Budget Small Offshore Cruiser

About 25 years ago I expressed to Pearl a desire to someday sail to the South Pacific.

- David Omick

When she asked why I wasn’t doing it then, I replied that it was something we could save for older age, embarking on more physically strenuous adventures while we were still young and able. About two years ago, as my 60th birthday approached, she commented “You know, if we’re ever going to take that trip, we’d better get started.”

Since we’ve always put a high value on freedom and on doing things rather than having things, the challenge of acquiring and outfitting a suitable boat was the first chapter in our adventure. Philosophically, we had little interest in the usual six-figure investment that a boat for such a voyage involves. In fact, our intention was to spend roughly an order of magnitude less. The costs of purchasing and outfitting a boat, in both money and time, increase rapidly as the size of the boat increases. We wanted a boat that could be purchased and outfitted over the course of months, rather than the years that are more typically required, which for us meant that we’d begin with a small boat.

Over the course of this past summer, we fully outfitted our venerable little craft and it now lies rigged and ready for the voyage. Our plan is to set sail in early February 2017. The first leg of our voyage, from Southern California to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, will be the longest at around 3000 miles.

Much of our search for a small, blue-water capable boat was met with headwinds, largely because relatively few small boats are suitable for offshore sailing. On the way to finding our little vessel, we looked at more boats than we can remember.

What were we looking for? Basically, a boat that was affordable, seaworthy and had the carrying capacity for us and our stores for the longest leg of our planned voyage.