Hi! We spent five years living aboard and sailing on a couple of sailboats (34ft then 42ft). We began our journey as a family of 3 on the east coast of the UK in 2017 and sailed across the North Sea to Northern Europe. After a couple of years exploring the continent, Jersey in Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the south coast of the UK, and having a baby(!) - we set sail south down the Atlantic coast from Cornwall, UK and sailed down to southern Portugal when Erin was only 8 months old. We have PLENTY of tales to tell! Now we're ready to share our experiences and all the knowledge we picked up to help other families get out on the water sailing. Come join us!
Money, Money, Money! π°πΈπ€ #9
Hi Reader, Welcome to the 9th edition of 'Families Afloat'! The bi-weekly newsletter full of inspiration, stories and invaluable information for sailing families. If you want to have a catch up of our previous newsletters, you can find them here: NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE. β This week's topic is Money. Love it or hate it, it's a necessity when it comes to owning a boat and going sailing. If you're crewing on someone else's boat then you'll get to avoid a lot of the costs, but if you own your boat then it's a whole different ballgame. You know what B.O.A.T. stands for don't you? Break Out Another Thousand! They're not wrong. π Boats need ongoing maintenance and things break, regularly! The sea is unforgiving and being in a saltwater environment is tough going on everything. Saving up a slush fund before you go is definitely worth doing but I also recommend finding a way to generate a monthly income because lump sums get eaten away at along the way. Once it's gone, it's gone and you'll either have to stop and find a way to earn money or go back to land life (finding a way to generate an income along the way can prevent this - or at least delay it - from happening). Our personal experience of this is that we rented out our house when we first set off. Our tenants announced they were leaving after a year which really wasn't ideal for us as we were only half-way through our career breaks. We ended up selling our house as we hadn't had a good experience with the tenants - they'd redecorated the house, badly, amongst many other things π³. In hindsight we wish we'd tried again with another set of tenants as we much preferred having a steady monthly income than a lump sum. We've experimented along the way with various income streams but after five years of sailing we are back on land for a break from sailing and to generate some more money so we can get back out there (we really miss the cruising lifestyle!) β What You Should Be Thinking About This Week'Ten Ways To Make Money While Sailing Around The World' So, you've got some money left in the bank but you know it's going to run out at some point and you want to start generating an income before it's gone... When's the best time to get to work? Before you set sail and leave land. The second best time? NOW! Seriously. It takes time to start making money online so the sooner you start the better. Need some ideas for how you can earn money while living on a boat? Kim from Sailing Britican shares ten ideas for how you can do just that. Check out her article 'Ten Ways To Make Money While Sailing Around The World' below.
β Boat Tour of the WeekI don't know about you, but I LOVE looking around other people's boats! Every week I will share a new boat for you to take a look around. This week we are touring Becka & Zach's 40ft Colvic Victor ketch called Teulu. They are currently exploring The Caribbean. β β Do you have a family sailing yacht boat tour you'd like to share? It can either be your own boat or one you've found on YouTube! Let us know here.β β Tip of the Week'Five Money-Saving Sailing Tips to Protect Your Sails' Sails for your boat are not cheap! Captain John has shared five tips to help prolong the life of your sails so you don't need to dip into your cruising kitty quite so often!
β Galley Recipe of the WeekThis week it's 'Ceviche'. Karen from @ourgalley has shared this delicious looking bowl of ceviche (amongst loads of others on her Instagram page!). Ceviche is a Latin American dish typically made from fresh raw fish cured in fresh citrus juices, most commonly lime or lemon. She shares the recipe in her new 'Hook Line & Sinker' e-book available as a paid PDF download here which contains over 50 recipes taking inspiration from countries worldwide. β Have you tried to make it? Why don't you let Karen @ourgalley know on Instagram how it turned out! β What's your favourite galley recipe? Let us know here.β β YouTube Video of the WeekThis newsletter, my video of the week on YouTube is '20 Ways we SAVED so we could buy a boat and sail away sooner!' by Sailing Mutiny (aka Dave and me!) We have been asked a lot about the financial side of sailing/cruising... How did we afford to sail away? How did we save up to go travelling? What do you do about money? How much does it cost to sail around the world? How much does it cost to buy a sailboat? etc etc This video is starting at the very beginning. We talk about all the changes we made BEFORE we even bought a boat and left. We thought about all the things we did (or stopped doing!) to make our dream a reality and go travelling debt free. They fell into three categories: SAVE, EARN and SELL. This video talks about 20 ways that we SAVED money through small changes (with a few big ones thrown in there too!) Some of these suggestions might seem obvious but I'm hoping you'll find something in here that you haven't thought of that will help you get out there cruising sooner! All of these changes that we made added up so we were able to save hundreds of pounds a month - they also helped us adjust to our new lives as we learned to live with less in more ways than one. Even if you don't end up cruising, some of these suggestions may improve your quality of life and allow you to free up money for more important things. Go and check it out! β β Have you watched a really good video this week? Let us know here.β β Pets CornerOur furry friends are most definitely part of the family. Each week, we'll share a picture of our favourite boat dog or cat (though we're not limited to those - show us what other animals you have onboard!) β This week it's Layla from @bigfootsailsaway. "Our furry crew member Layla is definitely not a "normal" dog. She absolutely hates strangers and shows it very clearly (barking, growling, will not be touched). β£ Also, our alarm system is never asleep, always one eye open looking for boat stealers π§.β£" β Want your salty seadog (or cat, or other pet!) to be featured in the newsletter?! Let us know here.β β Cruiser Confession of the WeekSometimes things don't go quite the way we planned... Each week we'll share an embarrassing moment submitted by your fellow cruisers so we can learn from their mistakes (and probably have a giggle in the process!) β "Our daughter, Erin (2 at the time) liked posting things...
