After explaining to a friendly Englishman in Zeebrugge about the plan to move into the canals, he disappeared into his boat and came out with a stack of charts. He exclaimed ‘this should get you to Hamburg’ - I couldn’t believe such luck! Enormous thanks to the man in the Dufour 40, for parting with an expensive set of charts.

I helped Johannes into Rotterdam with all his equipment, and saw him off back to Hamburg. It was sad to see him go, but it had to be, and I was glad the trip could still continue, even if it meant meandering through the canals. I called my good friend Ben in Germany, who managed to create the time to come over and accompany me for a few days aboard to Rotterdam. It wasn’t without mishap, when I grounded Constellation because I was concentrating more on keeping nice wind on the sails, than staying within the channel markers on the Oosterschelde however… Enormous thanks to the two unknown Belgian sailors who came to our rescue, literally minutes after my poor helming. Ben suprisingly volunteered (or as skipper did I overexert my power and demand it? I can’t remember!) to jump in and retrieve the tow-line. With us leaning on the boom and ‘August’ the Yanmar engine in full reverse, a few tugs had us back on our way.

I spent another few days in Rotterdam, contemplating the idea of getting work. I was quickly influenced to continue further north when two friends flew over from England to join the trip. We motored out of Rotterdam and made good time to the outskirts of Amsterdam within a few days. While my charts are spectacular, it seems the one from Dordrecht to Amsterdam went AWOL, and navigation consisted of asking people which way to go, and referring to a road map of sorts.

Outside of Amsterdam we had to wait until 1am for a bridge to open and let us into the city, after which nine more bridges were opened in succession. It was surreal moving through the middle of the night with 15 or so other yachts, who were also following the ‘Standing Mast Route’ (the route which allows you to keep your mast up).

So here I am, in Amsterdam… I’ve run out of money, and am trying to find work… I desperately wish I could just keep sailing. I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, and tomorrow I’m going to move out of the marina and live with the other boats taking advantage of free mooring along the inside of a canal in northern Amsterdam - I didn’t quite think my trip would end under such circumstances so soon, being moored up as a gypsy (literally) and becoming terrified of the oncoming winter, but there you go.

I fear the day counter at the top of this page is nothing more than a countdown to nothing at the moment… But I’ll keep trying - The Bay of Biscay can still be crossed within the next month, contrary to popular thinking, and with some kind of self-steering I don’t see why it couldn’t be done.

nick.

Firstly, an enormous thankyou to Marty for his generous donation at a very tough time. Thanks again Marty, I really appreciate it.

As you well know, I flew over succesfully, however my trick of strapping the mainsail to my backpack and claiming it was only one bag was unsuccesful the second time around. British easyJet staff let it through, but the Germans wouldn’t have it. So, for an additional 15euros I got it onboard, and managed to only be 1kg over the baggage limit which was overlooked. I arrived in at Gatwick and took the train in to see a friend I hadn’t seen for a year, and as we’re as poor as each other, he’d already made dinner and we sat near Victoria Station for quiche and salad (thanks Matt!). I stayed for two nights in Harrow, London with the company I work for - I was put up with good food and drink for two nights, and even a lift down to Constellation on the Friday (thanks Simon!).

Constellation was full up with water again, but I’ve been through that already… I pumped it out and luckily Friday was one of the last sunny days since, and she dried fairly well. Saturday & Sunday were a right-off, I just walked around a bit and bought food for the week. Wondering what on earth I was going to do about my dwindling money situation, I looked into a pub job and suprisingly started on Sunday evening. My first night was utterly nerve wracking, not knowing the first thing about working behind a bar. The locals have named me ‘Ned’ (after Ned Kelly) and I was flamed thoroughly for not knowing the Sunday night quiz question of ‘what is the name of a dry bed in Australia that fills with water’ - It’s a Billabong in case you’re wondering - I slapped myself with a wet tea towel after finding out the answer.

The remainder of the week has been hopeless for boat work. Incredibly wet and windy, and no sign of a break. I’ve worked more hours than intended this week, but since I haven’t yet got an office or nice weather to work, I guess it doesn’t really matter.

I’m still really pushing for a May launch - However finances are incredibly tight at the moment. The past year has been really quite amazing in regards to last minute donations or help from people. On around 5 distinct occasions I’ve been utterly devasated financially, with bills looming and banks chasing minimum payments, only to have money literally appear from nowhere. Last night was an excellent example: I had 2pounds left in my pocket to last till Thursday, and I was wondering how I was going to make it - And then, a large table came in at the pub and left a 14pound tip, of which the manager gave me 10pounds. Thursday is payday, so now I’ll make it quite easily. Matt, my friend living in London boasts a 3pound a day budget, but I must say I’ve completely smashed his efforts, living on roughly a pound a day. Tesco’s is your friend.

