An ongoing primer for those who want to work while cruising...

Even for a law firm/foreclosure mill this sets a new standard for tacky, what the traders say, and, as a designer/builder of wind-vane self steering gears, I'm seriously interested in exactly how this perfectly lubricated wind-vane actually works...

Since we're on the subjects of wind-vanes, maybe we should talk about the whole idea of the concept of working as a "maker" while you cruise...

Actually building a product gets around all sorts of hassles and legal issues, where, for instance, if you were to do rigging work in some locations the homeboy rigging shop might find it in their best interests to mention the fact to the local powers that be that the guy on that boat anchored over there is breaking the law. The truth of the matter is, that the rigger shopping you to the police would be wearing the white hat and you, in fact, would be breaking the law and the villain.

It's made worse of course, by the fact that islands are very small places and the local coconut telegraph is well aware that the guy on the white boat with the blue sail covers is re-rigging the boat with the green sail covers even before said work actually commences... It's just the nature of things.

A quick aside on a related important subject... Morning cruiser nets are handy communication tools and places to share information but, apparently, a lot of cruisers don't seem to twig on the fact that locals (and that includes customs/immigration/local vendors) have VHFs too (and yes, dear reader, they all speak English on the French islands as well) and they DO LISTEN! So mentioning that you've over-stayed your visa, that you'll do someone's rigging for cheap, or how the women in immigration are nasty jerkette's has the distinct possibility of making your life way too interesting in an instant karma kind of way... There are no secrets on the VHF waves.

Which brings us back to making stuff... I can tie all the flies I want to on my boat, build surfboards (anyone interested in a Mini-Simmons?) till the cows come home, and build a plethora of self-steering gears and no one is going to get upset. Of course, if at some point down the line I might sell or trade some flies, the odd surfboard, or a self-steering gear no one's going to mind...

Which is not to say that you might not be fudging the letter of the law of some island nations in the process, but, if kept low key, stealthy, and greed kept out of the equation, it is doable...

So, rule number #1 in the stealth economy is...

"NEVER SCREW WITH LOCAL COMMERCE"!

Listening to Jefferson Airplane

So it goes...

Lose the cubicle dude...

The Kabuki debt ceiling madness just goes on and on while the real work of fixing the economy is ignored, Mountain Gazette has my new favorite word, and Panbo is one with his outboard...

Yesterday was the day from hell...

My starting cord on our generator parted and the day was spent replacing the cord and I won't bore you with the dismantling of generator, trips to stores to find bits, and an otherwise wasted day that could have been productive... Such is life on a boat.

What keeps me sane is the fact that when shit hits the fan in my little floating world aboard "So It Goes" is that as funky as it ever gets, life would be so much worse if I was one of those guys working in a cubicle hoping my company does not outsource my job to Mumbai and with a 5, 10, or 15-year plan to go cruising... Now that would be hell!

Of course, I do have my own business of sorts, and like a good freelancer I know never to keep all my eggs in a single basket or get too comfortable on my income. So, while underemployed in some folks view I'm never bothered by the lurking dread that my job may go "poof" to enable some CEO to get an even bigger bonus/MEGA yacht.

While according to the yachting press one should never go cruising in a boat one might actually afford to pay cash for, my hurricane bashed fixer-upper CAL 34 has been a comfortable home and sails finest kind for less than the cost of the custom Sunbrella work and dinghy on some 50+ foot Bendytoys that anchor next to me...

So, I really should not bitch, as a day from hell for me (fixing a generator in my cockpit on a perfect Caribbean day) just might be considered heaven by that guy in the cubicle with the spectre of unemployment in a bad economy hovering right behind him.

I'm a very happy camper all things considered!

Listening to Michael Stanley

So it goes...

The morality of working for other cruisers and the workaday world...

From where I sit (at anchor someplace warm) the big-story back in the US of A is what's going on in Wisconsin. If you want to find some finest kind coverage you won't do better than Talking Points Memo who seems to have all the needful info... For another take, Rachel Maddow explains some important points.

The reason I mention this is I am a working guy and as a result I know that it is in the workers best interest (if you are a worker you know who you are) for unions to have your back. Fact is, even if you are not in a union your wages and the protections you enjoy in the workplace are mostly the result of hard fought battles by unions fighting the good fight on your behalf. On the other hand, if you think that unions are a bad idea, maybe you'd be interested in doing my next bottom job for $2.00 a day...

Actually what I sat down to write about was the whole cruisers working for other cruisers gig and suchlike. It's pretty obvious that some cruisers have skills and abilities that other cruisers lack and from time to time commerce is involved... Kinda makes sense.

Cruising comes with a certain "we're-all-in-this-together-we-help-each-other" vibe that is not exactly something where invoices and billable hours come into play. Not too long ago I read an interesting thread on a forum that painted a pretty negative picture of folks who charged money to work on other cruisers boats, pointing out that only scoundrels would take advantage of their brother cruisers...

So, what's your take?

