Life is too short to set bulbous sails and drink bad wine, to paraphrase Goethe.
To be clear from the start. Like many others, we don't know exactly.
But let us get to the point first:
Finances can be divided into restaurant visits, grocery shopping, marinas, anchorages (especially marine protected areas - they do not necessarily deserve that nomination) and much more.
Or, they can be divided - more realistically - in the beginning and the end of a sailors lifetime.
In the beginning there is the dream. The dream of bluewater sailing. Bluewater sailing means not sailing to the nearest harbor bar, especially not on a lake. Anyone who just goes out, drops anchor or floats in the sun with a daiquiri or two ready on the table is not necessarily a circumnavigator. This is not bluewater sailing. There's more to it than that. Infinite water desert, spirituality and flying fishes.
Or lets talk of Bluebeard or Bluetooth. Nobody knows exactly who or what that is. Once upon a time there was a King Bluebeard. Or then King Bluetooth, with his own royal family tree and a monogram that every child knows today.
Bluewater sailing takes you further afield. To the end of the earth (and beyond). For that you have to take precautions. First comes the boat. Then nothing else for a long time. Ultimately, you develop completely different feelings about a boat than you do about your partner. That being said it is a fact that after all, the boat carries us. And our beloved.
It is the boat that masters waves, appears good-natured, or soft with beautiful shapes, graceful and seductive curves that attracts our gaze on the dock.
So it all starts with the boat. This needs to be equipped for long journeys.
The first year is by far the most expensive. Purchasing a bluewater boat costs money. This shouldn't be approached naively. Otherwise the bill will come later. We put around 250,000 euros on the table for our 18-year-old lady. Not everyone can do that. Admittedly. But the price tag in not important either. The boat comes to you, not the other way around. And their budgets are as different as people. But honestly, when we are looking around in LeMarin, Martinique, harbour there are easily a few million floating around on the water, one at a time. OK, maybe these are more modern floating apartments that probably are also able to sail. Maybe I'll buy one too. When I'm 80.
As the first bluewater year goes by, the deficiencies inevitably come to light. Not always at the best moment. Bluewater sailing also means maintenance. In plain language, something always breaks. Actually, while writing these lines: Tevin Philipp aka Michael Jackson from Grenada is repairing our freezer.
We also had to go to the boatyard on the hard in our first year in the Caribbean. The oil pan of the less than five-year-old engine is leaking. Well, after that's fixed, let's move on. No, not back in the water. Just like when you go to the hospital at an old age, you have to be prepared for something else to happen. It's no different for a boat. Once one thing is done, the doc/mechanic finds another. Here it is the turbo charger that looks bad. Full of soot and particles, rust and even worse, the turbine doesn't turn. Just like prostate. Costs: around 3,500 euros. Less so in Europe, but that's the crux of the matter - we are not there. Advice: plan a thorough refit early on without turning a blind eye. And do it where it is most convenient. We did it in Turkey. Which came naturally, because that's where we found the boat for a much better price that in the rest of the Med.
So the costs for your beloved sailboat is most likely highest in the first year.
“Better than new” is also a way of selling a boat. So the wisdom of the old salt humps. But there is a grain of truth in there. Maybe two? In any case, we are of the opinion that our boat won through the refit.
When we bought the boat, we needed an expert. There was no other way to get the flag of Switzerland. It's not that easy to find an independent expert in Turkey. Through Google, what else, we found Joe R. We can recommend him without reservation.
So, the expert comes with an assistant and they first tap down the entire hull, like a doctor does the chest. And it's all about sound. Dull clunks indicate osmosis (another age-related defect) or (fortunately most of them) loud, contoured tones that indicate healthy areas. Further, during an attempt to inspect the anchor chain in the morning, it broke and fell at the expert's feet. Just like that. When trying to get the rest of the chain up again, the anchor winch also failed. Just like that.
So we invested almost half of the purchase price again in the refit. New teak deck was part of it (glued), three sails, further, what felt like 14 sea valves in bronze, about seven layers of antifouling sanded away and replaced with new copper coat, new solar panels and navigation instruments/plotter, satellite phone, silent wind, hull painting, enforcement of the bow, new liferaft, new generator, new spotlights and Night Vision in the Mast as well as new upholstery, mattresses, carpet, oven, and much more.
