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How it all Started
I thought about this wisdom and decided maybe I should start with
something less than 50 feet. So, I looked at a few smaller boats, never really loosing sight of that first boat I
fell in love with. I eventually found a Sun 27 sloop. She was a clean boat, and had everything I needed. Again I fell
in love. I must say that the learning curve wasn’t steep. It was vertical! I got a loan and before I knew it I was
getting rid of all my stuff and moving aboard. I was never happier. I was very surprised, however, that I needed
money for more than just the boat payment. Hmmm, how would I have ever been able to pay for that big old boat
that I could have just afforded?
I named the boat “Pondo May” after my Grandfather on my moms side of the family. He was an old river rat who
commercial fished, and taught me how to trap. .I grabbed a friend or two who had been sailing before and asked
them to go with me the first time
“Let me give it a try”. I said “Just keep me from hitting anything.” I said. Sailing was easy to learn. I found out
that when ever there are two sailboats close to each other, it’s a race! So again the leaning started. I watched, I
learned, I screwed up. And I learned some more.
About his time I met a girl. Her name was Angela. We had our second date on board and I naturally took her
sailing. It was cold and windy but we had fun. As our relationship grew, so did my desire to sail to different
waters. I wad flown over, and heard about, the San Juan Islands. I wanted to sail to them in my boat.
I didn’t even know if my little sailboat could sail on the ocean. I didn’t know if I could do it. I asked my brother if
he would be up for a sail up the coast to the Puget Sound. He said “yes!” Come to think of it he has always, “yes”
to my crazy adventures.
Our plan was to sail down the Columbia River and up the coast to Port Angeles, then pick up Angela and sail to the
San Juans. The trip was wonderful. I fell in love with the islands. So much so, that I didn’t want to go back to
Portland. This of course was the start of the next phase of my cruising life.
Angela and I moved in together and we sailed a few more times into the San Juans aboard our little sailboat. We
really wanted to share this paradise with our family so we set out to charter a 46 foot sailboat so our family
could join us on a cruise. This introduced us to bigger boat sailing. We were hooked…..well almost!
“We saw it on a Calander”
A year later, Angela and I were married and were on another cruise on board the “Pondo May” again. This time
however we were headed up into Canada for a two week cruise into some unknown waters. We had seen a calendar
once that had exotic sailing destinations on each month. One of the months had a picture of a sailboat anchored
below “Chatterbox Falls” in “Princess Louisa Inlet”. We stared at that picture and dreamed of sailing there. It
was our goal to get to that waterfall. We planned and provisioned, and took a couple of weeks off of work.
We arrived in Friday Harbor and spent the night at the dock. The next morning we sailed out of the harbor and
started a two week trip that took us into the Canadian Gulf Islands, across the Straight of Georgia, and into
Pender Harbor. We where having the time of our lives. The only hitch so far was that we forgot a box on the
couch back home that contained all of our pots and pans. We had nothing to cook with or eat on! It started raining
as we wound our way into the mountains towards the place we had thought about for a couple of years.
That trip changed our lives. First of all, “Chatterbox Falls” was the most breathtaking place we had ever seen. So
much so, that we named our daughter after it. On every granite wall there were countless water falls. We had to
literally look up to see the sky. The water was soo clear that it was easy to look down and see the huge rock
formations that were below our keel. We stayed 3 days at the government dock below the falls.
Angela and I were sailing down the inlet on our way to Desolation Sound when we passed a large yacht and Angela
says, “Ya know, if a boat could have hot water, a big bed, heat, and a shower, I could live aboard”.
I said, “There were lots of boats that fit that bill”. I think that the wheels started turning then in her pretty
little head.
“You Found What on the Internet”?
A couple of weeks later Angela woke me up at 8am with a smile on her face and said, “I found it”!
I said, “Found what”? I rubbed the confusion from my eyes.
“Our next boat”! She said. In a way that I should have been able to see was a clear sign of insanity.
Now I was lost. I didn’t know we were looking for a boat!?
“OK”? I said “Lets see”. That silly smile on her face was still there.
She showed me a printout of a classic looking sailboat sitting at a dock someplace. I looked at it and then at the
price and then back to her and said, “You’re crazy!”
“NO. Really! I have worked it all out”! She says.
By know I am awake and she is dragging me down to the computer to show me how she figured this all out. I sat
quietly listening to her plan. She seemed serious. I looked again at the picture. It was a Formosa 51. She was
built in 1974. There was something familiar about this boat. Like an old girlfriend or something. Before long,
Angela had me on the phone asking a few more questions. I remember the feeling that we were moving a little
fast towards an unknown destination. Not only did Angela want to buy this boat, she wanted to live on it.
