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Aspiring Sailor

597 views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  melody1204 
#1 ·
Hi All!
I am a 24 yr old student in North Carolina pursuing a degree in business management and a focus on entrepreneurship. I have always like the idea of traveling and have focused my efforts on making myself mobile. I am now the owner of two small companies that can be managed remotely and am beginning to make arrangements to start traveling come May. The idea of living and traveling on a sailboat is very appealing and an exciting daydream that I often entertain. I have never sailed before and am lacking friends who could advise me on steps to be taken to prepare myself for such an adventure. I would appreciate it if anyone could send me information on things I should consider/do between now and May.
In the meantime I plan to seek out a boat somewhere around the length of 30'. I am not sure if I will be traveling alone so maybe 30' would be to large for one person...? I also will be learning to sail on a local lake in a very small sail boat and will be reading how to's and watching informative videos from Netflix. I am sure it would be helpful to find a sailing club but due to my location I am afraid this is not possible. Another issue on my mind is how I will manage my online businesses while traveling. I will need ample power to run a laptop daily and expect to require internet multiple times a week.
This thought is a relatively new obsession so please help me make this a reality through suggestions and feedback.

Cheers,
Ryan
 
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#2 ·
Hi Ryan!

Well, you have a great head start if you've been preparing yourself to go mobile! Me and my beau just moved onto our sailboat in May. We have an organic clothing line that we run from the boat, as well as my full time job and it works out rather well.

As far as learning to sail, you might want to start off getting the book Sailing for Dummies. I know it helped me a ton when I began sailing 6 years ago. There was so much information that it was overwhelming at first and it broke it down so it was easy to understand, and I still refer to it more often than I'd like to admit! There are also tons of other great books, magazines, and websites to refer to. However, there is nothing like actually getting on the boat and sailing it. That's where you learn the most, so if you can find ways to crew or somehow get on a boat, that's where you'll learn the most.

Running an online company from the boat is definitely doable. Your preparations for that will depend on the type of business and where you plan to travel. If you plan to stay in the US and travel the coast, you can get a Verizon card that allows you to access internet virtually anywhere where there's a cell tower, I believe - the cost is around $60 for 5GB of data. You can also get wifi extenders which will help pick up wifi signals, but you will only be able to access those that are unsecured, and depending on your business, security levels might be something to think about. If you plan on staying in marinas, most of them have free wifi, so that makes it easier.

As far as powering the laptop, you can get solar panels and wind generators as a backup to your batteries. You'll need an inverter which converts DC power to AC, for the times where you're not hooked up to shore power. You'll want a battery charger, and you can start your engine to charge your batteries as necessary.

If you do some research, you'll find some very savvy liveaboards who run all kinds of fun and creative businesses from their boats, so get out, learn to sail, and talk to as many people as you can!

Good luck!

Melody

Vacilando | This is the story of two people, a dog and a journey. We'll choose some article almost certain not to exist and diligently try to find it.
 
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