Sailing Calypso

Thanks to everyone who reviewed my new book Stay Real, Stay Gone.  It has been great to such positive feedback.  I hope it has gone some way to answering all the questions raised by the first book.

However, there  is one question that keeps coming up that I simply cannot answer, and that is this:

“Why do you never mention sailing with kids?”

I don’t have anything against the idea of sailing with kids (in fact, the nicest kids I know have been bought up on boats), it is just that I have absolutely no experience of them and I tend to keep my mouth shut about things I know nothing about (one of my better traits and one, which adopted more universally I am convinced would result in a better world for just about everybody).

So, to answer that question, I will hand you over to the experts.  The first is Behan Gifford whose book, Voyaging with Kids is the most complete and authorative publication on the subject.  Widely respected by sailors that actually like kids, it also seems to have the unmistakable ring of truth even to the dedicatedly childless like me.  Click here for more details on this and other great books.

Secondly, I would like to direct you to the charming video below which shows the Halabisky family and their 11 year circumnavigation with their two beautiful daughters who were both born on the way.  Not only is this short video beautifully shot, but it also clearly demonstrates that you do not need an enormous catamaran with a cabin for each child equipped with their own x-box.   Whether you are intending to sail with kids or not, this is one of the best sea-gypsy sailing videos I have seen and I urge you to spend 13 minutes watching it as it will really make your day.

Stay safe everybody and keep buggering on!

“Free your mind and the rest will follow” Practical Boat Owner Magazine

The perfect Christmas gift for would-be nautical nomads or anyone who has had enough of the consumer-driven life.  Get a glimpse of how I have lived aboard three different boats and had a thousand easily-achievable adventures in beautiful, unspoilt parts of the world, sailing solo or picking up crew as I go.

Find out how, with just a small change in attitude, you can do it too – and on much less than you think. 

Order soon for Christmas delivery!  Happy Holidays and here are the links:

USA: Click here
UK: Click here
Canada: Click here
Australia: Click here
Italy: Click here
Netherlands: Click here
Germany: Click here
Spain: Click here

Many apologies for the delay, but the follow-up to Get Real, Get Gone is now live on Amazon in both ebook and paperback.  Plenty of time to order for Christmas!

This book is a bit more detailed and longer than the first one, but those who liked the first one will find it easy to follow.  There is a bit of motivational butt-kicking as well as the usual array of practical and philosophical tips to get you going if you haven’t already gone or KEEP you going if you have already left.

As always, I am available on sailingcalypso@gmail.com to answer any questions, or if you just want to to say ‘hi’ and share you plans without anyone thinking you are nuts.

(NOTE: This does not guarantee you are not nuts, only that I won’t think so).

I hope you like it!  Here are the links for the various Amazon sites

USA: Click here
UK: Click here
Canada: Click here
Australia: Click here
Italy: Click here
Netherlands: Click here
Germany: Click here
Spain: Click here

Stay safe and fair winds!

Rick

Thanks everyone for your patience – it took a lot longer than I thought, but I am delighted to say that the new book will be out next week on Amazon in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia in both ebook and paperback formats.  

This book delves more deeply into some of the subjects that were only touched upon in the first book, as well as introducing some totally new stuff – all of it designed to help you live the dream, free of the ravages of the yacht marketing industry and on a budget that is both low and entirely realistic.  I hope you like it!  

PS: I am aware that I am a little bit behind in my emails and quite a few people are waiting for replies.  I will now have a bit more time and I will get back to everyone shortly.

Until then, stay safe and carry on reading!

Due to Covid restrictions, there is no Musket Cove regatta this year, so I have strung together some video from the last one where I entered the “Round the Island” race in my little sailing tender.

This is an awesome event, fantastically organised and, as this video shows, anyone can enter on just about anything…

No, it is not some Jehovah’s Witness click-bait, much worse I am afraid.  About a year ago Tantor Publishing bought the audio rights to Get Real, Get Gone and after a few delays brought on by that bloody virus, I am pleased to announce that they are finally releasing the Audiobook tomorrow (6th April 2021).  

I have yet to hear it, but they have a great reputation and I am sure they have made a really good job of it.  So if you have wanted to read the book, but just haven’t been able to find the time, get a copy of this and listen to it in the car on the way to work.

WARNING: Contains job-quitting information.

