set sail February March 2020
10 Tips To Help You Sail Around The World on a Budget
An Interview With An Inspiring Family
10 Items Every Sailboat Needs on Deck
Marine GPS:
Understanding The Basics
Magazine
set sail
Contents February March 2020
In Every Issue
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3
At The Helm
Letters To The Editor 10 Essential Items Every Sail Boat Needs On Deck
Boat Reviews
46 48 50
Boat Review 1: Bavaria C57
Boat Review 2: Fountaine Pajot
Boat Review 3: Jeanneau Sun Boat Review 1: Bavaria C57
Featured Articles
10 15 32 41 How To Sail Around The World On a Budget
How To Sail Around The World On a Budget
An Interview With An Inspiring Family
10 Items Every Sailboat Needs On Deck Marine Gps: Understanding The Basics
set sail February March 2020
Editor-In-Chief Jenny McGeever Senior Editor Kathy Greenland Art Director Chris Watson Copy Editor Jessica Copeland Contributing Editors Editor-At-Large Gary Vance Capt. Elena Smith Sailing Around the World On a Budget Contributing Photographers Todd Brigham, Lisa Mitchell, Carrie Jones, Mike Wilson, Drew Brown, Jane Miller, Matthew Collins, Linda Welsley Contributors Mary Kerrigan, Capt. Scott Doyle, Capt. Will Sheeder, Ryan Smith, Michelle Kelly, Capt. Jan Walsh, James White Capt. John Southward, Andrew Campbell, Tom Pierce, Capt. Smith Sully, Toby Walsh, Ron Murphy, Behan Gifford Production Carrie Larson, Randy Lyndon, Liam Anderson, Britney Dover, Linda Mosely, Harrison Dawson, Andy Reeves, Winston Saint Editoral Karla Sanderson, Sydney Fredricks, Emma Brighton, Mike Ball, Sandra Larson, Kim Sullivan, Pam Davis, Andrew Brown, Katie Grayson, Welsley Rimes, Patricia Andrews, Katy Hart
Questions about your magazine subscription? Call 800-124-1892 or email Membership@SetSail.com Find us as @SetSailMagazine on ŠSetSailMagazine {ISSN 1090-1312} Published bimonthly by the Fitzgerald Publishing Group of the United States, 5428 Port Royal Road, Boston Ma, 02890. Periodicals Postage Paid at Boston, Massachusetts, and at additonal mailing offices. Member dues include $6 for subscription (not deductible from dues). Contact Set Sail Magazine for permission to reprint articles. (508) -6903412. Designed by Jenny McGeever at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Spring 2020. Typefaces used in this publication include Baskerville designed by John Baskerville, AWConqueror Std Didot by Jean François Porchez and Benton Sans by Tobias Frere-Jones.
At The Helm Ahoy Maties! I remember when my love of sailing first began. I was on a shoestring budget and naturally wanted all of the newest equipment and gadgets. Unfortunately my earnings could not match up to my high expectations, and ultimately I ended up with settling for far less, and sailing with the very basics. Now after years of sailing, thankfully with an increased budget, I have managed to buy most of the fancy gear and gizmoes. In those early years of sailing I would have never imagined all the newest latest most expensive sailing products really were not needed to comfortably enjoy a sailing voyage. With my experiences and travels I have come to realize that it is possible to sail on a limited budget and enjoy it just as much. Yes even without the newest latest sailing gear. In this issue we explore just how you can make your dreams a reality and sail around the world on a very limited budget. These tips will hopefully alleviate the added stress, anxiety and worry of undertaking such an adventous trip and help you save money, gain confidence and enjoy the ride along the way. Come along and discover inside this months issue as we identify tips to help you create a budget that fits your wallet, offer practical docking solutions to what could be expensive problems, simple repairs and maintainence schedules to keep your craft ship shape, and dive into dining on board with free food from the sea.
