hHow to become a liveaboard cruiser. This entire video is dedicated to that very
question, a question that we get asked all the time across all our social media.
So basically in the future whenever we get asked any of the questions we're
going to cover in this video, rather than answer each question individually we can
direct you to this video. And we are also putting together a guide, a comprehensive
guide for all you wannabe liveaboards to accompany this video. we'll give you
some more details on that later on. So it's very simple really isn't it Jamie?
It is. Just buy a boat, slip the lines and you're done! Thank you very much, see you later!
No, that's not fair it's obviously a very simplistic answer, but one of the biggest
biggest concerns for most people is actually making the leap. It's making the
leap. And this video is all about how to help you make the leap. And we're gonna
do that in seven stages. Throughout this video we've got seven
pointers for you and they are: what is a liveaboard, why become a liveaboard who
can become a liver board the psychological leap, getting experience,
learning from the experts, and financing the live-aboard life. Many of us simply
fell into this cruising life, it wasn't anything planned, it just happened. But
there are many others who meticulously plan and work on it for years until
they're ready. What is a liveaboard? For our definition here, it's anyone that
lives on a boat. It could be a canoe, a super yacht or anything in between. And
whether you live on it for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 12 months you are
living on the water so you are a liveaboard So why become a liveaboard? Here
are some ideas for you. I think the most important one is to unplug from the
matrix. And if we could summarize that in one word it is freedom. It's the freedom
to move around whenever you want to. To make your own decisions as to where you
are going to go, and who you spend your time with
Now obviously you're going to be dealing with bureaucracy and officialdom as
you move through different countries, so you will have to do with that, but I
think ultimately it's that freedom of not having someone breathing down your
neck telling you what to do and when to do it. We do it to meet new people. New
people on other boats, and new people around the world in the local areas that
we visit, which is a huge part of the enjoyment for us. Another good reason is
to try new food! One of our favorites! We've tried things
from Turkey to India to Thailand to Indonesia. We've tried all kinds of food,
and we're hoping that we will try loads more. Lots of us want to do it because we
want to sail on the open ocean, but you do have to remember as a liveaboard but
that's only a very small fraction of the time. Most of the time you're
cruising between destinations along coasts, and from island to island which
is also good. Whilst you're doing all that cruising of course there's fishing.
Even if you don't like eating fish, I'm sure there'll be someone else on board
who will appreciate your efforts. So fishing is a very definitely for us, it's
definitely up there as a reason to live aboard. Yeah, and if there's no one on the
boat that likes it, get a cat because the cat will really like the fish! And
finally living on a boat and traveling around the world is a really great way
to keep your brain active. There are essential skills you have to learn.
Essential skills like how to tie knots, navigation, plumbing, electrics,
engine maintenance, all of those things you are going to have to know how to do.
But on top of that you've got a whole host of other skills that you can
develop in your free time. Yeah I mean we've really taken up blogging and
vlogging as everybody knows. You took your photography to another level, I got
involved in writing and I now write for several magazines. People do
bird-watching, they learn about the underwater, snorkeling, diving. You learn
languages as you go around the world, and there are lots of things. Of
these things all of these things will keep that gray matter ticking over.
Who can become a live aboard? Well we're not going to sugarcoat this for you,
there are two very important things: the first is to actually have that will to
make the psychological and the physical leap onto a
boat; and the second one is money. Yes you do need money. You can't do it on a
shoestring. Although we do know someone who has sailed around the world on a
34-foot boat on a simple nurse's pension. And they did okay, but it's not easy and
a little bit of cash can take you a little bit further. We're going to talk a
bit more about finances in a moment, but first we just want to cover off some
other topics that might help you decide if you are a liveaboard. The first is
health. You've got to be healthy. Sailing is a very active pursuit, so you
do need to have the ability to get up and down the companionway, to jump on and
off the boat, and to deal with emergencies as well. You have to think
about age. Lot of people worry that they're too old now. We have met people
in their 80s who are still sailing around the world, and the man was playing
in a five-a-side football tournament when we met him in Turkey. So age is in
your head. It's how old you feel and how healthy
you feel. And in fact I think people who are a little bit older are at a slight
advantage, that youthful arrogance can sometimes get you into trouble.
The final consideration in this point is sex. Yes sex. Doesn't matter weather you're man
or woman, sailing is gender neutral. There is no reason why women can go off and
sail on their own as much as men can. In fact I met a young French sailor in
her 30s only recently who was going off on a big trip east
towards the Philippines, and she had lots of people helping around which was great.
