"Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor" by Paul Lutus

I just finished reading "Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor" by Paul Lutus. He has the entire book online, for free at his website here: http://www.arachnoid.com/sailbook/index.html

I highly recommend the book. It chronicles his 3-year solo journey around the world in the late 80's. Here are some comments from the site:

[ in a review of "Maiden Voyage" by Tania Aebi posted at amazon.com ] I would recommend "Confessions of a Long Distance Sailor" by Paul Lutus instead of this book. It's written far better, has just as many aventures, is far more education in a worldly and sailing sense, and best of all, it's free.

— Chad Lawie

I'm about 55 pages into your book and wanted to tell you it is very good — charming, honest, insightful, a fine, fine story. You should really feel good about it.

— Sam Hill, author of five novels, http://www.samhillonline.com

I have been touched on many levels by your wonderful story. Of course I knew nothing else about you other than the fact that you did what so many of us think we would love to do. I have interrupted my wife's quiet reverie countless times to read aloud a few words that you wrote. Apart from all your other wonderful accomplishments, thank you for this one.

— Tim Sperry

I just finished reading "Confessions." Thanks for writing it and making it available for free. I especially enjoyed all the philosophical and scientific tangents you go off on, while keeping everything somehow related to the sea. The last few days, I even had dreams of being on a boat.

If I have half as many interesting experiences as you've had by the time i'm your age, i'll be a happy man.

— William MacKay

I just wanted to thank you for writing such a wonderful book about your circumnavigation ... marvelous!

— Marv Paulie

I have started to read your "Confessions" ... I am amazed and inspired.

— Arlette Krampe

Cleaning, troubleshooting, rummaging

This past week I spent time rummaging through the things that came with Windsong. A lot of it junk, a lot of it useful, and most of it interesting to discover. It was like going through an old thrift store or antique shop and discovering old treasures from someone's past life. I'll do some inventory and post here what I found, but I took pictures to do that with and haven't uploaded them yet.

The best part of all of the junk were the manuals and charts. The old service records and manuals for all of the boat systems really helped me out to understand what is going on. Many of them date way back into the 80's and its hard to tell what modifications are still on the boat and what are in the past. The charts themselves were a blast to start studying too. I have been able to begin planning the trip down the coast and have been able to use those along with my navigation books to learn chartreading.

This weekend I spent Saturday and Sunday aboard Windsong. I studied the electrical system, engine, did some more cleaning, discovered more leaks and problems (this will be happening for some time), and did a lot of prioritizing and shopping list making. I pretty much know what I need to do for the engine now: oil and filter change, fuel filter change (primary and secondary), clean out raw water strainer, change air filter element, top off coolant. I also spec'd the running rigging and anchor chain further, now knowing how I am going to replace all of them. Next week, money permitting, I will have the rigging done and she should be ready to sail!

My parents came down on Sunday to check out Windsong and have some lunch. It was great to see them light up with excitement when they saw it. They know it is a long work in progress, but I know they are as excited as anyone about its potential.

I found a great website chronicling a man's journey aboard his 28' Pearson Triton back in the 80s'. His circumstances are a lot like mine, so I have been completely immersed in the story. Here is the introduction and any reader of this blog will find similarities in his situation and mine (and maybe yours!):

http://atomvoyages.com/

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

-from Wanderer by Sterling Hayden

This voyage I want to tell you about took two years to complete. Though I’ve written about it before in short articles, somehow it has taken some 20 years to get around to telling the story in more detail. It took place in 1984-86 when I was in my mid-twenties, as close to broke as I dared to be, and hungry for the adventure and romance of a long voyage. The premise is not so unusual: a young man, lusting after adventure, knowledge, romance, his fortune, and finding little of it at home, strikes out to see the world. It has taken me those many years and thousands more miles under the keel to fill some of the hunger and give me a more balanced perspective on that life-changing voyage alone around the world.

The world of cruising in yachts has changed in those years. For better and worse, new equipment at more affordable prices has reduced the physical and technical challenges of voyaging, and reduced along with it the rewards gained from hard physical work, self-sufficiency, and the thrill of risks inherent in any true adventure. Meanwhile, the popularity of world cruising has made the search for untrammeled and unspoiled islands more challenging than ever. Part of my reason for writing this narrative now is to provide a glimpse at an alternative style of travel to which the modern backpacker or sailor may not have been exposed. And to remind them that they can voyage now as I did then, filling their lives with discovery and living close to nature on their own terms. Combining a sailing voyage with a land travel adventure is not unique, but it is often overlooked how well the two modes of travel complement each other. Compared to a simple boat, a backpack and my boots, the thought of fussing around with airlines, taxis, busses, hotels, restaurants, and all the other trappings of tourist travel leaves me uninspired.

