What happens to all the wannabees?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by gwcrmc

Since your post seems to have legs.... I joined almost 5 yrs ago, and I don't post. I'm definitely a wannabee and I love this forum. I just don't feel like I have much to contribute (I'm learning, relatively "new&quot. I've belonged to a couple different sailing clubs, taken a couple ASA courses, and I bought a CS 36T last year.

I don't post much because I don't like hearing about the bashing about the 10yr plan bs... I'm halfway there @ 41 with a wife who's loving the sailing we've been doing (in SF Bay (Sausalito)). We'll probably have to wait a little past the 10yr plan to get our kids through college, but we are loving it. We sail almost every Saturday from Sacramento, CA to our berth just next to the Golden Gate.

So, keep up all your (regulars) posts. Us wannabees appreciate and learn from them (immensely).

great to hear you have a boat now

us hasbeens also have need to exchange ideas,so the learning process is mutual

jon charron I still hear from regularly on facebook,but is concentrating his efforts in other directions,furthering his acting career.

thanks for checking in

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by gwcrmc

I don't post much because I don't like hearing about the bashing about the 10yr plan bs... I'm halfway there @ 41 with a wife who's loving the sailing we've been doing (in SF Bay (Sausalito)). We'll probably have to wait a little past the 10yr plan to get our kids through college, but we are loving it. We sail almost every Saturday from Sacramento, CA to our berth just next to the Golden Gate.
.

Don't worry about it. Turns out for us it was a 35 year plan. We first had the idea in 1982, took sailing lessons in 1983 and sailed club dinghies for a year, bought our first sailboat in 1984, and have never looked back. We hope to get out of here for good in 2017. And we're right on track. If I had a dollar for every time I have either heard or read that if people aren't gone within X amount of time they're never going to go (it's usually something like 5 years) I'd be sailing out of here a wealthy woman.

The main thing is that you're learning and sailing in the meantime. From what I read it seems that there are some weekend/vacation warriors that actually do more sailing than some full time cruiser/liveaboards. It's all relative. Just enjoy your boat, keep the dream in focus (no matter how far out the departure date is) and it will come.

[Buzzman]

Guess I qualify as a wannabe, thus far.

Sailed some as a young 'un, but then life got in the way. In recent years, sailing OPB's reignited the desire.

Having health issues and capital issues, have been trying to figure out how to do it as cost-effectively as possible.

Got a free boat. Now need to save up to get it sailing.

In the mean time have restored a Sabot for the kids and am mid-way ditto on a 420 International dinghy for me. Might even attach the hulls off the Paper Tiger cat to make a sort of tri, and put a cabin on the 420....I know, it's the worng-shaped hull profile, but I got it in the driveway....

I come to CF mainly for research, but also to while away the time, as some of these long threads can last me for days....

So am definitely a wannabe, on the way to being a gonna be.

Have the mast and rig for the 24,, motor, compass, swim ladder, foot pump, bilge pump, blocks, cleats, winches, some windows and hatches etc etc....slowly accumulating necessary 'stuff' as the funds allow.

Guess I keep coming back here to top up the well of enthusiasm and keep me motivated, as well as learning stuff from the good folks on CF.

So call me a lurker ... for now....

.... but as they say in the court house: "lurking with intent"....

My dream may be different to yours, but it's mine, all mine....

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by In Training

just finished a week with water sailing">blue water sailing, asa101 103 104 and now at point pleasant by coki beach at a condo, diving some. Not happy with 43 ft. monohull, going to try catamaran next year. Idea of traveling from island to island on boat sounds good, but with 5 on the boat and the four bedroom set up, pretty small. not shifting to condo until I give the catamaran a try, as I really liked sailing. Won't know until next year if still a wannabe.

That sounds like fun. It might be helpful to stop calling them bedrooms. Oops, unless you were in the condo already by then.

[essej4269]

Thank god for wannabes! Seeing the number of people with 5 10 20 25 year plans on here made me realize just how quick life goes by and dreams turn to might have beens. We had the idea three months ago, closed on house and boat in the last week. Move in day is April 6th. We own a couple suitcases the basic tools I culled from the pack and an ugly little dog. Neither of us had ever touched a sailboat in our lives before three months ago or ever made more than 50k in a year, but here we are, off we go! 37' Endeavor. We will both be working from mooring another 1-2 years to save money for a 5 year sabbatical to the Bahamas and Caribbean. Those who really can see past all the things they have been conditioned to think are important will do it, those who cant wont.

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by essej4269

Thank god for wannabes! Seeing the number of people with 5 10 20 25 year plans on here made me realize just how quick life goes by and dreams turn to might have beens.

Maybe for some people.

We had the idea three months ago, closed on house and boat in the last week. Move in day is April 6th. We own a couple suitcases the basic tools I culled from the pack and an ugly little dog. Neither of us had ever touched a sailboat in our lives before three months ago or ever made more than 50k in a year, but here we are, off we go! 37' Endeavor. We will both be working from mooring another 1-2 years to save money for a 5 year sabbatical to the Bahamas and Caribbean.

