This
month’s raft-up is about moving aboard. It was broad question asking how we
made the leap from dirt dweller to boat people. As someone who first planned to
move aboard a boat and sail the world when I was about five—I find the question
tough to answer. My entire adult life has followed a repetitive path that went
something like this: save for a boat, buy a boat, prepare the boat, move aboard
the boat, set sail, sail farther, run out of money, find somewhere to work,
sell that boat, save for a boat, buy a boat, prepare the boat, move aboard the
boat, set sail, sail farther, run out of money, find somewhere to work…
What I’ve
found is while that first big leap did take a lot of effort, enthusiasm and tenacity
(and a PR campaign to convince family and friends we weren’t crazy)-it was
really just one step in a lifestyle of uncertainty.
Ev and I
had a phrase we would say to each other when we were first getting ready to go,
‘leap and the net will be there.’ And
after the first few jumps; when people would show up and offer assistance just
when we needed it most, or a chance to make money popped up right when we
thought we were done, we just started believing in the net.
There is
something cool that happens once you do take that first risk. When you take the
boat you bought and outfitted out of the harbour and sail away from your
comfort zone. It sounds sort of hokey; but you discover following your dreams
isn’t quite as unrealistic as other people make it sound.
And the
lesson isn’t just for the nomadic cruisers—the ones like us who don’t really
divide land/work/cruising anymore because they all sort of flow into each other…
We’ve known cruisers who go back after a year or two, seemingly slotting into
the same house/ job/social circle, who find themselves changed. In many ways it’s
a small thing; that belief that you can take a risk and succeed. In other ways
it’s the biggest thing in the world.
