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.

Funny now, absolutely infuriating at 5am on a Thursday morning. We left the house with quartz precision to catch the plane, and missed a tram by 29 seconds going past the front door. So after a brisk walk to the closest station, we caught the train, got off at Treptower park to catch the S9 to the airport and we were on our way. It was a bit of a nailbiter time-wise, and then some stations started going by that I hadn’t seen before… A quick look at the overhead map revealed our train had changed course for some reason, and panic ensued. I will spare the details, but we missed the plan to England by 15 minutes.

What happens when you miss an Easyjet flight? Well, you have to buy another ticket, and you can’t get a refund. The problem was, even with a new flight, our plans were dashed due to the chain of events that needed to happen, in order for us to be at the boatyard in time to get the keys and open Constellation up before closing time. So, it was thinking time - Do we go, pay for the additional plane and bus tickets, as well as miss the boatyard? After much thought and talking to the Easyjet ‘helpdesk’, we decided to forgoe the entire journey. As it turns out, we could get a refund on the taxes incurred on the flights, which meant around 45% of the total cost… Sincere apologies to Tudor who we had intended to meet at the Duke of York.

So, no diesel repairs, no stanchion hunting, and no cup’o’soups with hot water boiled from tea candles. What a disaster.

I will try and make it down there once I’ve recouped some funds from somewhere, hopefully at the end of the month, or in May. Special thanks to Gerard for sending through some much needed funds!

nick.

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.

The data center where my website is hosted crashed over the weekend, meaning I had to revert to an October 2006 backup. I managed to retrieve most of the content from Google cache, but alas maybe things are still probably missing…

In other news I will be down to see Constellation this weekend, from the 29th of March till the 2nd of April. I have next to no money after getting my ‘account overdue‘ notice last week, so the dreams of fixing a lot of things are dashed by the fact I can’t buy the battery charger and engine parts I need, as well as stanchions, lines and some other pieces I had planned. There are plenty tasks which require little money, so I guess I’ll be tackling those.

I always say I have exciting news to mention, and I never do - But, as soon as I can get a confirmation that I’m allowed to announce it, I promise I’ll I’ll speak up! My news doesn’t solve all the problems I have, but it does solve a fairly significant portion of them. I think…

If you are near Southampton, email me for directions and come say hi!

nick.

Every month I receive an invoice for the hard standing on Constellation. Last year it was impossible to pay, and this year it hasn’t been too easy to do either. So the bills kept piling up, and finally a bill came today, that came in an envelope with RED letters on it, instead of BLUE letters. I knew right away what it was going to be about.

So, what can I say, I owe them quite a few pounds… I hope to have at least 500 pounds of it sorted out when I fly over on the 29th of March, but the rest will have to wait. It’s all kind of amusing, considering I’m supposed to be launching in July.

Oh, did I say amusing? I didn’t mean it.

Thankfully my financial woes may be over though, having received this gracious letter today:

Dear Sir,

With regards,My names are Mr.Mohamed .P.Conteh.The managing director of ALUMED INTERNATIONAL.

I will like you to know if you have used fishing boat for sale and how much is the unit price.

I look forward to establishing a long term business relationship with your
company.

Regards,

Mohamed.P.Conteh.
Managing Director,Alumed International.
Freetown, Sierra Leone.

So it got me thinking. If I get this diesel running, maybe Constellation could be sold as a fishing boat? We could ditch that pesky sail business, or maybe modify it into a crane. Heck, now that we’re being creative, why not keep the boat and do the fishing myself? What else am I going to do on those lonely nights across the Atlantic?

So, I’ve been writing more sponsorship letters and working a lot… Good things are happening though, maybe not regarding finances yet (you’re crossing your fingers for me too, right?) but things are slowly moving forward.

I am going to endeavour to update this blog a bit more, I’ve been pretty bad lately.

nick.

P.S The unit price is ONE BILLION U.S DOLLARS in Kruger Rands, Mr.Mohamed .P.Conteh (or anyone else who is wondering how much my boat is worth)

nick.

No updates, lots of work and little money! Wonderful!

A good friend is flying over from Melbourne at the end of the month, and being handy with engines, I’ve coaxed him into a trip to see Constellation. I hear she may have a little water in her again (but not much, I did put the cover on this time) and any excuse is a good excuse.

I have Nigel Calders book on order at the local English bookstore, so we’re going to see if we can start the engine. Local health and safety rules say it’s not permitted to run an engine on the stand, but who’s going to know on a Sunday afternoon? Other things to do include finding and installing secondhand Stanchion bases, climbing the mast to fix the VHF antenna, and sorting out the other million things still required before the July launch. So, if you are near Burseldon, between the 29th and 2nd of April, come say hello!

Other potentially exciting things are in the pipeline, including a possible chat to a local sailing paper, and maybe another project involving video cameras. More news when it happens!

Happy Birthday Einstein!

nick