Sailing to the South

[scruff]

First let me start by pointing out that I'm more thinking aloud than truly pondering. At least that's what I'm telling myself. For now. Honest.

Anyway. Not sure if many of you have noticed, but the Job market in the UK is not exactly booming. However I understand my line of work is easier to come by down under.

I have 12 months, as of today, left on my current work contract. I own a sound but Spartan Folkboat derivative, have a Navik windvane in the shed and I am in my Mid/late twenties.

If, at the end of my current contract, I were to decide to say b*gger it, I'm off sailing for a while and point the bow west (I would imagine Atlantic trade wind route, Panama, Pacific), where would be the worst possible source for reading and pilotage information? (I have already read much of the Hiscocks, Slocum, Pidgeon, Roger Taylor, Bernard Motisier, L & L Pardey etc). Cheap and or free would be best. Like I say, this is just pondering with a want for more information....

Also, if I were to budget for a year away what sort of cost should I budget for? I know this is possibly a length of string question, but please bear in mind I will be (most likely!) solo, in a small boat, living at anchor, rarely heading into a marina, and recently a student so used to living off a plateful of dust & beans. Perhaps also the most important factor is that I already own a boat with pretty new sails and a windvane self stearing system.

Also, a perhaps unquantifiable point, just HOW BAD would it look on my CV if I were to take a "gap year" so early into my proper working career?

(also would love to see the south pacific...)

Thanks.

 

[Ludd]

Find a lass with the same aspirations and GO. Two really can live as cheaply as one----and you can always send her out to work!
£10 grand more rhan ample if boat is ocean ready.

 

[Tranona]

Really is no definitive answer to your question, but just a few suggestions to help you brain cells work. First, there is a mass of information out there (more recent and probably less romantic and more relevant than the sources you quote) - blogs, books, magazine articles, threads on fora such as this. You will discover pretty quickly there is no "one way", although you can put people into categories that vary from "I'm penniless, but I am going anyway" to "This is my way of having an on going holiday in my nice new all singing and dancing..." with all sorts of variations in between.

It can be very cheap - read Annie Hill for ideas on how to live on a bag of beans and enjoy yourself or just a variation on shoreside living. Costs split up into 3 broad categories keeping the boat going (including berthing), food, and social activities. The middle one is relatively easy to estimate, just look at how much you currently spend and use that as a base. If you spend lots of time sailing then food costs can be low, as can all the others because there is nothing to spend your money on. Once you stop you need to spend money, and in some parts of the world you can't avoid it because of limited anchorages.

One thing you will find is that you can't do much in a year unless you just head south and possibly west. But in that time you can't get anywhere cheap and warm, and get back again, so you have to consider what you are going to do at the end of the year as chances are you will be unable to sell your boat where you end up.

People cope with this kind of uncertainty in different ways - some just ditch the boat and get back to "normal", others, turn into eternal gypsies, yet others build a life around working part of the year and sailing the rest. Many come to hate it before they escape northern europe and get back to "normal" glad that they gave it a try.

Just read lots of current stuff and be honest about how you think you will get the best out of your time and money and then do it.

 

[scruff]

Tranona, thanks for your helpful post.

The year is, as much as everything, a guideline. I would be aiming to head to New Zealand / Australia to work for a few years, so 2 years is possibly more realistic.

I am well versed in the in feeding myself very cheaply. Only a few months ago, I was living on <£15 per week. Feeding & entertaining yourself on that budget is tight, trust me!

I have Annie Hill's book sitting on my bookshelf staring at me as I type this and I have read it a few times. It was this book that helped me with feeding myself so cheaply.

The information I am more looking for is the cost of registering in and out of various countries, the cost of a panama transit and the amount paid for bribes if they are the done and accepted things. Also the relative cost of food and veg in far flung places would be good to know.

One of the main appeals is the chance to spend some time in and with some cultures that 95% of the general population do not get the opportunity to meet and spend time with.

