$2,000 Boat, $400 Kitty

In July of last year, Justin Jenkins and Anna Wiley, both 30 and both of San Diego, told us they were going to take off cruising to “Mexico and beyond” aboard their 1972 Columbia 34 MKII Ichiban. They had purchased the engineless boat for $2,000, and for another $200 had outfitted her with a used main and used genoa. Justin subsequently installed an Atomic 4 gasoline engine.

We liked spirit of the young couple and wished them well. We’ve since got some bad news and some good news from them. The bad news is that they didn’t take off for Mexico as planned last winter. The good news is that on May 11 they headed “beyond” Mexico, specifically on a direct trip to the Marquesas. They not only had a nice voyage, they made it without breaking anything.

It’s a good thing nothing broke because Justin and Anna’s cruising kitty consisted of exactly $400. While that’s substantially more than the $150 our friends Jim and Anna Green of Martha’s Vineyard took off with to start his third circumnavigation aboard the 47-ft daysailor Tango II, it’s not very much. Fortunately, Justin and Anna almost immediately found work repairing sails and cleaning boats, nearly doubling the size of their kitty.

“We’re trying to get a year extension for French Polynesia so that we can take our time to explore more of the Marquesas and the Tuamotus,” Justin writes. “All the cruisers we have met are first class, and have been all very helpful with their vast knowledge of sailing and cruising. We just made a new spinnaker pole out of bamboo — Latitude readers would totally dig it! Our weekends are filled with the sound of Marquesan drums, the sight of Polynesians dancing, and the taste of Hinano beer.”

“We’re so glad we went cruising,” say the couple. “What a life it is!”

The couple haven’t gotten an internet connect with which to send us photos, so for now we’ll have to do with two photos we took of Justin in July of last year.