I am British, but attach no importance to it. I have lived all over (Africa, Spain, the Americas) and the more I travel the less relevant Nationalism seems. I like tacos and tequila and anybody who has a sense of humour. You could say I was a “humourist” as I think those without humour are substandard human beings who should be tickled with feathers for a week and then shot through the lungs.
My star sign is “Minibus” which means I have a gentle nature and can transport up to 12 people within the city limits without further licencing.
I have four national identity cards – all with different birthdates on (absolutely true) and my only dislikes are religions, the Royal Family and shellfish.
English
Slovensko
Italiano
Just got your book Get Real Get Gone and love it! It’s very well written, love your sense of humor, it tells me just what I want to know! Great work!! Hope you two are well and having fun!
Jealous.
Michael
Thanks Michael…. greatly appreciated! I have sent you an email.
Cheers,
Rick
Dear Rick..
I absolutely do not get bored when Ben’s shows are aired repeatedly and the one that interested me the most was that of yours…
I love your life..your passion and endurance is unmissable..
I do hope..one day I get to meet you !
Take care and be safe..
Reena South Africa
Thanks Reena! Are you planning to go sailing at some point?
Yes!!! And have no qualms in joining you..if that’s an option:)
Always an option Reena! Have you read my book?
Cheers,
Rick,
I have a whole bookshelf full of books on sailing. I also have some of the other book titles you talk about in your book “Get Real, Get Gone” and I have to say that the information I was always looking for in those other books I have found in yours. “Get Real, Get Gone” is going to be relevant for a long time because it speaks to every man or woman who wants to go to sea but does not know how or does not think they can do it. I learned more in the first half of your book than in all the others combined!
Thanks for an informative and outstanding read. It has shortened my journey to the cruising life that I first started planning 20+ years ago.
Best Regards,
Ron
Hi Ron,
What a fantastic review! Thanks so much! I will send you an email and hopefully get more of your story….
I just finished your book, it was a great read with a good blend of humour, information & adventure. The book has inspired us in our cruising aspirations & we love the Portland Pudgy suggestion!
Hi Nick,
Glad you liked the book (we would appreciate it if you could share that positivity on amazon.com, amazon.ca, amzon.co.uk etc). The Portland is a fabulous bit of kit, built to last a lifetime. But it comes with a price! After the first immediate intake of breath, once you have picked yourself up off the floor and look at it again, it does not seem too bad. Any ocean liferaft is going to cost 4k and needs regular (1000) services (technicians are often not available either) plus you need a good tender (1000) plus a sail kit (1500) and space for them all. A bit spendy at fkrst, but a bloody goodmidea if you are in it for the long haul!
Thanks for getting in touch Nick. Let us know if you need any help getting out here or the occasional motivational butt-kick.
Cheers,
Rick
hi Rick, i just seen your episode with ben fogle. it was great. i am highly impressed by your choice of life. i love sea and that is why ur life has special affection for me. keep inspiring. looking to meet u sometime
Hi Harikrishna,
Thanks for getting in touch and for your kind words. If you ever need any advice as to how you can also live on the sea, we are always happy to help. We look forward to meeting you on the blue!
Thanks again
Rick and Jasna
Hi both. Bought your book on Wednesday, it was delivered on Friday, I sold my Snapdragon 27 on Saturday, handed over the keys on Sunday and today, Monday, I’m reading Part 2 of your book rather than going to work and completing handover of ‘Enchantress’ to her new owners. Your book is an inspiration and confirms my plans and budgetary expectations as I prepare to buy ‘the boat for retirement’ (I’m only 53) and a sustainable watery lifestyle. THANKS you have saved me from buying a spade rudder-led tub and I think this afternoon I’m about to find out more of wind steering and insurance to put icing on the cake. Not that I haven’t thought of these things, and my Cruising Plan Summary and Cruising Plan Excel workbook would be testament to that, but you have just made it so clear and attainable. I am on the right path. Wishing you both fair winds and a steady helm. I’m sure we’ll meet someday. Take care xx
Thanks James…. we’ll hold you to that!
