Traveling the seas on a nickel and a dime
What began as a need for a crash pad soon became a call for the salt life.
This is our story. . .
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain
We are Luc & Raquel
Two semi-professional travelers looking for a way to sail the seas without breaking the bank.
We met by chance a few years ago. Although we have a home in three countries on two continents, we are two semi-professional travelers who always joke that, on average, we live in the Mid-Atlantic. But what do you do when the nest is empty, the US home is let out and you still want to see your friends and family over there? Rent a studio? Buy a motorhome? Or simply go online and find a sailboat?
We found the boat. She’s a 1972 34.4′ (10.5 m) Dutch-built steel hull Super Scheldeschouw, which Luc – who’s Dutch – can at least pronounce. She is now part of our family and needs a lot of hard work and tender loving care to make her sail the seas again.
About S/V Shoestring
Shoestring is a 1972 Dutch-built steel hull Super Scheldeschouw, designed by Vermeulen’s Jachtwerf B.V. in Terneuzen, Netherlands. From the early 1960s around 100 yachts were built until production ceased in 1978. This yacht combines the advantages of a flat bottom ship – space and shallow draft – with those of a keel yacht – sailing characteristics and seaworthiness. The most striking feature of the Scheldeschouw is the absence of leeboards and the presence of the classical ‘banana’, the white area on the side of the hull above the waterline.
Specifications:
- LOA: 34’4″ (10.5 m)
- Beam: 11’8″ (3.60 m)
- Draft: 3’9″ (1.20 m)
- Ballast: 3,400 lbs (1.7 tonnes)
- Disp: 16,400 lbs (8.2 tonnes)
- Fuel: 35 gal (132.49 ltrs)
- Water: 60 gal (227.12 ltrs)
- Engine: 36hp Volvo Penta MD3B diesel