So very happy for you. Congratulations for making your dreams come true the way you wanted to. But in all fairness to the "other people with 5 year plans" you are going to be sitting on a mooring working for the next 5 years. How does that make you different from someone who lives in a house working for the next 5 years but gets out on their boat sailing every weekend or vacation?

Those who really can see past all the things they have been conditioned to think are important will do it, those who cant wont.

This is a faulty assumption that people make, that our plans somehow get delayed because we can't see past our conditioning. For some people they get the idea young (as we did) but from the get go it was a retirement plan, never a go next month or next year plan.

The other assumption, and the one I find the most annoying, is that those of us who make long range plans are also sitting around letting our lives waste away while we're waiting for our departure date. There seems to be this general misconception that we are all a bunch of miserable couch potatoes just waiting for an opportunity to escape from our worthless lives and join those of you who have discovered the only route to true happiness, but lacking the guts to make it happen.

I can't speak for everyone who makes a long range plan, but I have known quite a few (and a number of them made it happen when the time was right), and especially for us nothing could be further from the truth. We have had such a full and adventurous life, and we still do. With the exception of only a couple of years out of the past 33 we have always owned boats, both power and sail, and have spent a lot of time enjoying them, both sailing, and fixing them up. We travel, camp, hike, bike tour, and enjoy our friends and family immensely. We've also had rewarding careers.

We made a lot of life decisions based, not on a lack of backbone or fear of cutting the tether, but on a genuine desire to fulfill other wants and obligations that were actually (gasp!!) more important to us than cruising. For us, and for many others, the decision to wait is the absolute right one. I wouldn't trade 5 years of sitting in some tropical paradise for the hours I spent in the labor room with my daughter while my grandchildren were being born, or for the years I spent watching them grow. You couldn't give me the most luxurious boat in the world in exchange for being here to pick them up when her miserable no-good husband cleaned out their bank account and left them with no place to go.

I am sure that cruising will be an amazing experience for us. One we have looked forward to for many years, but it will be ANOTHER wonderful adventure, not the only one. For us it will be the icing on the cake of a life well lived. Something we knew we wanted to experience someday, but not the be all and end all of life. And to be honest, if something happened and we never made it out there I would still have no regrets because our lives have been a rewarding, amazing, blast. And every step of the way we've been exactly where we wanted and needed to be at that point in time.

YMMV

There you go. I could have just added another dollar to the sail away fund. Darn it.

[essej4269]

oldragbaggers,

Your points are well taken and correct in some cases. You point of long range planing to fit a various dreams into the course of a life is great, long range planning is important and necessary to have a rewarding life. I also do not consider those dreamers who never make one particular dream come true as failures or less fulfilled in life. As I'm sure your aware happenstance often leads us in the most unexpected and wonderful places that we never new to even plan for.

However, due to the nature of forums being a series of one sided conversations, connotation and intent often fall through the communication cracks and over-generaqlizations like those in my previous post come with the territory.

But a good portion of my point remains intact, while as I allowed, long range planning is wonderful, for far too many people with goals, whether is sailing, going back to school, having children, new careers, relocations, whatever it is - long range planing is often used as an emotional and mental crutch to avoid taking the small steps and preparations that actually make those plans come to fruition. "I want to be a cruiser someday" or "I want to finish my degree" arent plans. Thinking about what islands you want to visit or what courses you would take arent planning, they are a fun add-on to actual planning, but dont lead anywhere unless it motivates someone to DO, small or large steps. Many also will endlessly say, I would do this thing now if it werent for such and such or this and that but there will always be more such and suches and this and thats. I wish you luck and hope to see you out there when your time to do it comes!

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

You couldn't give me the most luxurious boat in the world in exchange for being here to pick them up when her miserable no-good husband cleaned out their bank account and left them with no place to go..

Good for ya and your husband.

How'd you feel about him when she met him? Betcha he was always a louse.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by essej4269

oldragbaggers,

But a good portion of my point remains intact, while as I allowed, long range planning is wonderful, for far too many people with goals, whether is sailing, going back to school, having children, new careers, relocations, whatever it is - long range planing is often used as an emotional and mental crutch to avoid taking the small steps and preparations that actually make those plans come to fruition. "I want to be a cruiser someday" or "I want to finish my degree" arent plans. Thinking about what islands you want to visit or what courses you would take arent planning, they are a fun add-on to actual planning, but dont lead anywhere unless it motivates someone to DO, small or large steps. Many also will endlessly say, I would do this thing now if it werent for such and such or this and that but there will always be more such and suches and this and thats. I wish you luck and hope to see you out there when your time to do it comes!

And different people plan in different ways. I'm a list person, others can memorize many things without papepr, which appears to some to be "just wingin' it," but it isn't.

Whether you call it a "fun add-on" or a GOAL can make a difference. If it's a goal of knowing that many other steps have to be taken to make it happen, then it's not just a fancy add-on, it becomes the header of the outline of lists.