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The back of our sofas lifted up to make larger sea berths and whenever we lifted them up we tended to find a small pile of toys that Erin had posted there.
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We also had wooden slats lining the hull and you could see a small selection of colourful toys wedged between the slats and the hull that I have no idea how she managed to get down there! π³
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We managed to extract a few but some have sailed away with the new boat owner when we sold our boat and are now in the Caribbean! π"
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Robyn Hawkins - @sailing.mutinyβ
β What's the worst thing that's happened to you onboard?! Let us know here. Your oops moment can be shared anonomously or you can put your name to it - it's completely up to you! β Bilge BanterComplete the following (and get as inventive as you want!!!) β You have $50 when you enter the chandlery. What do you have when you leave? β βSubmit your answers here.β β Puzzle CornerIt's time to get your thinking caps on. Can you solve our nautical themed puzzle?! This week it's a PICTURE! I've taken a picture of a nautical object but zoomed in closely - can you tell what it is?! β Find out in the newsletter next week if you're right. β Last Week's Puzzle - ANSWER The answer to the ANAGRAM last week was... ANCHOR! Did you get it?! β β Competition TimeThis month we have not one, not two, but THREE competitions for you! π We have teamed up with John Neal at Mahina Expeditions, Jana Reinhardt Jewellery, and we're giving away a $/Β£/β¬ 25 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky subscriber. THREE epic prizes! β John has very kindly offered one of our readers the chance to enroll on his Virtual Mahina Offshore Cruising Seminar worth $249. β Jana Reinhardt Jewellery is offering one of our readers a Recycled Sterling Silver Tiny Whale Necklace from her collection worth Β£85. β To find out more about them both (and enter!), please visit our competitions page - just click the big orange button below! β
To enter to win an Amazon Gift Card worth $/Β£/β¬ 25, all you need to do is answer a few questions to help us improve the Families Afloat newsletter.
β These competitions will run: During April 2023 and the winners will be chosen and announced in May 2023. If you are a brand or company that is interested in giving away a quality sailing or travel product or gift voucher, please leave your details here.β β
Join Us on Social Media β Enjoyed Families Afloat?βFind out how you can support us here so we can keep sharing Families Afloat with you all each week. π₯° β Thanks for joining us! I really hope you enjoyed reading this week's edition of 'Families Afloat'. Hope to see you again next week. In the meantime, fair winds and following seas! Robyn and Dave β |
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113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205 |
Families Afloat | Sail Away Together
by Robyn, Dave, Erin, and Scrappy
Hi! We spent five years living aboard and sailing on a couple of sailboats (34ft then 42ft). We began our journey as a family of 3 on the east coast of the UK in 2017 and sailed across the North Sea to Northern Europe. After a couple of years exploring the continent, Jersey in Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly, the south coast of the UK, and having a baby(!) - we set sail south down the Atlantic coast from Cornwall, UK and sailed down to southern Portugal when Erin was only 8 months old. We have PLENTY of tales to tell! Now we're ready to share our experiences and all the knowledge we picked up to help other families get out on the water sailing. Come join us!
Hey Reader, I hope you've had a great week. Did you see my email last weekend where I told you I'd just relaunched Families Afloat as a brand new website?! Visit Families Afloat by clicking the image above or the links in the email Have you had a chance to check it out yet?! I'd love to hear what you think of the new (and IMO very much improved design! Let's be honest, the last website was a bit crap...! π) It's still early days for it but I'm adding new posts to it as often as I can. What...
Hi Reader, Iβm back!!! Itβs been a while since I emailed and a LOT has happened since then! Weβve moved back to the UK from Portugal and are in the process of trying to resettle into βnormal lifeβ. The bottom line is that itβs not going very well - moving back in the middle of winter probably wasnβt our smartest move! π Weβre missing boat life like crazy and have started boat hunting again π. The other thing Iβve been doing which has taken up a LOT of time is redesigning Families Afloat from...
Hi Reader, Welcome to the MAY edition of 'Families Afloat'! The monthly newsletter full of inspiration, stories and invaluable information for sailing families. If you want to have a catch up of our previous newsletters, you can find them here: NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE. This week's topic is what cruising is really all about... Fixing your boat in foreign countries! π I'm pretty sure that almost every cruiser we've met has had to fix their boat abroad at some point in their journey, if they haven't,...