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GETTING AWAY FROM IT ALL

I started sailing in the era before boats became floating condominiums.

My first Real Ocean Cruiser was a Westsail 32 that had an engine, an ice box for block ice, and two batteries. That was it. There were no complicated systems on board our Westsail 32.

Maintenance on our Westsail was easy to do and uncomplicated. I spent more time putting varnish on the teak cap rails than working on anything else.

We sailed happily in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean with our basic boat, and we didn’t feel like we were deprived or suffering in our 1973 Real Ocean Cruiser.

When we needed water, we got if from shore or we caught it from the sky using a rain catcher awning.

Our autopilot was simply an Aires wind vane or a simple sheet to tiller rig that I created using rubber surgical tubing, ropes and blocks. My self steering worked just fine, and it was cheap.

Things are different now. Boats have air conditioning, water makers, generators, refrigerators, freezers, solar panels, wind generators, mircrowave ovens, high capacity inverters, washers, dryers, bulkhead mounted wide screen televisions, and the list goes on and on.

Boats don’t just have batteries, they have lithium ion battery banks with thousands of amp hours powering all their fancy electrical system. After all, you need to have power for that bulkhead mounted wide screen television.

It’s not that all those things are bad. It’s just that they are unnecessary, and they add complexity to a cruiser’s life, and they exponentially increase the cost of owning and cruising on a boat.

As I cruise around the world on Exit Only, I listen to tales of woe by sailors who are in financial distress because they are cruising on a complicated yacht. Instead of spending their money to have an extended adventure, they spend it on maintaining the yacht that is supposed to be their passport to freedom. Instead of being a passport to freedom, they are slaves to the complicated systems onboard.

Real Ocean Cruising used to be an adventure to get away from it all, but now it seems that most boats want to take it all with them.

Before I left on this world cruise, I watched sailors working to pay for expensive gear on their boat and perpetually getting ready to go sailing. They don’t seem to understand that every thousand dollars they spend on bells and whistles and bling could have been a Freedom Chip, and they could have dropped their docklines and set sail - that thousand dollars would have been enough to finance a two month sailing adventure.

When you put complicated and expensive gear on your boat, you are stealing from Peter to pay Paul. For most ordinary non-rich folks, trying to have it all on your boat means that you might never actually go sailing. You end up with an awesome floating condominium that rarely goes anywhere.

Too much boat, too much complicated gear, and not enough Freedom Chips to make the dream happen.

Exit Only is a very basic Real Ocean Cruiser. Most modern sailors would consider that we are almost camping on the seven seas, but that is fine with us. We will take our uncomplicated boat and its uncomplicated systems around the world. We did it once, and we can do it again.

I enjoy getting away from it all, and not having it all is a small price to pay for my freedom.

Dr. Dave

AND THAT'S ALL I HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT!

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Dr. Dave's Eclectic Blog - Positive Thinking Doctor - David J. Abbott M.D.

WHO IS DR. DAVE AND WHY IS HE BLOGGING?


More than two decades ago, Captain Dave (aka Dr. Dave) started writing and creating websites as he sailed around the world on his sailboat, SV Exit Only. Those early websites and books evolved into the Positive Thinking Network you see today.

Captain Dave lived overseas for twenty-eight years in his globe trotting lifestyle until he became a Flying Doctor with the Indian Health Service working for ten years in the American Southwest flying out to deliver health care to the Apache, Hopi, Hualapai, Havasupai, and Colorado River Tribes.

Dr. Dave completed his work with the Indian Health Service in Arizona, and now runs the Positive Thinking Network full time either from his catamaran or his Land Rover Defenders as he travels around the world

The Positive Thinking Network has a global outreach sending a positive message to 196 countries, and it is your definitive source of positive thinking on the World Wide Web. 

With hundreds of positive websites, and more than a million pages and podcasts downloaded each month, it's where you come to learn everything you want to know about positive thinking. The Positive Thinking Network focuses on positive self-talk, positive spirituality, winning the battle against depression, PTSD, and positive adventure.

Hundreds of family safe websites stand ready to fill your mind with positive things.

Dr. Dave and the Positive Thinking Network work around the clock to change the world, one person at a time, one web page at a time, and one podcast at a time.