When I began my journey I didn’t realize that along the way my growing commitment to walk across each island and climb their highest peaks was to be a bigger part of the adventure than the actual sailing. Like a richly lived life, as a voyage unfolds it evolves and carries you where it will.

My life is different enough now that as I read over my saltwater-stained journal and tattered log book and flip through the photo albums it seems as if it were someone else’s life. Was I really so rash to set out across oceans possessing only a few hundred dollars on a boat with sails so old you could push your finger through? Had I been that ignorant not to fit an awning or dodger over the cockpit for protection from the elements? Surely, I hadn’t been that lacking in judgment to walk into that dark cave in New Guinea and tumble into its deep black pit. Was it foolish to look for the love of an island girl when I must have known I would soon sail away from her forever?

While there turns out to be no perfect plan, no perfect life, I learned some things on this imperfect voyage that shaped my whole life in the best ways possible. What better reward for a journey of two years. May you also avoid a “routine traverse”.

Back in the Country, ready for Windsong

"There aren't many experiences more ripe with promise than buying a boat."

I spent this past week readjusting to life back at home from vacation. Costa Rica was a great adventure with some of the best waves I have ridden in many years. It had its ups and downs, and I'll be sure to post a good story about the whole trip once I have the time. Work didn't pile up too much over the week so this week wasn't all too bad.

I am extremely happy to be back for Windsong though. This weekend I plan on spending a whole day up there with the boat doing inventory, cleaning, and putting together an initial project list. I've been reading diligently all of the books that came in with my last order. I have been soaking up all of the information and enjoying it immensely. My mind is swelling with new developing skills such as diesel engines, electronics, rigging, navigation, fishing. All of the books I had written about have been fantastic so far and I can't wait to start to apply a lot of it this weekend.

Here is my sailing school so to speak. The books on the left are the ones I have read, the ones on the right are those that I am currently studying.


The paperwork isn't all in my name yet. The checks still have to clear and then the title company will do its thing to get it all in my name.

Thanks to everyone who has been commenting on previous posts. A few have asked for contact info for me so feel free to email me at: evanmalssen@gmail.com

The Self Sufficient Sailor - Book

I finished reading Lin and Larry Pardeys' Self Sufficient Sailor. This book was recommended by most of the authors I have read so far and I can see why. These guys have sailed around the world for many many years on a small 27 foot cutter with no engine at all. The book details how to get around without an engine in tight spaces and light air. Very useful skills for when engines fail. The book also goes through every little trick they have learned to do things the cheap and easy way to be self sufficient an unreliant on mechanics and spare parts being shipped to all corners of the earth. A lot of it was out dated, but they offered an update at the end of each chapter to kind of bring it to date. Overall a great book with a lot of good ideas I will be incorporating into my decisions from this point on.

Up next I am going to read some good old sailing stories, starting with The Long Way by Bernard Moitessier. I also plan on beginning The American Practical Navigator which is about 800 pages long and an intense read about all things nautical navigation, including celestial navigation which I am stoked on learning.

The Books

As mentioned previously, I do not have the opportunity to go sailing often due to the cost. I do not have a boat yet, and do not have any friends with one. But I am dead set on learning everything I can to go cruising and have done so thus far with a few good books.

I started off searching Amazon.com (I use it to buy everything) for sailing books. I had learned all of the basics of sailing through my classes, and have a lot of resources for everything I learned there. But what the classes did not teach is what it takes and how to cruise full time, and it did not cover blue water (open ocean) cruising. Of course, my goal is to sail the entire world, so I just did a search for "How to sail around the world". Lo and behold, a book with a lot of good reviews and buys came up:

How to Sail Around The World
by Hal Roth

This book was my spring board to figuring out what full time cruising and blue water sailing are like. Specifically, it began to answer "what do I need to do this?" While I wont sit here and pick out everything I learned from this book, I will tell you that it gave me a good picture of how to cruise on a budget, something I am very much on. I soon realized that there had to be many opinions and methods to sailing, of which I was correct in assuming. The author was very strict in his ways as well as practical. I will probably use a lot of what he said in the book in the future, but it is more of a book that I will use better once I am cruising and need some resources.