Happy Sailing ,
Jenny McGeever jmcgeever@setsail.com
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Letters To The Editor LettersToTheEditor@SetSail.com
Tips For Sailing Around the World Alone I would consider myself to be an experienced sailor and have sailed alone around the world once on my 55 foot 2010 Beneteau Oceanis 551. I could relate to all of the useful tips that were given in last months issue about solo sailing. Two of my favorite tips were to remain positive and always stay calm, these tips are self explanatory but remaining positive and staying calm while out on the open ocean are crucial to your safety and survival. The ocean can change in the blink of an eye, so it is imperative you always air on the side of caution. I learned through my solo sailing experience that every ocean is different and even the most experienced sailors have somewhat of a learning curve when they sail into unknown waters. The tip I believe is the most important is to always have an emergency plan and good emergency equipment. Thank goodness I never had to use any of my emergency plans while on my trip. But it is imperative that every sailor has one even if they are just sailing in a bay. Always have a backup plan if something goes wrong.I do not plan on traveling around the world alone again anytime soon, but for those interested in sailing around the world alone I would highly recommend them to read last month’s article. Jim A. South Carolina
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Boat Safety Checklist Before reading this article about boat safety I was clueless on what equipment was needed on a boat. I have never been on a large boat before, I have only paddled with a canoe on a lake, this article was very informative and taught me a lot about boating. Who would have thought you need fire extinguishers on a boat? But it makes complete sense why you would need a fire extinguisher, I just had never thought of all of the things that could happen while on a boat. This checklist made it very easy to see what equipment you need and what you already have. It also made it clear as to why you would need each item. I am glad that the article did that because it taught me what each safety device was used for and why it was important to have on a boat. I plan on using this checklist if I ever get a boat. Sandra W. California
Sailing Knots
Sailing The Pacific
Your article about how to tie sailing knots really helped me learn the basics. As a new sailer I have little knowledge about all of the different types of knots. This article was very clear and clarified which knots are used for what. I was somewhat familiar with the clove hitch and cleat hitch. I had never heard of the sheet bend knot. I am very happy that I learned this knot because it is very secure, is easy to untie and is stronger than tying two equal diameter ropes together. I am also very pleased that I learned the bowline knot, I learned that this knot is used for mooring or a rescue rope.I enjoyed learning about all of the different types of knots, and their uses. The illustrated steps assisted with the frustrations of missing a step or doing it wrong because I could just look back at them whenever I needed too. Most of the knots in the article I had never heard of before so I feel like I learned a lot after practicing them. Some of the knots like the reef knot were not easy and required a lot of practice. But when I tied it correctly once I kept practicing so eventually it became easier. This article gave me a basic understanding of some of the most frequently used knots. I feel more prepared for the upcoming sailing classes I am going to be taking this summer.
The article about sailing the Pacific was very interesting to read. I live on the East Coast of the United States and love sailing in the Atlantic ocean. But recently I have pondered the idea of taking a trip to the Pacific. I have heard there are good trade winds in the Pacific from friends who have sailed there. I have also heard of cyclone and typhoon season in the Pacific, and that is not something you want to experience. This article gave me a good idea of what to expect. I am trying to read as much information as I can about the Pacific so I can either plot a course I want to travel or to plan another trip. Any ocean can be unpredictable so I am happy the article mentioned to always have backup plans. I was very uneasy about sailing to the Pacific because of the cyclones and typhoons, but the article reassured me that it is very unlikely you will get caught in a bad storm if you don’t travel during the cyclone season. I would love to travel to Fiji, the Galapagos Islands and the Cook Islands one day. This article made me feel less anxious about traveling to the Pacific. Steve M.
Florida
Amy R. Maine
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How to Sail Around the World on a Budget Sailing is expensive, here are 10 tips to help you stay within your budget. Written By: Captain Elena Smith
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Why not Crew?
Some of the most awesome people I have met have been crewing on different boats for years and years. They don’t need to deal with any of the problems that come with owning a boat and believe me that is a big list. It’s cheaper, you meet different people all the time and you can call it quits as soon as you run out of money. There are websites like https://www. findacrew.net that can help you out but a lot of the people I have met have gotten their jobs via word of mouth. I would try both.