Approximately 102 positions were listed in the working order. Fortunately the back arch, Watt&Sea, Hydrovane etc. were already installed. We also invested in a solid sea railing and granny bars made of Turkish stainless steel.
Costs? Around 100,000 euros, probably a little more. In Switzerland all this would have only been enough for the teak deck, if at all. I've forgotten about the electric winches, the new top hatches, and the liferaft we brought with us from Switzerland to Turkey by plane and car.
Turkey is great. Recommended: Didim, Yachtworks. Nice, polite people. Especially our Boat Manager Yasin. Sociable and friendly. The seller's broker from Bodrum helped us with all formalities. Which we also paid for, and that's worth it for long-term relationships. His services were worth their weight in gold.
So, the first year is the most expensive. Especially when you first gondola down the Mediterranean.
The shining Greece and its irresistible taverns, the hospitality and the many cosy tavernas. And then Bella Italia. Among others Crotone, which we previously disdained when we rode around boots on the previous boat, stood out. We were particularly impressed by the Ristorante Gambero Rosso, with its own section of beach. Built in the 60s. Family owned for decades. Pure Italian bathing culture. Mediterranean beauties chatting in waist-deep, warm water. The obligatory bathing cabin with a cool box full of Parma ham, taleggio, salami and prosciutto hidden under the towel. This is not welcomed; After all, your own kitchen offers delicious food. But as is so often the case, Italy gallantly ignores the obvious. We simply couldn't resist this Calabrian paradise with the delicacies of Italian cuisine and the sweet idleness. Sergio and family. The sea, the food, the view. Simply wonderful.
That also costs. But it's worth it, you're happy and satisfied, both at the same time.
This brings us to topic two: the costs of restaurants and parties. Clearly our favorite. And our guilty conscience when the budgets are exceeded again.
We haven't done any accounting in the Mediterranean yet. In the Caribbean then. The latter costs around 6,000 euros in eight months for restaurant and bar visits. Too much, in our opinion. Therefore only once a week and not every other day we enter a restaurant. Which is not easy. As with the men's charter around Mallorca, you come to a new bay in the evening. There is wine and beer flowing and the medium fried steak is on the plate. But three weeks of charter vacation is not to be compared with12 months in the Caribbean. In the Carribbean, it adds up quite a bit in a year. If you reduce your visits to restaurants to just drinks, things are better, but even these, like fog on a sandbank, can be fatal to the sailor. It's all about the measure, everything else is poison (to paraphrase Paracelsus). Longer passages are best because there is no temptation. And no occasion either.
In the future we expect around 7,200 euros for eating out, 150 euros per week for two. That's something.
Of course you can never go to the restaurant and to be honest, that's a solution. This is where budget matters and it's better to go sailing than not at all.
It becomes more dramatic when we talk about the third topic: THE TRAP on land. Talk about the ship chandler. He's fooled us several times. Every time we go in we buy more than we need. My grandfather can be quoted as being adamant about discipline: “You don’t even go to the hardware store without a clearly defined plan with a list of what you need.” He is right. Ultimately a question of “personality” and budget. One spends with his hands full on electronics (me), my wife on screws and tools ("look at this super tool"), the other shops with his eyes and goes out the door empty-handed but full of ideas.
Based on our experiences over the last few months, we have imposed the following budget limits on ourselves. We are aware that the costs depend on the region, but also on the route. If we have longer passages ahead of us, positions such as marina, restaurant, etc. are naturally omitted. On the other hand, the costs for equipping the boat and provisions increase. As a rule, months with passages are still the cheapest.
CATEGORY | CONTENT | EUR/MONTH |
FOOD & BEVERAGES | Provisions | 800 |
GOURMET | Restaurants | 600 |
HOME SWEET HOME | Household, decoration | 100 |
BOAT EQUIPMENT | Ship Chandler, spare parts | 350 |
CATWALK | Clothing | 200 |
BOOKS STATIONERY | Books, maps, etc. | 50 |
ENERGY | Diesel, petrol, shore power | 100 |
MARINA | Port fees, buoys | 450 |
MAINTENANCE BOAT | Services | 150 |
SHORE EXCURSIONS | Excursions, home vacations, diving, etc. | 800 |
TOTAL | | 3'600 |
We manage unforeseen events, such as repairing the cooling unit, replacing the turbocharger and repairing the oil pan, with a separate budget for the year of 8,000 euros each.
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