Rick and Jasna,
Reading thru your book (GR-GG) a second time now (and I expect to make a few more cycles thru it!) – this time with a yellow highlighter and a pen to make notations in the margins and on the last few (blank – thanks!) pages… and also with my laptop handy – as ya’ll often mention sites of high interest to me – but the first time thru I couldn’t STOP reading! Ha!! Your book is one of the best on sailing I have read (right up there with Bode’s _First You Have to Row a Little Boat_) – and I’ve read close to a hundred. I’ve been sailing since I was a teen – nearly 50 years now and I am now contemplating the “Sea Gypsy” life style… a more modest footprint – more earth friendly – less consumer/thing oriented. Thanks for this wonderful contribution to sailing and to our ***society*** in general.I’m hopeful that others will be exposed to your point of view. I will certainly advise it as a great read.
Breezes,
Steve
Hi Steve,
Thanks a million for your great feedback. Most appreciated! I have sent you a message to your email.
R n J
Calypso
Fiji
Reading your book. No mention of keel-centerboard hull to solve the problem of sneaking into shoal waters. We sailed an old Pearson 35 on the Great Lakes in our younger days, and found it quite satisfactory.
Hi Don,
Thanks for getting in touch. We do mention lifting keels in the book, you must have missed that bit!
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Guys,
I just wanted to say thank you for such a beautifully written, and inspirational book.
Having just read it for the second time, I’ve bought the boat! A Contessa 26 (hope you approve).
Best Regards,
Rod.
Certainly do Rod! I can see you got the message then! Have a look at these two nice Norwegians that we met in south america … sailing their Contessa 26 around the world. https://www.freewebs.com/sybika-eng/boatandcrew.htm.
Congrats on new boat … excellent choice!
Go Rick.
Just saw your program with Ben. I suddenly thought I recognise that man. Then saw a picture of you gigging in London with Phil. I am Phil’s nephew Mark. We used to see you from time to time when we were growing up.
Great lifestyle you have and extremely jealous.
Happy sailing.
Regards.
Mark
Hi Rick
Really enjoyed the book and its inspired me to try sailing at our local club in Mylor, Cornwall. I’ve always loved the water and anything associated but exploring my little RIB is as far as my boating experience goes ?
Anyway, thank you for the great read and I’ll see where sailing takes me. I’m excited to learn something new. Hope all good with you.
Cheers.
Ben.
Thanks Ben! Cornwall must look beautiful this time of year! Keep me posted with your progress and best of Cornish luck to you! ?
Hi Rick,
Just finished watching the Ben Fogle revisit. It was great to see a little of your life on the sea. I’m about to go and find your book on amazon. Im so interested in finding more info on dealing with authorities and the day to day running of your floating home. im 55 year old, with wife n 4 great kids. I dreams of boarding a yacht up here in NE Scotland, and taking her to sunnier waters leaving behind this government controlled life style. of course the wife can come along too if she wants. the kids won’t want to know as there will be no WiFi. as far as I know any way.
Regards Phil
Hi Phil,
Thanks for your kind words about the TV program. I am glad you liked it. Having spent some time up where you are, I completely understand your desire to sail to sunnier climes! I am sorry to disillusion you though – internet is everywhere in Europe and rapidly spreading. I am currently writing this in a small Fijian Atoll using a $100 12volt modem delivering near-broadband speeds. There is no escaping your kids!
Cheers Buddy and let me know if you have any questions
Rick
I saw the episode and have your book. I am inspired and an am intrepid sailor. I also have a great sense of humour, well in my opinion.
when you have time – ping me a message pls.
regards
Matt
Will do Matt!
Hi Rick just watched the catch up episode with Ben and the ending has really struck a cord with me. I’m a water lover and have dreamed of getting out on the water on my own boat for many years now. I’m a complete beginner when it comes to sailing and wanted to get your advice as how and where to start.
