Emily Nancolas

You might have to get a little lucky with Work Away, as people living on sailboats and advertising for crew opportunities aren’t the most common, but Adam and I found several potentials when we were looking to learn to sail for free. Although this certainly is a ‘free’ way to learn to sail if you count the cost of the boat, it might well be a way to get free sailing tuition. You’ll know how your boat works, and even better, you’ll have started learning how to upkeep and maintain it too – which is at least half the battle when it comes to learning to sail! These are all great ways to learn to sail for free, and I don’t want to put you off, but I think it’s wise to include a little disclaimer here.

You’ll want decent amounts of solar power and possibly a wind generator too, especially if you’re planning on spending time in countries that don’t see very much sunshine or spending winters at anchor. You’ll also want to make sure you have a good battery bank for storing it over night, and you may even want to consider getting a small generator if you rely on power for things like charging laptops to work from. Check things like whether there are safe anchorages for different wind directions or whether you’ll need to use marinas (and how much they’ll Sailboat living requires a huge amount of team work (unless you’re planning on living alone of course).

This inn is pretty basic, as you’d expect for the price, but it offers things like free coffee, free wireless high-speed Internet access, free local calls and free parking making it convenient and comfortable. The best free things to do in Asheville are scattered all over the place, so whether you have a car or not you’ll be sure to find something free to do while you’re here. There’s a lovely little museum where you can learn all about it, and though it definitely isn’t a whole day activity, it’s a great way to pass a free hour in Asheville! For the energetic among you this is a great way to see for of Asheville for free, and if it’s your first time you’ll even get a free beer at the end!

Obviously films are a personal taste, but here’s our picks of the best sailing movies out there Although the movie itself rather overdramatises the events to pull on the heartstrings, it’s still a true story of Tami Oldham Ashcraft’s ordeal of sailing into a Pacific hurricane, dismasting, and then sailing solo under jury rig for 41 days alone to Hawaii with limited supplies. It’s pretty cheesy to be honest, with fast boats, lots of drama and of course a love story, but it’s a great film with some wonderful camera work – I’m not sure if you can really class this as a sailing movie, but it’s a movie about sailing, so I’m including it in this list.