ocean passage with them on a boat.
|
| (I spent a lot of my holidays as a kid sailing with my
| parents, but that was maybe a bit different as I was the only
| kid)
| wingworks wrote:
| Definitely depends on the type of family, these guys have
| been doing it for a few years now, but you would need a
| pretty close family, they talk about it allot in Q&A's
| they've done. https://www.youtube.com/c/SailingZatara
| fnord77 wrote:
| the risks of owning a sailboat
|
| > The Evelyn Roberts, a Hans Christian 42, almost directly
| opposite to me decides to sink. The owner is stuck in the USA and
| is not allowed through Malaysia's closed border. He has no
| insurance!
|
| > The cause of sinking is simple. The hose on the galley sink
| came off. That is why boats have seacocks. By turning a handle
| through 90 degrees the Evelyn Roberts would not have sunk.
|
| http://blog.mailasail.com/wildfox/posts/2020/11/15/559-evely...
| sdfjkl wrote:
| MailASail itself is interesting too. They provide stripped down
| email hosting for cruisers on low-bandwidth connections
| (satellite internet, SSB* with pactor modems). HTML, attachments,
| signatures are stripped away.
|
| The blog hosting is designed for submitting short text updates by
| (satellite) email, optionally with low-resolution photos, which
| are converted into blog posts.
|
| * Seems the SSB service is no longer there, or maybe I'm
| confusing it with sailmail.com
| pettycashstash2 wrote:
| I suppose this is a nice solution. Would starlink at all apply
| in this scenario or is satellite coverage not there yet?
| Scoundreller wrote:
| Among many issues, until they can figure out inter-satellite
| links, service far from a coast will be no bueno.
| stvkoch wrote:
| About content, I love watch the videos of Erik Aanderaa
| (https://www.youtube.com/user/kjolevannspumpe) from NO BULLSHIT
| JUST SAILING.
|
| He sail across the North Atlantic ocean in some wild conditions.
| wlll wrote:
| You might also like Sailing Uma. They've been a few places, but
| are in that sort of area and made it to Svalbard in the Arctic
| circle. They have similarly good quality videos.
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