“You get on the train in kindergarten and never get off until you hit 65,” he said. “A lot of possibilities open up when you get out of that mindset.”
Beek would wait on one island for a few weeks, poised for the perfect wind to take him to his next destination. The longest he stayed in one spot since was a 1 1/2 -year stint in Sydney, Australia. There was a year in New Zealand, three weeks in Vanuatu, a year sailing between Thailand and Malaysia, and four days in Singapore.
Beek has lived on anywhere from $8,000 to $12,000 a year since he set sail. He bought his boat, which has been his only home for most of his voyage, for less than some people spend on a new car these days. Odd jobs and writing the occasional article for sailing magazines helped supplement his budget.
“You need a lot less than most people have — I have everything I need right on the boat.” Beek said. “You look around and see people weighed down by their possessions. Those things don’t give you satisfaction.”
There were one or two close calls during Beek’s voyage. He was sailing about 10 miles off the coast of Thailand when the deadly 2004 tsunami devastated large parts of Southeast Asia the day after Christmas.
Beek never felt so much as a ripple aboard the Condesa, and only learned of the hundreds of thousands left dead on shore when worried family and friends started calling his cellphone.
An 80-foot container ship smashed into the Condesa in 2006 off the coast of Brazil. Not one to go down with his vessel, Beek jumped ship just before the crash. He spent five months living in an apartment in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while the shipping company paid for some $46,000 in repairs to his yacht.
