Anybody around in their late 20's, saving hard for their dreams ?

[Bob Morane]

FIrst time I sailed a boat over to the Bahamas was in my twenties. I didn’t want to come back, but I had a job, a mortgage, car payment and student loans. I wanted to cry when I realized how bad I had screwed myself.

I didn’t go back on a sailboat for twenty five more years.

Stick with your dream. You can always make more money, but you can never make more time.

I am sorry to hear about that.
It reinforces my determination to see this through and not wait until retirement.

Originally Posted by Sojourner

Don't know if you use Facebook, but I just literally this morning found and joined a new group called Young Folks on Old Boats! We're relatively young, I'm 40, my wife is 33 and our partner is 34.... our three kittens are only 1 so that's at least a few years off my age (teenage cats, man, they keep you young!)

Check them out, they're a cool group....

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2068...43147/?fref=nf

Thanks Sojourner !
I will have to reinstall Facebook to check it, but hopefully it will be worth it.

[boatman61]

Just coming up to my 70th birthday and it seems I have been saving for my boat all my life as fortunes wax and wane.. currently considering a possible number 15 at the moment.
Sizes have varied from 21 to 40ft but all have carried me to foriegn shores.
Just need to focus on your priority..
Is it the 'Boat'.. or is it the adventure..
The first is a fixed ambition.. the second can be achieved on any boat..

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Bob Morane

I've read enough of the forum to know that you value underwater life and remote, pristine places a lot, so I might have a few questions I want to ask you. I'll do that via PM not to derail the post too much.
.

Best to share your questions on the Forum, rather than PM.

Many guys on here are better sources of specific locations than me

[Bob Morane]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Is it the 'Boat'.. or is it the adventure..
The first is a fixed ambition.. the second can be achieved on any boat..

The adventure of course
I love boats, but to me, it's mostly a mean to an end.
I am after experiences such as :

- Seeing an island slowly pop on the horizon
- Diving a coral reef with no one else around, no plastic and plenty of life
- Human interactions not motivated by money

And many many more, sunsets and sunrises, clear night skies, see the sea changing colors, have plans but feel free to change them as your heart desire, make mistakes, meet genuine people.

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Best to share your questions on the Forum, rather than PM.

Many guys on here are better sources of specific locations than me

Fair enough.
Here is the main one.
Am I the only one terrified at the perspective that, in a not so far future, all the islands in the world might be nothing but marinas, resorts and private beaches ?

On a less dark note, where does one go if one is after coral reefs with plenty of life and no or close to no human interactions ? One of these where you can hover for hours, just looking at what is happening around, trying to be as unnoticeable and quiet as possible.

What do you consider necessary, equipment wise, to combine off the grid remote exploration and diving ? Is it realistically achievable on a small sailing boat ?

[PeterSz]

Hi Bob

I’ve just purchased a boat after dreaming about it for years.
IMHO try to find a boat that suits you and buy it as soon as you can. I hate banks but get a loan would make sense if you pay less interest than rent. Plus, living on a boat can be quite cheap if you live on a mooring boy or on anchor.
You also can start your boating life and do small trips and get some experience. (That’s the stage we’re now with my wife). Learn your boat, do it up, fix this and that.
So you will still be getting closer to the grand dream but during that time you can start and enjoy the first steps of the sailing life.

I did hang around marinas and talked to people. Sailors are mostly very nice and are happy to talk about boat related topics.
I was many times invited on board and learned about different boats.

Also search for boat clubs. People always looking for crew for races. Good way to learn.

Best of luck with your dream

Pete

[MrWesson]

Find cheap moorage, buy fixer upper, and fixer up in spare time.

Buy, fix, use, and sell. Boat's can become their own "economy".

You'll self teach(the hard way) skills needed to rebuild/restore boats that can become quite valuable.

I'm 33 BTW.. I don't sail but own a trawler.

[bailsout]

If you’re looking for an ideal model, read Cruising in Seraffyn and see how it was done in the 70’s. Then hope you can still find some of the kindness and friendliness and wilderness that they did. They rival Slocum for their simplistic approach to be happy cruising.

[boatman61]

For a single guy or a young couple this should take you most places you want to go.. only things I would consider essential to do to her is a swim ladder mounted on the stern, an inflatable slat floor dinghy and 5hp o/b and some solar panels to keep you charged up.

https://www.boatsales.com.au/boats/d...=0&pss=Premium

[elandra65]

Hi Bob,

I have never seem a time in the last 40 years where buying a cruising boat is more affordable. Sure you can spend a fortune on a large and complex boat and many do but these are generally cashed up older people. Many years ago when I was a keen 20s something you had to scrimp and save for years just to build or obtain a hull. These days you can buy something suitable for about a years salary if you are prepared to put some work in. Also electronics now is so relatively cheap it is a non issue as far as budget is concerned if you are willing to stick to basics. I am astounded that in a time where it is so affordable and easy to navigate (GPS etc) that so few young people take the opportunity to go cruising. I suspect it is to do with the emphasis these days of obtaining a career and accumulating material wealth. Travel by air is also ridiculously cheap now that most younger people simply choose that route also. Not that it is a realistic substitute for cruising but it does enable people to see the world to some degree. I know if I had been born 40 years later I would of started cruising 20 years sooner and probably still be out there.