In my mind it is pretty simple and it works like this: Help to people in dire straights is never something I'd charge for, but other than that, it all depends... For instance, if the guy a couple of boats over has a problem with his outboard I'd be happy to loan him my copy of "Outboard Motors", a tool or two, or ferry him and his motor to someplace for repair. If I were bored I might even give him a hand. Now, if he were to drop off the motor and told me to fix it and have it ready by six o'clock, well that's a whole different kettle of fish as there is a big difference between the words "Help" and "Do".

In the cruising community you quickly learn that some folks are pretty good at getting people to help them and maybe not quite so good at returning the favor. Not too unlike those borrowers of tools that never lend their own sort of folks... We all know Those People.

Fact of the matter is, I'm all for a healthy working sector within the cruising community and I'd much rather pay someone on a boat $20 an hour to help me do a job or do a job that was beyond my abilities, than pay $90 to a yard to have a guy who makes only $5 an hour work on a needful project. Keeping money circulating within the cruising community is a GOOD thing!

Over the years I have come across a few cruisers whose business model is of the pyratical order but luckily those sort are few and far between. They don't last long in the cruising gig and wind up opening a refrigeration shop, diesel repair service, or suchlike someplace where they can prey on folks on a larger scale and at higher rates than available cruising...

Listening to Bo Diddley

So it goes...

Making money on boats...

Being a minor cog in the charter trade (we have a charter yacht brokerage), I hear a lot of questions from cruising folk about doing yacht charter as a means of making those ends meet (or in some misguided cases getting rich).

The first thing to be aware of is "rich" and "doing yacht charter" do not quite fit into the same sentence! Which is not to say that you cannot make a reasonable income but getting rich is simply not in the cards.

It is also a LOT of work... Clients demand a lot and the work is 24/7 and in between charters you wind up fixing those things that broke on charter, so as they say...The work never ends!

The good news is that it can also a very rewarding line of work in that you meet some interesting people (in all meanings of the word "interesting") and if you have what it takes (many don't) a decent income.

Maritime Moose will be coming out with a DVD in the not too far distant future..."Not Getting Rich...The Business of Charter" will cover the basics of how the charter business works and how to get started in more or less the right direction as well as survive once in. There has been a need for just such a resource for a long time and as now there really is  shortage of good yachts and crews the timing seems apt.

In the meantime, a really good first step is to actually do a crewed charter as a client as most of the cruisers asking questions really don't have a clue on how a crewed charter actually works and have a lot of misconceptions... Though many seem to have the idea that they can do it better... Sort of like going into the cafe business without ever having eaten in a cafe or writing the great American novel without ever having read a novel. Common sense of course but it does need saying...

We'll have more info on the production soonish...

Location independent living...

Since we were speaking about boating in hard times, it might be a good time to mention that living on a boat really does make a lot of sense... That is, if you don't try to turn it in to some sort of mirror image of living and working on land.

Boats are meant to be mobile and they do their thing best when they MOVE! I'll admit to having a bit of a problem with those who define themselves as "liveaboards". All too often liveaboard translates to living in an overcrowded, overpriced marina with all of the same hassles of going to a job, owning a car, commuting, and a landlord who does not fix stuff...What is the point?

Sadly a lot of people who take this route do so with the idea that it is a needful step to cutting the ties with shore before they sail off into the sunset and start living the life they want to live. In most cases it is simply a dead end and the list of excuses as to the why folks are still in some awful marina six years on is a long and an apparently endless list of "BUTS"

Not everyone may have noticed it but there has been a revolution of sorts over the last couple of decades... We now all have computers and it as easy for a lot of us to do business from some anchorage with WIFI as it is tied to that overpriced marina with the loud neighbors in the powerboat next to you. On the odd chance that someone anchors too close and you don't like the music they are playing, hey presto up the anchor and move a bit...The revolution goes further as it is not just computers and WIFI and while the US of A keeps talking about alternative energy at some undisclosed future the cruising community has been wired in to solar and wind generation for at least a decade. The days to be tied to a dock for communication and power is very much a thing of the past. What makes it even better is that with the right mindset and a bit of thought it is also a very affordable lifestyle with no need to give up comfort and needful things.

Not camping!

Then again a lot of liveaboard folk are still tied to their jobs and to cut that rather evil umbilical of being a wage slave means some serious looking outside of the box and, for what it's worth, some creative flair/skill as well which if I am not mistaken IS what your employer pays you for...

The really nice thing about living on a sailboat that moves is that you can be home and comfortable anywhere you happen to be. Right now we are weighing the pros and cons of where to be when the next hurricane season comes to the Caribbean. Right now it is a toss up between sailing over to Europe/Med ( we really like the South of France) or sail up to the East coast of the US of A and hang around with friends between Newport RI and the Chesapeake. The fact is that wherever we wind up we will be home doing business as usual!

Which is a long and roundabout way of mentioning a rather important blog (albeit not a sailing or boat blog) and website for people who want to look outside the box and sever that shore bound umbilical... Location Independent Living is a blog which should open up a lot of people's eyes on how you can take advantage of the current revolution in communication and technology to take off now and have a business that supports you in the process.