Meet live-aboard sailor, film photographer, Utu friend and all round Outdoor Lover, Nate Stephenson

We caught up with Nate after he returned from sailing up the California coast in preparation to pick up his new home and boat Gallia. Ahoy! Nate can you introduce yourself to our Outdoor Lovers community?

I’m Nate Stephenson,  a film photographer and sailor based out of Santa Barbara, CA. I live off-grid on a 27’ homemade wooden sailboat with my partner Megan. We’ve lived on the water for almost 4 years now. 

Not a lot of folks live off-grid on a 27ft sailboat. Can you share why and how you ended up living ‘boat-life’?

Sure! The boat journey came into my life unexpectedly. During Covid I was living in Santa Barbara and was uninspired working my 9-5 and spending almost all of my earnings on rent. I felt stuck. Out of boredom I put an ad on Craigslist looking for someone to go sailing with boasting fake sailing experience. I got no hits on crewing but someone reached out asking if I wanted a free boat. I  thought it was a scam but I entertained the idea. Two days later I got in a dinghy with the owner and made our way out into the Santa Barbara harbor to meet Mayfly. The boat was incredibly charming she was built in Japan and sailed single handed across the pacific to California. From there a local sailor got the boat and ended up running her aground in Santa Barbara during a winter storm. The boat experienced some serious damage but was still floating. She was stranded and needed a lot of work. He wanted to fix her up but saw the task to be outside of his means. He saw my ad and figured he’d reach out to see if I wanted to tackle the restoration and go sailing on my own boat. I shook his hand and decided to quit my job and move on the boat and restore it. Several months later my partner Megan moved aboard as well and we spent the next couple years refitting Mayfly and making her seaworthy again. We funded the project through a big party selling art and beer with help from a local brewery and finished the renovation in December 2022. Since then we’ve been sailing around and reaping the benefits of a working sailboat and embraced the lifestyle. We’re happy as clams these days.

We always hear about van-life but less about boat-life. Can you introduce us to your boat?

Ah yeah Van Life, I tried that for a while. It’s similar in some ways. The main similarity is the small living space. Our boat is 27’ long with an 8’ beam. 27’ would be big for a van but it’s small for a boat, especially with 2 people. It’s taught us to minimize things and prioritize function in the items we do use on board. If you’re inside Mayfly you’re basically on our bed, and in our kitchen. It’s pretty silly how small it is but it’s also fun. It’s like a little floating fort. 

Is there a large live-aboard community on the west coast?

There are a lot of folks living on boats on the west coast but I’d say the vast majority of them are in slips in harbors. It’s getting harder and harder. It’s pretty much impossible to get a permanent slip in Santa Barbara for our boat. It’s very expensive and there are no spots available anyway. There are less and less options for long term anchorages on the west coast as well. Most of them have a 72 hour limit. There are less than a dozen boats doing what we are year round based in SB. We’re friends with all of them. It’s a unique community. I find full-time boat people incredibly interesting. I love the folks we meet living on the water. Great people.

How did you come to sailing? And what is it about being out on the ocean that keeps you afloat?…other than your boat/yacht

My parents used to sail a fair amount. All their favorite stories stem from their days sailing. I have some foggy memories of storms we went through and always being tethered in a life jacket whenever I was on deck. But I didn’t sail much growing up. I did take a weekend lesson in middle school but didn’t get much out of it. I think there were seeds planted from the childhood stuff and the stories. I learned mostly by trial and error and reading books after I got Mayfly. I’m still learning honestly. There is so much to think about. A lot comes with experience and advice from other sailors. It was scary starting out and still is sometimes. It’s incredibly rewarding and character building though. I’m a bit obsessed with the idea of being able to go anywhere under wind power. 

Last summer you and your partner spent six weeks living off-grid in the Channel Islands (off SoCal coast) how was that?

Yes, that trip was the motivation for all the hard work we put into the boat. The idea of being out there for so long kept us going through the long itchy and sweaty boatyard days. That trip was so glorious. Funny enough we both dropped our phones in the ocean by accident while we were out there so we felt extra disconnected. In a good way though. I had a satellite phone so was able to contact friends and family and we listened to the weather forecast on our vhf. It’s wild how fast the time went by. We were wondering if we were going to get bored but It was the total opposite, I’d never felt more alive. It was a great experiment to see how sufficient we are on Mayfly and as sailors. I  think all of our skills were tested to the max on that trip. And we definitely failed some of the tests like when we lost our anchor during a blow while on a lee shore. That’s a long story…  All and all It was so fun and things generally went well with the boat. 

As a photographer you predominantly shoot on film, can you share what it is about film that appeals to you? 

The short answer is it looks way better than digital and I enjoy the process. For me it also has something to do with delayed gratification. Much like sailing its a very slow process compared to shooting digital or a driving power boat. But the result is that much better because of the work and time it took to achieve it. Also, I’ve found I end up with better photos when I shoot film. When it costs money every time I press the button I really try to make it count. The way film handles harsh light is far better than digital sensors as well, there is such great balance between highlight and shadow on top of that the colors don’t need further tinkering with post production in my opinion and I get really bored editing photos. My old cameras are a ton of fun to use and feel great in my hands. I like that the light is actually being absorbed into the film and there are all these precious moments living inside this tiny light sealed capsule when you are done. I can ramble on and on. 

Living in and on the ocean means your skin is exposed to much higher levels of UVA/B, and the dehydrating effects of salt water and wind, how do you look after your skin health on the daily ?

My main program when sailing is wearing some uv protective clothing preferably with a hood, big polarized sunglasses that cover up half my face and a hat. Recently i’ve been using the sunscreen stick you guys make since it also protects against wind burn, which is crucial. Typically I prefer to cover up instead of lathering my whole body in sunscreen but I always avoid that nasty chemical ridden spray stuff and the reef killers in general. 

Can you share your ocean-bound plans and adventures for 2024?

We have plenty of boating plans for the rest of the year. As I write this I already sailed around 900 miles on friends boats in Mexico and we did a week at the islands on Mayfly in January. We actually bought a new boat that is currently in British Columbia. We are waiting on a late summer season weather window to fly up to Canada to get it and sail it down to California. This will be our longest voyage yet by far and we’re a bit nervous but mostly excited to challenge ourselves and get to know our new home Gallia. She’s a 34’ sloop. We’re going to miss Mayfly terribly but we’re enjoying our remaining time with her now. We’re very much looking forward to the extra living space and capabilities Gallia will offer us.