We made an appointment to see the boat. It was moored in a slip on the Columbia River 2 hours south of Seattle.
During the drive down we idly talked about what we would do with two boats. When we arrived at the dock and
walked up to the boat I fell flat on my keister in love again! This boat was so gorgeous! It didn’t matter that we
couldn’t afford it. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know anything about boats really. We took a lot of pictures and
asked a lot of questions. They were the wrong questions, of course, but still we wanted to know how this worked
and that worked. Not if it worked!
My legs started to ache painfully on the drive home. The learning curve had arrived again and it was steeper than
ever. On the way we figured it all out. We just knew we could get our parents to lend us a bunch of money. We
just knew! We figured that we would buy this boat instead of a “first” house. We could live on it for 5 years, a
“give it a try”, kinda thing.
When we got home, we couldn’t dial the phone fast enough to tell mom and dad that they were about to become a
part of our dream.
“But mom and dad, it’s only a little under $100 thousand. Your part is only the down payment” We said.
They said, “Sorry son”.
They thought we were, only a little, nuts.
Every where we went with our plans we were initially met with skepticism. We started by applying for the loan
with out mom and dads help. We were surprised that we got the loan with no problems.
“Hmmm” I thought. Maybe I should start paying a little more attention to the boat thing. I made a few calls and
found out that the price was reasonable. We decided to make an offer. The offer was accepted and we gave a
one percent deposit to the owner. The sale would be with out the use of a broker. This proved to be the oil on an
already slippery curve of learning. Next thing to come was the survey.
In the next few weeks I made sure that Angela was aware of all the things that went with living on a boat. She
eagerly listened and explained that she would do fine. I think I spent the better part of a month trying to talk
her out of this whole thing. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to live on this boat. I just wanted her to be sure she
knew what she was getting into.
The survey came with a thud. It was a very depressing few hours. I was sure that we wouldn’t be buying this
boat. Our boat loan was based on a good survey. “Good” as in “in our favor”. It didn’t appear to go that way. There
was one good thing, however, the seller was very uncomfortable with the whole survey thing. So, every time the
survey guy would shake his head and point something out, he would get real worried. I didn’t really understand
what all of this meant yet, but I was about to find out.
The survey turned out to be ok. There was a lot that needed to be done, but the boats value was still above the
agreed price. All was well!
Halloween 1999, the boat arrived at its new slip in Tacoma. Angela and I had already given away or sold just
about everything we wouldn’t need. We were ready. We managed to throw together a last minute millennium
party. I think our friends we pretty shocked that we were going to be doing the whole live aboard thing. We didn’
t care. We were ready for what ever life threw our way.
Once on the boat we had to get the major things done that the survey outlined as “Must Do” items. This list had
things like, fire extinguisher replacement and standing rigging replacement. We were very happy when all 10
items on the list were completed and we could now christen our new vessel and go sailing. We re-named her
“Ghost”.
It took us a while to come up with this name. We really wanted the name to come from our hearts. It had to be a
name that meant something to us. During that first winter there was a lot of fog. Angela and I were working a lot
of late nights and early mornings. During these times we would have to walk down the long creaky, lonely dock
through the dripping fog. We could hear the echo of a distant fog horn moaning in the darkness. On several
occasions a seal or great blue heron would be on the dock ahead of us waiting. They would stay as still as possible-
in the fog, until we got just close enough and then take flight with a screech, or splash into the water scaring the
heebegeeebees out of us. Then, after the calm and quiet returned, something would appear out of the fog. Our
long bow sprit would appear, poking into the night, like the appendage of some thousand year old ship sunken into
the silt. This was our “ghost”.
The next 8 months were really busy. We made it through a wet and windy winter. We adjusted to the cramped
living space. We had to learn how to keep things dry. Angela figured out how to re-set the circuit breaker on the
dock when she overloaded it with a hair drier. She could even laugh about almost falling into the freezer while
trying to reach some half frozen Ice cream. We learned to give each other space. We timed our showers so we
could each get the same amount of hot water. We had no heat really, so we had to juggle 30 amps of power very
carefully to keep three space heaters heating the drafty boat. Yeah, we learned. But we both agreed that the
goods far out weighed the bads…..so far!
“First Sail to the San Juans”
We had planned on taking a month off of work in June to sail up to the San Juans. We were really looking forward
to testing our new home/boat on a real trip.
