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While the Captain's Away

While the captain's away, the crew will work.

The captain of schooner Boudicca is off to Florida to do boat work aboard his step-father's boat. In November or early December, my father-in-law is taking his boat to Guatemala, before it is ready, there is plenty of work that needs to happen before then.

In the meanwhile, the crew of Boudicca has it's work cut out for it. We have to clean the boat from stem to stern. We also need to clean our old boat, Serendipity, preparing her to be sold. The pilothouse needs to be cleaned up in preparation for flush decking Boudicca. I also need to turn a small storage area into a closet.

There is a lot of general work that needs to be done to prepare the boat for a long offshore passage within a year. All belongings need to be gone through to determine what goes, what stays and where things staying on the boat belong.

Lattitudes and Attitude Magazine: My Introduction to Cruising

Summer of 1998, I was very pregnant. We had fallen on hard times and were looking for a place to stay. A midwife we had met at a pagan camping festival invited us to stay with her and her family. The road trip took us several hours, but it was well worth it when we were welcomed into her home. (Thank you a million times, Lisa.)

Her beau, Griffin, shared a similar passion as Alan; sailboats. He introduced Alan to a magazine named Lattitudes and Attitudes, Latts and Atts for short. Alan saw his chance, he would use the magazine, full of stories about beautiful foreign ports, to lure me in. He read stories of French Polynesia to me, filling my head with the imagined smells of tropical flowers; stories of Greece with ancient temples overlooking a crystal blue harbor. On and on he read, till finally, I was imagining that life for us too. I wanted the salty breeze whipping through my hair.

When Kali was about six months old, we moved aboard our first boat; a 29' Cascade. Since then, we have owned a total of four boats, (lived on three). We have been aboard a total of five years out of the past eight. The final one, Boudicca, is where I can see my girls growing up on.

Bob, you may joke that your magazine "ruins lives", (his joke for making cruisers out of people), but it was you that showed me home. There is no way I could ever thank you enough. Bob, though we have only met a few times, but
you will always have a place in my heart.

Lattitudes and Attitudes Magazine

Goals of our Schooner Boudicca adventure

To put it simply, the goal for Schooner Boudicca is to sail around the world on a large boat, (66 feet), on a small budget. There will be six to ten people going on the trip, (some for the fulltrip and some only for a leg or two), and we will be circumnavigating for five years beginning 2010. Our budget goal is about 30,000 a year.

We will be making money through various sources; writing for a few websites and boating/sailing/cruising magazines, I plan to keep up my blogs, savings, and we'll work as we go. I'm sure that over the course of the next few years of getting ready as well as during the trip itself, we will also come up with other ways to keep our trip going.

We will save money by only eating out when it is cheaper then eating at home, shopping in less expensive ports, keeping our systems simple so theyare less likely to break and easier for us to fix ourselves.

We will be traveling with children, my elder daughter is 8, the younger is 6 and we are trying to get pregnant a third time. If we leave when we are planning, my older daughter will have just turned 11, my younger will be two months away from 9 and the new one will be about 2. I already homeschool, (specifically unschooling), so we will continue on that path. Schooling costs will be new books for the kids, paper, pens, arts and craft supplies, games, our imaginations, and life itself.

We will conserve water and use rain collection. We will conserve electricity and use water, solar and wind generation.

As the blog grows, I will add more ideas that we will use to make traveling more affordable.

Why would anyone live on a sailboat? And other common questions about full- time living aboard.

Why would anyone live on a sailboat? And other common questions. Here are your answers. Feel free to post a comment if you have any other questions.
I have had many people utter amazement at the fact that I live, with my family on a sailboat. Along with their amazement, comes many questions

Why do you live on a boat instead of a house or apartment?
There are many reasons why. One of which is wanderlust; My hubby and I have move on average every 6 months. Living on a boat gives us the freedom to move without having to go through all the "moving" part. We also are planning a circumnavigation, and living aboard is the natural extention of our adventurous spirit. Those are just a few of the reasons we're on a boat. For us, it's a sailboat in particular is the ability wo travel without using up as much fossil fuels. It also, in turn costs less, which allows me to stay home with the children.

What are the differences between living on a boat and land life?
There are many differences. We are much more aware how much water and electricity we use. Our head, (or toilet), is different from a household toilet. When we are at anchor, we have to take a smaller powerboat, (a dinghy), to get to land. We are much more aware of the weather as it affects us in a more direct way. We need to be more attentive to maintenance; a problem on a boat, if ignored, can couse us to loose our home. We have many less refrigeration options, which causes us to be much more aware of our grocery shopping choices. We also have to be more aware of our "stuff" inventory, we have less room for stuff them a person in a house in a house would have.
I'm sure there are more differences, though that gives a good idea.

Isn't it dangerous for the kids?
Yes and no... We have to take precautions, just like any other parent, but we have to take some additional ones; life jackets, lifelines on the boat (which is like fencing in the yard), and teaching the kids about safety aboard a boat.
On the other hand, we don't have to worry about our neighborhood, as the kids don't leave the boat without us. as our girls have grown up on the boat, they have been raised with the boating safety rules, they are accustomed to them and abibe by them without question. They also know that while underway, they must abide by the captain's orders without question.

How do your kids go to school?
We homeschool. Specifically, we unschool. The girls learn by living life and asking questions. We occasionally recommend a specific topic we think they would be interested in or feel is particularly important. The girls love most topics, especially history and science. We nurture their love of learning and teach them how to learn
.
Where have you traveled?
We have lived in the Philadelphia, PA area and in Key West, FL. We have traveled by boat all the way from Key West To Philly, then when getting the new (to us) boat from Long Island, NY to Philly. Within a year, we'll be traveling back down to Key West for a couple years before we head off for our circumnavigation.