Hi Terry,
Thanks for getting in touch. I am glad that the telly prog struck a chord with you. It is funny you should ask me that question of how to get started. After the original program aired in 2015, I was so flooded with emails form people such as yourself wondering how to get going from scratch, that I attempted to answer the question in the form of a book (there is an answer, but it is quite long you see) Click here for details.
Give it a read and get ack to me with any specific questions
Cheers buddy!
Rick
Get real Get gone……reading thru it now Rick and cant put it down!!! Its not just about sailing and the life of the sea gypsy…..but some great philosophies on life to…….im so tempted to take the plunge…..thank u
Hi Rick….reading thru ur book now and cant put it down…..not just about life on the sea but life philosophies too….thank u
Pingback: Unknown
Pingback: 15 Books to help & inspire you (the Montenegro Girl way!) | Montenegro Girl
I am going through your book for the second time. I want to thank you. I have just purchased a 1970 Newport 41 back in December and am working on getting it ready to hopefully be in the ocean by next year this time! Great book very well written.
Russ Donahue
on Wind Jammer
No worries mate! Congratulations on the new command. that is a lot of boat you have there!
Cheers,
Rick
Rick,
Firstly great read, I’ve pretty much read all the must read books but in all honesty it was yours that has tipped the scales, 95% finished restoring my 85 year old wooden boat which we have enjoyed whilst competing this never ending task. Anyways thanks for an informative read.
Hi Rick.
Thanks for writing the book, also thank you for the personal contact via email.
I would just like to say that after reading the book, I was very impressed with it and your thoughts on yachts, components of them and the lifesyle advice.
I was especially impressed with you views on safety, and telling the way it is.
I am an ex Commercial Fisherman from the North Sea area in the UK.
On the day your caught out by the weather, everything counts as afar as getting through it goes.
It was refreshing to hear that in your text.
Gadgets and gleam are the last things on your mind.
Anyways just thought I would drop a line to say ” Great book ” I reckon youve just made sailing safer for a lot of people who read it .
C
Hi Rick
What a Maverick, please share the details of your books.
Thanks Freddy. thanks for that! Here is the link for the book: http://www.sailingcalypso.com/get-real-get-gone/
Hey Rick,
I just read your book Get Real, Get Gone and I want to say thank you for all your tips and insight. I REALLY want to start sailing, I feel it’s in my bones but like most people, I’m caught in the rat race of life. I plan on taking a sailing class here in Oceanside, CA, and cannot wait to start my own adventures.
I just started following you and am intrigued by your photos! As I said, when it’s time to purchase my first boat, I will take into account your experience and insight. Happy sailing my friend.
Thanks Joe,
I will PM you and get your details, but always feel free to email me on sailingcalypso@gmail.com if you need any help getting your butt into a boat. ?
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Rick
Like everyone else, I came across your website after watching Ben’s show. I guess we are all in the same life ‘boat” in that circumstances dictate our lives more than ourselves so extreme energy is required to escape from this black-hole vortex that swallows everyone.
Knowing myself, unless there is a serious commitment I will never be able to escape, so I thought of committing to a boat first thus forcing myself to take the first step.
I plan to travel solo or with the wife so what is the recommended size of a boat? Do you have any other serious hardware pointers. Do you cover any of these details in your book?
Hi Nick,
Thanks for getting in touch. Funnily enough, most comments on the website pre-date the Ben Fogle show, but I am glad you made it here. To answer your question, that is EXACTLY what I cover in the book. The book was written with people like your good self in mind and will answer al the questions that will be rattling around your head as a newbie (I know, because they were exactly the same questions that were rattling around in mine). Give it a read and if you have any questions, my email is in the back of the book.
Well done for taking the first step towards watery weirdness,
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Rick, I am wondering in which parts ofvyhe world you’re at right now. How have you managed to escape covid and has that justified and vindicated your lifestyle at sea.
Hope you will come to the South african shores one day.
