simplicity of happinessEssays about the Simplicity Of Happiness and living the life you love!
I am scared to be scared.I hate this feeling of uncertainty and fear.It is not my comfort zone and things don‘t happen with ease. When I am in my comfort zone and things go well for me I feel good and happy and maybe proud of what I am doing. All of that can disappear in an instant when I am scared of something.
For a reason I did not understand for a long time I am always craving the next adventure. Putting me in scary situations over and over again:
Hurray, the travel restrictions have been lifted a bit. Worldwide and especially Africa travel for me is still a mess, BUT let‘s stay positive: the Schengen area re-opened its borders. For me, that meant going to Italy, Elba in special. It is only now, that I find the time to write about it. It turns out that writing is a bit difficult while driving or doing something else 😉
Well, I‘ll keep this short:
When I started this logbook segment, I thought I will let you know about my ongoing adventures and travels.
I planned to work on my boat early this year and be out and sailing quite a bit. Finally around Corsica. I thought with a good reefing system and my new autopilot I’ll be good for some exiting solo sails.
Let go of everything that holds you back from anything you want to achieve. Just be clear on this one: To simplify and to go minimal is the opposite of a loss. You are not missing out on anything.
The new year has started as if winter was about to end, not start.
Days and weeks of sunshine and absolutely not enough snow in Switzerland was strange. Apart from the consequences for nature it were lovely first days of the new decade. Soon I left for Elba, Italy. Everything was fine, the ‚simplicity‘ is clean, dry and warm. It seems as if she managed well in the storms around Christmas. I worked on the outboard engine, the interior of the cabin and some parts of the varnish. In the constant rains at the end of the year, water soaked into the wood and stayed under the varnish and it wouldn’t dry. I fixed that and worked on a new cover to keep the boat and especially the cabin wood as dry and protected as possible.
Last spring (2018) what seems to be ages ago, I had plans for the summer and everything came different and I ended up buying a tiny wooden boat:
I am the owner of the Caveman Lodge in Zanzibar and the Lodge turns out to run much better than expected. We are booked quite well and the management keeps it well maintained. I am on my way to passive income. Of course it is not passiv but asynchronous as I had put in enormous amounts of work before and keep getting paid even when I am not present.
It was about time to check on the boat. Originally I planned to leave the boat in Marciana Marina for about three weeks before returning from Sahara and then prepare it for the winter.
We finally arrived on the 28th after 6 days at sea. Compared to our initial prediction we were 24 hours late and I was glad to see land again. After all has it been my first night sailing, my first passage and my first multi-day sail.
5 days at sea.
We finally left Barbate in Southern Spain after some days of heavy wind and rainfall.
The seas were stormy and the waves huge. Knowing that it would calm down we headed out on the 22nd. Surprisingly neither one of us did well with the rocking boat. Chloe and the cat were feeding the fishes and I felt very sick for more 48 hours.
I am sitting on a boat that is not my own for a couple of hundred miles now. We are sailing from Gibraltar to the canaries and it feels good to move. Especially having consistent wind and a working wind-vane helps covering longer distances each day.
Temperatures are getting better and I am getting used to the daily watch schedule. That leaves me with some time to write and think.