New, have $10K, family, and baby want to live aboard...

[Eben]

Originally Posted by Quickbeam

OK, the OP never said the family and baby were going to be on the boat. Didn't anyone catch that?

A couple of years ago I saw a couple head out from the Salish Sea on a 26' Contessa. No engine or electrical system. Oil lamps, sextant and a handheld radio. They made it over to Thailand, then made plans for a bigger boat. That was a total investment way under $10K.

Most of us have bigger, more complicated boats. Once in a while it's a good thing to look at what the Hiscocks, Pardeys and others sailed in.

Sailing in both the Atlantic and Pacific I've seen people in 22' boats safe and happy anchored next to boats that have more than one aircraft on deck.

Without crazy dreams we would not be here.

Fair winds and following seas.

The real problem is that most people are too spoilt by modern day luxuries. Most people scoff at our oil lamps, we happen to love them! While I can understand why people like comfort, human's are not genetically wired for comfort - that's why people do stupid things like jumping out of planes or from cliffs just so they can feel alive.

All of us can adept to a more spartan life, most of us refuse for some reason. While I don't fit into the 10k bucket I can understand why people are driven to try something like that. It's a challenge, some are able to take it on, but others are not.

Now to put a slightly different perspective on things, I'm still new to the world of sailing and I've met guys in the marina with decades of sailing experience. When I ask them how they deal with the tides and currents in certain situations they are confused by what the tides and currents have to do with it. We've had a baptism by fire and take all these things into consideration when we do anything.

Something as simple as splicing 3 strand rope seems beyond most "experienced sailors" don't even ask about the amount of knots they use. People can have a lot of experience and still very little knowledge since they get by with the bare minimum and have never been tested on anything slightly challenging. Some of us have very little experience, but boy have we been tested. Do not get me wrong, I still have a lot to learn and I know it.

[Sea Dreaming]

Originally Posted by Eben

The real problem is that most people are too spoilt by modern day luxuries. Most people scoff at our oil lamps, we happen to love them! While I can understand why people like comfort, human's are not genetically wired for comfort - that's why people do stupid things like jumping out of planes or from cliffs just so they can feel alive.

All of us can adept to a more spartan life, most of us refuse for some reason. While I don't fit into the 10k bucket I can understand why people are driven to try something like that. It's a challenge, some are able to take it on, but others are not.

Now to put a slightly different perspective on things, I'm still new to the world of sailing and I've met guys in the marina with decades of sailing experience. When I ask them how they deal with the tides and currents in certain situations they are confused by what the tides and currents have to do with it. We've had a baptism by fire and take all these things into consideration when we do anything.

Something as simple as splicing 3 strand rope seems beyond most "experienced sailors" don't even ask about the amount of knots they use. People can have a lot of experience and still very little knowledge since they get by with the bare minimum and have never been tested on anything slightly challenging. Some of us have very little experience, but boy have we been tested. Do not get me wrong, I still have a lot to learn and I know it.

You bring to mind my ex husband. He is an artist and skilled woodworker. Yet he lives hand to mouth and is employed at a bare minimum. We live in a healthy economic area, he could work at a level commiserate with his skills. He CHOOSES his poverty. I knew this, but now I wonder if he doesnt do it for that very essence of "feeling alive". There are all kinds of edges. Im nit saying its sane, but it is interesting to me. His 10,000 dollar boat leaks...

[Eben]

Originally Posted by Sea Dreaming

You bring to mind my ex husband. He is an artist and skilled woodworker. Yet he lives hand to mouth and is employed at a bare minimum. We live in a healthy economic area, he could work at a level commiserate with his skills. He CHOOSES his poverty. I knew this, but now I wonder if he doesnt do it for that very essence of "feeling alive". There are all kinds of edges. Im nit saying its sane, but it is interesting to me. His 10,000 dollar boat leaks...