Also trade wind sailing, coral atolls, spear fishing, BBQ's on the beach and the taste of adventure holds a certain appeal.

The budget will be severely limited as you would expect however, I just do not want to feel that I missed out on something, just because I didn't work that extra 5 hours overtime.

Thanks,

 

[PlanB]

Others will have more cruising knowledge than I have but, as an ex-employer, I would say that seeing a long sailing trip on someone's cv would make me more interested in them, not less.

 

[Salty John]

Check out Nick's site here:
http://www.bigoceans.com/

He did what you're contemplating in a Contessa 26.

 

[nauticalnomad]

First let me start by pointing out that I'm more thinking aloud than truly pondering. At least that's what I'm telling myself. For now. Honest.

Anyway. Not sure if many of you have noticed, but the Job market in the UK is not exactly booming. However I understand my line of work is easier to come by down under.

I have 12 months, as of today, left on my current work contract. I own a sound but Spartan Folkboat derivative, have a Navik windvane in the shed and I am in my Mid/late twenties.

If, at the end of my current contract, I were to decide to say b*gger it, I'm off sailing for a while and point the bow west (I would imagine Atlantic trade wind route, Panama, Pacific), where would be the worst possible source for reading and pilotage information? (I have already read much of the Hiscocks, Slocum, Pidgeon, Roger Taylor, Bernard Motisier, L & L Pardey etc). Cheap and or free would be best. Like I say, this is just pondering with a want for more information....

Also, if I were to budget for a year away what sort of cost should I budget for? I know this is possibly a length of string question, but please bear in mind I will be (most likely!) solo, in a small boat, living at anchor, rarely heading into a marina, and recently a student so used to living off a plateful of dust & beans. Perhaps also the most important factor is that I already own a boat with pretty new sails and a windvane self stearing system.

Also, a perhaps unquantifiable point, just HOW BAD would it look on my CV if I were to take a "gap year" so early into my proper working career?

(also would love to see the south pacific...)

Thanks.

Times more important than money...
I work in the oil and gas industry and am 38 this year,
Id reckon ive worked a total of 10 yrs in the past 21.
Im currently in the Netherlands and am from Australia originally,
Ive spent 18 months in Sth America, then the UK and the middle east.
I have spent the past 4 yrs working hard to pay off a 45ft yacht, but once that is done its rest time again,
I only work to prepare myself for what i want to do.
Work smart and spend time with yourself is my motto.
You think right if you were to earn a grand a week.
You would spend say a 1/3 of that on rent or mortgage etc, then food, then pleasure, then not to mention if you travel to work it costs you for that too.
So if you eradicate yourself from the economic prison to which you live.
You then dont need the money to sustain your entrapment.
You catch fish for food, and change your diet.
The mental concept of never having enough money is fear and prevents you from leaving your comfort zone,
but you soon realise that you create another comfort zone on your next point of call.
I spent 12 grand US in 18 months in Sth America back packing and doing not much, but it opened my eyes to the world, and made me decide i want to sail the rest of it. I need a boat so i went back into working etc.
Ive seen loads of people in marinas wanting to live the dream of sailing to nowhere, but in reality theyll never leave as they think they will never be ready.
Youve just got to go and deal with what happens next.
Youll soon get by im sure

 

[nauticalnomad]

Times more important than money...
I work in the oil and gas industry and am 38 this year,
Id reckon ive worked a total of 10 yrs in the past 21.
Im currently in the Netherlands and am from Australia originally,
Ive spent 18 months in Sth America, then the UK and the middle east.
I have spent the past 4 yrs working hard to pay off a 45ft yacht, but once that is done its rest time again,
I only work to prepare myself for what i want to do.
Work smart and spend time with yourself is my motto.
You think right if you were to earn a grand a week.
You would spend say a 1/3 of that on rent or mortgage etc, then food, then pleasure, then not to mention if you travel to work it costs you for that too.
So if you eradicate yourself from the economic prison to which you live.
You then dont need the money to sustain your entrapment.
You catch fish for food, and change your diet.
The mental concept of never having enough money is fear and prevents you from leaving your comfort zone,
but you soon realise that you create another comfort zone on your next point of call.
I spent 12 grand US in 18 months in Sth America back packing and doing not much, but it opened my eyes to the world, and made me decide i want to sail the rest of it. I need a boat so i went back into working etc.
Ive seen loads of people in marinas wanting to live the dream of sailing to nowhere, but in reality theyll never leave as they think they will never be ready.
Youve just got to go and deal with what happens next.
Youll soon get by im sure

