Living, Sailing, Racing & Sharing Moments in less than 300 square feet of space.

One thing about me that people seem to always find amazing is that I find enough room to live on my sailboat. Not only do I survive I thrive in my little enclosed palace. Coming from growing up in a 8000+ square foot home at the base of the Cascade Mountains in the state of Washington to living in Lake Dallas in a 3500 square foot home to now living aboard on a 34 foot coastal cruiser. Not just for a weekend, or a week but now almost for 2 years. And no, I cannot get by with 3 pairs of shorts and a few T shirts. With a "walk in" closet on the dock and 3 dock boxes, well and a 10x15 storage unit "Sail Loft" I seem to manage maintaining my "Dallas Lifestyle."

With a Length over all of 33'11" and a Beam of 11'4" Libertà Dolce's maximum square footage (if the boat was a perfect rectangle) would be around 363 square feet and I bet by the time you carve everything out you are much closer to 250 square feet and I think I may be being generous. Living on my boat I typically don't have more than 4 people aboard, and normally only one other person. I have become quite accustomed to brushing by someone to grab something or finding an unoccupied "corner" to sit and think. Boat living is very intimate as you are rarely ever more than 5 feet from someone. This can be a lot of fun and can pose some interesting problems and interesting social interactions.

Does anyone know the math? I was not good with calculus and do not have anyone around that could calculate it for me and I would be curious what the exact square footage of the Beneteau Oceanus 331 really is. Even if it is only a good approximate!

I crew on a J122 for Second Star Racing Hull #74. That boat has a bit more room but I don't live alone there I share the boat with 8-10 others so many times it is difficult to carve out enough room to lay down stretched completely out. I think most think that they would get claustrophobic but in reality most people find that they adjust to the "lack of space." This can take some time and there may be a few clashes before everyone works things out but typically people do adjust to their new found surroundings after the initial shock is over. One thing you have to remember in confined spaces is that everyone needs "their own space."

"Susan in a sea of spinnaker"

So as the boat fills up with gear, sails, provisions, etc usually there is not much room left for anything else – The Crew! Everyone jockeys for staterooms, couch space, deck space etc and use every form of seniority imaginable, from ownership, sponsorship, tenure, position, ranking, work completed in a day, best tactical input, best salvation move etc. But at the end of the day as long as you can lean over on something or someone you will find a place to sleep. Many times I have been found on the deck with my arm wrapped around a stanchion or lifeline passed out during the middle of a shift waiting for "next orders." Bowman/Foredeck seem to work in quick sprints, as our boat gets faster the time between work calls is shorter and shorter. The new J122 seems to offer no rest for the wicked and I now seem to almost be "constantly moving."

We are just barely getting the new J122 broke in but we are adapting to the new space quite well. Coming from a Beneteau 33.7 there is a lot more room to work and live. Funny enough the bigger boat also has bigger sails and when sailing an asymmetrical spinnaker the sail sizes get astronomical. Just packing our "Big Cute" can become quite a task all by itself especially when it is nasty outside and everything is wet. This weekend was no different. We went out on our 2 hour sail to reach the "battle ground," and watched the rain bring with them the storms. By the time we had gotten the first race underway the lightning came had noticed the Lima flag and decided to "come within hail." After seeing several sky to water strikes the boat closest to the lightning (at the weather mark) lol decided to pressure the race committee in abandoning the racing. Of course we were within striking distance of the leader a Farr 39 that was trying to make tracks in the awkward weather.

We did sail back to our marina (2 hours away) and make it back for the best part of the rain storm (downpour) and then after the boat was secure inside the slip everyone found their way down below. This was one of our first attempts to cope in the new boat. Wet, tired and a bit battered we all found a place to sit. Short crewed (6) we had luxury space to hang out and drip dry. After the rain subsided a bit we all went topside to put the sails away and pack her up for another day.

We did not get our chance to do battle but we did get a few brief hours to learn more about our new bride. Like a bride we are still in the honeymoon trying to figure out what to expect. Over the next year or two we are surely to see all sides of her. So far all we have seen is high winds, wet weather and lightning. We look forward to a few good races in moderate winds and to fill our crew rosters back to their capacity so that we can get Second Star to where she needs to be – First Place!

Pirate Mike, aka Bowman Brooks