It should be noted that, since we got married, we had been trying to get pregnant. We had talked, and talked
about what we were going to do when Angela finally did get pregnant. No matter what problems we came up with
in our minds, we had a solution. We really didn’t know anyone who had kids aboard, so we were totally on our own.
For now however, we were not pregnant, and had a wonderful summer ahead of us.
Angela had set her mind to learning how to maneuver “Ghost”. As soon as we got the chance, she took the helm and
didn’t let me touch a thing for the whole month. She was determined to glide this boat of ours into its slip at the
end of the summer in front of the whole marina.
We invited a bunch of our friends to come and spend the month with us as well. We ended up with a lot of time by
ourselves to get the feel for the cruising lifestyle. We fished, and crabbed, poked around the islands not really
caring about anything. Our friends that came up to stay with us began a tradition that would go on for years and
years to come.
While we were at the dock in Friday Harbor one day, we went up to check on a permanent slip. We had checked
earlier in the year, and they told us that it was about a 3 year wait for a 60 foot slip. To our surprise, they had a
live aboard slip that we could have NOW!
We thought about it for at least 10 whole seconds and took the slip! And with in that same day Angela found and
interviewed for a job. We were going to move to Friday Harbor. My brother and his wife already lived there, so
it was a good deal for us. It would be a long commute to work for me, but we were so happy to soon be living in
what we thought was paradise. The rest of the summer we enjoyed our own slip in the beautiful Friday Harbor. A
couple of our most memorable moments were with Bob and Shari Buelt, and Carolyn and Tracy.
Bob and Shari came on board first. We set sail and our adventure started. We spent one night anchored in Echo
Bay watching the moon rise. We cooked dinner over an open fire on the beach. Bob and I had the best cup of
coffee on deck one chilly morning, while watching a quiet harbor full of sailboats at anchor slowly awaken at
sunrise.
Carolyn and Tracy were friends of mine from Portland. Carolyn was with me the first time I sailed the “Pondo
May”. The week that these girls were on board was just plain fun!
By the end of June, Angela had excellent boat handling skills. We sadly headed back to our slip in Tacoma. We had
to go back there for a month and clean up all the loose ends before we could move to Friday Harbor officially.
Our plan was to be in the new slip by August first. Angela’s new job was to start then. Before we left our slip in
Tacoma, we had one more surprise left however that was going to change this whole living aboard thing forever.
We were pregnant!
“Swabbie”
Finally the time had come for us to have a baby. To top off an already busy summer, I had been promoted. We
didn’t realize it at the time, but we were setting ourselves up for some pretty big trouble.
My new promotion was keeping me away from home a lot more than we had expected. Angela had morning sickness.
Not really morning sickness though. It was more like “all day” sickness. She had it bad. On top of everything else,
her job was boring.
One day we realized that things were not so fun in Friday Harbor. I could tell that Angela wasn’t happy. But I
was afraid to talk about it because I knew what the outcome was going to be. We were going to have to sell the
boat. We agreed that it was hard now, and it could only get worse when the baby came. We did, however, conclude
that the selling of our boat would have to wait until after the baby was born. In the mean time to make things
easier we decided to move back to our old marina in Tacoma. This would at least allow me to be home more. We
were pretty disappointed that we only lasted a year on the boat. A lot of people were thinking, “I told you so”.
We got tough though, and made our boat as much a home as possible, eagerly awaiting the arrival of our littlest
crew member.
Zakary Ried Brosius was born on March 18th 2001. Zak’s middle name is from our favorite place to go in the San
Juans. Ried Harbor on Stuart Island For awhile anyways we forgot all about selling the boat. When things settled
down a few months later we contacted a broker and began the selling process. I think deep down our hearts
really weren’t in it. The broker told us it would be sold in months. We cleaned the boat up and rushed to get off
of it before the broker showed up with a buyer so many times, that we soon became tired of the whole process.
The only thing we really got out of the deal was a spotless clean boat every couple of days. As the summer passed
by, we started to miss sailing.
A very strange thing happened in the first year of Zaks life. We made it work. Something just clicked. I was
home a lot more. Angela was getting use to not working all the time even though she was working a lot more. What
surprised us the most was that our little family was thriving. Zak was healthy and happy. Life was a ton more
comfortable. We didn’t move the boat for over a year. Unless you count the time I had to change slips in a 50
knot gale when our dock broke from the pier. Suddenly Angela and I became very content with our lifestyle. To
the horror of some of our family, we didn’t complain about our situation. We wouldn’t drop the price we were
asking for “Ghost”, so selling her became tougher. I think something inside was trying to tell us something.
