How do I prepare to sail around the world starting from zero experience?
Go to the internet and look up “S V Delos”….you will find all sorts of info…Delos is the name of this guys boat. He grew up in Arizona, knew nothing about boating, graduated from college, moved to Seattle to write code, made good money, bought house, cars, worked, worked worked and one day thought there had to be more. He developed a plan to go sailing. Bough a small sailboat for next to nothing and sailed it on Lake Washington for a couple of years, kept working and saving, crewed on some boats around Seattle to get experience sailing, researched which boats were capable of doing what he wanted to do…sail the world….finally decided he had enough money to get boat and have enough left over to sail for 2 years….sold everything and bought a fantastic boat…lived on the boat for 2 years, continued to work, took day sails and some overnight getting experience and seeing what it was like living in such a small area. Finally quit his good job, and headed down the Pacific coast to Mexico….his younger brother was on summer break from university, so he flew down to help big brother sail his boat to the S. Pacific and was then was going to return to finish his degree……some 6 or 7 years have passed, the younger brother is still on the boat and they are still exploring the world.——————Site has some great videos of their adventure, videos of a lecture that covers all of the above and a LOT more. Bury in those for a few days, if still something you think you want to do, can you follow his format?———- If not, do you live near salt water or a big lake…..go to local marina or yacht club, walk the docks and talk to folks that have a sail boat, give them your name and number, be honest that you know nothing about sailing but would like to learn and you’d be happy to crew for them if they ever needed any help (bigger the boat, the better)…also get permission to post a note that says you know nothing but want to learn and please contact if crew needed. There are lots of folks who’ll readily take you out for a day sail, which could evolve into more. Or if you live near in a place like San Diego, watch for when the next Baja Ha Ha Rally is to take place…when all the boats start gathering, walk the docks and ask if they are will to take on a minimal experienced crew member…..have you bags packed and arrangement made in advance re. work………
Bill Gates decides to give you $10 billion. What do you do with it?
Take $100 million off the top and put the rest in a trust bequeathed to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation when I die. Take the interest from the trust every year (which would be at least $200 million).Since I’ll never spend $100 million (plus whatever interest that money generates) no matter what I do, I get to spend over $200 million on things I support and still never have to look at a price tag as long as I live.Half goes to slow money investments (Slow Money Institute – Investing in Local and Organic Food), expanded to include manufacturing. Staying within 50 miles might be hard, it’s not that populated around here, so I’d probably look at a map for a while and lay out some borders. A lot of local farmers and manufacturers would get a nice boost to their working capital at very reasonable rates, and any returns would be reinvested the same way.Half of what’s left goes to the same type of investments, but on a national level.The rest goes to causes I support. The ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, National Resources Defense Council, ProPublica, Electronic Frontier Foundation. Churches that are helping people (religion doesn’t mean anything to me but a lot of local churches do very good work). Funds that help the families of fallen cops, firemen, and soldiers. Local and state politicians who embrace my values. There’s a foundation in New York that trains inner city kids for IT jobs while also teaching them a lot about how to live outside the world they grew up in, and they’d get a bunch. Some endowments to research diseases that don’t get a lot of attention. I’d find more :)All donations would be anonymous. No buildings with my name on them. No black tie galas where I receive an award. I don’t care if anyone knows my name, and I’d really prefer if they didn’t.As long as I have the house I want (which isn’t big, or fancy), time to spend on the hobbies I’ve never really gotten to pursue, and the ability to eat whatever I want wherever I want I’d be fine. Maybe I’d buy a Ferrari GTO right before I die, just to have owned one :)