BEST OF 2010 – Julius Caesar Jacob, “I Who Write Books and Live on a Boat.”

In 2010 we climbed aboard Xin Mei, the houseboat of writer Julius Caesar Jacob, the author of several bestsellers, including “How to Stop Mentally Jerking Off and Enjoy Life.” Here is the article that came out of it.(Taken from the September 2010 Journal of Sailing).

I WHO WRITE BOOKS AND LIVE ON A BOAT

Those born in Genoa are intrinsically linked to the sea, whether they want to or not. Supporting him is an unusual character, found aboard a 13-meter boat moored at the docks of Genoa’s Old Port, his residence.

The passion for the sea and sailing in Julius Caesar Jacob, class of 1941, painter, psychologist, university professor, and successful writer, grew from an early age: “I was a regular on the beaches of old Genoa,” says the author of “How to Stop Mentally Jerking Off and Enjoy Life.” “Especially in those frequented by fishermen in the Foce neighborhood. When the opportunity presented itself, I would go out in a gozzo with my uncle to fish behind the dam-I was 10 years old.” Jacob had to wait until the early 1970s to buy a sailboat, a Dinghy first used as a lifeboat from the ship Julius Caesar: “Monstrously heavy, but I had some nice outings in Cogoleto, where I was residing at the time.”

In ’74, using a cash prize from the Accademia dei Lincei. for philosophical studies, he bought a Tabur 320, a small French one-design built of Moplen: “Once I was caught in a tramontana. The hull was light and I was swept out to sea. I lowered the sails, lay on the bottom of the boat and waited. At one point a large speedboat passed by. I swung out as much as I could, but in response I got a ‘bye-bye.’ So, I found myself five miles off Genoa and it took me seven hours to get back to shore in the dark.”
After an interlude marked by the purchase of a motorized day cruiser, “a Milanese boat, which served absolutely no purpose,” finally the first sailing cabin cruiser: the “Petite Romantique“, a six-and-a-half-meter Azimut: “Comfortable and rational. With this boat my partner, Eralda Pitto, and I have made several cruises, mostly to the French Riviera.” The love affair with the “Petite Romantique” lasted four years, after which Jacob opted for a quantum leap, buying the Corsair, an eight-and-a-half-footer: “Handcrafted by a shipwright from Viareggio, all in wood: a scale reproduction of an 18th-century English schooner. A floating piece of furniture. Beautiful to look at, less so to handle.”

Then, the final choice: “Xin Mei,” in 2003. The success of the popularized manuals “How to Stop Wanking Your Mind and Enjoy Life,” “In Search of Lost Cuddles,” and “How to Become a Buddha in Five Weeks,” enabled him to purchase a 1986 13-meter Taipei with two masts, built of natural teak with lots of figurehead, signed by George Stadel. Special boat: “The purchase of this ketch was an odyssey. The previous owner was a Sardinian, an illegal resident of Mentone and wanted by the police.

We made a contract that he did not keep to: we had agreed that I would give him the Corsair plus a cash payment in exchange. Once I brought him the schooner, he did everything he could to devalue it: he damaged the hull with a peg and drilled holes in the keel without my knowledge. Arguments ensued, and when he finally let me have the Taipei, like a good criminal, he poured sugar into the engine tank and I found myself drifting off the coast of Liguria!”

LIFE ON A BOAT.

Although “Xin Mei” was designed to face the typhoons of the Pacific, Jacob does not venture on crazy journeys beyond the Pillars of Hercules. His boat sits quietly in Genoa’s Old Port, right next to the mock galleon used by director Roman Polansky to shoot the film Pirates. Liguria and the French Riviera are its main destinations. Jacob, in the boat, lives in it.

“When, with my second book (In Search of Lost Cuddles, published in 2004, ed.), I earned enough money to buy this berth, I started coming on Xin Mei more and more often. Initially to do small jobs, then my presence on board became a constant. When I am in Genoa (as of this year he is retired and travel is his passion, ed.), I come to stay here, where I receive those who want to meet me, by appointment.”

