Challenge: Sail Around the World on $15k ?

[mct]

It's almost certainly *possible* with a starting budget of 15k, but it is undoubtedly gonna be bl**dy awful, a grim trial of endurance at the wrong end of the boat and food chain. Somewhere around 15k is usually the size of the 'get of jail" fund - mega mechanical problem, gotta get home pronto problem, that sort of thing. Not the total budget.

FAR more fun would be to hitch a ride with one or more of many boats going around the world. It might even be *better* than going on one's own boat - drop into australia (say) and do some serious inland stuff without any boat (marina docking etc) costs being incurred. Backpack around south america - not at all easy boat-based. Likewise lots of europe bit of a trial by boat alone - much easer in a combination of boat/rail/backpack . North american road trip a fine way back to california, for example. Glue this lot together with some boat crewing for the pacific, indian and atlantic oceans, using websites, laptop, skype, and 15k.

Adding up the main boat stuff for own-boat cruising (and this isn't crusing - it'll be serious bashity passage making, a race against the moeny running out) in a nice list doesnt even begin to address the reality of long distance cruising. Gentle anchoring and island hopping is much cheaper - less mechanical wear on stuff, and lots mre time to hunt down bargains. Shackles, lines, more lines sail repairs, motor repairs, oil, fuel more fuel is just the start, Dinghy needed to get ashore, and so on.

When you can walk into a chandlery and ask have you got a xyz, hm? and they say No - and you say Hah, i've got two! THEN you've probably got enough stuff. You'll still need fuel, medical, food...and 15k just isn't in the ballpark imho.

Good links here to crew on boats, findacrew.net another, also 7knots.com and your 15k will help hitch along, pay for when you're a fender ('=between boats') , the odd plane hop and so on. Also they'll be really NICE BIG boats, not pieces of awful iffy junk which need about erm 15k spending on them before setting off into any sea, let alone a possibly quite big sea.

[YourOldNemesis]

My wife and I sailed from Europe to NZ over a year on a total budget of GBP 8,000. I would guess this is about USD 10,000. It was fantastic and I'd recommend it to anyone. We didn't have our own boat though we worked our passages on other people's. I think you'd really really struggle to do it with your own boat included in your budget. Once you've got the boat, you need to look at spending a bit under USD 800 a month, that's what the most frugal sailors I ever met spent but that doesn't include buying the boat in the first place.

Bear in mind a FAST circumnavigation is 3 years (unless you're racing from cape to cape and stopping nowhere)

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by YourOldNemesis

... Once you've got the boat, you need to look at spending a bit under USD 800 a month, that's what the most frugal sailors I ever met spent but that doesn't include buying the boat in the first place.

Bear in mind a FAST circumnavigation is 3 years (unless you're racing from cape to cape and stopping nowhere)

Positive / negative. USD 800 per month per two is OK if nothing breaks and it will be difficult to squeeze in the Panama if the boat goes this way. Little, but not too little.

But a FAST circumnavigation the easy way is more like a year I dare say. Racing cape to cape (meaning the S ocean) would be MUCH less - see WRRC records.

Cheers,
barnie

[YourOldNemesis]

The frugal sailors to which I refer were a family of 4 living on an average of $800 a month. They'd been away from home for 6 years and that cost included everything including maintenance.

Sure you could get around the world faster than I quoted, but unless you're racing, what is the point?

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by YourOldNemesis

. They'd been away from home for 6 years and that cost included everything including maintenance.

I wonder what their cost was for the first 5 years.

I can tell you it ain't easy in the first few years. We have done a full 2 years and the budget from the boat is settling down a bit, but we still get curve balls from home, wherever.

After 6 years probably we could do it on the cheap too. Not $800 per month, thats crackers, but maybe a reasonable amount.


Mark

[OaklandSailor]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I wonder what their cost was for the first 5 years.

I can tell you it ain't easy in the first few years. We have done a full 2 years and the budget from the boat is settling down a bit, but we still get curve balls from home, wherever.

After 6 years probably we could do it on the cheap too. Not $800 per month, thats crackers, but maybe a reasonable amount.


Mark

Just my guess, since the only long term cruiser I know has been on a buoy in La Paz for some months with engine problems that he cannot write a check for or do himself, but isn't it reasonable that if one starts with a well found boat that isn't full of very expensive and sophisticated goodies but has solid basics like good rigging, sails, and particularly a diesel that is in tip top condition there shouldn't be too many ugly expenses for quite some time? Granted, like life on shore you need to spend less than you earn and save for expenses. The formula seems simple yet there are so many differing real-life experiences that are spoken of here (and the discussion is genuinely helpful to me as I begin shutting down my onshore life to prep for voyaging).

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by OaklandSailor

. The formula seems simple yet there are so many differing real-life experiences that are spoken of here (and the discussion is genuinely helpful to me as I begin shutting down my onshore life to prep for voyaging).

Then my advice is to opt for the opinions of those with the real life experience.

But surely you have had this sort of experience in life? Have you bought a house? What was the first year like? My dad sat on Dynamite boxes for 2 years, and 30 years later I sat on the carpet for my first 2 years, ate dinner out of hand-me-down crockery from Mum.

I'm stuffed if I know where all the extra expenses come from! But they find their way on board and they can't be posponed.

It sux big time.

But you just got to do it for a year or 2 (or 3!) eating rice without nothin else, till the budget catches up with itself.

Its not going to kill you. Its just going to piss you off when someone calls you a millionaire!.


Finally, if you do listen to me and allocate an extra $10k for the first year... and you don't use that whole $10k then is it a major problem? No you can get drunk and blame me!

