About Me

I am a transplant from England, moving to Vancouver when I was 23 with vague dreams to be a pilot. After a couple of years I moved to Ottawa for 5 years, before returning to the coast and ending up in Victoria. The longer I stayed in Victoria, the more people I met who had made the jump to living on the water. This blog is about my attempts to join them.

I bought Gudgeon (then Wind Chime) in Dec 2013, moved on in June 2014, and have steadily been upgrading and improving her. My thoughts have started to turn to cruising around the world, but I have a lot of refitting and learning to do before then!

So it’s now the start of 2018, and I plan to set off on an around the world trip starting May 2018. Yikes, eh?

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Update May 2017 – A guy came and made a video about me as part of a series of living in small spaces. Here it is!

Update 2023

Sold boat in Mexico after all the borders closed during covid, bought a new boat in 2022 and left to go sailing at the end of 2023. Currently back in Mexico!

29 Comments

  2. Hi Matt – thank you for following our adventures in sailing and photography – maintenance and upgrades never end! There is always something that needs doing, but don’t let it keep you in the marina for too long! Get out there and sail Chris and Wade

  3. Hey Matt, I discovered your blog via a recent reddit comment. You’re an inspiration! Keep up the good work. If you ever find yourself in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, let me know. I have a slip here at Harborage Marina with your name on it!

    • Thanks Emily! I noticed you followed ‘tuglife.ca’ which is the old web address and I thought I’d removed all traces of it – where did you find it? I apparently didn’t do a good enough job.The correct url is gudgeonblog.ca now

        • Oh, I’ll check that out then and make sure it lists the right site, thanks! I can’t move you over manually so you ma y have to refollow the correct site.

  5. I sail a 20 ft trailer yacht which has a retractable centre board. It has been my dream to live aboard a bigger sail boat some day. Thanks for sharing all the projects you have been doing on your boat.

  6. Pingback: Life on Gudgeon, a Cherubini Hunter 36 | Sailing Errant

  7. Hi Matt – I came across your website through YouTube suggesting the interview video… I had previously been bingeing on SV Delos and Vagabonde videos. I really like your website and the way you’ve structured it, especially the live to do list! I’m a keen inland waterway enthusiast here in Ireland, but am interested in getting into sailing. I’ve joined the local sailling club to crew and learn. I must get a copy of the books you suggested.

    I am interested in the largest trailerable cruising sailboat towable with a jeep (boat less than 3,000kg or so), with the long term goal of maybe taking it to the Mediterranean for a few seasons, but in the short term crusing UK and Ireland on long weekends. The sail from Ireland to the Med is a bit of a trek, quicker to drive! From researching I reckon a Jaguar 27 aka Catalina 27 should do the job. They seem to sell for anywhere between €2k and €10k. I’ve set a really tight spec though as my local harbour dries out so I may need a bilge keel version…

    • Hi caoimhin, thanks for the feedback! Have you seen the ‘keep turning left’ videos? Very well made series about a guy sailing around Britain. I don’t know much about bilge keelers as we don’t have any around here (enough space so there is always water in most harbours) but an alternative I’ve seen are two ‘stilts ‘ that go either side of the boat and hold it on the keel when it dries out. No idea how good they would be in a permanent slip though!

  8. Hi Matt, so inspired by your whole boat project, I am an electronics engineer with a wish to reach the ends of the earth litterally. have you got room for 1 and I donate some money to the cause and work. p.s i want to go beyond the great wall of antartica and into atlantis no joke

  9. Hello Matt, I watched your Youtube video and came over here to your blog, very nicely done, I was wondering if your friend with the 27 footer also has a blog, cruising in smaller boats seems interesting and challenging.. anyways I’m enjoying reading your blog.. keep the faith !!

  10. Hi Matt,

    I’m loving the blog !

    I’m living in Dublin, Ireland and me and my dad are working on a 1985 33ft sailor cruiser.

    I plan for it to be my live aboard and eventually a long distance adventurer.

    I’m stoked that you have a compost and solar system I was thinking of the exact same type of setup.

    Your data on the solar is super interesting and inspiring !

    Please keep it coming man !

    I’m keen to hear more details like how u work out how much power u have and how much your drawing.

    And also a weird question but hopefully not too strange… what do u do with your compost, do u just bin it in the green recycling. ?

    And do u pipe the “p” straight in to the sea or how do you dispose of it ?

    • Hi Joseph, thanks for the nice words! Power, my panel has a multimeter built into it (this is super helpful) so I know what I draw on average an hour. Batteries have amp hour ratings and from that you can work out roughly how long you can run for. You can also tell a rough state of charge by the voltage of the batteries.

      As for the solids, i don’t have to empty then very often, like every few months. If cruising I bury it somewhere, if at the marina I triple bag it and put it in garbage.

    • Hi Josef,

      I got my license but then realised I wasn’t as keen on it as I thought I would be – not enough to make a career out of it anyway.

  13. Hi Matt, I have followed your progress here and on the Cherubini Hunters forum for a while. I own a cousin of Gudgeon – a Hunter 37 Cutter – back on the east coast. The other day I came across a 2001 Swiftsure cap that was a ‘boat-warming’ present from an old family friend for our first launch that same year. It was also the last year that our friend Pete sailed his own boat, Susan of Pender, in the Swiftsure (at 80!). Time marches on. Pete passed away a year or so ago. This will be our 17th sailing season on our H37C and we have had many good times, cruising her from NS up to Quebec and down to Maine and many points in between. Although I now have the time to cruise farther (I am recently retired), I realize that the window of opportunity for a really big adventure has largely passed…all this to say “good on ya” for chasing the dream while you are still relatively young. I look forward to hearing more about your voyages. Fair winds and best wishes, Jim (SV Calypso)

    • Hey Jim, I recognise you from the forums! Thanks for stopping by.
      17 years, wow. It sounds like you’ve really had a great time – the east coast is one place I’d love to explore and if it’s anything like the West coast, you could spend a lifetime poking around it and not see everything,

      Thanks for the best wishes and you never know – maybe i’ll see you out there someday!

  14. Hi Matt. I hope to what you are doing and you are a copy of me to a T! It be good if you could put in cost ect. So everyone has an idea what to expect. I will donate and follow your every move. Thx mike

    • Hi Mike, thanks for the nice words! I haven’t put in costs as I’ve seen other people do that and get some pretty nasty comments – I decided I didn’t want that hassle. I’ve costed out the odd thing here and there.

  15. Stugeron (Cinnarizine) is what you need for your seasickness. Don’t leave La Paz without it. Half pill will fix you for a whole passage. Not sold in the U.S.

    • Hi Adam,

      I actually have a large supply of them but may be the only person who it doesn’t work for! I tried it a couple of times coming down the coast and both times was pretty sick still.

      Seems to work great for any guests though!

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