While living finances are non-existant, I have managed to more or less pay off the boatyard - I now just need to come up with 90pounds for the launch fee. Finding a marina who will allow me to pay pro-rata on the yearly mooring fee is however posing to be difficult. The yard I’m currently in is reluctant to give me a berth on such terms, because they’d rather an annual customer. Other yards have quoted me ‘visitor rates’ at 21pounds a night, which is laughable at best. I’ll anchor in the Solent and swim in to shore for sandwiches before I part with that kind of money…

So, problems abound, but I’m doing my best. I’m able to get Internet access at the pub instead of having to go through my 5 mile walk to the local Library which is nice, so fingers crossed for everything else working out. I do miss Berlin dearly, as it’s been my home for over a year and I loved the life I was living there. My apartment is still there intact however, which the Germans call a ‘Koffer in Berlin’ (translation: ‘Suitcase in Berlin’) - It’s definitely a city you can’t leave easily, and must always have a toe in. I’m here now though, still completely focused as I have been for the past 9 months on this project - This new effort is merely another step closer to making it happen.

nick.

So, it was on the 6th of August, 2006 that I basically made the ‘deal’ on Constellation, and I’ve been more or less patiently waiting here in Berlin, working to pay for her. It’s been a really long eight months in some respects, but at the same time life has flown by, and I can’t believe we’re almost in May. When I first had this idea, I had planned to leave next month - Ha! But, at least I’m making efforts to launch by then, and this is where I make my move into the topic at hand: I’m going to live on the boat in just over a week!

It seemed that I could stay here, ’spinning my wheels’, or I could commit to a moving and see where it takes me. Since that decision, I am very close to [hopefully] organising office space, no less than 30metres from the boat, at a company that actually overlooks the marina. This means I can be near the boat, and also continue working. Being in the marina also opens up opportunities to crew and to learn as much as possible - I could stay here reading books for another couple of months, but really, you can only go so far.

I have some things to sort out here, namely paying the ‘kaution’ or ‘bond’ on the apartment, which is an unfortunate loss of €600.00, but alas, there is nothing I can do. I also need to figure out how to bring about 20 sailing books, mainsail, clothes and other assorted things on Easyjet without incurring excess baggage fees - €9/kg, no way! I will take the bus if I have to, but it’s a 24 hour ride, and actually costs more than the plane (go figure).

In about two weeks this blog will be awash with questions, and I’m hoping some sailors out there might be able to give me a hand. My plan thus far is to get the engine working, anti-foul the hull and make minor repairs on the rudder and replace the sacrificial anode. After that, the rest of the work can take place once she’s in the water. If anyone has any thoughts on things I must do before launch, I’d be most appreciative of any information.

nick!

My brother recently moved to New York City to work for a photo agency. He clearly has too much spare time:

If only modelling were a viable career… Thanks Ryaaan! (If this makes no sense, view my photos)

Money really isn’t flowing at all this year. Bits of work here and there, but nothing reliable at all… Certainly nothing to sail around the world on. I said I was going to be honest about trying to do this, so how about I tell you how much it actually costs to ‘get up and disappear’, and how much I actually earn:

From July 2006 I worked for ₤12/hour, writing software for a company in the UK (working remote). I had a small amount of savings which I used as a deposit for Constellation, leaving roughly ₤5,500 ($10,000AUD) to pay over five months. I managed that, although only barely. My employer was starting a company, and cashflow was poor to non-existant, meaning I had many issues making payments. If you do the math on 40 hours per week, you will see I should have been able to make monthly payments of ₤1000 a month, however due to the issues outlined above, that rarely happened. Some months I worked few hours, others I worked excessive hours.

I rented out the other room in my apartment out for several months to reduce rent, however because my employer was UK-based, as were my boat payments, I most often had whatever I earned funneled directly into the boatyard account. This was convenient for currency conversion, and meant every six weeks or so, I would ask for a Western Union transfer to keep me going in Berlin with any extra not being sent to the boat. As these were far and few between, I spent a lot of time working out how to live cheaply, as well as subletting to reduce costs.

I had numerous promises to get a higher wage after January, but none of those came through. During January and February, I earned roughly ₤370/month. In March I worked for a Non-profit here in Berlin for €9.50/hour part time because I was broke, yet again. So, that job has been the only actual work I have done in Germany since I have been here, due to unemployment and language issues.

Speaking of which, some estimates state that east Berlin has an enemployment rate of 25%… If that’s true or not, I don’t know, but I have heard of other English speakers getting paid €3/hour washing dishes because no other options existed. Right now I wouldn’t mind washing dishes for €3/hour really… Because if I worked 40 hours a week, at least the rent would be covered.