One thing I have noticed is that there are a few younger people out there, many with their website across their mainsail and attracting income though the internet. I would give that ago but getting my wife to don a skimpy swimsuit etc is not a possibility these days!

Good luck with your future

Andrew

[Wotname]

G'day Bob,

Back in the early 1980s, I was in a similar (but not the same) position as you. Three KISS boats later (all ~30'), some good cruising (Qld coast, WA, NT, Indonesia, New Zealand etc) and four decades later, I am just up the road from you.

We gotta talk!

Send me a PM if you want some more info or contact details.

[Compass790]

Good on ya mate! You are a lot braver than me diving around Tassie. Think you are spot on re habitat destruction. I amazed at the decline in sea life around NE NZ. It's a pale shadow of it's former glory. The really sad thing is the young largely think it's normal. Places where I saw 20 crays perhour 20 years ago now you can go for 2hrs & see none.
I wish you luck & what you want to do is very worthwhile.

[Bob Morane]

Originally Posted by elandra65

Hi Bob,

I have never seem a time in the last 40 years where buying a cruising boat is more affordable.

I completely agree with that.
I think the main differences are that the risk tolerance people have now is much lower than 40 years ago and the comfort "expectations" are much higher. Therefore it's more a matter of "want" rather than "can".
On the other hand, 40 years ago, the journey would have been very different on several aspects I value a lot. We've got to play with the cards we're being dealt, no other choice.

Originally Posted by Wotname

G'day Bob,

Back in the early 1980s, I was in a similar (but not the same) position as you. Three KISS boats later (all ~30'), some good cruising (Qld coast, WA, NT, Indonesia, New Zealand etc) and four decades later, I am just up the road from you.

We gotta talk!

Send me a PM if you want some more info or contact details.

I'd be happy to
I will send you a PM.
I actually had a quick look at a certain boat with Blue moon II written on it some time ago in Franklin.

Originally Posted by Compass790

Good on ya mate! You are a lot braver than me diving around Tassie. Think you are spot on re habitat destruction. I amazed at the decline in sea life around NE NZ. It's a pale shadow of it's former glory. The really sad thing is the young largely think it's normal. Places where I saw 20 crays perhour 20 years ago now you can go for 2hrs & see none.
I wish you luck & what you want to do is very worthwhile.

That's the part I'm struggling the most with.
Over the years, I've been fed countless story of "how it used to be 30-40 years ago" by older divers/fishermans/deckhands.
Underwater life being abundant, fishes which actually had enough time to grow big.
Barely any human impact to be seen under and over the water.
I hope it's not too late.

[picklesandjesse]

That's the part I'm struggling the most with.
Over the years, I've been fed countless story of "how it used to be 30-40 years ago" by older divers/fishermans/deckhands.
Underwater life being abundant, fishes which actually had enough time to grow big.
Barely any human impact to be seen under and over the water.
I hope it's not too late.[/QUOTE]

Well, it really was like that unfortunately. We taught ourselves how to dive in Port Lincoln in 1966 and built our own compressors etc. There were only 6 of us diving in those days. You could walk off a beach on the west of the peninsular in nearly any bay and just see abalone everywhere. We hired a 50ft ex tuna boat and would head off to anywhere we felt like and start diving. No one had ever been underwater in the places that we dived. No licences. We got 18 cents a pound for black lip and 22 cents for green lip and that's shucked. Lucky we never got eaten though, no cages back then.

[Bob Morane]

Originally Posted by picklesandjesse

Well, it really was like that unfortunately. We taught ourselves how to dive in Port Lincoln in 1966 and built our own compressors etc. There were only 6 of us diving in those days. You could walk off a beach on the west of the peninsular in nearly any bay and just see abalone everywhere. We hired a 50ft ex tuna boat and would head off to anywhere we felt like and start diving. No one had ever been underwater in the places that we dived. No licences. We got 18 cents a pound for black lip and 22 cents for green lip and that's shucked. Lucky we never got eaten though, no cages back then.

To be honest, what I am really worried about are the coral reefs.
To me there is nothing as beautiful as a coral reef, not even remotely close.
And the "data" I'm gathering from my diving network is terrifying.
Amazing reefs that made me fall in love with the underwater world in 2008, completely wiped, covered in brownish algae, deserted by 95% of the fish.

Wait until I have sufficient funds to retire/cruise permanently to go ?
Hell no ! I'm out and I'm out soon.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by thinwater

I'm not in my 20s now, but I was and they were good times. That is when I really learned to sail. I still remember the lessons learned.

Save money, but don't obsess over a single dream. The money can fund what ever dream you find.




Buy a good dinghy or a beach cat and learn both sailing and the nature of wind and waves. This will be invaluable experience on a big boat when it blows; a small craft advisory is a dinghy sailor's gale. There are reasons the Olympics are about small boats. Don't overlook them. This is the time for that phase of learning. And it's bloody good fun!


Sail Delmarva: The Merits of Learning to Sail on a Small Boat

I had a Prindle 16, it was a blast! All my buddies had catamarans, life was great. But the rash was tough, so one of my buddies got a big boat, and then I did, and that was the end of youth.