About the book
How many of you have ever hitchhiked in your life?
Now – how many of you have ever tried to hitchhike a sailboat?
I didn’t even know about that possibility before once in Spain an Italian
girl mentioned that a German girl hitchhiked a boat over the Atlantic and
is now living happily ever after somewhere in the Caribbean. You only hear about
these things when you travel! And I couldn’t let go of the idea. That was
something I needed to try on my own, and after working the whole summer on a
sailboat in Portugal, I was addicted to sailing. I couldn’t let go.
Not long after I found myself already in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the
place where all the captains and hitchhikers gather to start sailing across the
ocean. I didn’t have time to explain anyone what exactly I was doing and left
them with you-are-doing-what faces. I left them with it. I was gonna hitchhike a
boat to the other side of the ocean. Period.
I mean – how hard was it gonna be anyway? All I needed to do was to arrive,
look around, walk the pontoons, make contacts with captains and other
hitchhikers, and after maybe two weeks I was already sailing to the Caribbean
or to South America!
Just before Christmas I was starting to feel worried. I started to hate the
city, it made me feel trapped. Even the sight of a sailboat made me
sick. My prohibited words included „boat”, „skipper”, „captain”, „crew” and
everything to do with sailing in general. All I wanted was to get the hell out
of there. But with a sailboat of course.
Hitchhiking a sailboat can be intense. Yes I had a breakdown! Yes, I cried!
I was also worried about my financies. I tried to get a temporary work. All I
ever found with my „un poco Spanish” was a waitress vacancy in a swingers club!
I had my heart broken by captains that made false promises, spent a night in a
police station, ended up questioning my reasons for the whole adventure and yet it was the most amazing
two months you could ever ask for!
And the captains need more than an introduction. The captains need a whole
book! The captains that were looking for a wife or a girlfriend. The captains
that needed a baby!!! The captains that had no clue how to sail. The captains
that were mentally unstable. The crazy captains, the ones with alcohol
problems, the violent ones…
Those who were there with me, they know. And those who weren’t – they are
about to know. Im honest and have no intentions of holding back. It’s gonna be
a personal story with a lot of interesting characters in it. The friends, the
enemies, the whole lot. Its about time to share my story. It’s about time to
talk about transatlantic boat hitchhiking!
What I Need & What You Get
Travelling can be rewarding for sure, but it also
means that I have given up my financial security. To make this book happen, I
need your help, no matter how small the contribution. The funds will be used in my book proposal process and to find myself a good literary agent. I have learned that
without these two it’s almost impossible to make a book success. Even though I
have no problems writing and reading in English, it is not my first
language and a big part of the funds will go to copy-editing and proofreading,
to make sure the end result has the best quality. I also have to consider Indiegogo fee on top of everything.
As the realistic deadline to see my book in print
will be in the end of the year, it doesn’t mean that you can’t
contribute. Sometimes good things are worth waiting for and I make sure to keep
you up to date about the whole process. You will find all the details of the
perks on the right side of the project page.
The Impact
The main purpose of this book is to grow
awareness among those adventurous people, who have always wished to try
something similar, but are not sure or don’t have enough information about what
to expect when getting to the starting point, no matter where it is. The book
is mainly for solo female travellers, but it doesn’t mean its worthless for
male travellers or anyone into sailing and adventure in general. Also there are plenty of
articles and blog posts about hitchhiking a sailboat, but no book in print so
far. And wouldn’t it be great to contribute into something that hasn’t been
written before!?
Risks & Challenges
As far as my writing is concerned, I can’t see any
obstacles of meeting the deadline. I simply love writing and enjoy working on
projects that I’m passionate about. The only obstacle I can see is the technical
side of it all. Reality has proved that delays can happen, but overall I’m
optimistic about my project and can’t see any reason why I wouldn’t be able to
overcome them.
Other Ways You Can Help
I completely understand, if you can’t contribute, but please share my
project in social media and do your best to get the word out. That alone would
mean a lot to me!
And don’t forget to use the Indiegogo share tools!