[Randyonr3]

Originally Posted by gwcrmc

We sail almost every Saturday from Sacramento, CA to our berth just next to the Golden Gate.
.

Interesting.... You must be a member of Presidio YC.. and thats a hell-of-a- trip in one day, good on you............

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by essej4269

oldragbaggers,

Your points are well taken and correct in some cases. You point of long range planing to fit a various dreams into the course of a life is great, long range planning is important and necessary to have a rewarding life. I also do not consider those dreamers who never make one particular dream come true as failures or less fulfilled in life. As I'm sure your aware happenstance often leads us in the most unexpected and wonderful places that we never new to even plan for.

However, due to the nature of forums being a series of one sided conversations, connotation and intent often fall through the communication cracks and over-generaqlizations like those in my previous post come with the territory.

But a good portion of my point remains intact, while as I allowed, long range planning is wonderful, for far too many people with goals, whether is sailing, going back to school, having children, new careers, relocations, whatever it is - long range planing is often used as an emotional and mental crutch to avoid taking the small steps and preparations that actually make those plans come to fruition. "I want to be a cruiser someday" or "I want to finish my degree" arent plans. Thinking about what islands you want to visit or what courses you would take arent planning, they are a fun add-on to actual planning, but dont lead anywhere unless it motivates someone to DO, small or large steps. Many also will endlessly say, I would do this thing now if it werent for such and such or this and that but there will always be more such and suches and this and thats. I wish you luck and hope to see you out there when your time to do it comes!

You are correct in all you said above. And although I used your post as an opportunity to respond point by point, this is actually something I see and hear a lot. As a matter of a fact I had made the statement on another thread just a couple of days ago that "if I had a dollar for every time I see a statement about people with long range plans never going I could sail away a rich woman." That's what I meant by the line at the end of my last post.

Even though our plan was a long range one, it is one we have kept in focus for all these long years. We've lived aboard several boats and done a lot of local cruising over the years, so we have had the experience on a small local scale. Sometimes that lifestyle worked for the stage of life we were in, sometimes it didn't. But the big things that would probably qualify in your book as actual "planning" we've always had that going on in the background too, and not just by buying cruising guides to the Caribbean. Keeping active and increasing our knowledge and skill as boaters, assuring our financial security for those years we will be cruising (and the years after that), and leaving our family on a solid foundation, were for us the basis of our planning.

Again, this is not directed at you in particular, it is just a mindset I see a lot, but I've known a number of people who planned cruising for retirement and then they retired and went cruising, as planned. And, with no exception that I can think of, they had all been sailors (well, some are actually power boaters, same difference) for many years, owning and enjoying boats all along. It is really just taking something that is already an integral part of your life and making it the actual whole of your lifestyle. No big leap, just a natural progression of things. (What I mean is I don't personally know anyone who had never been involved with boats and then all of a sudden, upon retirement, bought a boat and took off. I know it happens. I see it here on the forum, just I don't know any of them personally.) I think that the statistics which show the shift in the cruising community being toward large numbers of cruisers being retirees would bear this out. I think that this mantra about people who wait never going has just grown tired and outdated.

Sailorboy's post from a while back is well taken about people who jump on the forum who have never been on a boat, talk about sailing around the world in a couple of years, and then drop out of sight and are never heard from again. These are probably the ones that create this perception of wannabes. And I am thinking that these are the ones being referred to mostly in this thread. (Although, in all fairness, some of them actually do it.) All the while there are thousands of boaters happily sailing their boats in the time they have available, and working away, waiting for retirement to go full time for a season. That day comes and they do so with no big fanfare and are not part of the conversation.

I really give all the credit in the world to people who have found a way, and have the desire, to carve out a cruising life in their youth. Surely many of them make a lot of sacrifices in financial security, time with family, and many other things, in order to make that happen. I wouldn't be honest if I said I didn't envy the adventures of people like the Pardeys, Hiscocks, Roths, Beth Leonard and Evans Starzinger, the Dashews, the Goodlanders, the Caseys, our own Cates and many others on this forum. But what was the right choice for them wouldn't necessarily be the right choice for all. And by making the choice to defer the full time cruising life until retirement does certainly not mean that you're not going to go.

[4music3]

A million ways to do what you want to do - move and keep moving that way.

And

Something will happen - don't move and nothing will happen .

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Good for ya and your husband.

How'd you feel about him when she met him? Betcha he was always a louse.

Answered this one in a private message.


But the short answer is, we actually loved him like a son. He had some issues with abandonment that didn't start to manifest themselves until several years into their marriage.

[theway]

I plan on leaving in a week, you can join me here:
https://www.facebook.com/exodusenchantress


Thanks again to the depth of advice on this forum. If I become a wannabee I'll be sure to return and tell you all about it.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by theway

I plan on leaving in a week, you can join me here:
https://www.facebook.com/exodusenchantress


Thanks again to the depth of advice on this forum. If I become a wannabee I'll be sure to return and tell you all about it.

Good luck!

BTW - if leaving you will never be a wannabee, you get called something different then