Stay safe and happy sealing
Hi Itsing,
I have just made the 2 week passage from Fiji to Australia. Fiji is a Covid-free country so life was pretty unaffected there (except for the unfortunate people who made there living from tourism). Queensland in Australia is also a covid-free state and that is why I went there. So, yes, having the ability to choose where my home is geographically has certainly helped this sailor!
No plans to come to SA at the moment though, but thanks for your enthusiasm and friendship.
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Rick
I’m reading your book for the second time ,I love it ,its answered a lot if questions for me , I’m saving up money to do the sea gypsy adventure, I should be buying a boat within the next two years ,part one of my plan has been done , pay off my credit cards ,part two , quit smoking ,I’m 6 weeks off the fags , I’m getting ready to get gone
Good on ya Matthew! I struggled with the dreaded nicotine when I was a youngster – giving up the smoke is even more important than getting gone – so Bravo. I will PM you so your details go on my list and we can stay in touch. You might be pleased to know I am working on the follow up book that should answer most of the questions raised by readers of Get Real Get Gone.
Cheers,
Rick
Hello Rick,
Last night my wife Pauline and I watched and enjoyed the Ben Fogle programme in which he revisited you four years after his first encounter with you and Jasna. Watching that first programme last year inspired me ( along with countless others ) to buy a copy of GRGG – one of my best ever purchases from Amazon. I’ve got real, just waiting to get gone now!
We hope you’re keeping well, and have a great New Year.
Thanks Drew and Pauline! Glad you liked the programme – it was fun to make and Fogle and co are quite a laugh. Are you getting gone anytime soon?
Hi, Rick.
Your book was refreshing and relevant, and after reading it on Kindle Unlimited, I bought it and left you a review. It’s a great primer on what you have learned and why you believe what you believe, and that is valuable. My wife and I just bought a boat and will be out there soon, bobbing in rolly anchorages and remembering your advice on anchors. I look forward to your next writing.
Fair winds and following seas,
Shawn
Hi Shawn,
I read your review and it was marvelous – you are a way better writer than I am! Thanks a million – I will drop you an email, so that we can be in contact. I am pleased to say that I am now on the home straight as far as the next book is concerned.
Thanks again
Rick
Dear Rick,
Thanks so much for putting your experience out there, especially important for the newbies like me. I thoroughly enjoyed every piece of your book.
Since you oppened yourself to questions in the book, I’d like to throughout one at you, if you have a moment. Im looking for my first sailboat, in Tahiti. Not many options available, but there is one I like, a Lidgard 33. My problem is that a friend recommends sticking to fiberglass, but the boat I’m looking at has a hull with a core of kauri wood. You also recommended against wooden boats, but i am wondering if this excludes boats that were treated with resin, like the lidgard.
The boat is in good shape, which is why I’m strugling to make up my mind. Any advice you can provide will be appreciated!
Cheers
Hi Cristian, thanks for the kind words, I have PM’d you ?
Hello Rick,
I just finished your book “Get Real Get Gone” and thoroughly enjoyed it. I listened to it because I myself want to become a sea gypsy. Thank you for the fantastic advice.
You had mentioned in the book to reach out with any questions, and I only have one after reading the book: what areas would you recommend for a person that can relocate anywhere, where it’s cheap boats to buy and good beginner sailing? I think you said Virgin Islands in the book, but I was wondering where else you would recommend for a starter? Anywhere in the Mediterranean? I would love to visit some areas and scout out what I like best, then get into the life.
Thank you for your time, and hopefully I’ll see you on the sea in the future
Thanks for getting in touch and for your kind words. I have sent you a long email! ?
Hi Rick,
Loved the book too and your approach to getting gone! But hey, there are others of us who would like to know the same information about places you recommend for those getting a start. I recently bought a blue water boat I’m fixing up, but am new to sailing and unsure what places would be good to start the journey.
Can you share your recommendations somewhere?
Thanks!
Hi Cosmo,
Thanks for the nice vibes – glad you liked the book! I would be delighted to offer you any advice I can, but much will depend on where you are leaving from. I will email you too.