As for the CV just stretch the dates to cover the adventure,
or ive noticed if you start rattling off in an interview that youve sailed somewhere youve got an outgoing persona and everyones interested to know more, Chances are youll get the job.

 

[phantomlady]

Very well said Nauticalnomad. Good advice indeed

 

[scruff]

Thanks.

I was half expecting to receive a plethora of comments along the lines that I should continue working my 50 hour weeks and do the "Normal" thing; bigger & faster car and get a bigger mortgage that I will pay off gradually over the next 30 years, yadda yadda yadda.

Instead some irresponsible members seem to think that it's perfectly reasonable for me to want to drift into the sunset, goose winged in the warm trades with a mug of rum.

To top it off, an article I read in the news paper today was on the top 5, most common regrets as recorded by a palliative care nurse. Number 1 was "I wish I didn't work so hard" closely followed by "I wish I followed though my dreams".

I feel it's a conspiracy.

Oh well, just popping back to noon site for some more reading.

Not that I'm thinking of going wandering you understand. No-sir-ee, not me.

Honest.









Thank's for the encouragement)

 

[Sandyman]

You only live once so enjoy it. Do what YOU want to do and not what the system tell you
to do, or what others expect you to do, with YOUR life. It matters not what others think, or what they say, it only matters to YOU.
So, if you want to do it then do it. Sod everyone else. Good Luck to you.

 

[lenseman]

Nick Jaffe of this parish (nickrj) sailed away from the UK and went via Holland to Australia!

I went down to Southampton before he left to advise him on a few points. If I remember correctly he had no barometer, chart-plotter or SSB, all he was carrying were three hand-held radios (two spare) and a compass. Bear in mind that Nick, was his early twenties and had never sailed before and just went out and bought a 26 foot yacht to sail across two oceans ALONE!

You can read his archived blog here and I have started with a link showing his estimate of costs (in 2006):

http://www.bigoceans.com/2006/07/30/pricing/

By the way, he was also penniless!

His blog is epic!

 

[nickrj]

Nick Jaffe of this parish (nickrj) sailed away from the UK and went via Holland to Australia!

I went down to Southampton before he left to advise him on a few points. If I remember correctly he had no barometer, chart-plotter or SSB, all he was carrying were three hand-held radios (two spare) and a compass. Bear in mind that Nick, was his early twenties and had never sailed before and just went out and bought a 26 foot yacht to sail across two oceans ALONE!

You can read his archived blog here and I have started with a link showing his estimate of costs (in 2006):

http://www.bigoceans.com/2006/07/30/pricing/

By the way, he was also penniless!

His blog is epic!

Sometimes I wonder how many people have read about my trip and voyaged off, either successfully or otherwise... While my experience was minimal, there are many other characteristics required by person to make such such a voyage successful... I only say this to caution people jumping off the deep end and then saying 'Nick did it, so can I'! ...

In fact, I wouldn't even put the ability to actually sail a boat at the top of the list in terms of 'things required to sail around the world'... As weird as that may sound...

 

[Frankie-H]

Others will have more cruising knowledge than I have but, as an ex-employer, I would say that seeing a long sailing trip on someone's cv would make me more interested in them, not less.