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Research
I have sailed a long way in the past 4 years. Before that I used to work on a roster that was 3 weeks on and 3 weeks off. In my time off I would travel. I’ve been on the road or the water for the last 10 years. I’ve travelled with people who book flights last minute, arrive at hostels that are fully booked and missed La Tomatina because they didn’t know it was happening. I have also travelled with people that have their travel days mapped out in 5 minute increments a year in advance. As annoying as it is I would have to say that if you were going to lean in one direction on a sailboat it would have to be towards being organised. Spare parts, marinas, weather, rendezvous, daytime arrivals, equipment upgrades, internet, groceries, fuel, water, repairs, navigating. All of the things you need to survive need to be organised or something else will give, usually money or comfort, sometimes both.
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Anchor
The easiest way to save money is to anchor out as much as you can. This will save you a lot of mooring costs, which are usually rather high in the most popular cruising grounds. We’ve heard of marinas asking medium-sized boats for 100 Euros per night in the Mediterranean! What’s the point of taking your home with you, if you’re going to spend more than a hotel stay to store your boat? The sooner you get used to anchoring, the better. It doesn’t take long to master a good anchoring technique and once you get confident in your skills, you’ll feel pretty relaxed leaving the boat for the day and going to explore on shore. You’ll want to keep extra mooring cash away forstorms or high winds, just in case sometimes the money for a berth or mooring ball is worth the feeling of security. A great alternative, where available, are town quays it’s often free to moor your boat and you can step straight ashore. Since we left the UK, we’ve only ever paid for a marina once (when caught out in light winds with no nearby achororage) and where possible, we can choose mooring balls in high winds, which cost a fraction of the price of a berth (between 10 and 20 Euros). I think the longest time we’ve spent at anchor is two months so far, so once it becomes the norm, it feels really comfortable.
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Get a simple boat
Don’t fall for the luxuries of huge modern sailboats and buy a simple little boat that is easy to maintain. You want to sail the world, not constantly get stuck in places repairing your boat, right? The less things that can break and the least complicated they are, the easier and cheaper it’ll be to live aboard. Simple systems, such as manual foot pumps for water and a composting toilet take much less effort to look after and will be less likely to break, but also less costly to replace. A smaller vessel will also be less expensive to store, paint, and antifoul, as well as being easier to sail, dock, and heat. It is also a plus to buy a simple sailboat if you are not an experienced sailor.
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Working online
This would be a massive boon for anyone looking at sailing around the world. One thing to consider would be if you need to get to the internet once a week or every day. If you need to be there every weekday then this seriously hampers your cruising grounds but if that’s what you gotta do to get onboard then that’s what you gotta do. Europe – good internet everywhere but expensive in general. Greece is much better than anywhere else cost wise. Pacific – terrible internet pretty much everywhere Australia – good near the cities or towns. N.Z. – similar to Australia but a smaller country so less dead spots. US – I have heard there is solid internet along both coasts. You could look at Iridium or Inmarsat for onboard internet options. The Iridium Go could provide a cheap way to send and receive email before you to hold out until you get back to civilisation. For about 120 USD a month you’ll get just enough net to get weather and emails over a lot of the globe. The bigger onboard satellites cost more like 2,000 USD for 1GB a month. Or something crazy ridiculous like that.
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Go Slow
You might actually only want to concentrate on one area, like the Caribbean for a lot of people. The Pacific also is reasonably inexpensive. The more I talk to other people the crazier how fast Elayna and I have been moving sounds. A 6 year circumnavigation is going to be more than twice the fun of a 3 year one, of that I am convinced. I know it is everyone’s dream to circumnavigate but I think there is a lot to be said for concentrating on one area, diving into the culture more, maybe learning a bit of the language and you will definitely save yourself some money. I find that in each place we go it takes a some time to get the lay of the land and meet people before you can figure out where the cheapest bar and shops are in the town.
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“The less things that can break and the least complicated they are, the easier and cheaper it’ll be to live aboard.”
Photograph By: Ian Keefe
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Safety equipment.
In order to save money you should buy the safety equipment you need. There are obvious things like life rafts and EPIRB but it is up to each captain to think about exactly what is right for their ship. You don’t need every whiz bang gadget that is out there, get what you need and learn how to use it. You need to invest in good, reliable saftey equitment, that does not mean that it needs to be fancy.
