The question of how much one should carry around takes a special significance for me this summer. I am sailing accross the Atlantic. With such a trip come a lot of limitations. As we made a list of what we were going to need, we didn't realize that there were principles that guided our choices. We need to respect the constraints of being on a boat, of being safe, and of having fun.

Clothes: Foul weather stuff (1boots 1pants 1jacket 1polar 2socks) Normal weather stuff (1pants 1shorts 2tshirts 3underwear 1pullover 1shoes) +hat, 2sunglasses (with the reflection of the sun on the water, not wearing sunglasses would be very dangerous. So since they're easy to loose...)

Food:muesli in the norming, salad for lunch, hot meal for dinner (dryfried stuff). 3liters of water per persons. A fifth of this water will be sparkling becasue it tastes less bland. It seems that after a while you crave for strong tastes, so we will bring strong spices as well.

The rest: there will be three of us on board, we will therefore have time offduty to enjoy ourselves alone. We can each bring books, probably three or four (we will share them! so that's 12 already).
There will be music available through ipods.
We will have two GPS, one just in case, a computer in order to receive weather forecasts, a VHF radio, a normal BLU radio, a sextan (or whatever  the name of the thing we use to get the angle between the horizon and the stars )

We have an autopilot so we can share meal together as well (otherwise someone always has to steer).

The fact that we have electronics on board means that we need to bring in some fuel, and charge up our batteries for about two hours a day.

We have no showers, no toilets. We just bought a bucket.

That's pretty much it. We were thinking of bringing a chess board, but i'm not sure it is going to happen. Aside from the risk of loosing pieces, it's not sure that this is the sort of way you want to escape the reality of being on a boat. We will bring paper and pens.

No alcohol or tobacco.

a satellite phone, so that I can call my mother and tell her how well things are going. And it will be great to receive text messages! this will probably our only way to communicate with the rest of the world, and a limited one because of costs. The phone will not be hookedup to the computer, so no internet. And that's good.

This is pretty much all you will be able to find on the boat. Between space available and maximum weight, we cannot take much more with us.
What decided me to talk about this trip is Nomad's talk about the need for showers... Our only way to shower for 3 weeks will be through rain, that is to say, by hanging out naked on deck. It will also be the only opportunity to clean our clothes. So we will always be on the look out for rain... it will put some rythm , it will become an important element of our days. Will it rain, will it not? Will we be able to get rid of all this salt we see on our arms, legs, faces?

I'm really excited... a boy's dream coming true.

For those you interested, I'm leaving from NY on JUly 13th. Look for a pink sailboat.... or, on the 12th, look for a big party at North Cove! (the marina next to battery park)

I will be happy to answer questions you may have... thanks for the diary... i think the word that rules our trip is 'spartiate'. I remember this book about greece that I read as a kid... one of the pictures was a boy, naked, cleaning himself in the river, with snow on the banks...

Rien n'est gratuit en ce bas monde. Tout s'expie, le bien comme le mal, se paie tot ou tard. Le bien c'est beaucoup plus cher, forcement. Celine