Oh, and the second bit of good news?  It is read by award winning and BAFTA nominated narrator Liam Gerrard – so you won’t have to put up with my rather annoying voice.

Stay safe everyone and keep sailing!

Rick 

Ben Fogle entertains Rick and the camera crew with his hilarious impression of a humpback whale

Yes, the shameless self-promotion continues tomorrow (Friday 5th March) at 8.30pm Sydney time  (7.30pm Queensland time) on BBC Earth. Australians who thought they had managed to escape my unbearable levels of self-satisfaction will be disappointed to hear that if they miss the show on Friday, they can stream it on catch up on Foxtel or Fetch TV.

In this show, British adventurer Ben Fogle catches up with me five years after the original program to see how my sea gypsy life has changed.

I have seen the British edit and thought it was an improvement on the first episode as it is more genuine. In the first show, the fundamental message (that anyone can do what I do) was somewhat glossed over and that has been rectified in this episode. There is a tour around Calypso II and some nice (if a bit rainy) footage of Fiji too.  Let me know what you think in the comments.

I was hoping to have the new book out to go with the broadcast, but that is going to take a few more weeks yet, I am afraid. I will post again when it is done.

Stay safe everyone and carry on!

Captain Rick ‘a bit fishy’ Page

Yes, it is finally time to stop goofing off, pull up the anchor and get moving again.  On Monday I will be off to Australia (weather permitting).  The voyage should take about 12 days, so I will see you all on the other side!  

If you want to see where Calypso II is at any time, just click “Where Am I?”  on the menu bar.  Position updated every hour.

Hopefully the new journey will be uneventful and I will have time to work on the new book which should be out just after Christmas.

I hope everybody is well and I will forgive me for not answering any emails for the next 2 or 3 weeks.

Stay safe everybody!  

Captain Rick “Well Fishy” Page 

I was hoping to get through my life without ever being in that ghastly rag, but ‘never say never’.  I suppose.   For non-UK readers, the Daily Mail is a sensationalist, right wing tabloid newspaper popular with xenophobes and extreme conservatives.  With the move to online publishing, Britain lost its greatest source of wrapping for Fish and Chips. 

Read the article here

In true Mail style, the article is absolutely full of spelling mistakes, factual inaccuracies, context errors, bad English etc., and seems to have been cobbled together out of soundbites.   I suppose it could have been worse.  Given their track record, I am lucky that the headline didn’t read:

“WORK-SHY GYPSY WHO HAS NOT PAID UK TAXES IN 30 YEARS, LIVING LIFE OF LUXURY ON YACHT WITH BUXOM BIKINI BABES”

So, every cloud has a silver lining and there is no such thing as bad publicity (or so I am told)

Fair winds to everyone – stay safe out there!

Rick 

Ben smiles while I try and lift his wallet from his back pocket

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, the Calypso story forges ahead with another episode on British TV tonight (New Lives in the Wild Revisited, channel 5, 9.00pm)

More than five years after his first visit, celebrity adventurer Ben Fogle drops in on previous hosts to find out whether they are still as enamoured with their chosen off-grid lifestyle and what, if anything, has changed for them.

Well for me, nothing really significant has changed- I am still bobbing away on the ocean, but in quite a different way. Several years have passed since Jasna disembarked Calypso under a bit of a cloud and even the boat itself has been replaced –  the old faithful Hans Christian 36 making way for the much-improved Calypso II, a rather fantastic Island Packet 38 (making this the third boat in my trilogy of ownership and also my favourite). So, as the Kenyans say, ‘same, same, but different’.

Ben and I pretend to be serious for the camera

See the full listing in the Radio Times here

If you live in the UK or have a VPN, you can see this episode online here

What I think will be different about this episode is that they allowed me to rant on a bit more about my favourite subject – the fact that virtually anybody can leave the shore for a new life afloat.

I haven’t seen the program yet and have no idea how it was edited, but it was great fun to make and will hopefully be a little more successful  in promoting the message that was a little lost in the original, namely:

If a doofus like me can do it, then anybody can!

I hope it inspires you budding sailors teetering on the edge to make the jump.  Come on in – the water is very warm indeed!

As always, feel free to email me on rick@sailingcalypso.com if you have any questions or just need a good old-fashioned, motivational kick in the pants.

Stay safe everybody and go sailing!

Captain Rick ‘slightly fishy’ Page
Calypso II
Fiji