Ahoy Mates!

[IrishSailor]

Warning, long read ahead, TLDR: Hey I'm from Ireland, I've been living on a sailboat for 10-11 years now and I'm slowly working on a circumnavigation around the globe.

 

Hey all! I've actually been a part of the community for a few months now but just recently got into the server enough that I'd bother with one of these posts, I tend to lurk for awhile before I dip my toes into the forums

 

So my name is IrishSailor, everyone calls me Irish- the name isn't just something I came up with it's literally just a descriptive term, here's a bit of background about who I am:

 

I was born in Skerries Ireland, usual story of abuse here, father left as an infant, my mother preyed upon my sister and me, I was always taking the hits so she didn't have to, ect.

 

Around 15-16 I couldn't actually take it anymore, I was able to with the help  of my dad get my sister a visa and got her moved out to the states with my dad where he had been working as a vet tech. He was more than happy to take her in, turns out he didn't WANT to leave but my mother had made living there literally impossible and Ireland will usually always side with the mother if he had tried to take us back then, I decided to stay in Ireland and see what could be done about my situation.

 

I was working as a lifeguard during secondary and I had managed to save $800 over a few months of hiding a little bit of what I made here and there from my mom so she wasn't aware I was working on a way out, then that way out came when I bought a 24' Santana from this 23 year old who had decided he wanted to try living on a boat and quickly learned after a month that he very much did NOT like living on a boat, lucky for me I was hooked soon as I stepped onto that little piece of shit sailboat, and the best part about it was my mother had no idea where the fuck I had gone after I left that day to check on one of the pools that we lifeguard.

 

I got the fuck out of Skerries, and I made for the west coast of Ireland, which had the best spots for sailing and learning how to sail. Over the next 3 years I taught myself how to sail and cruised around Kinsale, Glandore, Baltimore, and Cork, once I was confident enough in my abilities and I had saved up enough doing hull cleaning and recovery diving work, I had gotten enough together to trade my 24' Satana in for a 28' 1959 Pearson Triton, I was super stocked because that boat from that year was built like a literal fucking tank (of fiberglass at least) and it was built specifically to cross the Atlantic, which is exactly what I did.

 

After provisioning the Triton I headed off on the northern route of my transatlantic crossing attempt. It took 28 days total before I reached Virginia Beach and went under the bridge that leads into the Chesapeake bay. Despite actually bringing 20 more gallons of water than I thought I needed, I actually ended up on my last gallon of water before I hit the east coast the United States, which honestly was way to fucking close a call LOL

 

 

I spent a good 7 years sailing up and down the East Coast of the United States, though I never went farther south than North Carolina because fuck hurricanes on every level.

 

I honestly had no intention of spending a full 7 fucking years cruising about a coastline but that's how long it took to slowly gather the supplies and resources I would need to attempt a northwest passage crossing, which I did summer of last year, taking advantage of Covid by sailing above Canada and popping out above Alaska, afterward I sailed down the coast to San Diego California, where my dad has been living on his 27 foot Catalina for a little under a year, after his mom died and my sister was no longer in the house my dad took a look at what I was doing and decided he also wanted to do it, problem is his health actually took a serious hit March of last year (Heart condition, nothing to do with covid) and that is sort of what lit a fire under my ass to stop putting off the crossing attempt and just go for it, it took about a month and a half to navigate the Northwest Passage and took another month and a half to make my way down the west coast of the states

 

I arrived in San Diego of August last year, had to anchor out for 14 days with my yellow quarantine flag up before the coast guard would even let me step foot on land, but afterward I was able to meet and catch up with my dad, help him with his rehabilitation with his heart problems, and we were also both able to sell our boats and get a larger boat that we will sail together, Instead of my father wasting away in a nursing home he's going to go out like a fucking viking crossing locations off his bucket list.

 

We're now in a 35 foot yorktown, provisioning this boat for the traveling my father wants to do before he can't anymore, We'll be sailing where he wants to go until his death, then I'll resume my own personal circumnavigation and attempt a pacific crossing.

 

 

Long winded I know but I enjoy letting the people of a community know who I am and vice versa, especially one I plan on being a part of for quite a long time, given how easy I've found it to jump out and back into the server without missing to much, and given most RP communities I've been a part of die after 3-4 months, which really sucks when you come back into port and want to hop on and RP only to find all your dev and that character you made is now gone.

 

From what I've seen you guys have been around for quite awhile now, and that's right up there in terms of reason why I've decided to join this awesome place and formally introduce myself

 

Looking forward to seeing you guys on the server!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2021 by IrishSailor

[Kordruga]

Great story @IrishSailor! You've done something I've always wanted to do, except by boat and water instead of van and land, super jealous. Plenty of other irish lads kicking about on the server, including myself, so I'm sure you'll fall in with them at some point! 

This community has been around for ages and probably will continue to be around for ages so you don't have to worry about it turning out like those other places. 

Hope you enjoy your stay! 

[IrishSailor]

2 hours ago, Kordruga said:

Great story @IrishSailor! You've done something I've always wanted to do, except by boat and water instead of van and land, super jealous. Plenty of other irish lads kicking about on the server, including myself, so I'm sure you'll fall in with them at some point! 

This community has been around for ages and probably will continue to be around for ages so you don't have to worry about it turning out like those other places. 

Hope you enjoy your stay! 

Yea, when I was looking into which lifestyle (It was between van or boat) I decided boat after finding out that 70% of all civilization lives on the coast, plus boat life gives me access to a lot more of the planet than van life would.

 

 

[Guest]

Hey there IrishSailor!

A super big welcome to the community and I hope you enjoy your stay here

Thank you for the lovely ahoy message, so in depth about your story and really let us get to know you

I hope you make many friends here 

[PaulB]

Greetings IrishSailor!

Thank you for your detailed introduction!

Ngl i would love to do something like this. Enjoy your stay!