Obviously you will meet some dinosaurs on along the way. Unfortunately sailing,
like anywhere else in the world, you will meet that. So be prepared for that,
It's a gender-neutral sport. Next up is the psychological leap.
This is a very big hurdle that we've already talked about, so let's discuss
that in a bit more detail. For a lot of people, family friends and finances (the
three Fs) are what hold a lot of people back. I think one of the biggest
hurdles is the actual willingness to
physically make that leap. So the first big leap is leaving your family and your
friends behind. Are you prepared to do this and is it gonna cause a problem?
The first solution of course is to invite your family and friends along, get
them to come away on a sailing holiday and join you wherever you are in the
world. And the second solution is that we now have social media. When we started out
there wasn't anything like that, but now we're so connected all of
us, all around the world. You can be talking to people every day, obviously
Facebook and Instagram and email, our blog. You can message each other really
really quickly, Skype, FaceTime. There's brilliant and lots of easy ways
to keep connected with both family and friends. Another solution is just to
remind yourself that your true friends and your family wouldn't want to
begrudge you your lifestyle aboard your boat. Don't get too bogged down in that,
don't beat yourself up about that. So if they can't be happy for you, they're not
your friend, life's too short. Letting go of possessions is something
that really occupies everybody's mind. But do you really need 10 pairs of shoes,
five overcoats, all those different dresses, the high heels, all that jewelry,
hats, trainers... There's loads and loads of stuff that we
keep and it's really important that you are prepared to let go of some of that
stuff go. When we moved onto the boat we sold a lot of our stuff, we gave it away,
we gave it to charity, friends took some of the bits that they wanted. We really
decluttered, that's terrifically important if you're gonna be able to
come on a boat. Yeah, and there's a lot to be said for that the process, the mental
process of decluttering, you know you declutter yourself with your physical
possessions and you kind of declutter your minds as well. Yes
And you know
you'd be surprised that you very quickly get used to that reduced amount of
possessions once you're on the boat. And the other thing we found is that after
living on the boat for so long, we've been here since 2006, we need less and
less, certainly in the way of clothing. I hardly ever wear shoes, it's only if
we're going into town, I'll put my pair of flip-flops on. I'll wear the same
t-shirt for three days. and I really don't bother with too much. Introducing
risk into your life. Sailing can be dangerous, hitting reefs, going overboard
there are all sorts of dangers involved. But we say
embrace that, see it as a challenge. Get that adrenaline pumping, a lot of people
worry about what they're going to do all day. They think they're gonna be
sailing. But for a lot of the time you're not sailing, so you do have to find
other things to do. And probably the thing that you will spend most of your
time doing is boat maintenance. Something which has to be done every day. In a lot of
detail at some stage, and just simple checks pretty much every day... "Two
batteries done - two to go..." as you can see some people are busier than others...
Just taking this apart now and examining it. It looks like the connection is there
so it's case of popping that off and putting a new one in. We talked earlier about the
pursuits outside of the essential skills that you're going to
need to learn, and it's very easy to fill up your day pursuing those new and
existing interests. We don't have enough hours in the day to get done all the
things that you and I want to do, do we? If ever you find yourself saying I'm
bored, you obviously haven't moved onto the boat yet. The next thing to think
about if you're considering becoming a river board is to gain lots of
experience right now. First obvious thing to do is to join a local sailing club if
you have the opportunity to do that, and if you can't do that, or in addition to,
then join people on their boats, become crew. The more skippers you sail with the
more you're gonna learn how to do it, and sometimes how not to do it to be honest!
And you can always take sailing courses, they are brilliant, they are a
brilliant way to learn. And the other thing that's great is you've got the
instructor on board with you, he can't get off! So just keep pummeling him with
questions, you can learn a lot that way. Learn from the experts. There is no such
thing as a stupid question, and believe me I've asked a ton of them, especially
online. There are really good forums out there, there's the YBW forum, the
cruisers forum And of course in recent years we've seen fFacebook as well.
There's a lot of sailing groups out there. So there's a plethora of online
information out there for you to ask your dumb questions. And don't forget ask
other sailors, skippers you work with and work for, and if you ever get the
chance see a sailing instructor and talk to
them then do so. Finally books. There are so many books out there with masses of
information. In fact we did a little piece on our favorite books. Have a look
at that video, and have a look in the comment section below because people
have come up with loads of other suggestions for books that we all need
to read.Ffinancing the live-aboard life. That is the question we are asked about
most often, and it is one of the most difficult questions to answer. Because
everybody has different needs and different expectations. But we're going
to go through a few points right now. As Liz says, it does depend on your
expectations and your needs and your wants. And we know plenty of cruisers
that do cruise on a budget. Some people sail without an engine so
they get rid of the engine repair costs, lots of cruisers do their own repairs
they become experts, making sail repairs that kind of thing.