Slight perception difference: he didn't choose poverty, he chose freedom.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Eben

Slight perception difference: he didn't choose poverty, he chose freedom.

I too see this from your angle.

Whenever there is an excess, one can use this money to become enslaved, or liberated. Just choices, personal ones, and every one should try to make good ones. I think being happy, living a purposeful, driven life is a good choice.

Buy a book to read it, then share what you have read. I have been to many homes where shelves were full of unread books.

Find what drives you and chase it while you can. I had many friends who opted to stay in the grind. I respect them. They worked hard while I lived a happy life. At times it is impossible to have everything at once and we have to chose our priorities.

10k is heaps of money and may see a couple plus a kid thru ? a year or two of good life. And we are not assuming every couple with a baby and a dream is on the a dole. People who have 10k sound like people who may have some money making skills, sound money saving skills and decent money management skills. That's, assumed, a good set of skills. They may do fine.

It is sad to see the world devastated by our tendency to accumulate. And it is not only the nature that suffers but also our inter-human relations. I'd rather have less but see more green trees, clean water and smiling faces. I chose to live by this standard and I feel happier now than I felt when I was rich.

I have traded being rich for feeling rich. I have less money now but I have time to think, to dream, to sail and to write. It somehow feels good now. Not something that will work for everyone but well worth trying out and seeing if it fits (you).

Cheers,
b.

[Weyalan]

For me the crux of the issue here isn't whether or not it is possible to buy a boat and sail around the world with a young family, because I don't doubt that it is. But firstly, i'd say if you wanted to do it, you'd want a pretty comprehensive set of handyman skills and relatively high base knowledge on choosing an appropriate boat in your budget, buying a boat with that budget, outfitting a boat for RTW without spending mre than nickels n dimes, sailing a boat, offshore, across oceans, dealing with weather events, dealing with customs, permits and visas, corrupt official, doing everything on a shoestring... It is good to have a dream (lord knows I'm a dreamer), but dreams of this magnitudeshould be based to some degree on reality, tempered with experience and achieved with careful planning

[scareygary]

Originally Posted by Lepke

Because they're dreamers.
But then many of the motor home owners aren't any better. Try driving the Oregon coast in tourist season.

PLEASE ignore this advice. I have a cabin at Netarts on the Oregon Coast, and would prefer you stay home!

[Manos1955]

Originally Posted by zedpassway

I often think that everyone should have their maiden voyage be like mine. Me, my wife, and an experienced sailor took my little boat out into the bay on what was supposed to be a quick 6 mile sail to the mooring.

While we never encountered a storm, we did encounter no wind, with a motor that died of ethanol poisoning, drifting out in the middle of the bay 3 miles from anyone for about 8 hours, and then drifting on the current which would have taken us up on a sharp rocky shore, later that night, in high winds and dense fog. Eventually our channel 16 mayday was heard after our base mast antenna VHF died, and the cell phones were dead, someone heard us on the portable 6 watt vhf, and 90 minutes later, the USCG picked us up.

Our boat has positive flotation, and maybe we wouldn't have died, but it was very very scary. We didn't take the anchor since it was a quick trip, or any real food or anything to stay warm beyond some jackets.

I'm sure that we'll sometime encounter that storm, but having that on a maiden voyage when I thought I had covered every base, changed my view on preparedness, and what can go wrong. We now have many many more kinds of preparation and back-ups that we never thought we'd need when we first started out.

If everyone's maiden voyage ended up needing a rescue by the USCG, maybe more people would be more realistic about their dreams---or at least dreams in a place where falling into the water can mean death.

Did you ever thought to buy a lottery ticket?

[noelex 77]

We occasionally meet some very low budget cruisers in anchorages.

Typically, they will be on a small boat, perhaps 27' or so with little equipment, maybe a small solar panel to power some lights. Sometimes they are on their own, but often with a partner. For some reason I am yet to figure out, if they have a girlfriend she is usually stunning .

