Eight years ago, Dave Dixon set himself some lofty goals, especially for an unemployed, twice-divorced middle-aged man with no savings. He wanted to live on the water in Newport Beach. He didn't care to work too much. And he aspired to play golf and tennis several times a week.
Today, Dixon, 60, is living his dream, albeit with some compromises. He lives aboard a weathered, beat-up 37-foot mahogany boat he bought on a credit card for $10,000. Lacking a permanent mooring, he often is forced to anchor in the open sea off Corona del Mar, and for hot showers he uses the Orange County Harbor Patrol's guest facilities.
To get around on land, he owns a battered car with more than 300,000 miles on it.
Yet he works only about 15 hours a week, singing at private parties and two Orange County restaurants to cover his lean $565 in monthly expenses (not including food). He gets out on the tennis court or links almost every day, enough to whittle down his golf handicap to seven and his weight by 40 pounds. And he is rocked to sleep each night by the rhythm of the water, surrounded by multimillion-dollar views of the bay.
All in all, he considers himself one of the richest residents of this pricey beach town.
"Time, not money, is the real commodity in life," said Dixon, relaxing in the salon of his boat as a sea lion barked nearby. "And I've got more time on my hands than anyone I know."
It took several careers, two divorces and plenty of prayer and reflection before Dixon settled on this lifestyle, one that he says is divinely inspired. The ordained pastor sees himself living out God's message that faith and people, not possessions, are what is of true value.
"My spirituality has set me free and turned me on to the bondages that the world places on us," said Dixon, a tall man of ample girth with a closely cropped silver beard and swept-back gray hair. "I'm having a ball."
Newport Beach being the heart of Orange County consumerism, Dixon has picked a tough mission field to spread the message that "whatever we own actually owns us."
Raised in Corona, Dixon earned a music degree with a minor in theology from Azuza Pacific University in 1971 and tried to make a career in gospel music. But with a wife and two young boys, he had to find a steady paycheck and started working for Earl Scheib Paint & Body. He eventually started his own auto body and paint shop, which he operated for more than 20 years.
