The Ultimate Guide to Sailing Into Freedom
Everything You Wanted To Know About Plukky
Joshua Smith
Founder and Editor at Cruising Freedom
This is the definitive guide on Sailing Into Freedom for 2023.
Over the last 4.5 years, I have spent 51 hours watching and researching everything I could about Plukky’s channel because he’s a total legend!
(And you could say I was a little obsessed with Margarida too 
)
It’s now taken me 7 hours to write up this guide.
So if you wanted to know:
➔ How Plukky afforded his first and second boats
➔ How much money he makes on Youtube
➔ More information about the drowning and death incident
➔ What boat he has now and its upgrades
➔ Where is the old boat that sank in the Kimberleys?
➔ What happened to Margarida?
➔ Where does Plukky find these cute backpackers?
➔ How you can get started on your journey
Then you’ve definitely come to the right website.
Before we start, a quick introduction from me…
The Cruising Freedom Author
Ahoy, Matey! I’m Joshua from Australia. 🇦🇺
I’ve built the perfect business to sail the world.
A business model which can allow me to:
➔ Own a catamaran debt-free
➔ Go for weeks without WIFI
➔ Create semi-passive income
➔ Inspire others to dream big
But more on that later…. 🙂
Sailing Into Freedom FAQs (January 2023)
Boat Name
S/V Freedom
Crew Members
Peter Lukursky (age 48), most commonly known by his nickname Plukky, from Jamboree Heights, QLD.
Margarida Lukursky (age 36) from Algarve, Portugal, although she left Plukky in May of 2021 because she was seasick often and couldn’t handle the boating life.
Plukky has had numerous female crew members over the years, which are typically young and very (emphasizing very!) attractive backpackers.
Lisa from Switzerland was the latest girl on as crew, which joined with Gigi and Clara.
Former Crew
Plukky has had numerous female crew members over the years, which are typically young and very attractive backpackers.
Crew whose last times I could find are:
Fedra Paccioso and Stefania Conte
Crew who only used their first name are:
Sal, Lisa, Gigi, Clara, Vickie, Alyssa, Nerma and Veronique
One male crew member – Tim – had joined too.
Crew Deaths
Did you know that one previous female crew member on the Sailing Into Freedom YouTube channel was actually murdered by terrorists?
It’s true, and absolutely heart-breaking.
The two victims were Maren Ueland from Denmark and Louisa Jespersen from Norway who were beheaded.
Back in 2017, the YouTube community were given the gift of having Louisa on board, otherwise known as Lulu. She departed soon afterand continued her backpacking journey and left Australia, but later succumb to foul-play in Morocco.
Maren wasn’t a crew member but later became friends with Louisa, and the pair were camping at the time of their death.
Rest In Peace: Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland
The Boat
Sailing Into Freedom have a 42′ Lehete Bourgois yacht which is a rare boat given that only 6 were produced in the world before the boat builder went backrupt. This cost him $47,000 after taxes.
Plukky’s first boat was a 42-foot Crowther 216A catamaran named S/V Long Reef. He bought this in 2010, did an extensive refit and sailed her but it sank in September, 2018 after crashing into a reef.
Boat Crash
Have you ever wondered what happened to S/V Long Reef that crashed in Western Australia?
It crashed due to Plukky making a simple oversight and breaking his own sailing rules, right on sunset.
Interestingly though, they crashed in what was 33 metres of water just moments prior.
It happened on Montgomery Reef which is notorious for being unchartered, having already claimed a few other yachts.
The crash at low-tide in crocodile-infested waters made things even more difficult, and Plukky and Margarida were eventually rescued a couple of days later by an Australian tourist boat.
They never returned to the boat for salvage.
This would have cost them $5,000 just to reach the boat which they didn’t have available, plus many more for the retrieval effort.
After all, they were 300 nautical miles from Darwin.
Peter did not have insurance for the boat as it’s difficult to get insurance for the Pilbara region.
It took 12 months before Peter was able to come up with the funds to purchase the next boat, with the help from a friend.
Upgrades
Plukky has upgraded his latest yacht with:
➔ Brand new mast and rigging
➔ New electronics and fridge
Very little of their yacht refit was covered on YouTube, instead choosing to focus on the lifestyle.
Location
According to YouTube and Instagram, they are in the San Blas Islands in Panama.
Plukky typically keeps his channel up to date, but was months behind when the previous boat sank.
Past Cruising
Plukky has sailed around most of Australia, plus:
➔ Grand Cayman
➔ Guatemala
➔ Antigua
➔ Panama
➔ Belize
➔ Mexico
Plukky will likely continue exploring South America with Margarida with her family on board at times.
Affording It
Peter worked (very surprisingly) as a lawyer for many years while raising kids. In this interview, he considers himself to be the world’s worst lawyer.
In his spare time, he put thousands of hours of labour into restoring his first catamaran, which then sunk 6 years later in Western Australia.
His second boat was bought through sheer savings.
Making Loot
Most YouTubers are wealthy, but not this one…
As of 2023, Sailing Into Freedom’s net worth is estimated at $298,000 AUD, or approximately $227,000 USD.
Plukky makes roughly $3,870/month USD by:
➔ Selling Sailing Into Freedom crew T-shirts
➔ Making money from ads on his videos
➔ 300+ paying Patreon subscribers
➔ Product affiliate links in his YouTube descriptions
➔ PayPal donations
He doesn’t offer paid uncut/uncensored/nudity footage of his crew members on a subscription basis, although this has been requested by his mostly-male audience.
Collaborations
Sailing Into Freedom had (for a long time) not met any active YouTube cruisers. However, he recently spent some time with Captain Rick Moore.
Also, Sailing Miss Lone Star has made comments on some of Plukky’s videos, so a meetup and uncut footage on her Vimeo in the future is likely.
He also ran into Brian and Karin from SV Delos recently, and has been hanging out with them for some time.
The best video was that with Pirate Rob and his actual pirate attack:
Big Moments
Apart from the sinking catamaran, some of the best and worse moments in Plukky’s history include:
➔ Having lightning strike his new yacht at night (caught on camera!)
➔ Jumping into shark-infested waters to fix his boat
➔ Catching COVID twice and assessing his options
➔ Hauling his boat out after the lightning strike
Future Plans
In the future, Plukky aims to sail around South America and Margarida seems to be a keeper.
Key Takeaways
What can we learn from Sailing Into Freedom?
➔ You don’t need the million-dollar boat
➔ Keep things as simple as possible
➔ You can thrive on a lean budget
➔ YouTube can pay well with bikinis
➔ Always (always) be mindful of reefs
➔ Women love simple men with boats 😉
Conclussion
Plukky is the epidome of true freedom on the open ocean, without the glitz, glam and unnecessary drama of other YouTube influencers.
He reminds us that we don’t need fancy equipment or expensive boats to realize the cruising dream.
And we certainly can’t wait to see what is to come!
Creating Your Own Cruising Freedom
Hey! 😃 It’s Joshua again….
Clearly I’ve been very inspired by Plukky and his catamaran videos…
Some say I’m obsessed, but sailing the world is my childhood dream.
His is living the dream, but that dream isn’t actually that far away.
Earlier I mentioned about finding the perfect cruising business model.
With this exciting opportunity, I’ll be able to:
➔ Generate a sustainable full-time income while working remotely
➔ Fund the purchase of my first sailing catamaran without any loans
➔ Do it without selling to friends & family (’cause that’s icky, am I right?!)
➔ Share my lifetime passion of sailing, cruising and global adventures
Curious to learn more? Jump on the free training right now. 🔥