Be the first on your block to read the greatest sailing adventure book of all time, “Own Less & Live More: a sailing adventure that takes you from the cubical to Key West.” Holy cow that’s a long title. Buy the book now, but please be warned. This book will not make you smarter. If anything, there is a good chance you may lose a couple of IQ points during the reading process. This book will not help you make friends. If you are caught reading this in public you will be scorned like a freak that flips through the pages of a Playboy magazine in a McDonalds. This book will not help you get promoted. Chances are if your boss sees you reading this dribble you will be fired on the spot. BUT, this book will make you laugh and it is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. So buy the book. Actually buy multiple copies. They make great gag gifts at Christmas. Do you need to swat your dog, or your kid, for pooping on your carpet? This book is the perfect thickness. This book is certainly not for everybody. If you don’t think that a man getting a prostate exam and a vasectomy could make for a funny story then go buy a different book. If you are a sailing purist and want to hear stories of us fighting giant waves on the open ocean, you will be sorely disappointed. We don’t like doing that and we find it ridiculous that others do it. This book is just a funny rendition of a family that quit their jobs, sold all of their stuff, moved aboard their boat and sailed away. Keep reading if you would like to sample the first chapter. CHAPTER 1 - THE RUGGED PATH “Lives based on having are less free than lives based either on doing or being.” ~William James To say it is unusual to hear a loud foghorn sound radiate throughout the interior of our sailboat would be an understatement. In a perfect Meerkat pose, my wife sat up straight and looked around before asking inquisitively, “What was that?” I had to laugh at the ridiculousness of my answer, “A manatee is outside of our boat and is sucking fresh water out of our sink outlet.” Eight years of marriage has taught me that Roxanne will never pass up an opportunity to observe an animal, especially if she thinks they are cute. She immediately placed her book on the table and turned the sink faucet on high before going outside to watch the 1,000 pound monster suck on the side of our boat like a hamster at its water bottle. I couldn’t help but think about how times have changed for us. From the daily grind of shift-work, where nothing ever seemed to change, to a daily buffet of something new. We didn’t know this a few years ago, but lives are designed, either on purpose or by happenstance. We had been living the default happenstance life, basically since birth, but by fortunate accident we began purposefully designing a life we would like to live. From taking a yearlong sailing trip on the clear warm waters of Florida, to living in Italy to traveling in an RV across the great North West, we want to do it all. Looking back from a perch of the experienced, the road traveled appears easy to follow. But we know that the view is different for those that are about to try and conquer the rugged path for the first time. A smile crossed my face as thoughts of our previous lives paraded through my mind. Jobs, house mortgage, car notes, traffic jams, credit card debt and all the monthly bills.