Living aboard (Paperback)

Living Aboard is not another "How we did it," book derived from the experiences of one couple or family. It is not about sailing around the world or to selected far off destinations. It is about living aboard a boat, whether in a slip, on the hook, or at sea.
Granted, Janet and Gordon lived aboard for many years and in doing so learned the liveaboard lifestyle the hard way. They not only draw on their days as liveaboards but relate other cruisers' lives as well. By relating knowledge from a varied and diverse group of liveaboards, the Groene's have made this book a true insight into the lifestyle. A lifestyle that is wonderful for some and a nightmare for others. The time to learn if this lifestyle is right for you is now, before you move aboard. After reading this book you will know if the liveaboard lifestyle is right for you.
Living Aboard explains what to expect from the lifestyle. Janet's companion book, Creating Comfort Afloat, (Bristol Fashion Publications) explains how to make a boat your home. The Groene's have written hundreds of articles on the liveaboard lifestyle. Now you can have all that knowledge in this one volume, the Groene's nineteenth book, Living Aboard. Illustrated

We chose to head for Florida, the Keys, and the Bahamas. You, however, might prefer to cruise a mountain lake, the canals and rivers of Europe, the islands of the Caribbean, the California Delta, or the Tennessee Valley, or sail all the way around the world.

Our choice was to cruise constantly, in passages no more than three or four days at sea, staying in anchorages or marinas no more than a month. Still, we are all different. You may want to sail around the world nonstop, or to live on board at one marina for years, going to jobs on shore each day. Some liveaboards never leave their berth for months and even years.

Some liveaboards are retirees. Others are young parents, who want to take their children on a world cruise lasting several years. Still others are single, having a last fling before settling down to shore jobs. You may have enough money to live on; others have to work along the way. When we went cruising, we left behind Gordon's dream job as a professional pilot and thought of his Airline Transport Rating only as something to fall back on if we had to refill the savings account. We had enough savings to last a few years if we were careful. Then, as we began selling our books and magazine articles, we began to realize we could continue to cruise forever, without going back to what we now call "real life." With modern electronics, liveaboards of any age can live anywhere in the world and make a living through the Internet.

We started out when Janet was 31 and Gordon was 38. You may be far younger, wanting to live the carefree, liveaboard life before starting a family. Or, you may be an empty-nester, a family with school-age children, or youthful grandparents who love having the grandkids join you for a week here and there. We are a husband-wife team. You could be college chums, a loner, a family of two or three generations, or just partners who complement each others' strengths.

Living aboard, as this book will point out, is not one way of life but a different modus vivendi for every person that chooses to make a hull a home. What we all have in common are a love for boats and the water, too little space, too much mildew, and never enough time and money to take advantage of all the wonderful things available to us in every port.
Here's Our Story

Gordon's career path as a professional pilot took us from Ohio, our home state, to down state Illinois. I'd been writing for money since junior high, and was able to find writing jobs in most places Gordon's job took us, but my own career plans hadn't jelled further. Because Gordon's hours were so irregular, I decided to try freelance writing as a way of being at home when he was. Working around his hours, I was able to write when he was gone and enjoy days off when he was at home. I treated freelancing as a business, and was soon selling regularly.

When we decided to sell everything we owned and go to sea, we had a modest savings account but no hope that freelancing could support us. Still, I wrote whenever time allowed, not focusing on boating topics. Gordon polished his skills as a photographer, and soon we were selling illustrated cruising and how-to articles to national boating magazines. We cruised the tropics in winter, put the boat in storage during hurricane season, and bought a used car to take north to visit our families. When we returned to the boat, we sold the car and went cruising again.

In time, we bought a small, diesel RV that would be our summer home while the boat was in storage. Our writing horizons now expanded to general travel and RV travel features. At first, our bank account stopped shrinking and, when it began to grow, we started toying with the idea of staying away permanently. We bought land in central Florida and, after ten years of living full-time on the go, we settled there. In the final chapter, we'll cover The Road Back, for those who want to, or have to, move back ashore.

Our assignments now take us all over the world on boats of all sizes, from canoes to "love boat" cruise liners. Our credits include thousands of magazine and newspaper articles and more than a dozen books. We owe it all to making the big break with convention, and taking up life on a boat.
Plus Ça Change...

A lot of water has gone over the hull since the first edition of this book appeared in the 1980s. The most dramatic changes have been in electronics. When a stranded sailor was rescued in a remote ocean after making a Mayday call on a cell phone from inside a capsized hull, we realized how awesome the revolution has been. The electronic revolution extends to everything from entertainment electronics to schooling, communications, and navigation. You may choose to do without them and continue living the carefree, simple life, but most of today's liveaboards wouldn't be out there at all if it weren't for the comforts and security provided by the new techno-cyber e-miracles.

Other major changes have occurred too. It was once risky to take off with little money, counting on finding jobs along the way. Today thousands of temporary jobs exist almost everywhere -- far more than employers can fill. Any American citizen with willingness to work, clean appearance, and basic skills, can find work to keep cruising the United States forever. Don't expect great pay, the money will be enough to get by and not much more.

Of course, things get more complicated when you are outside your home country and must have a visa or work permit. Thanks to the Internet, however, an e-business can be conducted anywhere in the world. Where once home schooling was unknown except to missionaries, diplomats, and families that traveled with the circus, it is now commonplace. Today's parents have a wide range of affordable ways to educate their children while cruising worldwide. Living aboard has never been better.

For everyone who wants to live aboard a boat of any size or type, here's how.

AUTHORBIO:

While still in their thirties, Gordon and Janet Groene "stopped the world and got off." They'd traveled to Fort Lauderdale to find a boat. Before selling everything, including the power tools, Gordon made new water tanks and a number of accessories for the boat while Janet sewed sheets, slipcovers and duffel bags. With all their remaining possessions loaded into their VW van, they headed south. After stowing everything on board, they sailed for the Bahamas and never looked back.

Janet, who had been writing for newspapers since her junior high school days, began submitting her work to magazines while Gordon took up photography. Janet's first book, Cooking on the Go, was followed by The Galley Book, How to Live Aboard a Boat and more than a dozen others.

After 10 liveaboard years, when assignments began taking them all over the world, they sold their boat and built a home base in Florida. They continue to cruise worldwide under power, paddle and sail.

Among their honors is the NMMA Directors' Award for boating journalism, two Captain Fred E. Lawton Boating Safety Awards and a Fireboy Safety Afloat Award of Excellence. Janet holds the Distinguished Achievement in RV Journalism Award. Both are members of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and Boating Writers International. Janet is a member of the Society of American Travel Writers and Outdoor Writers Association of America.