We use about 2.5gal water per day, so
even if it never rained (it always does) we
are self-sufficient for about two months.
Our diesel engine, which we seldom use,
is a 38hp Beta. We have a 12V telly to play
movies on, but no aerial which spares us
the noise of advertising.
Due to our book's success, Calypso now
has a 12V fridge, but we have spent the
majority of our life afloat without one.
Refrigeration is not a necessity as there
are many other ways of preserving food.
We use a three-burner propane stove
with an oven to make lasagne, pizza,
cookies and bread, spending about £12 a
month on propane. The barbecue on the
stern rail is a blessing.
We have three anchors: a 44lb Delta
with 150ft of^3 ⁄ 8 in chain (plus 200ft of nylon
rode spliced to it), which shares the
bowsprit with a 33lb Bruce. A Lofrans-
Tigres manual/electric windlass is used to
raise and lower the anchors. On the stern,
a Fortress FX-23 keeps our bow pointed
into the swell on rolly anchorages.
An Advanced Elements double kayak
gets us ashore.
For short-distance communication
Calypso carries a Standard Horizon VHF
and a handheld. For long-distance we
have an Icom 710 HF radio. A SCS Pactor
II modem receives email and weather
reports for free via HF radio waves.
We have a Simrad Robinson autopilotbut have now fitted a Cape Horn Wind
Vane self-steering system, which works
beautifully, does not require electricity and
is totally silent.
When we bought Calypso she was fitted
with equipment that we would never
otherwise have bought and that we
consider to be luxuries: a 2kW power
inverter, a water heater (for hot showers!)
and Furuno radar. Since we have them, we
spoil ourselves by using them.
We don't rely on our old Standard
Horizon chartplotter – we use paper charts
and Open CPN on our laptops.You can do it!
Our motto is ‘Smiles on deck, not miles
under the keel’. Becoming a sea gypsy is
not synonymous with achieving mileage.
You can become a sea gypsy without ever
leaving 100 square miles of water. TheLEFT Rick, Jasna and Ben Fogle
RIGHT Rick filming New Lives in the Wild
with Ben FogleYou don’t get to visit
fabulous locations by
being in a hurryAnchored in beautiful
Moorea with a meet
up of old friendsWe live on less than r600 a month – a
little more now the book is doing so
well. Here is our yearly budget for 2014
plus a description of our activities to
show we did actually use Calypso in
that time.Number of nights:
At anchor: 283 (77%)
On passage: 50 (14%)
In the boatyard: 17 (5%)
On a mooring: 15 (4%)
In a marina: 0 (0%)
On land: 0 (0%)Total sea miles: 4,696
Longest passage: 32 days (Mexico-
Marquesas)
Total days sailing: 86
Motoring hours: 167Litres of fuel: 270 (twice our normal
consumption. This was an
unrepresentative year for engine use)Money spent
April: r 0
May: r 331
June: r 290
July: r 592
August: r 205
September: r1,018
October: r1,000
November: r 293
December: r1,034 (including buying a
new autopilot control head)
January: r 411
February: r 654
March: r 666
Average r540 per month for two
people (r270 each)Getting real on a budget
Rick Page holds
an honours
degree in Disaster
Engineering and
Management.
He has worked
as a musician,
as a safari guide
in East Africa, and set up a horse
training business in Spain which he
sold in 2008 to move to Australia and
buy his first boat. Rick became a RYA
qualified skipper in 2009. He met
his partner, Jasna, a primary school
teacher and dinghy sailing instructor,
at a music festival. They currently live
aboard Calypso, a Hans Christian 36,
somewhere in the South Pacific.
■ http://www.sailingcalypso.com
PRACTICAL CRUISING
➜ABOUT THE AUTHOR