Use your sails and the oars
If you’re serious about cruising on a budget, then you should try and avoid using petrol or diesel as much as you can. It’ll cut on costs, as well as being more environmentally-friendly and keeping wear and tear on the engine down. When you cruise, you really are in no rush, so why use the engine if you can sail, even at low speed? We’ve done plenty of day sails and passages where we drifted along at two knots for a few hours. It didn’t bother us getting to our destination a little later and going so slow in low winds allowed us to work on our laptops while sailing without feeling queasy.
Fish More
For less than 10$ you can set yourself up with a rig that will catch you plenty of fish. What sailors lack in being able to cruise over specific fishing grounds we make up for in “wet line time.” If you’re trawling for a week you’re going to catch a fish, unless your as unlucky as I am in the Mediterranean. If feeding yourself is the goal then smaller lures will net more fish, there is nothing better than a little Tuna.
DIY
Boat maintenance and upgrades are the biggest expenses you can incur when cruising the more you use the boat, the more bits will need replacing. If you do all of the repairs and upgrades yourself, you’ll cut costs by at least half, as marine professional fees are usually very high. We have learned a lot from other sailors that we have met at arenas. Sometimes what you think is a major problem is a simple fix. When we have an issue our first step is to yotube it and see if we can fix it ourselves. Certain things are impossible to DIY, but you would be surprised at what you can fix yourself.
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From the Left: Behan and her husband Jaymie, her son Niall and daughters Marien and Siobhan.
An Interview With An
Inspiring Family Behan Gifford Answers Questions About Her Families Fascinating Lifestyle Written By: Erin Donnelly
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Q&A How long have you been travelling and where have you been?
We’ve been traveling afloat- cruising- for nearly six years! In that time we’ve been through seventeen countries. Our initial route took us south to Mexico, where we spent more than a year sailing the coast and adjusting to life afloat. From there we crossed through many island nations in the South Pacific until arriving in Australia, where we stopped for about a year and a half to work. From Australia, we pointed north to Papua New Guinea and then west through Southeast Asia to our present anchorage in Malaysia.
What made you decide to become sailing nomads? We reached this point not just because we love to sail, or love to travel, although both of those hold true. More fundamentally, it was the desire to live a more simple life, a place apart from first world consumption. It was the desire to teach our children respect for our fragile planet by living with a light footprint. The desire to embrace live in the now, and not postpone it for an amorphous “someday.” And the desire to give our kids crazy fabulous childhood memories, like the time they held a tiger cub, or swam with whales. (I have a kind of related blog post called “Sailor or traveler”). We have been able to experience things we never would have been able to if we didn’t step out of our comfort zone and decide to travel. I think this experience has enriched all of our lives, and made an impact on each of us. It is an amazing experience to live on the ocean.
What have been some of your highlights so far? We find joy in discovering beautiful corners of the world and learning about other cultures. We’ve had unforgettable experiences swimming with sharks and giant manta rays in French
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Polynesia. In the Cook Islands, islanders helped us understand what it’s like to survive by foraging in an atoll. In Papua New Guinea, it was the gracious friendship of locals we met: with the characteristic generosity of those who have the least to give, their friendship left our spirits both richer and humbled
How do you fund your travels? We have lived off savings, after spending many years saving before our departure. When we spent it all, we stopped to work; with sufficient funds back in our bank account, we returned to voyaging again. It’s clear now that we’re not ready to return to our old lives, so we’ve looked for ways to earn money as we go. This is still new for us, but we’re patching together income from a variety of sources- from freelance writing and consulting, to providing services (Jamie has electrical and rigging skills that are useful to other cruising boats, and sells sails as well). Our house at home provides a small rental income, but is generally a net-zero with the costs of maintenance.
Is it possible to work online while sailing? How do you stay connected? Absolutely! We know other cruisers who earn money in a variety of ways. There are day traders, freelance writers, graphic artists, and more- all plying the same digital skills that support land-based travelers. Digital nomad skills are a great fit, although predictable connectivity can be difficult: there’s no easy way to get online in the middle of an ocean. At sea, we use our HF radio to send and receive text based email. Other cruisers use sat phones for the same purpose. However, most of the time isn’t in an ocean- it’s near shore. The other challenge is powering the tools of the digital trade. We supply our own power to a battery bank through solar panels and a wind turbine. If sun/wind aren’t enough to meet our needs, we can also run our engine to charge up, but there’s a cost in fuel and maintenance to run the engine.