[OaklandSailor]

Mark- Your thoughts sound prudent to me. I do have (I pray) time to get my ducks in a row and through this forum set very realistic plans. So, thanks for your thoughts. Last for now, do you (or any of you other folks reading this) have any thoughts about finding a boat here at home and sailing straight away to a less expensive place than the US in order to make upgrades wanted/needed before going further? I keep thinking such places exist but would only be known to the cruising community.

Mark-

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=MarkJ;441553

But you just got to do it for a year or 2 (or 3!) eating rice without nothin else, till the budget catches up with itself.

Its not going to kill you. Its just going to piss you off when someone calls you a millionaire!.


[SIZE=3]Don't Worry... Be Happy[/SIZE]

Hell Mark...

We visit and live in Hollywood film sets, having adventures like famous actors in the movies... well sort of...lol...
I'm the B Movie.. no racing/limited locations..
Non seafarers/friends/family admire us and say they envy our lives...
Many Coastal cruisers aspire to it... but all will tell you...
The people met, the places seen, the amazing experiences, sensations... and even better ... those yet to come..
"Are worth much more (so they say) than millions in the bank".
We have our ups, we have our downs...
We envy no man his boat... Admire yes... Envy no...
As to lifestyle.. we're probably happy with the one we're living..
You make do with what you got, one day up, the next one down... say nothing with malice.. accept help when needed... leave no one out of pocket when you move on.. Lifes best when basic like that...

"All men are Equal... but some are more equal than others"
"Karl Marx"... I think.. or was it Groucho.. what the hell.. both comedians.

"This Rule is subject to Fluctuation.... "
Sadam Hussain (LOL)

No one believes how tough it can be.. do they want to..??..or how close one lives to losing all and having nothing... but its richness is addictive.
And we have a part in...."SAILING........ THE MOVIE"


MARK..... Your a bloody millionaire mate... n so am I


now I've got the munchies.....

[Bash]

...as long as you've been alive: Never, NEVER, NEVER make an important career decision in April. This is the time of year when we're all beat to hell, and when we're not yet close enough to the finish line to feel that it's worthwhile to hang on.

I've taught at the secondary, community college, and university levels, and it's always the same: April sucks.

Hang in there. Teachers deserve better boats than anything you'll be able to purchase on your current budget, and if you keep with it your "ship" will ultimately come in.

[OaklandSailor]

Originally Posted by Bash

...as long as you've been alive: Never, NEVER, NEVER make an important career decision in April. This is the time of year when we're all beat to hell, and when we're not yet close enough to the finish line to feel that it's worthwhile to hang on.

I've taught at the secondary, community college, and university levels, and it's always the same: April sucks.

Hang in there. Teachers deserve better boats than anything you'll be able to purchase on your current budget, and if you keep with it your "ship" will ultimately come in.

...or, why doesn't our society value its educators? (Ok, sorry to hijack the topic of the OP).

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by OaklandSailor

...or, why doesn't our society value its educators? (Ok, sorry to hijack the topic of the OP).

Thats not hi-jacking the topic... its a valid question and maybe one that the OP will respond too... is it because he's under valued or just wants a different life style... there are many reasons for getting into this way of life.
Mine was by accident... literally... I had a bike accident that had me out of work for 18mths... I was going mental, so I bought an old pitchpine oak framed Magyar 7 that was lying abandoned in a boatyard for physical and psyhcological therapy... and the bug hit me again, I hadn't sailed since leaving the RN... and I've been at it ever since..
With an occasional 'romantic break'
Farewell Cruel World.... lol

[osirissail]

Originally Posted by OaklandSailor

. . . Last for now, do you (or any of you other folks reading this) have any thoughts about finding a boat here at home and sailing straight away to a less expensive place than the US in order to make upgrades wanted/needed before going further? I keep thinking such places exist but would only be known to the cruising community.
Mark-

- - If you are capable and willing to learn and do your own work, re-fitting, etc. inside the USA is cheaper by a long shot. Reason - prices of the parts is cheapest where the supply is the greatest.
- - If you cannot and/or do not want to do your own work then anywhere in or near a 3rd world country will be cheaper. You will pay 2X or 3X the price for parts and supplies but the labor will more than make up that. However, getting workers to work will require on-site supervision by you.
- - However, if you pick a place on the "main cruisers routes" you will be paying USA labor prices - they learned that trick quickly - plus the multiple above USA prices for parts and supplies.
- - Finding a "back-water" place in the USA is the best compromise to keep prices/costs to a minimum and still being able to purchase parts and stuff at the best prices.

[OaklandSailor]

Osiris: Your words ring true, but of course not the answer I had hoped for. Maybe I think there's an Ernest Hemingway Cuba out there waiting to be enjoyed by a handful of us who actually get there. Ok, next question might be if you know of a backwater US venue? If you don't want the entire world to know about it feel free to send a private message.

Best,
Mark

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by OaklandSailor

... any thoughts about finding a boat here at home and sailing straight away to a less expensive place than the US in order to make upgrades wanted/needed before going further? ...

Have not been to the US, but can see boat prices / spare parts / equipment prices as well as food prices there - can't quite see where it could be any cheaper than in the US.

Probably look for a way to cut the nasty costs (slip?) and just try to take advantage of what the US can offer in the way of buying/fixing/provisioning, only then sail away.

Remember when you are out of your country you immediately become a walking wallet. In your own country at least you speak your own language - so you will have a way with the good people and sense when the mean ones might try to cheat you.

barnie