Posted on 12/06/2014 12:34:50 PM PST by aMorePerfectUnion
Sven Yrvind, a 75-year-old Swedish boat builder, designer, sailor and writer, has something to say about life. He’s chosen to communicate this philosophy through taking on tough challenges. Faced with a future of scraping by on a crap pension, surfing channels in a retirement home, Sven had different ideas.
“TV is not for me. I must have something to live for, problems to solve. Most people misunderstand life. Money does not make you happy. Comfort does not make you happy. It is only by using energy you create more energy and it is that surplus of energy that makes you happy and healthy.”
Sven has lived this quote. A recent 45 day trip took him across the Atlantic in a 16 foot self-made boat. He’s been building and navigating small boats around the world, for 50 years, including treacherous, stormy waters like those near Cape Horn at the southern tip of Chile.
For his next trip, Sven is building a 10 foot boat to circumnavigate the globe nonstop – a 30,000 nautical mile voyage that will last 600 days. Some have called this a suicide project but with more than 50 years of experience designing, building and sailing small crafts, Sven has proven smaller is better. A smaller boat, designed to be indestructible, has less forces acting on it then a larger boat. It lives among the waves, instead of doing battle with them.
Because he’s making the trip nonstop, he’s also bringing along 800 pounds of food and 200 pounds of books.
(Yes, he also plans on bringing a tablet ) He will power these devices, along with modern navigation and communication equipment, with a pedal power generator. His 10 foot boat is built like a space capsule. It will capsize, it will pitchpole, but it will always come back up, much like Sven Yrvind. If he completes the journey, it will be a world record for a small vessel.
Sven is always launched his expeditions with a minimum of financial resources. Like a modern-day Thoreau, he wants to send a message about our excessive, consumption driven culture that takes way more than its fair share of the world’s natural resources.
Here are just a few:
Play the long game. I loved Sven’s comments about not wanting to end up with other pensioners in a home watching TV. At 75, he is playing the long game, upping the ante. It would be much better to leave this earth doing something you love, and trying to set a world record, than in front of the TV.
Live an interesting life. In addition to launching global sailing expeditions, and designing small boats, Swen also tracks his progress through his blog and has written four books.
Live lean, consume less, enjoy life more. Sven’s story resonated with me. If one man can live in a 10 ft. boat for 600 consecutive days at sea, then surely we can all strive to live on fewer resources and material goods than we do today.
Choose experiences over stuff. Give up some creature comforts, step away from the flatscreen TV, go out and experience life. You don’t need to set any world records, it’s the experience that counts.
Have a quest. This could be the true secret to longevity versus a lot of the pills, powders and fitness miracles promoted today. Sven’s world record quest requires he stay on top of his game mentally and physically with a daily practice of hiking, kayaking, reading, and working on his sailboat.
If you want to learn more about Sven’s journey and his life, check out his blog www.yrvind.com. As I looked through the photos of his amazing boat, I thought this would make one hell of a #kickstarter project! Check out a 3-D model of his boat here.
The Frug.
What problem did building a boat and sailing across the pond solve? Just wondering.
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed.
“What problem did building a boat and sailing across the pond solve? Just wondering.”
I can only guess...
but maybe the problem was how to build a small boat that could sail across the ocean.
It’s all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye.
People with no money often insist that money doesn’t make you happy.
They may be right but I’m not interested in finding out.
I am not a sailor, but I had actually thought of the idea of making a very small, space-capsule like watercraft for solitary ocean voyages. As long as you have enough food and water, it doesn’t matter how slow it is.
More like a slightly steerable cork. The trip through the Roaring 40’s should be fun, if you like eating and living like sardines in a can.
You still need an RPG for the Islamic Pirates.
Or you could just choose not to go anywhere near Sierra Leone.
My dad went to sea at the age of 9 (NINE!) with the Gloucester Commercial Fishing Fleet. At 17, he joined the Navy and fought in the South Pacific in WW2.
Right about the time I was born he re-upped and was in the Korean War.
I was barely 11 when I was taught how to tie knots and sail a small boat in the North Atlantic ocean.
The Sea is a Glorious but harsh Master. It is not to be trifled with.
Just sayin.
Intresting to see how it goes for him. That’s a lot of sardines no wonder he is sailing alone. I did not see anything about taking water so does he have some sort of desalinzation device?
Freegards
LEX
“More like a slightly steerable cork.”
I think this is a good analogy.
It solved his problem of avoiding drooling on himself while wasting half a life time watching concocted choreographed rehearsed obnoxious propaganda on fox, cnn etc.
Did ya happen to notice all those wealth elite suits you elected have done nothing but make everything worse while putting the country into a steep decline while lining their own pockets?
‘Hard work is the boat across the endless sea of learning.’
Good for him! Thanks for posting.
Not sinking is a good thing too, much like being able to walk away from a (n airplane) "landing" of any quality.
My wife and I went from desk jobs in the big city to moving to the country to raise beef cattle on a 25 acre farm when we retired. Never done it before. We've learned it all from scratch since retiring. We planted an orchard, grew a garden, harvest pecans, made jelly and jam from our blackberries and make wine from our grapes. We have lots of citrus trees too. And that's the easy part. We can build and mend stock fences, fix stock tank problems, corrals and even a greenhouse, some sheds and small barn. We've learned to work on the John Deere tractor and Gator utility vehicle and keep the implements maintained. We've raised our herd from just two heifers we bought 3 years ago to 11 cows, 3 steers and a bull. We even learned how to pull a calf when a birth went south on us last spring.
Oh, we have a comfortable new house we built, watch a little TV and I've played a few rounds of golf since moving here. But mainly we work everyday on the farm. It's a lot of work but that's the point. Keeps you busy and healthy. We're both over 65 and are having the times of our lives. No silk sheets and condos for us.
I wondered what The Most Interesting Man In The World was up to lately ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.