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Rick
Its looks like your lifestyle will be the only real freedom what we can get in the near future. Good luck !!!
Greating from Slovakia
Hi Thomas from Slovakia! Yes, I think the sea is the last great wilderness where ordinary people can live free lives.
Greetings from the Gold Coast!
Rick
Best read this year. Your book is like meeting the kind of person you try to meet around the docks while you’re snooping boats, looking for a hint, some help…anything. Then you end up meeting just this one old fuck afraid to take his boat from Tampa bay to the Keys (oooh, I donno mmm) and a dozen more who look at you like you’re a 5 year old looking for leprechauns just because you want to go somewhere. After a while you get the impression that boats are just a fancy alternative to a crypt for frustrated 3-time divorcees. THANK YOU (for telling us that there are people who take them places and how they do it).
Hi Calina,
Thanks for the great comment and the humour! I have sent you an email.
Cheers,
Hi Rick
Good day, whatever you are.
I’m Teresa from Norway.
SORRY, I didn’t read your book yet, but
I saw you on Ben Fogle series.
I would like to CONGRATULATE YOU for
sharing your adventures with a world.
Do you have a website where people can fallow your next destination?
Best wishes of good health.
THANK YOU.
HAPPY TRAVELS
Teresa C from Norway
Hi Rick I hope your well wherever you are. I’m totally inspired after seeing you With Ben Fogle !! I now believe my dream of living off grid on a sailboat is actually attainable and not just a pipe dream. I shall be buying your book and scrutinising it for tips and inspiration. God bless you and sail safe !!
Thanks Kevin, Nowhere close to being just pipe dream! With a little “getting real” – it is all pretty doable. I will drop you an email and get your deets.
Cheers,
Rick
Hi Rick
Just finished reading your book. Fantastic! I didn’t want it to end. A great guide to sailing and life!
Happy sailing.
Rich
Thanks Rich! There is a new one out today!
Hi Rick,
Some time ago this year (in September) I have sent you an email about translating your book “Get Real, Get Gone” to Russian. Sending email to ‘sailingcalypso@gmail.com’ did not work for me, maybe it went to spam, I don’t know. Anyway, I got no answer, so I decided to try my luck another time and post it here:
First of all, many thanks for writing Get Real, Get Gone – I really like the book!
For me, your book is a philosophical treatise in the first place, with practical advice as proof of your philosophy. I would say it is Philosophy of Life exactly as ancient Greeks imagined philosophy and life as one whole phenomenon. To me, your philosophy is a mixture of Epicureanism and Stoicism – that I like and try to follow myself. It is great to find a like-minded person who is not brainwashed by modern consumer society and enjoys real life and not its fake substitutes.
You write with a good sense of humor and reading you is a real pleasure, thanks!
I started canoeing rivers and lakes at the age of 7. Since then I sail mostly alone and now I am 61 and RYA Cruising Instructor. All my life I made my living with computer jobs and sailing as a hobby. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that computers bring more evil than good to this world because they convert human beings to androids and robots to ‘humans’. Now I am on the way to Sea Gypsy life and find in your book a lot of things attune to my ideas.
Being to some extent a ‘man of letters’, I write short stories in Russian and English and do some translations both ways, including French, for publishers in Russia and the US.
And now, sorry for such a long introduction, I come to the main point of my letter:
– It would be great to make your book also available to True Sailors and Life Philosophers in Russia! (not so many left not only in Russia but in the whole world as well). So with your permission, I would start on this noble enterprise in a manner similar to Sea Gypsy cruise – with deliberation and without haste.
If you agree, we can then discuss different ways how this work will help you to have a new jib and make wind vane real for me ?
What do you think?
Fair winds!
Dmitry
Hi Dimitri!
Thanks you for your kind words. I am delighted you liked the book so much and have made several attempts to get in touch. Sorry you have had so much trouble contacting me (I can’t think why, but the internet is a strange place full of demons and lurkers). Anyway, I have you now and I will message you from my email and add you to my contacts.
