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20 • Log • Feb. 12 - 25, 2016 • The Log Floating Homes:


thelog.com


The life of Southern California’s liveaboards


west and mountains to the east. Tony Porter, a liveaboard in Ventura


Liveaboards and slip renters in Wilmington and San Pedro often have to co-exist with large tankers, such as the one seen here behind Pacific Yacht Landing. The channel adjacent to Pacific Yacht Landing is regularly populated with large ships coming to and going from the harbor’s terminals and wharves.


Freedom, privacy and simplicity touted as perks of liveaboard lifestyle.


By Parimal M. Rohit


SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — The lifestyle of a liveaboard comes with certain romanticisms, most of which have nothing to do with Sonny Crockett ’s life aboard St. Vitus Dance. Living aboard a boat is not as simple as being on a floating home, as the “Miami Vice” television series might have suggested. Many liveaboards who spoke with


The Log for this story often find living on the water to be rewarding. Common perks include freedom to travel, communal living at the docks and simplicity in lifestyle. Below is a sampling of a few live-


aboards The Log connected with between Santa Barbara and San Diego.


Does your liveaboard experience resemble the perspectives shared by these vessel dwellers? Are you ready to take the jump and live on the water?


Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Harbor is unique in


permitting a handful of houseboats to complement the 113 allowable live- aboards. At least one person has expe- rienced residing in a houseboat and as a liveaboard at Southern California’s northernmost harbor. “It was a fantasy of mine,” said


Helene Webb, a former Santa Barbara Harbor Commissioner. “I grew up in Florida and I’d go to the marinas and see the boats and thought, ‘it’d be so cool to live on a boat.’” Webb currently lives on one of four houseboats permitted in Santa Barbara Harbor. She was also a liveaboard there. The liveaboard lifestyle became a


reality for Webb when she moved from New York City to Los Angeles, where she spent time living aboard a vessel in Marina del Rey. She eventually fell in love with Santa Barbara and took up residence at the city-owned harbor. “I love watching the sunrises, the


sunsets, you’re close to nature,” Webb said of her attraction to the liveaboard lifestyle, adding her experiences living aboard have far exceeded her expecta- tions.


The natural diversity surrounding


Santa Barbara Harbor and community feel on the docks helps make living aboard a vessel a pleasurable experi- ence, Webb said. Another major perk Webb and other


liveaboards identify with is privacy. “You know people on the dock for


years and you see them, [but] most of the time you don’t go on their boats. To go onto a boat you have to be invited. I like that, people respect that privacy because [boats] are real small spaces,” Webb said. There are some challenges to living


aboard a boat, of course. Webb pointed out rain and windy weather can cause some challenges. Sometimes your neighbor might be less-than-ideal. “If you’re next to someone who is loud, or has an unkempt boat, that could be a challenge,” Webb said. Overall, though, Webb said she


enjoys the Santa Barbara Harbor com- munity, adding people are personable, respectful of privacy and collegial.


Ventura Harbor The marinas in Ventura Harbor are


rather friendly to liveaboards, provid- ing a sense of community. Many live- aboards also enjoy access to the Channel Islands National Park to the


Harbor, has observed some families living aboard boats where his vessel is docked. “There are families with children and I see how those kids are really happy and safe playing around. There aren’t many communities you can do that in,” Porter said. “It’s a little like I imagine the kind of life when people lived in villages used to live.” Tony Alcock first lived aboard a boat in the 1970s and returned to the lifestyle again a couple years ago. He wrote a book about living aboard a boat entitled “Life at the End of a Rope;” the book is expected to be available online and at bookstores in March. “It’s a lovely life. It’s very safe and people look out for each other. We all share the same problems and chal- lenges,” Alcock said. John Howard, who has lived aboard for about 30 years, said being a live- aboard is “enriching.” “My backyard is millions of square


miles. It’s the Pacific Ocean, and we’re four or five docklines away from exploring that,” Howard said. “We get together and cook, we go out to winer- ies and wine taste, and we sometimes work together.” Kevin, who requested to be cited by first name only for this story, has lived aboard a boat with his family for more than four years. He said being a live- aboard helps minimize clutter often found in homes on land. “On a boat it’s simple. You realize


you don’t need a lot of the extra junk. That in turn saves you money for other stuff,” Kevin said. “We do a lot of trav- eling outside of the country.” Living aboard a vessel means being okay with downsizing on material goods, according to Mary Lee Huber. “The biggest transition is learning to live small, [but] it is also incredibly freeing,” Huber said, adding dock par- ties, dinner dates and “buddy boating” are common phenomena among Ventura’s liveaboards. “There are dock parties when the


weather is nice. People come out onto the dock and mingle. Everyone brings a snack,” Huber said. “You make rela- tionships with people you’re going to go to dinner with other couples. There are times you might go with other peo- ple on your boat or have two boats go out at a time to the islands and spend a weekend.” Maintaining a vessel can be chal- lenging, each liveaboard stated, but with patience and work many issues can be solved. “There’s a learning curve to every-


thing,” Kevin said. “I don’t think you have to know a lot about boats to do it, you just have to be comfortable with yourself and realize it’s not a house, it’s different, and just go with the flow.”


Parimal M. Rohit photo


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