+1

Go for it and good luck

 

[Frankie-H]

Times more important than money...
I work in the oil and gas industry and am 38 this year,
Id reckon ive worked a total of 10 yrs in the past 21.
Im currently in the Netherlands and am from Australia originally,
Ive spent 18 months in Sth America, then the UK and the middle east.
I have spent the past 4 yrs working hard to pay off a 45ft yacht, but once that is done its rest time again,
I only work to prepare myself for what i want to do.
Work smart and spend time with yourself is my motto.
You think right if you were to earn a grand a week.
You would spend say a 1/3 of that on rent or mortgage etc, then food, then pleasure, then not to mention if you travel to work it costs you for that too.
So if you eradicate yourself from the economic prison to which you live.
You then dont need the money to sustain your entrapment.
You catch fish for food, and change your diet.
The mental concept of never having enough money is fear and prevents you from leaving your comfort zone,
but you soon realise that you create another comfort zone on your next point of call.
I spent 12 grand US in 18 months in Sth America back packing and doing not much, but it opened my eyes to the world, and made me decide i want to sail the rest of it. I need a boat so i went back into working etc.
Ive seen loads of people in marinas wanting to live the dream of sailing to nowhere, but in reality theyll never leave as they think they will never be ready.
Youve just got to go and deal with what happens next.
Youll soon get by im sure

WoW! ever thought about adding philosophy to your list. Very well said.

 

[Conachair]

Also, if I were to budget for a year away what sort of cost should I budget for? I know this is possibly a length of string question, but please bear in mind I will be (most likely!) solo, in a small boat, living at anchor, rarely heading into a marina, and recently a student so used to living off a plateful of dust & beans. Perhaps also the most important factor is that I already own a boat with pretty new sails and a windvane self stearing system.

If you're anchoring all the time and stay out of the pub you can live very well on very little. Imagine a rent free floating bedsit in great weather with some fantastic cheap markets nearby
If you're not in a rush them diesel costs will be minimal. Boats sounds pretty well sorted but power might need looking at.

A year goes quick.

http://www.noonsite.com/ - Very good source of info.

 

[matt21]

Cv

If your worried about the cv focus on improving it before you leave. Many people ignore their cv year to year, working an extra year, does give you another years experience but it's valuable skills that will get you the next job. i don't know what industry your in but do what you can, you might even have to work harder just before you go to gain some more valuable experience to help you stand out on your return.

 

[tcm]

The ozzies positively expect people to go travelling - they call it their OE - overseas experience.

One of the worst possible sources of information will be my blog - i have done a few transats
to build up speed and now in panama i will be catapulting out into pacific sometime feb or march. So far i have foundmost information fairly useless - it’s best not to prepare for any entry to any port or country so far, nor to take the slightest bit of notice about all the dire warnings in noonsite etc. instead, just hoik up to anchorage, use the “scan” function on a vhf to find the cruisers channel and find the very latest info of who to call if anyone, or if yerknow, they’re ok about checking in tomorrow or somewhere else, and see you in the bar.

 

[jonic]

It can be done, so just do it.

In 2002 we left, with a lot of help from this forum, for a year or maybe two.


Eight years later we returned!

We wouldn't dream of going back to our old careers and are both self employed now, so the gap in the CV is irrelevant.

SWMBO is now an author www.sailawaybook.com

...and you might enjoy her stuff

And I do what it says in my sig below.


Lifes way too short to be at the grindstone for most of it,

 

[BobnLesley]

No worries

...just HOW BAD would it look on my CV if I were to take a "gap year" so early into my proper working career?...

25 Years ago, when about your age, Lesley & I spent two years riding around half the world by motorcycle. During the job interviews I had immediately after returning and indeed all those since, that two year break noted on my CV has proved a positive advantage in getting jobs.

From subsequent experience sat on the opposite side of the recruitment desk, when reviewing/shortlisting applicants, I would always grant an interview to the oddball/traveller and also try to get their interview set in the middle of the bunch. I've found some great staff that way and even when they've not proved suitable, it did at least give me a 3/4 hour break from listening to candidates relate the same story of school, college, relevant experience, etc.