NICK JAFFE T
ell someone that you're planning to cross an ocean in a 26-ft boat you've researched the cost never seen, much less sailed, and they're of boats Down Under, likely to gently suggest that you're off he quickly scrapped your rocker. Tell them the same thing the idea as unattainover the internet and 'gentle' goes out able. the window. The perceived anonymity Instead, he moved of the internet gives naysayers the conto Germany to purfidence to not only say what they want, sue a master's degree but also how they in fine arts. But that want. And sadly, wasn't far enough to it's often cruel. escape the dream of " I ' m s c a r e d sailing somewhere far of some of the away. "I quit school sailing bulletin and went hitchhikboards," says ing," he recalled. "I Nick Jaffe, who ended up in Norway, has singlehanded inside the Arctic his Contessa 26 Circle, sleeping on Constellation the side of the road. from Europe to I remember thinkNew York, and left ing that it would be the Bay Area last Nick Jaffe. amazing to see the month bound for Lofoten Islands by Hawaii. "Some of those guys are mean boat." buggers. I can just imagine, if something Back in Berlin, happened to me, that they'd start a Jaffe read every sailthread on all the things I did wrong." ing book, researched But for all the negative comments every boat, and fiJaffe has received over the internet nally settled on a — very few, for the record — the posi1972 Contessa 26 he tive experiences he's had, thanks to his found in Southampton, U.K. "I website www.BigOceans.com, outweigh bought it in June '06, sight unthem 100-to-1. "When someone gives me seen — I can never do anything stick, I immediately want to take down by halves," he admitted. By Eumy site," he chuckled when we spoke ropean standards, the $10,000 to him before his departure. "But then price tag I think about all for the the great things b a r e that have come b o n e s out of having it." Constel Jaffe, a 28lation was year -old Ausquite a tralian software deal. But developer and artto get the ist, has gained a boat at worldwide followthat price, ing thanks to his J a f f e site. On it, he's agreed to chronicled every pay off the step of his quest to sail from Eu- This small pile of provisions is all that remained boat in six months rope to Australia. after 'Constellation's 30-day Atlantic crossing. — if he missed a single payThrough it, he's made friends before ment, he'd lose the boat and ever meeting them. To say his website every penny invested in her. is integral to his success so far is an "When I wasn't working, I was understatement. studying," he said. Indeed, in six months, he worked through the materials for several licensing hough he was born and raised courses, including the notoriin the coastal city of Melbourne, Jaffe ously tough Yachtmaster certistarted sailing only about four years fication. "I just couldn't afford ago by crewing on race boats. "I hated to take the test." going around the buoys," he said. "I just With the boat finally paid wanted to go somewhere." But once he
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off, Jaffe left Berlin, moved onto the boat — which was on the hard — and got a job at a local pub. "Every paycheck went straight to the chandlery," he laughed. It took a couple more months of hard work to get the boat ready to launch, after which, Jaffe could be found on the water every day, whether on his boat or crewing for others. When Constellation was finally ready for a shakedown cruise, a
Sticker shock — Sponsor stickers on 'Constellation' imply a big budget. Not so, says Nick. "One sticker represents $1,000 — now long gone — another two solar panels, and so on. Brewer's is a 'big' sticker!"
