Cruising start at 55 or 56

[jkindredpdx]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You people that enjoy the cold are nuts

Really, cold=pain

Hmmm. I grew up in Idaho and hated winter until I took up snow skiing to avoid cabin fever through the winter. Living in Oregon, I have two seasons, ski season and sailing season. Funny thing this year, we have sailing season in January. BTW our family has a saying, "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing".

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Well then you should go!


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Your right, only thing stopping me other than fear is my youngest is in tenth grade.
I've been agonizing on pulling the plug now and being a live aboard for two years while I move her to another school, or trying to stick it out for two more years working for her sake.
I don't know if I can stick it out for another two years, plus I think my company is in trouble and may not last two more years.
Really wish it would go under and then I would have no decision to make.

[jtsailjt]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Never have understood Ice fishing though, fishing is an excuse to drink beer, and in sub zero temps, beer just isn't as appealing?

You've got to work on not being quite so beer-centric...fishing is an excuse to drink, period. As a proper (if there is such a thing) ice fisherman you drink whiskey, or something else that will warm you all the way down to your toes! As a regional variation here in Maine, Allen's Coffee Brandy is quite popular, though I find it way too sweet and much prefer some nice smooth Macallans 18 or even 12 in a flask to keep one warm all through a day of ice-drinking. Truth be told though, I'm a lightweight when it comes to any form of drinking so whether I'm drinking beer on a hot summer day, or Scotch on a sub-zero day on a frozen lake, my cooler or flask always comes home almost as full as when I left home. But you've got to at least have the right tools for the job at hand, and cold beer isn't it when you go outside to stand around in cold weather.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

This is kinda funny. One of my fears is that I might not be able to handle the HOT temperatures as we eventually head south. With cold, you can always put more clothes on, but at some point with hot climates, you run out of clothes to take off .

It seems to take my body about 6 weeks to adjust part way to a new climate. You'd think it would have learned to do it quicker after all this time.

Mike, there are two times in all our cruising i found it "too hot". Once in the Sea of Cortez, where the water temp was 85 deg. F., about 32 C., and it didn't cool off much at night. I wound up sleeping on top of a damp sail on the foredeck a couple of nights. It also helped to have a 9 PM swim--at that time, there were few sharks there.

The other time was in the Solomon Is., where it was hot and humid. Mostly, what I learned was that if there is a fan blowing on me, to dry the sweat, I can sleep okay. May only "bake " English muffins in a skillet, though, and not fire up the oven for bread...or make pressure cooker bread.

Here in Tassie, I feel quite cold at about 12 deg. Have to have 3 layers on top and two below.

So, give it a go where it gets warm, but try to do it somewhere the progression to warm is slow, then move from warm to warmer, and you'll acclimatize with it. Being on the water seems usually to ameliorate both the hot and the cold.

Ann

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Your right, only thing stopping me other than fear is my youngest is in tenth grade.
I've been agonizing on pulling the plug now and being a live aboard for two years while I move her to another school, or trying to stick it out for two more years working for her sake.
I don't know if I can stick it out for another two years, plus I think my company is in trouble and may not last two more years.
Really wish it would go under and then I would have no decision to make.

I'm wondering whether you and your wife would consider home schooling your daughter. So much depends on the daughter, how mature she is, but what a wonderful experience for you to give her, if it fits for you and your wife.....

[Group9]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

This is kinda funny. One of my fears is that I might not be able to handle the HOT temperatures as we eventually head south. With cold, you can always put more clothes on, but at some point with hot climates, you run out of clothes to take off .

You can get used to it. When I was in law school, in the south, I was so broke, I lived in an apartment that I couldn't afford to run the window unit air conditioning and just slept with the windows open with screens on them for two summers. It was unbearably uncomfortable for a few weeks and then I started getting used to it.

The same thing when I worked outside for construction companies in the summer in undergraduate college. The first few days, of being outside all day in 90 plus weather, and high humidity would be really hard to take, but by the end of the summer, I didn't even notice it.

Living in the south, you do get so used to the heat, that back when I was a runner, I would frequently go running during my lunch break in the middle of the summer.

Being cold is like physical pain to me. Being hot is just something I feel and adjust to.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Group9

Being cold is like physical pain to me. Being hot is just something I feel and adjust to.

Thanks Group9, I agree. I'm sure I'll adjust, although at this point in my life I can certainly manage cold easier than hot. Especially hot and humid. But you are right. I will acclimatize.

I would also encourage all those who feel this way about cold to realize it happens the other way as well. It is possible for southern cruisers to get used to sailing cold waters. So come north, and enjoy the frigid waters of Lake Superior or Newfoundland.

... Wait... These are the places I'm cruising in, or headed to. I change my mind. Don't go! It's way too cold

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

I'm wondering whether you and your wife would consider home schooling your daughter. So much depends on the daughter, how mature she is, but what a wonderful experience for you to give her, if it fits for you and your wife.....