I also noticed another book in my search with a title that spoke to me:

Things I wish I'd Known Before I Started Sailing

by John Vigor and Thomas Payne.

The name said it all, and the cover made me want it. The book was very light hearted and provided a wealth of information. It wasn't the best resource manual for specifics, but it gave good and broad advice for many aspects of sailing. More importantly, it gave a great list of books to read to learn more, and from that I got my next round of books:

There Be No Dragons

How to Cross a Big Ocean in a Small Sailboat

by Reese Palley

This book was a great starting point for anyone who has considered sailing, but has a lot of fears ranging from storms, crashing the boat, pirates, boredom, and other things. It sorts out reality from the myths in a very entertaining way. I suggest you start with this book if you are considering cruising, and would like someone to explain to you what it is like in a quick, entertaining way.

The Voyager's Handbook

by Beth Leonard

THIS is THE book. All of the other books were good primers leading up to this one. This is the book that answered all of the unanswered questions I had. Most of all, this book really put together the big question of "what do I need to cruise based on what I can afford, and how do I get started". The other books were great resources on what to do once you have your boat and are ready to be on your way, but this book spoke to someone like me, who is just trying to figure it all out. The book is more like a text book, but I promise you I have never had so much fun reading a text book. I'll just post this description instead of trying to do it myself:

“Belongs in the bookshelf of every cruising vessel.”—Blue Water Sailing

“If you are serious about that extended voyage, read The Voyager’s Handbook.”—Sailing

“Every now and then a new voice emerges in the world of sailing literature that stands out, a voice that is both clear and of lasting quality. The appearance of such a new voice is something of an event, and that’s what we’d call the publication of The Voyager’s Handbook.”—Blue Water Sailing

This inspirational and comprehensive manual leads you step by step through every aspect of choosing, planning, and following the voyager’s life. Using three example boats representing three cruising lifestyles—Simplicity, Moderation, and Highlife—Beth Leonard helps make your bluewater dreams come true, whether you’re sailing on a shoestring or a CEO’s pension. Starting with the things you can’t do without—an enthusiastic crew, a seaworthy boat, and, of course, money—Leonard offers sage advice on how to select crewmembers who are truly committed to the voyage, how to choose the right boat for you, and how to find just the right approach to financing your voyage and making the most of every dollar spent.

Managing life from a floating home and keeping that home livable, seaworthy, and safe requires you to become, among other things, the ship’s purser, engineer, doctor, cook, and cruise director. You’ll discover how to prepare for these new roles and put necessary equipment and arrangements in place before you untie your docklines. This exquisitely detailed guide also helps you master the skills you’ll need to handle a boat at sea with a small crew, including

• Weather forecasting
• Passage planning
• Watchkeeping
• Heavy-weather sailing
• Emergency management
• Midocean repairs

Complete with dozens of easy-to-use graphs and tables for quick reference, along with the hard-won wisdom of experienced cruisers, The Voyager’s Handbook is the ultimate resource for anyone who is planning, preparing for, or just dreaming about a great adventure on the high seas.

Since completing a three-year, 35,000-mile circumnavigation of the globe with her partner, Evans Starzinger, in 1995, Beth Leonard has lectured widely, written for leading sailing magazines, and outfitted a new 50-foot aluminum cutter aboard which she and Evans once again set sail in 1999. They logged an additional 50,000 miles at sea over the following six years, much of it in the world’s high latitudes, including Labrador, Iceland, Scotland, Cape Horn, and east through the Southern Ocean to Australia.

All of these books are sitting at my house and if any of my friends are curious, feel free to ask to borrow them. I am going to keep reading new books to further my knowledge, but The Voyager's Handbook really pulled it all together and I will be using that as a manual to proceed. The resources and books recommended in The Voyager's Handbook will be the future reads.

From here on out, I will begin to describe what I have learned from my studies and how I plan on moving forward.

And good news! My mom apparently has a friend with a 38 foot sloop near their house in St. Augustine. This weekend (Christmas week, 2008) I will have the chance to sail with them and hopefully learn a good bit. Look for a recap soon.