The secret is to have only the boat and equipment that you actually need. Have a look at OpenBoat for a compelling reminder of the pure joy of sailing, and that it really doesn’t take much. It’s mostly a photo gallery website chronicling small, open boats from around the world, and the adventures of a hearty band of New Zealand sailors who adventure together. Make sure to watch the videos. You’ll want to drop everything and go jump on a boat.
I’m reminded of an adventure my buddy and I had a few years ago in the San Juan Islands with my Windrider Rave, a 16 foot hydrofoil trimaran. We cruised and camped the islands for a week, and became expert at reading the current charts, as there was rarely enough wind to actually sail. One afternoon, we pulled into Pelican Beach on Cypress Island…a great marine campground on what is a largely uninhabited island. Pulled onto the beach were a dozen-or-so sailing dorys, which we learned were San Francisco Pelicans. They were a club of sailors who had built their own boats, and had been coming out to camp in the same location every summer for decades, and who were instrumental in creating the marine campground. Hence the name: Pelican Beach.
Later, I learned that family friends from when I was a kid had built a San Francisco Pelican. They were a family of three, and spent months sailing up the Inside Passage with the idea of homesteading in British Columbia. This speaks well to the sea-worthiness of the design, not to mention the heartiness of their little family!
