Other peoples money...

In the mountaineering and sailing world the sponsorship game has been around for ages...

Over at Latitude 38 letters (see Works Hard for Her Money Thread) there has been some discordant notes in regards to Liz Clark and her CAL 40 based surfing safari. But my take is the nay sayers are simply pissed that they did not think of it first!

There is nothing wrong with getting someone to foot the bill for your cruising or climbing adventures and the fact of the matter is I am surprised more don't find sponsorship in the other than racing sailing adventure gig.

I'm no stranger to sponsored endeavors having found that I could do a lot more climbing if someone else was paying for it than if I had to work at some minimum wage job... Luckily as a result I was able to climb in the Himalaya, Pakistan/Afghanistan, Europe, South America and Alaska... Not a bad gig at all.

Of course there is no such thing as free money (well so far I have yet to find any but I do keep looking) and sponsorship for adventures exacts some work on your part and a tangible payback for those who invest in your dreams. Fair is fair!

Which brings us to "You Want To Go Where" by Jeff Blumenfeld which is a very concise and entertaining guide to the world of getting someone else to pay for your adventure... A book I wish I'd had a whole bunch of years ago!