Sailing: Months 2 & 3

November 11, 2022 0 By addshore

It’s been a while since my first personal sailing post, life is busy as ever, just now on a boat. Lots of sailing, exploring, relaxing, resting, working and boat jobs.

We have written lots of adventure content at sailinghannahpenn.co.uk, but now for my own summarised take on the past few months and general thinking of this boat life.

Exploration time

Looking back over the past 3 months I can now say for certain that you should spend more than 3 months adventuring down the western coast of Europe. In fact, just schedule 4x the amount of time you initially think for a sailing adventure. There are many gaps in our explorations and places I will need to try and see again.

I’m currently writing this post on a sail from Grand Canaria, to Tenerife. Although we spent 3 nights anchored in Grand Canaria we didn’t end up seeing much of the island as we needed to look for a new cruising chute (sail) as well as getting distracted by deep conversations with someone we met in Gibraltar.

Due to seasons, winds, currents and hurricanes, the only real solution is to sail these larger circular routes multiple times. No one wants to hang around on the western European coast during winter.

Working

10 hours a week is the most I would want to work while sailing as fast as I am. I’m quite fortunate as I manage to work while underway, so most of my working time can be underway sail time, rather than time sat at anchor or in an expensive marina.

Working at anchor in Portugal

Internet is important, and my Solis hotspot has served me well, I have a worldwide unlimited data package and can even take voice calls while receiving a screenshare when in “slow data mode” (after the first 20GB in a month). This hotspot with marina WiFi and other public WiFi is more than enough.

During longer crossings, less work always gets done, especially as connectivity is an issue. It’s crucial for this adventure of mine to have a flexible employer. Some weeks I work 20 hours, and some 5 hours, all balancing out to the correct overall in a month. (Thanks WMDE). I imagine being a self-employed internet based contractor with a Starlink dish would be the ultimate way to live on a boat.

Boats

Hannah is a lovely boat, and I’m very privileged to be able to take part in this long voyage without having to buy, borrow or charter a boat myself!

Hannah before being re launched in 2022

Similar to when I lived in a van for some months in mainland Europe back in 2017ish, once you’ve been in a situation for a while, you start to realize the things you would change, where before you would have had no idea.

Of course, boats are expensive, and bigger boats are more expensive, but I’d love a little more headroom. I’m around 6ft, and there are very few places aboard where I don’t need to worry about my head. (A bit more width would be nice too).

I’m very happy with all of the kit and things that we have inside; comfy yoga mats, fishing rods, a new SUP, ample kitchen utensils etc but it would be nice to have more!!!!!! I imagine a world where you could hop right off the back of your boat and go for a little Windsurf. In reality, windsurfing kit is large, and would probably make Hannah a little too uncomfortable.

Dreaming

I’m a nomadic technologist, I love exploring, have always loved the sea, and now apparently live on a boat.

I can’t help but dream of the next level…

Imagine a large 40-60ft boat. Nice and stable while underway, so perhaps a catamaran. Global fast internet connectivity thanks to Starlink. 4-6 people aboard, making for easy watches, but keeping space for visitors along the way. All of the power generation, and batteries to match, in fact let’s make it all electric. And those little extras to make it feel more like you’re on land, microwave, dishwasher, water maker.

Today we came across 2 artists that are heading to Tenerife to join a residential catamaran across the Atlantic as part of an art project (ARTlantik). Maybe this needs to become a long-term reality for more spaces.

Sailing blogs

As said above, much more content was written in the last 2 months, you can find it below:

Writing this much content is hard, and I very much expect the next couple of months to have a lower post frequency. Also lots of oceany crossing coming up!