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  • Hacker News
  • Reminds me of Tom Neale's "An Island to Oneself" - https://harpercollins.com.au/products/9781775492979
  • An amazing book - well worth a read - I found a first edition years ago, and hadn't expected it to become quite so valuable.

    Luckily you can read the entire book on his daughters site, or at least you could in the past.

    Unrelated but similarly enjoyable is: Shrimpy: A Record Round-the-World Voyage - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_Acton

    by ljf
  • Tania Aelbi wrote a good one of her trip.

    I’m working towards a solo circumnavigation myself. Love reading about the stories of others.

  • Right on, where are you based out of and what kind of boat? Cheers from wa state
  • Always wanted to do this but enjoying land-lubber life a bit too much at the moment. I'd like to think I've built most of the skills (sailing, electronics, mechanics, sewing, rigging, drinking amicably with strangers, radio, cooking, botany, etc.) but am yet to find a wife who's OK with sailing life: maybe just go anyway?
  • Just go. Maybe you'll meet her in the journey.
  • There is something wonderfully old-internet about finding a complete 3,5year solo circumnavigation memoir sitting on a plain HTML site
  • He is a pre-internet guy, used to live in a cabin he built in the mountains, which he ran a long electricity cable to, and kept his backup floppy disks in a fireproof cannister as a guard against forest fires, in the early Apple days when he wrote columns for magazines and programmed Apple Writer.
  • Oh boy, this reminded me of The Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone by Robin Lee Graham, which I randomly found and read in my school's library when I was 12 or 13. Still remember it 40+ yrs later.
    by Jun8
  • I too loved this book, though my copy is titled _Dove_ - one of my all time favorites. My dad, who gave me the book, knew Robin during his own solo sailing days, and figured I could relate to a lot of what he wrote about. Sadly I never got a chance to meet him myself though.
  • Joshua Slocum (February 20, 1844[1] – on or shortly after November 14, 1909) was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world. He was a Nova Scotian-born ...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum

  • The book is worth a read - lots of misadventures and musings.
  • And Sir Robin Knox-Johnston[1] was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world _non-stop_.

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Knox-Johnston

  • by ggm
  • Indeed. An excellent sailor, an excellent prof, and an excellent woman.
  • In my spare time I message people of means to fund a 100ft carbon maxi sailing campaign to break ocean records at the major offshore events around the globe.(www.msailing.org)

    I call it my moonshot, something I spend a few hours on a month, and you'd be amazed how many people actually politely decline.

    I wish more people knew the joy and the rawness of the ocean.

  • Sailboats in space. That's the ticket.
  • Is the intention to use/charter "Skorpios" which you use on the site or are you proposing a full new program from the ground up?
  • There are worse ways to spend a few hours a month than trying to talk rich people into funding an absurdly fast sailboat
  • I'll bite. How does Gitana 18 and the general continued technological progress in the Ultim class fall short? If you had something to contribute, couldn't you just get involved in one of these projects?
  • I read this many years ago, it is fantastic. The tale is very matter-of-fact, but interspersed with hard-hitting extremely personal bits. It's a great read.

    The boat itself is an odd duck, a Pacific Seacraft double-ender, which was only built for a few years. Somewhat similar to the very popular Westsail 32. Many cruising sailors recommend the smallest boat that will do for you. A larger boat is more comfortable, sure, but expenses do not scale up geometrically in boats. A 60 foot boat is not twice as expensive as a 30 foot, it's more like 4 times more expensive.

    Other commenters have noted other similar books (Tania Aebi, Joshua Slocum). The Pardeys, Lin and Larry, have many books on this lifestyle as well. All are very good.

  • I bought a 25ft boat. Wish I got a 17ft trailer sailer! I know I will want a bigger boat, but I seriously recommend going a small as possible, dinghy or dayboat, then a small trailer boat, then when you are sure you are going to cross oceans go bigger. Joshua Slocums Spray was only 36'9. Robin Knox-Johnsons Suhaily is only 32 foot! Both went round the world single handed, the second one non-stop and before freeze-dried food!
  • Maybe HN will like this, 100 Rabbits.

    https://100r.co/site/home.html

    It is a mix of sailing, low tech, art.

  • They also have a "sailing log" book, "Busy Doing Nothing".

    https://100r.co/site/busy_doing_nothing.html

  • I was reminded of this book today when I read some comments here about the popularity of “sailing log” manuscripts.

    This one is written by Paul Lutus, of Apple Writer fame.

    https://arachnoid.com/administration/index.html

  • lutusp here on HN
  • Loved the book as well!
  • That connection makes it even more interesting
  • Paul has come up on HN a lot recently. I didn't recognize the domain and didn't immediately realize this was him.

    It sounds like he's had a heck of an interesting life.

  • I've always wished the program was called Lutus Notes.