Liebster Award for sv-takeiteasy

Whoo hoo, somebody thinks we are running an award winning blog!  That’s truly amazing!  Fame, glory, adulation, prize money – goodie goodie!  But it actually is not quite as glamorous…  A bit of research showed us that the Liebster Award is not so much a blog award but a way of discovering some new websites that deserve recognition and getting ours noticed by a few new readers.

Fellow yachtie, Viki Moore , who runs a very informative website called Astrolabe Sailing, was kind enough to nominate us.  Like us she is on a mission: to live aboard and sail away on the adventure of a life time in a few years.  So thank you very much Viki for the acknowledgement.

There is a catch though with accepting the Liebster Award!  We have to answer 10 questions set by the site that nominated us.  No pain, no gain… We also have to mention them, nominate a few other sites for the award and pose our own set of 10 questions for them to answer.

Questions & Answers

So here are the questions we were asked and our replies:-

1. What sort of boat do you have?  What do you love about it and what would you change if you could?

We sail on our 11.6m Easy Catamaran, called Take It Easy.  Bought second hand, she needed some TLC which we have lavished on her.  We love her new colours.  It always stands out wherever we go.  Who wants to look like every body else in an anchorage – white and more white, not us!  We also love that she is true to her name.  She performs well and life on board is easy.  With a name like this, you can guess we don’t like to rough it.  Which brings us to another thing we like: creature comforts  – particularly the island Queen bed.   Crawling over your partner in the dark can be fun, but only in small doses.

If money was no object, we’d want higher bridge deck clearance, diesel engines and a couple more meters of water line.  Aren’t all boats one or two meters too short?  But we would have to win the lottery to get all that, so Take It Easy will do just fine as is!

2.  If you have a partner – are you both as passionate about sailing as each other?

Absolutely!  We both love it and share everything about passage planning, and the running of the boat.  We often think we are lucky we share this passion for what is essentially an absorbing hobby now, but will become our life in the near future.  So many couples don’t have a common dream and vision – other than their kids.  It’s just the two of us, oh and the pussycat, so it is somewhat of an easier life for us.

 

3.  What are your future sailing plans?

At the end of the year we are going to Lord Howe Island for a two months’ expedition – our second sail there.   That will keep us going for a while – until the next two months’ escapade.  Then in about three years we will give up work (yeah!) and move aboard Take It Easy  for endless adventures around Australia, the South Pacific and South East Asia.

4.  Where is the most amazing place you have visited?

Port Davey in South West Tasmania is right up there on the amazing scale!  The Port Davey-Bathurst Harbour area is a true wilderness, hard to get to, deserted, with sensational scenery…  Check out our articles in Cruising Helmsman and Australian Multihull World magazines on our Published page.  Actually, don’t check out the articles, we like the isolation and would rather it stayed that way!

5.  What do you love about the sailing lifestyle?

There is a lot to like about the sailing lifestyle: the “illusion” of freedom (we say illusion as the weather dictates what we do in the end), the constantly changing and breathtaking seascapes, the untethered living, the often unexpected discoveries that make you feel so privileged.

6.  When were you most frightened?

Without a doubt, being caught in a lightning storm.  “I don’t like lightning” says Wade… there is little you can do about it, which is what makes it scary.  We have never had any trouble, but friends have suffered lightning strike damage and lost all communication and navigation instruments on board, a very frightening and expensive experience!  We are always wary of storms, whether underway or at anchor.

7.  Do you have any plans to go back to dry land at any stage?

Well we are still land lubbers at the moment, but we know how hard it is to come back to dry land after a 6 to 8 weeks sailing trip: Ugly!  Once we live aboard, we intend to be afloat for many years, as long as we are having fun and can physically handle it.  We will however not sell our two houses so we always have somewhere to come back to when we need to or want a change.

8.  What is the biggest mistake you have made?

We haven’t made too many mistakes, at least whilst sailing!  What comes to mind is more “missed opportunities”, like not taking a weather window to sail on the West Coast of King Island, on the edge of Western Bass Strait, in a forecast strong NE wind.   All this, was because we were worried about the exposed West Coast and the big swell of the Southern Ocean.  Silly really; the result was that we got stuck in boring Grassy Harbour for many more days than we would have liked!  We were newbies then, we would do things differently now, with a few more years under our hulls.

We think as a rule sailing mistakes are made when people go in weather they should not because they are on a schedule.  We say: “throw away your diary or appointment book and go when it is safe to do so”!

9.  How do you afford your lifestyle?

We are both working and saving every dollar for our cruising retirement.  Oh god, that R word…  we hate it , makes us feel ancient.  We’ll have to find another term like ‘Real life’, or ‘Really good fun’ or ‘Renewal’…  Any suggestions?

We are also equipping the boat now with the best gear we can afford, while the cashflow is good.  We actually think that living aboard will be cheaper than living ashore.  We will also have rental income from our two houses…  And who knows, we might get rich from writing articles, selling photos and running a blog! 🙂  Mmm, may be not – but it’s fun!

10.  What is your favourite book and why?

The one that stands out for me is “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” by Richard Bach.  It takes a special meaning when you are at sea.  One of the quotes I like from the book is this one:

“For each of them, the most important thing in living was to reach and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do.”

We read a lot on board and with an e-book each, we have a very good library that takes no space at all and keeps cabin fever at bay on rainy days.  We  don’t like to overload our catamaran with paperbacks, although we do keep a few reference books on board – mainly about anchorages, fishes, birds, engine maintenance, navigation, shells, plants… OK, we overload!

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Passing the baton

So there you have it.  Thanks again Viki for thinking of us for the Liebster Award.  It is now our turn to pass the baton and nominate the following blogs:

Mythical Horse – Katrina is a keen photographer based in British Columbia, Canada, and produces beautiful, inspiring work.

Ian Wiese Photography – Ian is a West Australian photographer whose seascapes are stunning.

Bailey Boat Cat – a hilarious blog written by Bailey, ship cat on the beautiful yacht Nocturne.

Our questions to the nominated blogs:

1.  Introduce yourself and your passion

2.  What has brought you to blogging?

3. What do you get out of blogging?

4.  What do you wish you knew before you started your website?

5.  What fuels your creativity most?

6.  Imagine if you had a month to live: how would you spend it?

7.  What does/will life after work look like for you?

8.  What is living the dream for you?

9.  What would you most like to achieve?

10. What is the most amazing place you have been to?

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So this is it: our nominations for the Liebster Award and the questions we are asking them.  The websites nominated are worth visiting as they each have a different perspective on what makes life enjoyable.  And it’s not all about sailing after all!

If your blog is listed above, it is now your turn to take up the challenge.