]
Wife is a professional school teacher, so on the outside that's logical.
Catherine is in a very good College prep school and has been in the same school her whole life. Without going into detail, she is the one who may "make something" out of her life of our three children in the standard way of thinking and I don't want to mess that up. I hope she will go off to a good school, and where you graduate and your position in class does have a bearing on being accepted.
Yes I know home schooling does not hinder a person at all, but I do believe it may make getting accepted to some schools harder.
I keep telling myself, it's just two years, you can stand on your head for two years, but neither my wife nor I am happy at work, we tolerate it at best, I believe my wife's decision to retire on the boat is based on being able to retire, not a love for the boat or cruising. We haven't experienced cruising, not really, two weeks is the longest we have been on the boat

My wife will very soon be offered her contract for next year, and my understanding is you never break a contract if your a teacher, if you do you'll never get another teaching job, and why burn bridges, she may need a teaching job one day. So very soon we will be locked into another year, and the wife has said that we will not make our Daughter spend her Senior year at a different school, so very soon it's two years.

[a64pilot]

On the acclimatization thing, you can adapt to almost anything, true you'll suffer until you do though.
Thousands of soldiers adapted to the heat of the Desert in Kuwait and depending on wind direction, it can be very humid.
Ideally if your in place before the heat, hopefully you will acclimatize as the temp changes, but a certain number of people never do, they don't die, but they are miserable.

Best plan I think is to try to acclimatize slowly, but have a bail out plan if it get miserable. That is why I'm going to have a generator, I know I can adapt, I have before, but the wife may need some help acclimatizing. Ice is a God send if it's truly hot, we would have sold our soul for ice in the Desert and when we got it, it was a Luxury let me tell you, so being able to make ice is I think would make a big difference

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

On the acclimatization thing, you can adapt to almost anything, true you'll suffer until you do though.....

Best plan I think is to try to acclimatize slowly, but have a bail out plan if it get miserable.

Mrs. Kenomac and I made the front page of the local newspaper yesterday in this photo. She's very hardy working stock from Buffalo, NY and was able to adapt and shovel for over 2 hours following the blizzard. It's snowing again today with another storm on its way for Monday.

We need to start working on the "bail out plan."

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

This is kinda funny. One of my fears is that I might not be able to handle the HOT temperatures as we eventually head south. With cold, you can always put more clothes on, but at some point with hot climates, you run out of clothes to take off .

There's no escaping that logic, Mike, but it just doesn't work for me. I grew up in Chicago and hated winter... really hated it! Eventually went to California for Uni, and discovered a new way of life. Never went back except to visit parents.

I was always amused by "real" Californian's attitude toward snow: they viewed it as a play thing, while I viewed it as an impediment to enjoying life. Of course, they hadn't had to get up in the dark to shovel off walks and dig out Dad's car!

Cheers,

Jim

[Tallswede]

Well I've finally made my decision. I'm retiring this year. I'll be 57 in February. My mind late last year was telling me to stay two more years but my heart was telling me to go sooner. After putting in a bunch of 72 hour work weeks during the Holidays it was clear to me. Why am I doing this to myself? I have enough to step off now as long as I don't do anything stupid. Who knows what might happen tomorrow? Economic collapse, health issues etc. I'm healthy and so is my wife, for now. June 1st is looking to be my retirement date but I have so much vacation and comp time built up I'll be leaving in mid March. It's exciting and maybe a little scary but my mind is at ease with the decision. My wife agrees with me completely and we are making plans for our new life which will include some cruising and land travel, things we were not able to do before. See ya'll out there!

Kevin

[Dauntlessny]

Originally Posted by BlueBuddha

One more year to almost triple the cash kitty? I'd take 56 without regrets.

I dreamed, planned for 5 years and then finally at 60 could start the adventure.

to work only one more year and triple your cash is a must do in my mind.
Yes, you could get by, but in this circumstance, it's better to have too much then too little.

Also it will give you an extra year to get the wife on board as you develop your vision.

Good luck

[sailorboy1]

Health comes up a lot in discussions like this one. The thing is that it is a double edged sword type of thing. If your health is not good the thing seems to go now. But waiting longer affects the money issue and this plays a big related part in being able to deal with ones health. Yet an extra year of savings can easily be consumed by health, either treatment or insurance.

I have no doubt that my work life is affecting my health. Now the decision to work a year longer brings a known stress to my life.

[3 Feathers]

The tropics are full of cruisers who hate the winter, and it is a good place for them. I have been in Panama for the past six months. Fascinating place to cruise with endless options and possibilities, and full of wonderful people, but I can't wait to get out if here. It's just too bloody hot. North Pacific here we come.

I'm 73 so I know some sheet about getting old, but I'm in better shape than most 50 year olds I meet (probably fall over dead after saying that) so it isn't an age thing nearly as much as a genetic, physical, luck, circumstance, and attitude thing.