“Second Sail to the San Juans”
As time passed slowly by we again thought about setting off for a month long sail to the islands.
This time when we went sailing, things would be slightly different. First of all, everyone we invited to go with us
accepted! We had so many people lined up that we had to plan ahead so we didn’t have any overlap. Second of all,
Angela was pregnant again. This was a good thing, but we had said to each other, “There is no way we can do this
with two”!
The second trip was a lot more difficult for us. We had to chase an 18 month old all over the place. Angela was
only a little morning sick with the second baby. We got home from this second trip very tired, but in one piece.
We did it! I will be the first to admit that we were testing ourselves on this trip. We were testing whether we
could handle a kid on a cruise. We were testing whether we still loved to cruise. All of these questions had the
same answer. Two days after we docked to boat in Tacoma, we removed the for sale sign. Our friends were
ecstatic!
By now our families had given up. We must really be crazy! We stopped talking about a house, and started talking
about what was next for us. We knew one thing for sure. We wanted to sail to some far off island. We even
decided that when the youngest was “10 years old” we would set sail. We didn’t know how we would be able to do
this, but we knew it would be on this boat!
“Swabbie II”
November 6th 2003, Eleanor Louisa Brosius was born to our world. Ellie had a different way about her. She
knew what she wanted BEFORE she was born. I think she wanted to be two weeks late! We had a pretty good
idea what to expect with number two. I can’t imagine ever complaining about not having enough time with only one
child. Now, we have two and where did the spare time go. Ellie’s middle name is from another favorite sailing
destination, this time for Princess Louisa Inlet in Canada. When Ellie was born we already had the baby stuff and
with an extra bunk, we were all set. Before spring, we found ourselves with a pretty full boat, but everyone was
happy and healthy aboard the “Ghost”.
Old Old
“ShipwrightvsShipwrong” New New
One night, Angela and I were sitting around our galley table thinking about some changes that could be made to
the boat to make it more comfortable. We started forming the plan that would challenge us the most since we
moved aboard. The biggest test yet would be to move off the boat and tear everything out, rebuild, and then-
move back aboard!
It all started on the 1st of July. The 4 of us stood in a tight circle in the galley. It was a “group hug” kind of
moment. I think that the kids even sensed something was up. We were quiet and full of mixed feelings. I think I
was the most unprepared for the flow of emotions that came over us. We were sad. Tears filled our eyes as we
said good bye to our home. Despite the hardships and sacrifices this was our home. We were comfortable and I
am sure there was some fear in our hearts that we might not come back.
Our move off the boat was a complicated mess. It was all going to start with a long road trip that would leave Ang
and the kids in Wisconsin while I took care of all the details of moving the boat and all our stuff into our new
apartment. After a month I flew back and we all did the road trip in reverse. Angela and the kids would come
back to Seattle and our new “land” life would begin.
The move happened with out a hitch. I was able to get the boat hauled out and set up “on the hard”. Our plan was
to have the boat out of the water for 1 year. To just about everyone, this was an impossible task. I was
determined to get this monumental job done if it was the last thing I did.
Every system on the boat was going to get a major over haul. A lot of the systems got complete replacement. I
even dismantled most of the engine. I would go up to Port Townsend once or twice a month and do all little here
and there. Things were coming along pretty well. Meanwhile, Angela was adjusting to land living. To be really
honest, I would have bet a months pay that after a month in the apartment, she would have announced that she
missed her big closets too much, and the full sized washer/dryer was just too nice, and all the room for kitchen
gadgets was something she just couldn’t live without! I was so sure that we would both fall into a feeling of not
wanting to move back onto our boat, but a funny thing happened that caught us both very off guard. We were not
happy! We missed our friends. We missed the smell of the water, and sooo many other things we couldn’t keep
them straight. The winter weather was worse while we were in the apartment than it ever was on the boat. It
was so hard to keep all the “stuff” put away. Our walls were covered with boat things. We had unknowingly tried
to transform our new home into our old one. Soon we started talking about it openly. Angela and I were “mouth
opened” shocked when Zak asked, “Mommy, Daddy? When are we going home to the boat”? With a look of honest
curiosity that only a 2 year old could pull off.
I look back at the year in the apartment and realize that our kids were one of the big reasons we knew the boat
is where we had to call home. Ellie had the strangest reaction to the boat. She had only been on it for 8 months,
and she seemed to miss it the most. Every time we went close to the water, or when she saw a boat, she would
yell, “Boat”!
Yes, it was her first word.
Well, all of this meant that I had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time. The time was nearing for us to get
onto the wait list at Shilshole Bay Marina. We checked the list one day and they said, “Yes. We have a live-a-
board slip………right now”!
