Özgür İnam's book "Güneşe Yelken" (Sailing to the Sun), published by Naviga Yayınları, conveys the adventures of a sailing lover and gives delightful answers to the question "How does a boat hitchhiker live?".

Everyone has hitchhiked at least once in their life. But how many of us, like Özgür İnam, have tried to travel around the world doing "boat hitchhiking"? Özgür İnam has traveled over 20 thousand nautical miles with this method, that is, by hopping from one boat to another. Although stranded on land from time to time, he managed to cross the Mediterranean Sea, the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic and the South Pacific.

 

Despite being introduced to sailing at a young age and becoming the first international student to receive an "elite athlete" scholarship from the University of Southampton, İnam has always prioritized his naive enthusiasm for sailing and his amateur spirit. When one day he saw an ad for a mate on a transfer boat heading to the Caribbean, he applied for the position without thinking. He even turned down a very good job opportunity in Ireland to do so.

He has been to Malta, Tunisia, Spain, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, Barbados, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Santa Lucia, Martinique, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Fort Lauderdale. He made many friends and unforgettable memories. Meanwhile, he has also witnessed first-hand the negative effects of global warming. He experienced some of the most intense storms ever recorded in the Atlantic.

 

But where does one do boat hitchhiking? Well, not at sea, of course. İnam lists the best places to do this: internet groups, marinas and yachting bars, especially those where sailors meet. Because it is better to be like İnam and try to get to know the people you will be traveling with a little bit in advance.

Of course, it is not all about finding the boat. After all, you are on a boat and you are traveling around the world. You need to have basic sailing training. You should at least be prepared enough to know when to cross the ocean, in what winds, and where to stay.

If you dream of sailing around the world and boats equipped with cutting-edge technological gadgets still do not satisfy your concerns, read İnam's book "Güneşe Yelken" (Sailing to the Sun). But make sure to start preparing for the journey just before you read it. Because you will probably be on your journey by the time the book is over. Because, as Özgür İnam says, it is not about owning a boat, it is about being in the right place at the right time.