Their living costs are very low. If something breaks on their boat, which is unlikely because there is not much to go wrong, they get a job on shore for a couple of months.

Many years ago we cruised on a similar boat and had great fun, although we only did this during holidays. One evening the owner of a large and expensive yacht invited us over for dinner. Naturally we accepted and savoured our first cold drink in a couple of months. When we politely asked "Why us?" the answer was " I think it is the duty of the largest boat in an anchorage to invite the owners of the smallest boat over for a drink". It is wonderful idea that we have tried to pay forward.

If you do this, you will meet some people that mostly seem very happy. They always have fascinating stories. The only caution is that your cold beer supply will be depleted .

It also illustrates that there are a multitude of possible ways of living our allotted "three score years and ten". I sometimes think we dismiss people too readily on CF because their dream does not match ours.

[knockabout]

folk boats keep turning up with families on board most have no inboard /marina cost while learning may cost 10.000/perhaps crew for someone share expenses

[Scout 30]

Please help. My name is Lin. My husband Larry and I are thinking about building a 24' wooden sailboat & sailing it around the world several times, without a motor. Are we crazy?

[vjm]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

Please help. My name is Lin. My husband Larry and I are thinking about building a 24' wooden sailboat & sailing it around the world several times, without a motor. Are we crazy?

But that's the problem. Larry was an excellent and experienced sailor and master boat builder. I think that is a totally different scenario than "I have never been on a boat and want to know what boat I should pick to sail around the world."

It was easy for Lin to write "Go simple, go small, go now" when her partner could handle all the sailing and all the building and all the maintenece. She absolutely became a sailor in her own right, but at the beginning she did not have the skills and experience to just jump onboard and go cruising.

They weren't crazy because as a team they had all the skills and experience necessary. They did very low key cruising at first while they learned and settled in and decided if they wanted to do more.

I think that's a decent recommendation for anyone.

[weavis]

Seems like the thread has almost run its course now............

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by vjm

But that's the problem. Larry was an excellent and experienced sailor and master boat builder. I think that is a totally different scenario than "I have never been on a boat and want to know what boat I should pick to sail around the world."

It was easy for Lin to write "Go simple, go small, go now" when her partner could handle all the sailing and all the building and all the maintenece. She absolutely became a sailor in her own right, but at the beginning she did not have the skills and experience to just jump onboard and go cruising.

They weren't crazy because as a team they had all the skills and experience necessary. They did very low key cruising at first while they learned and settled in and decided if they wanted to do more.

I think that's a decent recommendation for anyone.

Exactly.

Now check out one of their "small" boats. It's build like a tank making my heavily built Bristol 27 seem flimsy.

Lin and Larry Pardey's Boat Taleisin | YachtPals.com

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Some questions will sure sound odd to us. But it is unfair to judge others by our measure. Very often people have to start somewhere, so they start with asking questions. I think this is the right thing to do.

b.

One can often tell by the quality of the question that no matter what information is provided ...... they will never understand (or be able to tie their own shoe laces), those I ignore.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by vjm

But that's the problem. Larry was an excellent and experienced sailor and master boat builder. I think that is a totally different scenario than "I have never been on a boat and want to know what boat I should pick to sail around the world."

It was easy for Lin to write "Go simple, go small, go now" when her partner could handle all the sailing and all the building and all the maintenece. She absolutely became a sailor in her own right, but at the beginning she did not have the skills and experience to just jump onboard and go cruising.

They weren't crazy because as a team they had all the skills and experience necessary. They did very low key cruising at first while they learned and settled in and decided if they wanted to do more.

I think that's a decent recommendation for anyone.

Obviously in retrospect the Pardeys were supremely qualified. My point is that had they posted on this forum at the start of their journey the overwhelming majority of comments would have been negative. I understand that attempting to dissuade them from such a foolish adventure would have been conventional wisdom, very few could pull it off, but my point is that we never know which one of these posters will actually go on to do something amazing.