We said, “Now”? In a sort of confused questioning kind of way. We couldn’t take the slip now of course because
the boat was a long way from being finished. But we at least knew that a slip would probably be ready when we
were. The months passed and I started feeling like I might get it done by the time our lease was up in October.
Then, a few months later, we checked again with the marina to see how long the wait list was for a slip. We were
promptly told that a live-a-board slip would be ours- “In a year”!
We said, “WHAT”? In a sort of confused questioning kind of way. Apparently, there was suddenly a lot of people
who wanted slips. So, we paid the money to get onto the list that was going to take us a year to get to the top of.
We were bummed. We had planned on spending at least a little of the summer on the boat.
Well, now I had lots of time. I was in no rush since I had a while longer to get all the stuff finished up on the
boat. You can imagine my surprise when I got a call from Angela a month later.
“Are you sitting down?” She said with a careful tone in her voice.
“I am.” I said. “Whats wrong”?
“We got a slip”! She says with an even more careful tone.
Now, I almost had to pull the car over to regain control of my breath.
“Really? I said. “A live-a-board slip in Shilshole Bay marina. For US?” She could tell from my tone I was waiting
for the other shoe to drop. That other shoe was when.
“June 1st.” She said. Her tone was way too calm. I got the feeling that in her pretty little head another was
plan, and it involved me working really hard! She had it all worked out. I was right.
We cancelled our vacation plans and came up with some fast cash. I spent every day off at the boat. We
concluded that I would not be home at all for the next 3 months. It was really hard. It was the end of April.
June 1st. Almost a year after we hauled her out. We scheduled “Ghost” for her splashing. I was on pins and
needles. During the re-fit I had things so ripped apart that I wasn’t sure if I even had the key wired to the right
thing. When the boat was finally floating at the dock and all of the thru hulls were checked for leaks, I put my
shaking fingers on the key and turned. It didn’t start, but it turned! I was elated! It took awhile but we got the
motor started and the next day we tied up in our new slip. I still had lots of things to get done however, but with
the boat closer to the apartment, I could at least work on her more frequently.
July 1st. One year from our tearful good bye. We started moving back aboard! We were so happy we could not
wait to get out of our apartment and back on the boat full time.
“A year Away……Back to stay”!
It wasn’t long after we moved back onto the boat that some really cool things started happening. Once we made
the final leap into the deep end we started to meet more and more people who were interested in becoming
fulltime live-a-boards. We became very passionate about this lifestyle.
Angela and I have become eager ambassadors to anyone who seeks this dream. We get e-mails daily from people
all over the world seeking information about this way of life. We opened up our boat to anyone who wanted to see
what the lifestyle was all about. Many of the strangrs that have come to us, have sold everything, bought a boat,
are living a new life aboard, and have becore very close friends.
Another new thing for us was the amount of sailing we were doing. We were getting away from the dock for day
sails, and overnighters as well. Ghost was in the best shape she had ever been in. We had also become a part of
the cruising crowd at Latitudes and Attitudes. Angela and I will both tell anyone that this laid back cruising
magazine and cruising club has changed our lives,
Well, as of now, that’s the story! Lots of people are shocked that we are back on the boat. We now have a
serious goal in front of us. We have set a date for departure! We are now working on leaving the dock near the
end of summer in the not so distant year of 2012. We know now in our hearts that this is where we want to be.
We know deep down in our souls that there is a Ghost that surrounds us and guides us to the distant horizon.
“S/V Pondo May”
I guess it all started (how many stories have started with that phrase) when I was living in Portland Oregon. I
was just getting comfortable in my career and had accumulated a lot of “junk.” I was apartment bound and
hating it. And then, one day I thought about buying, and living on a boat. I was attracted to sailboats. This was
interesting because I had never even been on a sailboat. I started walking around docks, and visiting
brokerages. I found my dream boat. It was a big boat with two masts. That’s about all I knew. I went on board a
couple of times and the dream grew very quickly. I knew that living aboard this boat was for me. The only
problem was that she was a 50 foot sailboat. I knew nothing about sailboats. The $100 thousand price tag didn’t
really matter to me either. I did the math. I would just be able to afford the payments on the loan, nothing else
mind you, but I would be able to afford the monthly payments. What else was there? I didn’t know anything
about slip fee’s, or even interest. There is a lot more to owning a boat than just the loan payment.
Then I met someone who knew all about boats and he steered me gently into the correct berth. He said,
“Buy the smallest boat you can live on”.
