We’ve been very silent this summer. Mostly, that’s because we’re not cruising, and this blog is about our travels. Sometimes the exigencies of earning a living overtake sailors for a while, and that happened to us in 2011.
A regular question to liveaboards is how you acquire the money. There are roughly three modes. Lots of people have a pension – essentially income they don’t need to earn any more. A subset of this group are living off property they’ve acquired, a method which allows a few people to leave sooner. A few people have the skills and savvy to earn a living as they go. Writers (who get paid for it), dentists, carpenters. This can work well, but we know several boats who’ve come to a stop in a congenial and profitable harbour and find it very difficult to leave. Much like home really, but with better weather.
Then there’s the people, who return to a specific base (without the boat) for a period to top up the coffers. This has worked very well for us for eight years. Last Autumn, in the UK, was particularly hard. It felt as if the whole country had stopped spending money. Our clients are predominantly public sector, but everyone we talk to, from divorce lawyers to gardeners, has said the same.
We’ve had plenty of work since Xmas. Plenty! Self employment is, in the cliché, feast or famine, and after a period of enhanced belt tightening, the marketing effort has kept us hard at work. The key contract Sarah has worked on in London was up for a short extension, but one that would make it impossible to sail this summer. After a lot of heart-searching, we decided to get ahead of the game financially, and leave Roaring Girl to drowse in the fierce Malta sun till next spring.
Some sailing has come our way. Thanks to Vandal and Nethunuus we’ve explored the upper reaches of the Colne, and the corners of St Just. Sarah helped Fiona move Nethunuus to Cornwall, and once again braved the inside passage at Portland Bill. (It was very calm. We saw gannets.) We had a frenzy of boat hunting, wanting a small craft to creek-crawl here in Suffolk over the winter, but pulled back from the brink. Pip has spent a month in New Zealand looking after her mum, and a week in Malta, looking after Roaring Girl.
As we write this, we’re heading for France to stay with friends in the Lot. It’ll be a week of eating, sleeping, writing (Sarah) and walking dogs (Pip), and very good for both of us.
So, unless something changes (and things do) we expect to resume sailblogging for real next spring. In the meantime, Sarah is keeping another blog here and Pip is working on her jewellery. We’re also both on Facebook, so it’s very easy to contact us.
The picture is Roaring Girl, and it was taken by our friends Pete and Ruth of Mudskipper. G’day guys. Hope life’s beaut there in Sydney. It may look somewhere exotic, but we were off Brightlingsea, in Essex, in October 2005.