By Izzy Wallace

For Burien’s Pat Anderson, sailing isn’t just a hobby – it’s become a livelihood.

Anderson’s path towards captaining a sailboat started at an early age, beginning with an interest in different aquatic sports – like waterskiing barefoot – while living at his parent’s home in Three Tree Point.

“I got my captain license 7 years ago in Hawaii,” he said. “But originally what brought me here … is because my parents both like to water ski a lot, I grew up around a lot of that sort of stuff. … Then later in high school I got a sailboat, and [from then] we figured it out.”

He acquired a few sailboats since then, but the main investment would come in the form of Anderson’s current boat, the Unko Rahj.

The boat is a 29-foot home-built catamaran, that was bought for $6,000 from fellow sailors off of Craigslist.

“I wanted to sail this boat a couple of years ago, I just didn’t have enough money, and I needed help with how big of a project that would be,” Anderson said.

That’s where Unko Rahj’s co-captain, JD, came into the picture.

“JD is originally from San Diego, but I met him on the north shore of Oahu,” he said. “I asked him if he wanted to join in this with me, and a week later, he was down here.”

Alongside sailing, the pair wanted to track and share their adventures – that’s when the idea of YouTube and Patreon came into play.

“It was partly just to have it for ourselves. Even if no one else watches it, we want to document this adventure,” Anderson said. “But also, if people end up enjoying it, and we make any revenue off of YouTube, that’s [great too].”

They’ve since released five videos on their YouTube channel, and regularly update their Patreon – here’s their most recent:

The duo left Washington back in September, where they then took a trip down the west coast.

From there, they’ve started heading towards more tropical locations for the cold months.

“We’re heading to Baja for the winter, after that we’re hoping to cross to the Marquesa’s in April. That’ll be 2,500 miles crossing the Pacific Ocean,” Anderson said. “JD’s done some bigger passages like that, but I have not, it’ll be new for me.”

Getting to pursue this passion has been a liberating experience for them both, he said.

“It just really gets to you, there’s a big sense of freedom just being out there,” he said. “For me, it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”

If you’d like to support or follow the journey, you can do so through their Youtube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy_imtvZvHbHjF6hLylCtiw/featured

Or their Patreon at:

https://www.patreon.com/SailingUnkoRahj

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