Four Walls

[atoll]

many tribes leave the old and infirm out in the elements once they are no longer productive...........

[Dulcesuenos]

Buy a catamaran. They dont heel, love winds over 10 and still dont heel. Maybe then she'll like sailing. Take her on a trip an charter one.

[tbodine88]

Originally Posted by GaryMayo

Someday, someday, I will be free of my walls, and bathtub lake, and feel what all of you experience. I am 56,Attachment 50352

I share your predicament, though in a warmer climate, not self employed.

good luck.

Thanks for keeping the Web site up. Similar thing happened with the west wight potter site, but it was taken over by the new manufacturer.

[daddle]

Just do it. If the wife loves you she will be there at home doing her thing until you get back. If not, there are plenty candidates out there who will support your dreams. Do it now.

[Normanby]

In John Guzzwell's book about his circumnavigation aboard Trekka, he replays for us a conversation he had with his wife:

JG: Darling, I'm going to sail my boat around the world.
Wife: No way, you need to stay here and take care of me.
JG: Do you really want to live with a man whose dream has died inside him?
Wife: Grrrr, you better come back in one piece!

And three years later he did come back, and they lived happily ever after.

Come to think of it, this wasn't actually in the book, it was in an interview on Furledsails podcast (whatever happened to them?).

[Kenomac]

Is this a good spot for that well-used quote first attributed to H.Jackson Brown's mother:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover."

I've found that very, very, very few people set off to explore new horizons after the age of 55, whether it be traveling, hobbies, careers etc., they just become too sedentary, set in their ways and worried about health issues .... so we now work less, travel more and started cruising at age 52... and plan to keep going for as long as we can.

[Sailorman Ed]

Gary,
My wife hated our monohull, especially when the rails were in the water and I had this huge grin. We compromised on a cat and it made all the difference in the world for her, and a small compromise for me.

I had this countdown timer on my computer at work and each day saw one less day to our target departure date. We finally sold the house, quit both our jobs (I was 57 then) and moved onto the boat while still in the boatyard. 2 months later we found the warm clear water of the Bahamas. It took another month of 2 to fully unwind but it was all worth it. We lived off savings from the house sale ($700 per month) Go NOW !!!! while you can fully enjoy it, you can always go back later. But try and take your wife, you will enjoy it more. We did not meet anyone who hated cruising and wanted to go back to a shore life. The size, age or type of boat did not make any difference, the happiness made up for it. GO NOW!!!

[shorebird]

Gary, I also am also in my mid fifties, have been working for almost 40 years, with no end in sight. 5 years ago, my wife told me of her dream to move from the suburbs to the big city, and I told her of my dream to sail and cruise the beautiful BC coast. She did'nt want to sail, especially the heeling part, but we decided to go for both dreams at the same time. Sold the house, bought a 25th floor condo overlooking an arm of the ocean, took sailing lessons, (both of us) then bought a Hunter 31, and finally, joined a yacht club. Thought I'd hate living in the big city, but love it. She thought she'd hate sailing but...now she wants a bigger boat, cruise more, and liveaboard... help! I've created a monster...now all she wants to do is either go sailing or go shopping...sailing is cheaper, but not by much.... Good Luck in whatever you decide, but a good wife is the one thing I would never give up for all the tea in China.

[kthoennes]

Not sure where you are in Nebraska, but Lewis and Clark Lake on the northeast corner is not too bad. More than a bathtub, more real sailing than Okoboji. More wind and more natural beauty than Okoboji, and without the ripping current on the Missouri around Sioux City. L&C is 26 miles long (although not all navigable), has a real marina with 400 slips, sailing regattas, races every weekend, active yacht club. Probably about half of those 400 slips are sailboats, including some in the 40 foot range. You can work on your boat in the boat yard, electricity to the storage yard year round. Lewis and Clark is just above the last/first dam on the Missouri River so when you and the boat are ready to sail off to Vanuatu, you just have to pay to have it dropped below the dam and you can sail away into the world.

None of this addresses any of the big life questions I know, but until you can really break away, Lewis and Clark is how my wife and I satisfy our need to be on the water for now.

[SabreKai]

Pucker up Gary and lay one on her. Beat feet for the nearest salt water. Playing the game of life as we were taught is a croak that benefits a handful instead of the many.

[GaryMayo]

Originally Posted by kthoennes

Not sure where you are in Nebraska, but Lewis and Clark Lake on the northeast corner is not too bad. More than a bathtub, more real sailing than Okoboji. More wind and more natural beauty than Okoboji, and without the ripping current on the Missouri around Sioux City. L&C is 26 miles long (although not all navigable), has a real marina with 400 slips, sailing regattas, races every weekend, active yacht club. Probably about half of those 400 slips are sailboats, including some in the 40 foot range. You can work on your boat in the boat yard, electricity to the storage yard year round. Lewis and Clark is just above the last/first dam on the Missouri River so when you and the boat are ready to sail off to Vanuatu, you just have to pay to have it dropped below the dam and you can sail away into the world.

None of this addresses any of the big life questions I know, but until you can really break away, Lewis and Clark is how my wife and I satisfy our need to be on the water for now.

I am 4 hours below that lake/river. Five hours pulling a big sailboat behind. Looks like an interesting getaway possibility. I see the local town is all of 14,000 people.

The marina is on the South Dakota side?

Looks too small and cold to move there (seasonal) and far enough away to make a slip very difficult to get use out of. 8 hours round trip is too much.

Might try it once just for something different.

[GaryMayo]

Paid my 2013 slip deposit yesterday. Guess that means another year in the bathtub. I am still green in many ways, as I sat out sailing a long time. Still have things to learn. Maybe the better half will take to sailing better with practice on our tiny lake.