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How to Sail Around the World Part-Time
Do you dream of sailing around the world in a sailboat?
Do you have a business or career you don't want to sacrifice for that dream?
Do you have kids in school?
You don't need to quit your job, sell your house, and take the kids out of school to complete a circumnavigation of the globe in a sailboat. You don’t have to wait until you are retired to sail for the South Pacific. This book tells you how you can do it without uprooting your life by taking as little as two months per year off to sail the trade winds.
Circumnavigating the globe in a sailboat is on par with scaling Mount Everest in terms of its rarity. Many potential circumnavigators are hobbled by misconceptions about the journey that mountaineers lack when climbing to the top of the world.
It is said, “I want to circumnavigate to see the world.� Nevertheless, successful trade wind circumnavigators don’t see the world. Instead, they travel on a narrow ribbon around it stopping mostly at a narrow range of countries that are downwind. Lack of focus causes many more failed circumnavigations than storms at sea.
The conventional wisdom is that you need to quit your job, sell your house, and live on the boat year-round. The reality is that even retirees circumnavigating full-time keep their boat in port half of the year because of the demands of cyclone season. There is no good way to elude the November to April cyclone season that dominates 60 percent of the trade-wind circumnavigation route.
The mad rush from the eastern Caribbean to the “safe� ports in New Zealand and Australia in a single calendar year is misguided. It sets cruisers up for hard, upwind ocean passages in future years and saps the resolve of their crews. A better solution is to haul out their boats in the South Pacific and fly back to their homes in the developed world during the cyclone season.
It makes more sense to keep one’s job and home and take annual two-to-six month leaves of absences to move the boat forward during the cruising season. This allows the sailors to earn more outside the cruising season. Further, they can maintain the careers and businesses which they have built over many years. Further, cruisers still have a job or business to come back to if they decide that the cruise is not for them. Pursuing a part-time circumnavigation is likely to be far less costly to cruisers� long-term earnings than totally severing ties to one’s job or business.
Going back to their homes on land is much more comfortable than living aboard, while waiting for cyclone season to pass. The most modest land-based accommodations are typically more comfortable than the most luxurious sailboat in port. Finally, part-time circumnavigations avoid many problems with educating school age children and obtaining necessary parts.
Learn about the trade-wind route around the world with stops in Panama, the Galapagos, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia, Mauritius, Chagos, Madagascar, South Africa, St. Helena, Brazil, and the eastern Caribbean. Learn why the Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden have NOT made circumnavigating the globe harder.
This is the second book by the bestselling author of Slow Boat to the Bahamas, Linus Wilson. Dr. Wilson got his doctorate in financial economics at Oxford University. He sails an Island Packet 31� with his wife, daughter, and four pound poodle. He has been published in Cruising Outpost and Good Old Boat magazines. To learn more about the author’s adventures, boat repair tips, free chapters and books, subscribe to his newsletter at www.slowboatsailing.com.
Do you have a business or career you don't want to sacrifice for that dream?
Do you have kids in school?
You don't need to quit your job, sell your house, and take the kids out of school to complete a circumnavigation of the globe in a sailboat. You don’t have to wait until you are retired to sail for the South Pacific. This book tells you how you can do it without uprooting your life by taking as little as two months per year off to sail the trade winds.
Circumnavigating the globe in a sailboat is on par with scaling Mount Everest in terms of its rarity. Many potential circumnavigators are hobbled by misconceptions about the journey that mountaineers lack when climbing to the top of the world.
It is said, “I want to circumnavigate to see the world.� Nevertheless, successful trade wind circumnavigators don’t see the world. Instead, they travel on a narrow ribbon around it stopping mostly at a narrow range of countries that are downwind. Lack of focus causes many more failed circumnavigations than storms at sea.
The conventional wisdom is that you need to quit your job, sell your house, and live on the boat year-round. The reality is that even retirees circumnavigating full-time keep their boat in port half of the year because of the demands of cyclone season. There is no good way to elude the November to April cyclone season that dominates 60 percent of the trade-wind circumnavigation route.
The mad rush from the eastern Caribbean to the “safe� ports in New Zealand and Australia in a single calendar year is misguided. It sets cruisers up for hard, upwind ocean passages in future years and saps the resolve of their crews. A better solution is to haul out their boats in the South Pacific and fly back to their homes in the developed world during the cyclone season.
It makes more sense to keep one’s job and home and take annual two-to-six month leaves of absences to move the boat forward during the cruising season. This allows the sailors to earn more outside the cruising season. Further, they can maintain the careers and businesses which they have built over many years. Further, cruisers still have a job or business to come back to if they decide that the cruise is not for them. Pursuing a part-time circumnavigation is likely to be far less costly to cruisers� long-term earnings than totally severing ties to one’s job or business.
