Living on a Boat

For a fleeting moment this weekend, I decided my ideal lifestyle could only be realized by living full-time on a boat. Utilizing research skills granted to me—and me only—by a technology I have discovered known as a “search engine,” I sought to discover the easiest techniques I could use to transition to a carefree life on the open sea.

Turns out that boats are a royal pain in the ass. Even when living in a marina, they tend to break with alarming regularity. Living on a boat is half ne’er-do-well pleasure cruise, half duct tape and ritual sacrifice to voodoo gods.

But some people have managed to pull it off. I found Bill Dietrich’s account of his early retirement on the Magnolia, a sailboat in the Caribbean, to be a good overview, as his occasional updates to his “log” span the course of several years. Dietrich isn’t ashamed to write about his misconceptions and worries, as well as the unreliability of rumors, NOAA weather reports, and the boat engine repair supplies of island nations.

Magnolia and I came through the hurricane just fine. … But it was a scary experience. We had winds somewhere around 100-110 knots, I think. Howling white horizontal rain for long periods of time. The worst was when a storm surge current held the boats sideways to the wind; we rolled ferociously. One of my friends fell inside his boat and hurt himself. A couple other friends gathered their most important stuff into bags in case they had to abandon ship.

My dreams are not completely splintered, but for now I’ll sate my longing for the sea with episodes of Quincy, M.E. Mmm, Klugmany.

My Lifestyle and Experiences Living on a Boat [Geocities.com/BILL_DIETRICH]