All ashore who's going ashore!

The best thing about having a little boat is how close you can get to the shore and up into those little estuaries to explore and come ashore.

So what do I have aboard and what do can you do on the coast?

Focus on the new year - Pico

Winter creeps on in the UK but here in New Zealand we start the summer and so thoughts turn to the great outdoors and what could be, rather than what should have been.

So with a renewed vigour I am going to be pushing for the Pico option this year. This is based around limited funds (whole project to be completed for less than  NZ$2000 - $1000 Boat and $1000 refit and kit buying) and simply scaling back to weekend and evening cruising in a Dinghy, something Mirror-esk would be great.

This means that putting the Dinghy to one side I need to look at simpler ways of sailing and what I would be doing for an overnight as well as accommodating our 6 year old, should he want to venture out with his old dad!

Pico Cruising

With very little money and a little thought people have produced some very capable Dinghy's for weekend cruising. I'm personally favouring the ever popular Mirror, I love the example above.

John Perry from Hostellers Sailing Club has designed and built his own 16 footer which here describes HERE in great detail.

Less is more?

Lets be frank, money is becoming ever thinner on the ground and with 2 young children I don't see the finances coming through any time soon, unless our number some up on a scratch card or Saturday night!?

To this end I have come up with a further reduction in the finances and have born out 2 further sub categories to my sailing options.

Nano (nano – n – billionth) and Pico (pico – p – trillionth) budgets have been established to allow to to have a possibility of actually making it out on the water. 

Nano sailing has made me look to the older smaller pocket cruisers such as the Hunter 18 and the very attractive Leisure 17. I have seen these boats for as little as £500 and as they have a much more trimmed down and basic set up the overhaul of such a boat should be vastly reduced.

Pico sailing is set to take it all back to basics and look at sailing lakes and coastal waters in the likes of a Mirror Dinghy or GP14. This option makes simple weekend camping trips very possible with less than £1000 to spend.

I am very excited that these 2 options have been established and I am especially keen to look into the Pico option for New Zealand whether we are there for 2 months or 2 years.