"Sit down Podrick. We're going to need details. Copious details." - Tyrion Lannister
Nothing generates questions like selling everything you own and sailing around the world. Except maybe being abducted by aliens. That would generate more.
We try to answer many of the most commonly asked questions below. If you have a question that isn’t answered here, send it to us on our contact page.
And if we get abducted by aliens, we’ll be sure to update this page accordingly when we get back!
Many more FAQ’s COMING SOON!
We actually have a lot of experience with small power boats. We’ve owned a couple of them and have done a lot of water skiing, wakeboarding, tubing, and just generally hanging out on a boat. Bill worked on the Marine Law Enforcement unit with the NY State Police full time for several years, and was trained on all types of boat handling (he even got to operate a hovercraft, an airboat, and all kinds of toys!) All of the navigation, rules – the general marine environment – etc. were the easy part. The “sailing” part is relatively new for us. Bill had been on a few sailboats and worked on them a little when he worked at a marina in his younger days. He’s also read a lot and watched a lot of YouTube videos about how to sail (don’t laugh, you can learn a lot from books and videos). Dannalie actually took sailing lessons back in Buffalo on Lake Erie. But at some point, you just gotta get out there and do it! We chartered a boat for a week in Turkey and another boat for a week in Greece, but we were in a harbor every night. Our first real “sail” was when we bought SV Caterpillar in St. Maarten and sailed her back to North Carolina. A trip that took 9 days at sea. Nothing like easing into things! Of course, we did hire an experienced captain and crew member to “help” us. We all survived! When you watch our videos, hopefully you will see that it isn’t quite as mysterious as you may have thought. It turns out that if you can figure out how to get those sails up and get the boat pointing close to where you want to go… the wind usually does the rest. Um, yeah. Sort of. I mean, brushing your teeth can be dangerous if you aren’t careful. Long story short, walking down the street anywhere in the U.S. is more dangerous. And speaking of street, driving a car is just about the most dangerous thing you can do – yet you probably do it every day without asking this question. If you take some basic precautions, a bit of preparation, and try not to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, sailing around the world can be quite safe. Well, we’re not rich, but we love to travel. We want to see the world. We can’t afford to fly everywhere and stay in hotels, so we decided to take our home with us. As the saying goes: See the world on one tank of fuel!