Reddit mentions of Flirting with Mermaids: The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper

> I will not commit to the purchase until I have a) spent 2-4 weeks crewing on a yacht (to get an impression on living aboard) and b) done the YachtMasters.

> …

> If I decide this life is for me, the purchase price of the yacht is a non-issue as I am fortunate enough to be able to afford it. The ongoing costs and living also!

If you're seriously in this position, then you should be sailing already, not fantasising over the lifestyle marketing of sailboat manufacturers.

You should be phoning local sailing schools to see if they're teaching this week. You could easily afford to charter a boat and instructor - it'd cost you less than £200 a day - and get some miles in right now.

There are undoubtedly sailing schools in Australia or South Africa where you could take courses - the weather would be more reliable this time of year.

Just a couple of weeks of practical actual sailing experience would make you cringe at the questions you've asked here.

I think there are some UK companies that do zero-to-hero Yachtmaster courses - cost is less than £10000 (£6000, I think), but they take about 6 months. You could get away with less training, but I won't gainsay your statement that you want to get that qualification - it's one of the more grounded things you've written.

However, once you've got that qualification, you won't need us to tell you what boat to buy - you'll have your own opinion, and you may disagree vehemently with other people here.

Even if money was absolutely no object, I doubt I'd buy a new production boat. If I won the lottery then I might eventually have a sailboat built for me, but not immediately. There are too many amazing secondhand boats out there, and once you're out of sight of land it doesn't make so much difference what kind of winches, chartplotter and radio you're equipped with. You must learn to depend upon your own skills and competence, not upon gadgets.

You're putting way too much emphasis on buying new because you don't understand the demands that bluewater sailing places upon boat and crew - you need to be quite familiar with mechanical systems, so you're able to the things that will break on your passage.

Even crossing the smallest ocean puts you 1000 miles from anywhere for days at a time - you can't call a mechanic and you can't claim on your warranty.

You need to know what voltage lead-acid batteries should be charged at, so that you can use a multimeter to diagnose at sea why they're flat. You need to know about electrolysis and what materials seacocks are made out of.

There are 1000 more things you need to learn - before you're even a halfway competent skipper you'll appreciate that you're on a journey of learning and self-improvement. At present you are asking all the wrong questions, and showing no concern for the true path to enlightenment.

If you can't get on a boat today, then you should be reading Lin and Larry Pardey's books (Capable Cruiser and Cruising in Seraffyn should probably be at the top of your list) before you read any more sales brochures.

Kretschmer's Flirting with Mermaids is also enjoyable and inspiring, and might help point you in the right direction - he also does training passages now.

That's a good starter list - if you like Slocum, then I have to throw in my next two fave 'around the world in a small boat books.


Around the World Singlehanded: Cruise of the Islander by Harry Pidgeon is great. He was also a photographer and took some nifty photos.

The Venturesome Voyages of Captain Voss by Captain J C Voss is also a lot of fun. His vessel was a sailboat made from decking over and rigging sail on a single log dugout canoe he bought from some Pacific NW native americans.

Flying Cloud: The True Story of America's Most Famous Clipper Ship and the Woman Who Guided Her is the story of the fastest clipper ship ever to sail the horn. A most amazing feat still not equaled (OK some catamaran managed to beat her time a few years back - but all it carried was a crew - Flying Cloud carried a full cargo and paid for herself several times over on the first voyage).

Blown Away is a somewhat more modern tale of a couple with kids who chuck it all and buy a boat. Pretty funny.

Flirting with Mermaids : The Unpredictable Life of a Sailboat Delivery Skipper is a fun read of misadventures at sea.