Finding the right work-life balance

It can at times feel like we have endured enough progress, as cost and complexity, plus social isolation, often come along for the ride. But as George Day in the Cruising Compass reports, the good old days weren’t always so good:

Finding the right work-life balance is always a struggle, especially for Americans who tend to work more days and longer hours than our counterparts in Europe and around the world. The idea of living on a boat, cruising and working at a real job, is mighty enticing. And, it has never been easier to do so.

When I was sailing around the world in the pre-internet 90s and writing monthly columns for two magazines as my cruising-working gig, I had to find fax machines to submit the columns each month, which could be incredibly difficult. In the Marquesas, the only fax machine was in the Nuku Hiva police station, and they charged me $90 to send two pages. Ouch. And in the Red Sea? You can imagine that fax machines were few and far between.

Now, with satellite communications and world-wide internet access through Starlink and Inmarsat, you can work from anywhere. You can run Zoom meetings, hold online seminars, manage websites, run a YouTube channel and sell your products through an Amazon storefront.

For sailors like us, the ability to work remotely from a boat is the perfect way to really achieve that magic balance between work and a healthy, adventurous lifestyle and that bodes very well for the future of the world-cruising community.