As you know, my next dream project is sailing around the world… I came across an article by David Vann in Esquire, in which he describes his plan –
I am building a boat in my backyard. With tools from Home Depot and used sails. I’m going to sail around the world. Alone. My naval architect quit because he thinks I’ll die. I’m not going to die. I’m going to come back and tell the story…
I’m trying to spend only $25,000 for a boat that will sail nonstop around the world, covering twenty-five thousand miles in four months. It will have to sail fast in light air in the equatorial regions and also survive fifty-foot seas and hundred-knot winds in the terrifying Southern Ocean as I sail around Antarctica. And I’m building the boat myself, quickly, in a month or two, so it’s flat bottomed, with straight sides, and as skinny and light and simple as possible.
Here’s the starter article, and he’s been blogging the adventure as well, and it’s a pretty exciting read. Safe money may well be with the naval architect’s worries. The pictures of him building and sailing the boat are absolutely inspiring though — not just to do this, but to do this out of a back yard on no money…
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Christopher Cross said it best. Go for it, we’re behind you all the way. Literally. :)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Crowhurst
I’m reading ‘Kon-Tiki’ by Thor Heyerdahl atm.
a good book and kind of shows that if there’s a will, there’s a way;)
Hey Shannon, that website may interest You: https://www.wirhauenab.de/main.html
It’s written in german, but I guess that’s not a real problem, right?!
Best wishes from Berlin
C
I read Adrift. Sailing on a budget scares me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wzGsMSimWQ
https://www.dommee.co.uk/pgs/home/home.html
Excuse me for posting twice but I think there are a couple
Things to be said about the danger and not so dangerous
Aspects of ocean crossing.
And please read carefully the three cases above. The two who so far
And got in trouble but have both survived – Dom Mee thanks to
The Canadian Coast Guard – are very qualified for what they intend do
Which is not merely cross an ocean but cross it fast and solo.
That is asking for trouble twice – yeah – fast sounds good because
I can with weather information I can outrun a storm – well not these
Adventurers because by now to set a record with a multi-hull boat
You’ve got to be sailing fast – I mean if the record crossing is at 25 knots
In fact they are sailing on a storm front – exactly what careful would avoid.
I leave it to someone else to explain what a kite boat is but it doesn’t
Sound like there are very many of them out there – including the one Don Mee
Lost. As for the first guy – looks like he’d going to have another go this
Year and again no matter what he says he’s going for speed, records and
$2,000 to $3,000 inspirational speaking to the local chamber of couch potatoes.
https://www.sailboatlistings.com/sailboats/O'Day
There are ocean crossing boats out there that are proven and if you are careful
You can buy one in Halifax from someone who just came back from Bermuda.
That’s not quite ocean crossing but it will mean that the boat is almost certainty
Outfilled correctly – read the disasterous case of Donald Crowhurst if in fact
You do want to kill yourself at sea or so get yourself in such a pickle you just jump over-board. And that is the last unusual danger these adventurers lay on them selves – they sail SOLO. I hope others will add new posts I have not seen but there are all too many cases of people who just go nuts alone at sea.
That said and to close on the upbeat. Read
A Sea Vagabond’s World by Bernard Moitessier.
He did it all and in so many ways he did it first.
https://www.sailboatlistings.com/view/8691
this boat for example
His boat reminds me of the boat on Waterworld
these guys are trying to sail very fast on storm fronts – one of the tricks to give you more wind power is to fly a kite – the pix you see is the 1st of 28 – look at all of them and you’ll see what it is about –
That boat reminds me of the first guy to go balloning in a lawn chair. God help him if he dropped his bb gun.
The fact that the boat suffered a critical structural failure so soon into the voyage, once again proves that some people place no value on their lives.
For most people, flight too close to the sun, results in a wingless descent.
Here’s to Sailing Survivor…
be *very* careful how much inspiration you pull from that guy/boat.
Hey Eric
I went over and checked out your page – I so hope shannon will do the same – you are so on the right page – living on a boat is not what these guys – are about – they are trying and god bless them – they may succeed in setting new records – Don Mee just mught set a record rowing across the atlantic from the Canary Islands and the other guy might do something likewise – then they can make $2000/nite or a day giving inspirational speeches to people who will pay to identify with their will and their courage – but living on a boat – does not have to be anything like that – it can be so wonderful – you are very much a part of a community of fellow sailors but you have a freedom and a remove that just isn’t available on land.
And there I go – I have somewhat over-stated it –
Your boat looks wonderful and I am sure a pleasure to live on and to sail.
Just do it!!!
FAY
Tropical Storm Fay’s path means hurricane watch up to Tarpon Springs
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist urges Floridians “to remain calm, remain vigilant”
Tides could reach seven feet above sea level in Everglades City, Chokoloskee and Marco Island; winds near 60 mph
lISTENING TO THE WEATHER (VHF) CHANNEL
I’VE BEEN WAITING UP HERE IN TARPON SPRINGS BEFORE GOING SOUTH TO ST. THOMAS BECAUSE OF THE “HURRICANE SEASON”
THERE AIN’T TROPICAL STORM OR WHATEVER IS THINKING ABOUT TURNING LEFT AND MAKIN’ A RUN FOR OPEN WATER – RIGHT DOWN THE ANCLOTE – SEVERAL OF MY BUDS ARE ON THE HOOK IN THE RIVER –
Just Do It.
how do we forget that simeple truth -I mean no one gets out of here alive so why exactly are you being careful
it don’t matter
you are going to die
so in the meanwhile LIVE
some of these boats are not going to survive something as benign as a surge – snap the lines – and even just 60 mile wind is enough to make those boats into missiles…
You’d think a guy with a half million dollar boat would know how to tie his boat so it can go up and down 10′ without snapping a line 0r flipping the boat
It’s secretly amusing to see those boats you describe laying up in someone’s yard or sqaurely impaled on a piling.
I don’t think too much about the people that risk their lives out on the ocean, setting a course for disaster in their piss-poor boats. I mostly have a problem with them triggering some massive rescue effort where other people needlessly put their own lives and resources at risk.
People die in all sorts of unpleasant circumstances. Sailing off into oblivion seems less pitiful than sitting in your car on a bridge as it collapses.
Go bareback and leave the sat phone and VHF at home.
Shannon,
The market is flooded with very excellent , seaworthy boats for about $25-$30 K!! Have you looked at the listings in “Soundings” ?
https://www.sailboattraderonline.com/listing/1976-Tartan-34%27-Sloop-93199415
https://www.sailboattraderonline.com/listing/1974-Seafarer-Sloop-89801155
Sorry for the multiple postings, My own boat is a Moody 34 that has taken me from the UK to the US, from the US to the Virgin Islands and back and several trips to the Bahamas. They are quite expensive even used, however.
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