Going back to their homes on land is much more comfortable than living aboard, while waiting for cyclone season to pass. The most modest land-based accommodations are typically more comfortable than the most luxurious sailboat in port. Finally, part-time circumnavigations avoid many problems with educating school age children and obtaining necessary parts.
Learn about the trade-wind route around the world with stops in Panama, the Galapagos, the Marquesas, Tahiti, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Australia, Mauritius, Chagos, Madagascar, South Africa, St. Helena, Brazil, and the eastern Caribbean. Learn why the Pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden have NOT made circumnavigating the globe harder.
This is the second book by the bestselling author of Slow Boat to the Bahamas, Linus Wilson. Dr. Wilson got his doctorate in financial economics at Oxford University. He sails an Island Packet 31� with his wife, daughter, and four pound poodle. He has been published in Cruising Outpost and Good Old Boat magazines. To learn more about the author’s adventures, boat repair tips, free chapters and books, subscribe to his newsletter at www.slowboatsailing.com.
73 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 31, 2016
30 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Linus Wilson
9Ìýbooks30ÌýfollowersSubscribe to his FREE newsletter for free books and bonus content at
Linus Wilson earned a doctorate in financial economics from Oxford University in England. He learned nothing there that prepared him for sailing from New Orleans to the Bahamas in a small sailboat. He is an associate professor of finance at the University of Louisiana. He has been published in Good Old Boat, Cruising Outpost, and Southwinds magazines. He is married with one child, Sophie above. Slow Boat to the Bahamas, his first book was a number 1 bestseller in Bahamas travel guides and Kindle sailing narratives. He jogs because he likes to sometimes travel faster than 5 knots.
To join the adventure, move towards the cruise of your dreams, and help out the Slow Boat crew and other sailors dreaming of turquoise waters in paradise:
Buy Slow Boat to the Bahamas
Save $15 off you next purchase online of $200 at West Marine at
Try a free sample of Slow Boat to the Bahamas at
If you have read it already, let other sailors know what you thought of it at Amazon or Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.
Thank you for coming on board!
Linus Wilson earned a doctorate in financial economics from Oxford University in England. He learned nothing there that prepared him for sailing from New Orleans to the Bahamas in a small sailboat. He is an associate professor of finance at the University of Louisiana. He has been published in Good Old Boat, Cruising Outpost, and Southwinds magazines. He is married with one child, Sophie above. Slow Boat to the Bahamas, his first book was a number 1 bestseller in Bahamas travel guides and Kindle sailing narratives. He jogs because he likes to sometimes travel faster than 5 knots.
To join the adventure, move towards the cruise of your dreams, and help out the Slow Boat crew and other sailors dreaming of turquoise waters in paradise:
Buy Slow Boat to the Bahamas
Save $15 off you next purchase online of $200 at West Marine at
Try a free sample of Slow Boat to the Bahamas at
If you have read it already, let other sailors know what you thought of it at Amazon or Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.
Thank you for coming on board!
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 5, 2016
Let me preface this review by saying that I am a sailor. I love it and I intend to cross oceans in my boat with my wife and a couple of the kiddos.
There is a myth out in the big wide world that people who circumnavigate the globe do nothing but sail hither and to. Oh, yes, they visit tropical paradises, go snorkeling, and eat freshly speared fish, but, mostly, they spend their days under sail, cruising back and forth to avoid things like storms with names and nameless Somali pirates. All the while with mysteriously unlimited funds and a perpetual romance with the sea.
Personally, I had a different view of this myth - that circumnavigators lived on their boats for years at a time, worked remotely or at ports (or on other people's boats) to pay their way, sailed in non-hurricane seasons, and high-tailed it for safe harbors when those seasons ended. Once they made it to safe ports, they'd hunker down and wait it out in boredom, marital stress, and financial crisis.
Part Time Circumnavigation presented a new (to me) theory of attaining the incredible goal of circling the globe in a small boat. It has made me begin to rethink my strategies for attaining my desire of spending a few years on a boat in remote parts of the world and has opened my eyes to some great possibilities and, perhaps, a path to doing it sooner rather than later.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering venturing in blue water and heading to foreign ports, even if they have no intention of doing a circumnavigation. The author's insights are spot on and present a new (and better?) concept in the art of long distance sailing that just might save a circumnavigating sailor's marriage, not to mention his storm season sanity.
There is a myth out in the big wide world that people who circumnavigate the globe do nothing but sail hither and to. Oh, yes, they visit tropical paradises, go snorkeling, and eat freshly speared fish, but, mostly, they spend their days under sail, cruising back and forth to avoid things like storms with names and nameless Somali pirates. All the while with mysteriously unlimited funds and a perpetual romance with the sea.