The 47′ sailboat named Totem. A Stevens 47, designed for comfortable bluewater cruising by Sparkman & Stephens. This sailboat was built in Taiwan’s Queen Long yard in 1982.
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Sailing is seen as a very expensive way to travel. Is there a way to keep costs down and do you have an average monthly budget?
down. It’s like living on a floating island with full utilities to manage: plumbing for water, sewage, electrical, refrigeration, etc. From there, you can add skills that will make your life as a cruiser easier or safer.
Sailing is perceived as an expensive way to travel, but it’s actually quite inexpensive after the upfront costs of a bluewater What has been your scariest experience? capable boat. Because boat costs vary substantially, it’s simpler We had plenty of fears! Number one was would we be able to talk in terms of ongoing costs. There aren’t any accommoto afford it. Shortly followed by safety – more of the children dation expenses, because the boat is our home. We don’t need than us. After that, it was down to our ability to run and to spend much to eat, because we have manage an ocean going yacht. I’d sailed a well-equipped galley, so we typically “ Sailing is perceived as around the world before, but Jaymie prepare our own food on board instead had never sailed out of sight of land of paying restaurant prices. It’s hard to an expensive way to and suffered from seasickness.We really peg any kind of typical budget, but our haven’t had many scary experiences. travel, but it’s actually average monthly expenditures come The hardest times for me are when the in around $1500 for a family of five. quite inexpensive after sea state is uncomfortable. Occasionally These can balloon when there are peit crosses from uncomfortable to scary, the upfront costs of a riods of boat maintenance, but maintebut we work very hard to avoid ever nance costs vary as much as boat costs, bluewater capable boat.” being in that situation- so thankfully it’s and are better left outside a “typical only happened a few times in nearly six monthly budget”. years! Our route is always planned to avoid seasonal weather patterns such as hurricane zones. The most frightening was a series of waves that built up at the Jomard Entrance, a shipWhat are the benefits and challenges of ping lane into Papua New Guinea. The ocean can change on travelling long term with your children? any given minute, and saftey is key in sailing. There are many The greatest benefit is the time we get to spend together, and reasons you shouldn’t do something but really it all boils down the bond we’ve forged as a family. When we were living a norto having one reason why you should. Follow that reason and mal life in the USA, with school, jobs and many demands, we the rest usually falls away. Follow your dreams. didn’t have much time together at all- especially time to just be. Life felt rushed, and our children were growing quickly. This has been a beautiful way to slow the clock down. We also believe it’s an excellent way to educate our children, both as Where are you heading to next? Do you citizens of the world and thoughtful environmentalists. With think you’ll ever settle down in one place? their experience traveling through so many cultures, they At the moment, it’s hard to imagine settling down in a single recognize and appreciate differences instead of fearing them. place. We’re really focused on what’s ahead and saving Living on a boat puts the natural world in your face, all the enough money to cross the Indian Ocean- there are a lot of time: they can internalize from their earliest days the beauty interesting islands to visit between Malaysia and South Africa! of our planet, and the importance of taking care of it for I can’t wait to visit some of the tiny islands in the Atlantic, foreseeable generations. places that are exceptionally difficult to reach unless you’re on a private yacht (such as St. Helena and Ascension). Our fourteen year old would really like to spend time in the MedIf someone (like us!) is interested in sailiterranean, and we’d love to give him that opportunity. Then there’s this marina in Denmark that we’ve had our eye on ing around the world but has no experience since visiting friends in Aarhus around ten years ago… what steps should they take towards mak-
ing the dream a reality?
It’s good to tiptoe in and make sure that living afloat works for you. Spend some time sailing with friends or on a charter boat, or take sailing courses, so you can see whether you enjoy it or not. If you do, there are a host of useful skills you can tackle before you buy a boat. It’s especially helpful to be handy and willing to dive in and fix things, because nearly every boat has systems that will require maintenance and break
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You can follow Behan and her family’s adventures on Totem @Sailing with Totem on Facebook and Twitter.
“There are many reasons you shouldn’t do something but really it all boils down to having one reason why you should.
Follow your dreams.” 13
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