So you know there are ways of saving money by budgeting carefully and
cautiously in a lot of areas. Of course many of us liveaboards need more than
that, so we'll just go through a couple of things now. You want to charge
smartphones and laptops all day long? Well you're gonna need solar, you might
even have a generator. You might want to have showers on board every day, and
maybe run a washing machine as well. You're gonna need a water maker. And for
every extra item you add to the boat the costs are gonna go up, not just the
initial cost but the running costs and the maintenance costs for each of those
extra items. But know this, whatever you've saved and whatever you've
budgeted for, it's never enough. So while you're trying to work out some kind of
budget for this life, here are a few things to think about. Firstly, marinas.
Leaving your boat in a marina, or living on your boat in a marina for any length
of time, is expensive. It's much cheaper to live on the hook. Don't forget that
some parts of the world are a lot cheaper than others. It's going to be a
lot cheaper to eat and drink on your boat than it is to go on land to do that.
However I'd say in Southeast Asia and India it's on a par?
It's probably almost cheaper to eat out. Yes it's quite a sociable thing to do.
Internet connectivity can be expensive. And you have to think about things like
insurance, this is an annual premium you've got to pay every year and that
can be a lot of money. The other thing also to think about is trips home.
You may want to be going back to see your family and friends at certain times
of the year, depending where you are in the world that can be an expensive
business, and it might also entail having to leave your boat in the marina. So try
and think of all these things that you're likely to be doing in your life
while you're living on your boat. Then of course many things can and will go wrong
on the boat, so in a way you've got to be prepared for these. But more often than
not there's no planning for this. These things often break down at inopportune
moment, and when you least expect it... "...engine just cut out... we're just
floating... we've lost oil pressure... everything's turned off just as we've
entered the shipping channel... if anyone's coming this way they'll be able to see
us... so I'm not sure what to do..." So of course one way of saving money is
to learn how to repair things yourself as much as possible. But when you have a
thing like an engine breaking or after 10 years new rigging to be thought about,
those are huge expenses. And where is the money going to come from if we haven't
got some savings or some kind of regular income? And going onto regular income, for
me I need a regular income, I need peace of mind from knowing that every month
I'm going to get a certain amount of money, for me that's our way of budgeting.
So here are some ways in which people make their money. Firstly, and the best
one if you have this opportunity, is to rent your property out. Which is exactly
what we did, we bought the boat and a very small flat in London, and we rent
the flat out and we live on the rental. So we know that is our budget for
the month. Another idea is to run charters on your boat, or even rent your
boat out as a B&B, using something like air Airbnb. Of course with these two ideas,
there are some legal implications which you will need to consider. Plenty of
cruisers take their skills with them, anything from hairdressing to
engine maintenance to any kind of carpentry, those kinds of skills that other
yachties are really looking for. Here's a way to make a little bit of money and
perhaps even get employment as you go around the world.
Yeah and find a niche as well. So if you are good with electrics, then perhaps
find a niche with Nmea 2000 installation or navigation equipment
something like that which you become an expert on. Finally a lot of
people think that they're going to be able to live on a boat,
vlog about it and make enough money from the vlogging through Patreon and
advertising and so forth. This is something we really want to warn against
for lots of different reasons. Firstly it is an extremely difficult business now.
When we first started there were only two or three other bloggers doing it. The
biggest, Delos and Vagabond both of whom make huge amounts of money, but all
the rest of us are just middling and just making a little bit cash here and
there. And it's involved as well. You know putting together a weekly vlog, for
us it takes up probably 50% of our time in total on board, so unless you are
prepared to give that level of dedication it's got to be
something that you absolutely love. We love doing it. Jamie's always written
diaries and we've written and photographed and podcasted for 11 years
now. I mean it happens to be video at the moment, so for us it's an extra. We have
the funds from our flat, and anything we make on top of that is an
extra, and that money goes back into making these videos. So we hope that this
little video has helped give you some ideas, filled you in on a few areas that
you weren't quite sure about, but ultimately has helped push you a little
bit closer to making that leap. So if you've got any ideas or any comments or
you think we said anything wrong or particularly right, please put them in
the comments section below - we read every single one, and we try to reply to them
all. Don't forget, as we said at the beginning of this video, we have put
together a really comprehensive guide that covers everything that we have
talked about in this video and more, in more detail, and you can find that guide at
our shop. Thanks very much for watching. So peace and fair winds!