When reading this blog one might get the impression that sailing around the world is only about cruising between paradise islands, snorkeling in crystal clear waters, sipping on tropical drinks while chilling on deserted beaches, hiking in colorful rainforest and so on but surprisingly (not?), it is also a lot about physical work, maintaining your ship and keeping everything clean, tidy and in order and also to fix everything that might get damaged as you move along on the seas. Like this little chore that I have been delegated to perform once a week or so. Scrubbing the bottom of the dinghy from barnacles, algae and other sea creatures. Not a very fun job if you ask me, but that's something that must be done, as much as we need to clean the bottom of the (sail)boat every once in a while, clean and polish the deck fittings to prevent them from corrosion, change sails every time we are underway depending on the change of wind force, bring fresh water to the boat with jerry cans from shore when the water maker cannot be used due to inappropriate water in the anchorage, haul the dinghy up or down between the water and the deck of the boat when arriving to or leaving an anchorage - and then all kind of other small things that have taken myself quite some time to get used to, such as washing clothes for hand when there's no laundry place nearby, clean the dishes with salt water and only rinse with fresh to save on the water in the tanks, move things around on the boat every time we have visitors as there's not much more space than for two with all of our belongings and so on..
A life on land is very very convenient when you compare it with a life on a boat that's for sure, but it is also obvious that there are tons of benefits with a lifestyle like this that outweighs the physical work needed. It just takes some time to get used to it all, and thinking back now on the previous life which was lead before we move aboard this boat - I have hard to even remember how it felt to not have to work this hard with my body to get things done. And then I'm thinking about all that money I used to waste on taxis because I was too lazy to walk, all the dry-cleaning needed for the delicate fabrics of the clothes that I wore, all the membership cards to different sport clubs and personal trainers that I rarely made use of because of laziness and the massive amount of water I used to clean single pieces of clothes in the washing machine as it was "urgent" (and not to mentioned all the money spent on clothes, travels, dining out etc..) life is definitely much more simple now. More physical work, not at all as comfortable as on land, but also it is much more straightforward, pure and simplified in a way that is so liberating for the mind.
Gone are the clutter, waste and laziness, instead we use only what we really need and if we wish to move from A to B we need to make sure to do so with our own physical efforts (with the help from the wind of course) and would there ever be any problem with the boat or any of our equipment, we need to make sure to fix it ourselves and with our own bare hands (mostly Alex', obviously). And I like it like this, simple, natural and straightforward. I think you would be surprised to see how fast it goes to wean oneself from the things that you thought were absolute necessities in life.
If I could encourage everyone of you to get out sailing some more in your lives, I would do so - there is so much you'd learn about yourself, our world and about what one really needs that is quite interesting to experience. Also you will never ever be in better physical shape than what you are after a few months on the seas from all that hard work, that's for sure.
For the ones of you who hasn't been sailing much in your lives, what are your perception of a life sailing around the world like we do? Could you ever imagine yourself doing it for some years of your life, and if so, what do you think would be the positive/negative sides with a lifestyle like that? Am curious to hear your thoughts.
For the ones of you who hasn't been sailing much in your lives, what are your perception of a life sailing around the world like we do? Could you ever imagine yourself doing it for some years of your life, and if so, what do you think would be the positive/negative sides with a lifestyle like that? Am curious to hear your thoughts.
P.S: By the way do you see the thin black string hanging from my sunglasses? Alex got me those as I still, for some stupid reason, haven't learnt that the sea is a greedy bastard who swallows everything she can get a hold on. After loosing five pairs of Prada, Rayban and Marc Jacobs shades to the ocean in the past twelve months, it was about time to hook the new ones firmly in place. Just one of all those things one needs to get used to on the seas...
