I saw an old post about Blue Nomading being retiring to travel by boat. There is another way to combine the best of both worlds, Trailer Sailing. Using a trailable yacht to act as a caravan on land and a launch it at your favourite riverside, lakeside or seaside location for the ultimate waterfront free camping experience. Friends of mine have lived this life for over 25 years in the process becoming one of the best known and respected exponents of this form of retirement adventure travel. I have the privilege of calling this couple Eric and Flo friends and am just preparing to hopefuly follow in their footsteps. The trailable yacht called Erflo (a very neat play on their names and a critical part of sailing) is a Court 750 built by Court Marine in WA. This 7.5 meter yacht has kitchen, dining area/lounge, beds and built in back verandah (****pit area). The yacht is towed on a trailer behind your 4x4 and used like a caravan on land then launched at your favourite often overcrowded riverside camping area. A few hundred meters or kilometers up or downstream will generally be the perfect uncrowned on water/waterfront camping spot. Fish from your rear verandah, dine and relax with absolute water frontage and the next day sail or motor onto another perfect camping overnight spot. The combination of on road caravan and onwater yacht comes with compromises on both fronts but provides a unique and adventurous experience which few currently have access to enjoy. For the truely adventurous the sailing component can last weeks but without the long and sometimes challenging ocean passages between the interesting bays, islands, rivers and lakes. The demountable mast on a Trailer Sailer also allow the mast to be lowered for powerlines and bridges so upstream travel on inland waterways denied to regular yachts are also accessible. Further to this the retractable keel also gives access to shallow areas also denied to keel boats. All in all this is an excellent other alternative to the more regular grey nomad retirement. Happy to start this thread and converse further with interested people. Regards Graeme ( Trailer Sailer )
G'day Trailer Sailor and welcome to the forum. Don't forget to try the two ongoing games here - 'Who is This' in the 'I Digress' section and 'Pick this Place' in the 'General' Section - a great source to find new places to visit. Hope your 'van' works out for you. You could always take it to Alice for the 'Henley on Todd' Regatta
I started a thread over in the general forum as well figuring more people would look over there for this type of information and chat. I definitely have spent a lot of nights on the boat on land as myself and my ex partner trailed up from Brisbane to the Whitsundays ( many weeks out in the Islands ) then on to Townsville and out to Mount Isa, down to The Alice and the Rock then back to Perth. We got lots of strange looks out in the desert and made lots of cracks about being lost or heading to compete in the Todd River Regatta or such. LOL
