A job... 5/18/2008
I graduated college in 2008 and didn't know what to do with myself. I was a 20 something with no desire to plug myself into the rat race - I just wasn't ready to start a career. Rather, I knew the economy wasn't ready for me to start a career. So I decided to get a job, invest in my passions for film and photography, save up as much money as I could (with the intention of traveling), and spend as much time in nature, my muse, as I could.
Brainstorm...
Money is truly useless unless you have a good way to spend it. I needed a good idea, so the brainstorm session was set in motion. My travel plan went through many stages; teaching English in southeast Asia, backpacking through South America, and every other cliche post-college travel plan one could think of, but a sailing trip became the dominant idea, also the most lofty.
It just made sense...
My girlfriend Karen and I founded our relationship during SEA Semester - a semester abroad program we both participated in on a tall-ship that sailed through the Caribbean. We crewed and got schooled while sailing to numerous islands throughout the Caribbean. It just made sense to come full circle and take a sailing trip of our own.
Found the boat... 6/25/2010
After months of searching and studying the boat market, we found the boat, and purchased The Might Quinn, a 1978 Hunter 30. The only problem was the boat was in Alameda, CA, and we were in Seattle.
Why buy the boat in CA in the first place? Simply put, there are more boats in California, and more boats makes for a more competitive boat market. The same boat being sold in Washington was 25% more expensive. Anyways, we are going down south, and buying in California would give us a head start on our southern journey.
Save more money... 11/23/2010
I wasn’t making enough money living in Seattle. Since I was already paying rent down in Oakland for the boat, I decided to move onto The Mighty Quinn. I would be away from Karen, but she planned on coming down every other week, so it was a small sacrifice for a big payoff. Also, it was the most logical way I could save more money. Our cruise was planned for about a year, and from all the budgeting information we gathered, we would need a bare minimum of $10,000 travel money. Living on the boat made for cheap rent, and I could also sail more, and hone more salty skills.
A new boat...
While our Hunter 30 was a great day sailor in San Francisco Bay, it lacked the necessary gear to qualify her as a coastal cruiser. After 6 months of owning her, we decided to start looking for a new boat that would be completely turn key for open ocean sailing. It would take another 4 months to sell the Mighty Quinn.
In Jeopardy... 08/08/2011
With the sale of our old boat, and the purchase of Panache, we had wasted $6000. Its hard to use the word wasted, but its equally hard not to describe it any other way. Meanwhile, Karen broke up with me, rendering my future plans of sailing in jeopardy.
I am free...
I scrambled to find appropriate crew, launched this website in correlation with a
Kickstarter, raised enough money to sail and threw the dock lines off early October 2011."Go small, go simple, go now" - Lin and Larry Pardey