Personally, I had a different view of this myth - that circumnavigators lived on their boats for years at a time, worked remotely or at ports (or on other people's boats) to pay their way, sailed in non-hurricane seasons, and high-tailed it for safe harbors when those seasons ended. Once they made it to safe ports, they'd hunker down and wait it out in boredom, marital stress, and financial crisis.
Part Time Circumnavigation presented a new (to me) theory of attaining the incredible goal of circling the globe in a small boat. It has made me begin to rethink my strategies for attaining my desire of spending a few years on a boat in remote parts of the world and has opened my eyes to some great possibilities and, perhaps, a path to doing it sooner rather than later.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering venturing in blue water and heading to foreign ports, even if they have no intention of doing a circumnavigation. The author's insights are spot on and present a new (and better?) concept in the art of long distance sailing that just might save a circumnavigating sailor's marriage, not to mention his storm season sanity.
February 12, 2016
This book dispels a lot of myth's about circumnavigation drawing on the statistics and experiences of circumnavigators and ocean cruisers. The biggest one is that you sail around the world full-time. Cyclone season makes this foolhardy. Most "full-time" circumnavigators park their boats half the year. Don't believe me this is what other people are saying about it:
"This book deals with the realities of cruising and circumnavigation using facts, statistics and real experiences and presents alternatives that better match with how most people live their lives. These insights would be valuable to not only those who have a whim of circumnavigating but also those who desire to cruise closer to home."
"The 'Whys and Wherefores' of Circum Navigation. A blueprint for some serious sailing. If you every wanted to sail around the world this book is a well researched plan to do that. If you are serious sailor and started some adventuring you might want to look at the ultimate trip. Good advice on wind, weather and repairs, this book is thoughtful and practical and every sailor will get something from it."
"..it holds a lot of good tips and info for someone that can't just 'drop everything and sail into the sunset'. I'd say it is very inspirational! Gave me a new motivation!"
"This book deals with the realities of cruising and circumnavigation using facts, statistics and real experiences and presents alternatives that better match with how most people live their lives. These insights would be valuable to not only those who have a whim of circumnavigating but also those who desire to cruise closer to home."
"The 'Whys and Wherefores' of Circum Navigation. A blueprint for some serious sailing. If you every wanted to sail around the world this book is a well researched plan to do that. If you are serious sailor and started some adventuring you might want to look at the ultimate trip. Good advice on wind, weather and repairs, this book is thoughtful and practical and every sailor will get something from it."
"..it holds a lot of good tips and info for someone that can't just 'drop everything and sail into the sunset'. I'd say it is very inspirational! Gave me a new motivation!"
July 11, 2020
I enjoyed the perspective shared in this book regarding sailing planning with your family when you have a different level of desire and passion for sailing amongst you. I'm writing this review as a current sailor who is living with my family full time on a boat in Mexico. We aren't sure what we can afford and where our tolerance is for timing right now. I was really hoping for good information on stopping locations, which are better, what people's experiences have been or where there might be more marinas, good availability etc. I was hoping to have input on locations and durations for shorter to longer sailing times. I got some good route suggestions however no real intel on stop locations beyond vague location names.
This issue I have with this book is most of the second half is spent discussing the benefits of land and what a pain in the ass boats are. What? Why? There isn't even detail on how to leave your boat to maintain it which would also be helpful. Like how to prep it if you dry store vs marina vs mooring. This book is a opinion piece trying to convince you to appreciate land and spend a limited time on the boat because its cramped, shit breaks and you have to make water. The book overall has a very negative tone.
I'll also add that the kindle version includes one map image that is basically unreadable, I don't recommend the Kindle version.
This issue I have with this book is most of the second half is spent discussing the benefits of land and what a pain in the ass boats are. What? Why? There isn't even detail on how to leave your boat to maintain it which would also be helpful. Like how to prep it if you dry store vs marina vs mooring. This book is a opinion piece trying to convince you to appreciate land and spend a limited time on the boat because its cramped, shit breaks and you have to make water. The book overall has a very negative tone.
I'll also add that the kindle version includes one map image that is basically unreadable, I don't recommend the Kindle version.
June 23, 2018
Interesting idea!
I had never thought about part time sailing around the globe! Thought it had to be an all or nothing trip. I am definitely going to augment my plans!
I had never thought about part time sailing around the globe! Thought it had to be an all or nothing trip. I am definitely going to augment my plans!
February 13, 2017
Worth the read
Advocates for keeping some ties to your existing home life for both practical/life and cruising logistical reasons. Solid read, worth it.
Advocates for keeping some ties to your existing home life for both practical/life and cruising logistical reasons. Solid read, worth it.
February 24, 2016
Full of good personal information about sailing on a scale that is realistic to a regular guy.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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