The £200 Millionaire

[micah719]

A blast from the past. This lovely story of another world came up in the dredge and I thought I'd share it with the CF'ers. My, how things have changed. Still, there's gold in them there words. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. If the story pleases you, feel free to send £200 to the Micah Institute of Bludging Free Stuff. If you're too stingy for that, inflict a random act of selfless kindness on a stranger for me.

The £200 Millionaire

The £200 Millionaire
A Story by Weston Martyr, 1932

My wife and I were sailing a hireling yacht through the waterways of Zeeland last summer, when one day a westerly gale drove us into the harbour of Dintelsas for shelter. A little green sloop, flying the Red Ensign, followed us into port. She was manned solely by one elderly gentleman, but we noted that he handled the boat with ease and skill. It was blowing hard, and the little yacht ran down the harbour at speed, but when abreast of us she luffed head to wind, her violently flapping sails were lowered with a run, and she brought up alongside us so gently that she would not have crushed an egg. We took her lines and made them fast, while her owner hung cork fenders over the side and proceeded to stow his sails. Urged by a look from my wife which said, 'he is old and all alone. Help him,' I offered to lend the lone mariner a hand. But he refused to be helped. Said he, 'Thank you, but please don't trouble. I like to do everytt,ung myself; it's part of the fun. But do come aboard if you will, and look round. You'll see there's nothing here that one man can't tackle easily.'

Continued on link, it's only a 10min read....

[Boatguy30]

PERFECT! My retirement plan!!!

Is that the full story? I recall seeing a quote of it in Annie Hill's book.

[micah719]

I snipped the url to get to the main page, still lurking on it to check it out. Interesting for British sailors.

[Cormorant]

I love that story. I was wondering what 200 1932 pounds would be in today's money. Found one online inflation calculator that gave this answer:

In 2010, £200 0s 0d from 1932 is worth:

£10,800.00 using the retail price index
£32,100.00 using average earnings

So damn -- he doesn't even make the $500 a month cutoff. ;-)

[Capt Phil]

If that tale doesn't set your foot on the first step around the world, nothing will! Thank you so much for sharing it with us, micah... Phil

[virginia boy]

Wonderful story!

[terminalcitygrl]

Thanks for posting this story. Wonderful!

[charliehows]

[charliehows]

??? yeah alan villiers includes this story in his book "of ships and men" and a lot of other great stuff too. I've been following that plan for a while now, albeit in a pacific paradise rather than the rather grim waters of northern europe. Lets not shout about it too loud, eh, dont want to clutter up the anchorages...

[SunDevil]

I learned that Zeeland is in the Netherlands... I thought it was slang for New Zealand at first.

There is something to be said for getting fresh local food when you travel. Florida oranges and Michigan apples just taste different when you get them the d

[SunDevil]

My message got chopped in half when I tried to save some changes it looks like... stupid internet connection.

I'll try and remember what I had said.

Florida oranges and Michigan apples just taste different when you get them locally grown and picked the same day.

I did nothing for six months, and I think another six months of that would have been the death of me.

Been there, done that. It is nice having 6 months off to relax, but after that you start questioning your purpose in life. Especially if you don't have any money and other people have expectations that you will be successful.

His £200 boat and £200 yearly budget, if in 2013 dollars would be similar to the $500/month thread would come out to $6000 for the boat and $6000 for the yearly budget. Since he had 20 times the boat price in savings (£4000), that would be around $120,000. That ignores the exchange rate. Now, this isn't to say that you couldn't do it all on less than £200 a year now. http://shine.yahoo.com/financially-f...190436599.html



I wish they had more maps and explained where you would anchor in one of those canals?

[Boatguy30]

SunDevil

hopefully this thread is closed out before too many people follow your logic.


I have a customer close to social security retirement working his tail off living in a rented house. He is 64 so could get some benefit now. I keep telling him to unplug, sell his car, ditch his job and rented house and take off on the paid for boat he has that is costing him another $500 in dockage.

some people just can't do the math.

[Irish rambler]

Hi there Sun Devil, We are actually moored in Narbonne for the winter (on your map). You can either stay in one of marina's, or as we do simply pull into the bank alongside a vineyard and use 2 mooring pins. It's the biggest vineyard in the world and stretches from Bordeaux all the way up the Rhone to the Bourgogne region. We cruise either the canals or the Med wherever the notion takes us. Yes, the fruit and grapes taste better just picked but the grapes are better when they've been tramped on ! You can moor up in the canal alongside a winery (cave) and fill your container just like petrol (cheaper too).If you're a fan of German wine the Moselle valley is only a 10 day cruise away. If anyone needs any further info drop me a reply and I'll help.
Good Luck.

[SunDevil]

I work with a person who has a $90k boat they bought ~2 years ago and still haven't left the marina...and they live and work 1,000 miles away. And their spouse has retired...

I know I pay more the $500/month just in property taxes, homeowners insurance, and HOA fees. And I pay $35/month for water, ~$20/month (avg) for gas and $0/electric now that I have solar panels.

Sooner or later, I will take that "one step". I should be taking a small step this Summer or Fall and building a small scale prototype boat to see if my concept works. Plus, I see a big midlife crisis coming in 5 years, so something will happen then. I'll be saving as much money as I can until then and should have a good amount if my expenses are kept low.

[SunDevil]

Originally Posted by Irish rambler

Hi there Sun Devil, We are actually moored in Narbonne for the winter (on your map). You can either stay in one of marina's, or as we do simply pull into the bank alongside a vineyard and use 2 mooring pins. It's the biggest vineyard in the world and stretches from Bordeaux all the way up the Rhone to the Bourgogne region. We cruise either the canals or the Med wherever the notion takes us. Yes, the fruit and grapes taste better just picked but the grapes are better when they've been tramped on ! You can moor up in the canal alongside a winery (cave) and fill your container just like petrol (cheaper too).If you're a fan of German wine the Moselle valley is only a 10 day cruise away. If anyone needs any further info drop me a reply and I'll help.
Good Luck.

I went through that region stuck inside of a train just like the story warned against.

I spent a week in the south of France, but I would have loved to have spent a lot more time there without a schedule.

Thanks for answering my question. How wide is your boat? Can it be wider than the 9 ft that the boat in the story was?