Sailing into the Sunset and how to do it! — Part 7
following the previous post ‘Buying a yacht’… in part 6.
Living on a yacht in Greece has its own set of rules. Everything revolves around the wind and the summer heat so pacing yourself is important. My routine is getting up in the morning around 8am when it’s still cool and have a cup of coffee in the cockpit. It’s a lovely time of the day, everything is fresh and you can sit back and watch the islands come alive.
Then we would either walk to the supermarket (After rowing ashore, we do a lot of walking) or I continue with my maintenance program of continually improving the boat. Around 2pm we have a lite snack possibly a salad and rest sheltering from the hottest part of the day, it’s too hot to do anything else. Around 4pm we generally go for a swim and then finish the jobs I started earlier in the day. We generally have our evening meal around 7pm. If this was all I had to do for the summer I’d go stur-crazy.
This routine is fine for a long holiday but it can be very boring after a while. Liveaboard sailors are known for making adventurous decisions. This ‘Get up and go’ approach to living can be a double edge sword. It’s important you have something to occupy yourself whilst you’re out there. I’ve known plenty that have made the move bought the yacht are financial secure and within 2 years are returning home because they did nothing but site in the tavernas and drink.
Things to do. Get apart-time job? Not all ‘Reps’ work for package tour companies. Quite often a select villa rental company prefer a mature professional person representing their company. But this would restrict your movements with the boat. Another alternative is to write. There are plenty of opportunities to write whilst living on a boat.
A regular contributor to Classic Boat Magazine based in the UK http://www.classicboat.co.uk is Niki Perryman. Niki Perryman and her partner have been sailing the world living on a yacht for many years. Niki’s column musing about life afloat is very evocative and gives a real sense of place. Selling your articles to magazine and newspapers is much easier with Internet access.
Below are some book recommendations too help make your decision about Sailing into the Sunset.
Cost Conscious Cruiser
The Capable Cruiser
Self Sufficient Sailor
They’re all by Lin and Larry Pardey a couple that have sailed the world since 1976
Why not get paid writing for a blog…
http://jobs.problogger.net/
I’m more than happy to answer questions via the Comments below.
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Tags: cruising, retired, sailing, yacht
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