In March I was also paid a small amount for a US-based company I did some in-between-work for, which managed to just pay the rent. That work dried up, again numerous promises were made for further work, but it seems being a remote employee puts you on the bottom of everybody’s list - They don’t have to see you in person, so why bother being reasonable? I was working alongside Russian, Indian and Malaysian programmers for $15/hour, but when they can work for $8/hour, what do you do?

So, where am I at the present day? Right now I am working on my second German-based job, doing a small job for €500. To my knowledge, that is my last piece of paid work I have in the pipeline, since all I get elsewhere are promises. I also have a €600euro bond to pay on my house at the end of the month - I have no idea where that’s coming from! Maybe I will be living on Constellation faster than I think…

I had ₤542 owed from my UK employer which has been paid last week into the boatyard account because I hadn’t paid standing fees since August - I still owe them another ₤400 to be up to date. By July when I am supposed to be launching, I will owe them a total of ₤800, plus another ₤120 to physically launch the boat.

So in July, I need around ₤1500 to launch and sail back to Germany. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but at my current rate, I’ll be lucky to have half of that, if anything. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do, but damned if I’m going to give up. Every single day since June I have been thinking about this, working towards it and sacrificing for it. I will sail this year, regardless of aptitude, common sense, or finances…

For those of you in non-EU countries, keep in mind tripling my British or doubling my Euro earnings into AUD, and therefore exclaiming ‘hey, he earns a lot per hour!’ doesn’t quite work. To make it more quantifiable, ₤12/hour is around one and a half to two times what a waiter in Britain would earn. In Germany €9.50 is probably the hourly rate of a waiter, plus tips. Also remember being a waiter means you get paid reguarly, and know how many hours you might work… I’m just mentioning all this so there are no thoughts of grand earnings or high living over here. I’m not complaining, just being straight - Do you know how many people come to this website from search engines, using the query ‘how much does it cost to sail around the world?’ - Quite a few. So, for those people, now you know.

Let’s also put things into another light - I own a boat and can put pasta on the table - That’s a helluva lot more than a lot of people in this world of inequality.

n.

Over the last couple of weeks the team at Searchenginejournal.com have been brainstorming on my behalf, thinking collectively on how best to utilise the web for my trip, as well as technical help on improving search ranking - Take a read of the full article on their site. They’ve all put in enormous effort, and come up with some really smart ideas. It has been a great experience to see people envisioning such potential in my project in regards to the web, because it’s been hard for me trying to get across what I want to do with this whole thing. My trip isn’t just about trying to sail around the world with a small amount of money in 12months, it’s a lot more, and when Loren from SEJ says:

We believe Nick is partaking on a brave and unique adventure, one that will set standards for social media adventure and social pioneering.

I get dizzy with ideas and excitement, because time is of the essence right now, and I have a lot to do in order to squeeze all the potential out of what I’m doing. So over the next couple of months I’ll be ramping up some of the ideas that have been brewing, and also begin implementing what I can of the suggestions from SEJ.

When I lost my site last week, I had to recover a lot of it from Google. I came across a page I had since deleted called ‘How & Why‘ - I felt it was a bit romantic and washy and deleted it some months ago, however I’ve left it back on the site this time around, because it has reminded me what my very original intentions were. I’ve been so swayed over finances and the pressures of ’survival sickness’ lately that a lot of thoughts have been pushed out of the way. I guess what I’m saying is, the SEJ folks brought a lot of ideas to the table, and those sparks lit up my mind again. The aspect of raising money for environmental causes has also been swung aside, so in the next month or so I’ll be launching a project I began last November on what I believe to be a really interesting way of raising funds. Thank you to Ahmed Bilal, Bill Slawski, Carsten Cumbrowski, Gemme van Hasselt, Jessica Bowman, Loren Baker and Rhea Drysdale!

Non-webby news includes a possible article by www.segelnmagazin.de - A German sailing magazine. Nothing at all is definite, but there are signs of interest, so fingers crossed.

My book arrived today about Diesel engines, so it’s now time to have a look at what I’ve got myself into! Tomorrow early in the morning I’m meeting Tudor at the Duke of York to pickup some sailing theory manuals and an anchor - Oh yes jokes abound: ‘A man walks into a pub with an anchor and… ‘ Add a comment if you can make up the rest of the joke!

Back on the 2nd of April -

nick.

Thanks to the insanely great Trafalgar Sailing School, my hopes to do the Day Skipper in February have come a whole month early, quite by suprise. Defying all rationality finance-wise to get down there and do this thing, I’m flying out in 13 hours to M?ɬ°laga, Spain, taking a bus to La L?ɬ?nea de la Concepci?ɬ?n and walking to Gibraltar. Imagine this as a straight line.

No time for idle chit-chat though, time to get organised!

nick.