This is the blog of Ryan & Becky Smith, currently living in Orange, California. In February 2008 we bought a sailboat with a plan to fulfill Ryan’s dream of sailing to the South Pacific. A strange series of events lead us to meet each other and to embark on this huge project. This blog is a way for us to record all the ups and downs, so that our family & friends around the world (and anyone else who might be interested!) can follow our dream too.
Island Girl's backside.
Since we bought Island Girl, all of our spare cash has been plowed into the boat to get her in tip top shape for blue-water sailing, please check out the Work Completed page to see our progress. We still have a long way to go but our aim is to get her pretty much ready by the end of 2009. We can then spend the next year or so saving our cruising budget and learning how to get the most out of her. We both work full time and at present, do not get a day off together so actually having a chance to sail together has been hard! In November 2009, we are planning a trip down to Bahía Tortugas, Mexico to test out our work so far.
We really admire the lifestyle of Lin & Larry Pardey who have been cruising for over 40 years together. We’ve both read many of their books and would like to use as many of their principles as we can. For those that have not heard of them, take a look here. Their basic rule is to keep things simple, that way you can also keep costs down. We have recently been toying with the idea of removing our engine (à la L&L) and are awaiting the arrival of a 17′ sculling oar to help out when there is no wind! This should arrive soon and we will try to do the Bahía Tortugas trip with no engine, as much as possible. We’ll keep you posted on the engine issue! Most family & friends freak out when we mention the prospect ot travelling without an engine. We understand the concern completely but have read so many accounts of how boats with no engine have fared much better than their diesel-powered counterparts in bad weather. It’s not a decision we will take lightly and only through trying it out will we know how difficult (or even easy!) it is.
Part of the “keep it simple” ethos is to be as self sufficient as you can. Having met each other on a project focused on sustainability, it seems only proper that we keep this mentality for our future plans. On a sailboat, you are already taking advantage of a free, renewable resource (the wind), and it’s only when you turn the diesel engine on that you begin to have a negative affect on the world. If we can remove our engine entirely, then that would be great. The jury is out at this point as to whether this is a realistic goal for us.
We plan to install solar panels and maybe even a wind generator to provide what little power we will need, for navigation lights, cabin lights and VHF radio. Plenty of cruisers are crossing oceans right now in this manner, we just have to see if we can join them. Most cruisers however, have not only diesel engines, but also generators to keep their TV’s, fridges, laptops and other luxuries powered up. This for us is not really an option, because a) it would cost to much and b) we’re not all that interested in all that stuff. I must confess here that at first, I (Becky, of course) couldn’t imagine being away from both a laptop and a fridge! Those that know me well will agree, but after reading up on how it can be done without the creature comforts of land-based life, I’m being sucked into the minimalist boat-based life, and it’s actually pretty fun.
Island Girl 