Thanks again,
Rick ?
Hi Rick…
I bought your book 3 days ago GET REAL GET GONE.. WOW ! I’m 45 years old and my wife is 43 we have fallen in love with sailing and passed our RYA level 1 last summer, I know there is alot to learn but reading your book has inspired us that we too could do it.
Thanks for all the info and the further reading
Hope to meet up in the future for a cold one !
No worries! Glad to help. Email me on sailingcalypso@gmail.com if I can help you get gone. (PS: I never forget an offered beer ? )
Hello Rick,
How amazing is your life of sailing the world. WOW!
I watched Ben Fogel’s TV show detailing your life….Funny part was the washing of the clothes off a little island…REALITY.
What was a really scarey time for you?
I live in SA where we have some of the BIGGEST sharks in the world, in particular the GREAT WHITE SHARK..
I am also a writer….
STAY SAFE and KEEP ON SAILING THE SEVEN SEAS.
Cheers Lynne-Alice Crabtree
Hi Lynne-Alice,
Sorry for the late reply. Yes indeed the sailing life is a beautiful thing! The life is a lot less scary than it is depicted (makes good telly though) so I have written a couple of books which give the undramatized truth of this lifestyle (and how anyone can do it). Generally though, you just adapt to local conditions. In the rivers of French Polynesia, there are no sharks or crocs to worry about, so it is perfectly safe to do one’s laundry there. I am currently in Queensland (Australia) where the estuaries have salt water crocs, so I would be doing my laundry elsewhere. It is all just a case of adapting to the environment. I porobably wouldn’t swim off the boat in an area know for great whites, but happily swim with other types of shark quite often. Every situation is different – that is the beauty of this life! Are you considering joining us?
Reading the new book. It’s a good one. Just the thing to get the blood up and stay even more gone in a totally new way (I’ve been solid gone in a bunch of different ways for over 30 years now. A wet gone is next on the list).
Just wanted to say thanks, and keep writing.
No worries Ian. Thanks for the good vibes brother!
Rick compre tu libro en espanol y me facina no quiero terminarlo por que gozo cada pagina, gracias
Erick Paredes ( New York)
Gracias por tus amables palabras Erick. Me alegro de que estés disfrutando del libro. Contácteme si tiene alguna pregunta (y perdone mi mal español).
Saludos,
Rick
First just want to say a massive thankyou – you’re book changed my life… I have just bought my first boat, a Freedom 35 cat ketch (said to be the last one built out of Penryn, Cornwall). She’s long keel, protected rudder and we will soon join you out on the big blue wobbly stuff !!
Here’s a line that really resonated with me from your book:
“To live on the beautiful blue ocean is a gift to be treasured, not an achievement to be measured”.
I love this line, like so many others in your book you hit the fish on the head!
For me it’s as much about the process of ‘letting go’ as it is about exploring this beautiful bluey green ball. To let go of the constant ‘goal setting’, the ambitious mindset that relentlessly seeks to become something that it is not, whilst the whole time completely missing out on what is…
Some people race around the world and don’t even see it! And I think that’s what your book drives home throughout, it cuts through all the bullshit and inflated egos and gets the reader to open their eyes and see what’s important. Which is sailing all over the big blue wobbly stuff,,, as slowly as possible ?⛵️?
You are more than welcome Jim! It is indeed the nature of our world that the insanely drive ‘A-Type’ personallities get all the attention in the media which is much to the detriment of the majority who end up thinking that having slightly psycopathic tendencies is a good thing and to lack them marks you as some type of under-achiever. Have you read Jon Ronson’s book, The Psycopath Test? I thoroughly recommend it. I will email you as I want to know more about your fabulous boat (always fancied one of those!)
Thanks again for the kind words
Rick
Ahoy Rick,
Sailing and living on sail boat on my life dreams bucket list still. Lovely episode with Ben Fogle. If you are around the eastern Mediterranean, Lebanon, would love to chat.
Cheers
Charbel
Thanks Charbel. I will drop you a PM