Living on a boat: a way to stop jerking off and enjoy life? “A way to feel free and live outdoors, my drug. Marine life gives you a chance to be surrounded by silence, in a communion with nature that helps you reflect.” Jacob cherishes his ketch like a home: a Beware of Dog sign is prominently displayed on the stern mast. The dog is not there, but an angry, recorded barking can be heard if you try to cross the deckhouse uninvited.

Inside, the spacious square feels a bit dark, due to the dark mahogany lining the walls: but when Jacob turns on the lights, a small surreal world, unthinkable on a boat, comes out. The sofas bring to mind the “study in red” on Baker Street, and a large Imperial China-style trunk towers over one of them. Lots of references to Eastern cultures on board.

Attached to the walls, under ordinary fishing rods, are ancient sheathed knives, presumably Chinese: “Collecting is one of my many passions,” he says, pointing to an array of antique revolvers and guns, also hanging, a rare symbol of Westernness on “Xin Mei” along with TVs, stereos, and the well-stocked kitchen: a quantity of spices and condiments to put Gualtiero Marchesi to shame.

JACOB’S GOALS

On the subject of cruising, Giacobbe is quick to put his hands out: “I am not an avid cruiser: first, because I have lived a very busy life up to now, then because sailing is only one of my many interests (besides drumming, golf, hang gliding, ed.).” For him, “cruising” means walking around the French coast. In France he feels at home: “All French marinas are very well organized, because the cousins have the culture of boating ingrained in their blood. Personally, I really love Menton, Saint Raphael, Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Antibes and the whole Cap Ferrat area.

There is only one problem: sailing along the French Riviera, no matter where you point your bow, you always have the wind against you. A friend of mine used to say, ‘The wind is that thing that constantly blows over the bows of sailboats.’ Definition as apt as ever in the case of the Côte.”

In 2009 Jacob was contacted via email by one of his avid readers, a professional skipper, who invited him on a short cruise to Greece aboard a large Beneteau. The writer agrees in a closed box: “The cruise that was supposed to be short lasted about a month: we visited a myriad of Greek islands, between the Ionian and Aegean. An ‘exciting experience, I felt like Ulysses, but I must confess that the Hellenic islets, especially in the Aegean, are beautifully all the same. Identical the piers at which one moors: intimate. Identical the local sailor-fishermen, ready to assist you at any moment. Identical, breathtaking, every chora.” But some islands are more equal than others: “I was impressed by Ithaca for its timeless rares. Crete also impressed me a lot from a historical point of view, though it is rather congested with tourism: it is an easy island, on par with Corfu and Rhodes.”

JACOB’S QUIET CRUISE

Jacob follows the “few but good” philosophy: “If you don’t want to ruin your vacation, board a few people. The more one is, the more the boat turns into a mad cage. If guests then do not embark with the idea of getting on a boat, but believe they are in a hotel, that’s the end of it.” Be suspicious of those who carry hard suitcases: “A classic. Not to mention the spasmodic use of the bathroom. Humanity is divided into sea people and land people. Those from land believe they rely on all the comforts and security of a land life even on a boat.”

And it doesn’t end there: “The sailboat reproduces the ancient sea life: nowadays it is the only conceivable use. If you get on board with the seafaring spirit, fine; if you think you are taking part in a vacation of all rest, you are wrong.” For Jacob, sailing in good weather is a bore: “Sailors, unlike land people, love thunderstorms, blizzards and lightning, especially at sea. I have more fun, too, because I go out in the boat to maneuver, and not to sunbathe!” On board “Xin Mei” there are no rollers or instruments. It would be like putting a motor on a bicycle, says Jacob: “The only technological devilry I make use of is the autopilot (and Gps when cruising, ed.), which is useful when I’m alone and have to hoist and lower the sails. I’m a retro navigator.”

Eugene Ruocco

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