Sailing the Pacific on a Shoestring Michelle Nolan - The Bellingham Herald
go to original November 1, 2012

Christian Lloyd photographed on his 27-foot Ericson sloop while sailing on Banderas Bay, Mexico in April, 2012.

Christian Lloyd spent three years boating 20,000 miles in the north Pacific.

He spent just $15,000 for the boat, a modest price, indeed, for his trove of memories.

A 31-year-old Sehome High School graduate, Lloyd sailed from Bellingham to Alaska; then from Bellingham to San Francisco, Los Angeles and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico; and then from Mexico to Hawaii and back to Bellingham. Along the way, he flew to China for a five-month interlude and spent plenty of time on land in Mexico and Southern California.

"I want to inspire people," said Lloyd, a University of Washington graduate.

He hopes to turn his travel blog about the experience into a book.

Question: How did you take three years off to sail?

Answer: I majored in mechanical engineering at UW and then worked three years for Boeing. I lived frugally and saved my money. I bought a new boat and sailed out of Bellingham toward Alaska in April 2009 on the first leg of my journey.

Q: What type of boat?

A: After learning on my first boat, a Columbia 22-footer, before I began my journey, I purchased an Erickson 27-footer. I eventually added a bowsprit and a second rudder. The boat cost $8,000 and I spent another $7,000.

Q: How did you come up with so many videos for your blog?

A: I would attach a digital camera to my spear gun, to my surfboard, to my boat. I took thousands of hours of videos. I also took a lot of time-lapse videos, and something like 50,000 photos.

Q: Do you have boating in your genes?

A: My dad (Ralph Lloyd) sailed into Bellingham when he moved here from Port Orchard while my mom (Celie Thomas) drove in before I was born. My dad sold the boat when I was about 5. It wasn't until I got to the UW when I began to learn boating from a college friend.

Q: Did you have other boating inspirations?

A: Getting to sail on the tall ship Zodiac in Bellingham Bay when I was a junior at Sehome. Also, reading "Moby-Dick" when I was in Scott Schroyer's English class.

Q: Why boating?

A: In a busy city like Seattle, it was the easiest way to get space. I remember being alone on Lake Washington and thinking, "Nobody else is a mile from anyone else right now in this city." On the ocean, there's a freedom that is unmatched on land.

Q: Were you alone on the water?

A: My dad sailed with me on the leg from Bellingham to San Francisco. Dad went back home and I sailed on to Catalina Island and other places in Southern California, then on to the Sea of Cortez and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.

Q: How did you wind up in China?

A: In Mexico, I met a girl from China and fell in love. I flew to Beijing while my boat was moored in Mexico. I spent the summer of 2011 in Beijing.

Q: How did you finish up?

A: I spent 30 days boating from Puerto Vallarta to Hawaii. I left and motored back into Fairhaven on Sept. 22.

Q: Any storms along the way?

A: From Mexico to Hawaii, three waves broke over the back of the boat and killed my original computer. I remember debris from the Japanese earthquake passing by, all with Japanese writing. Once I had to avoid a floating railroad tie.

Q: Is there more sailing your future?

A: I'd like to go around the world.

Read "Life on Water," Christian Lloyd's blog, at cdlloyd.blogspot.com.

Michelle Nolan is a Bellingham freelance writer.