To All the Dreamers

[noelex 77]

Pull your finger out and go cruising It’s the best life.
I took this photo today of the anchorage to provide some incentive to get out and do it.

[Patient]

Great shot! Could be a postcard!

I am working SO hard to be able to ditch the city life. Property is going up for sale in 2 weeks then I can finally stop being boatless. I have been chartering in the islands as much as possible, but it just teases me when I get back to the dark, cold and dirty streets of Chicago.

Can't wait to be rid of this place.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Patient

I am working SO hard to be able to ditch the city life. .

I have just heard today of two good friends diagnosed with cancer. Their life and long term goals are now on hold while they sort it out.
Do it as soon as you can.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Patient

Property is going up for sale in 2 weeks then I can finally stop being boatless.

Us too , offer on our house accepted a fortnight ago and we are now downsizing to a small town house. Unfortunately two kids still at home. Suppose we could move and not tell them

Anyone want to buy two teenagers, would swop for watermaker, post photo of watermaker

Pete

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Anyone want to buy two teenagers, would swop for watermaker, post photo of watermaker

Pete

You expect someone to pay YOU for them?

[MarkJ]

Thats a very pretty bay!

Absolutly beautiful

Originally Posted by Pete7

Anyone want to buy two teenagers,

Not a chance in hell, Pete.

[wunderluster]

I'm planning to be financially independent by Jan 2013. By that I mean retired on a gov't pension. After 35 years working I'm ready to cruise. I've been reading everything I can get on the cruising life.

[SVRocinante]

Gorgeous photo... enjoy!

[maxingout]

DREAMS DO COME TRUE

Dreams are dangerous things. Sometimes they take over your life.

I spent the past thirty years sailing on the ocean of my dreams. For most of those years, my feet were on dry land, but in my mind, I was sailing the seven seas. I've sailed around the world dozens of times in my mind with Joshua Slocum, Harry Pidgeon, and Bernard Moitessier at my side. I've survived the savage seas of the high southern latitudes with the crew of Tzu Hang as they were pitchpoled in the waters off Cape Horn. I've been with the Pardeys and the Hiscocks as they sailed on their voyages of discovery. I've deployed parachute sea anchors and trailed drogues hundreds of times in the storms of my mind. I've dropped my anchor in Paradise and snorkeled in enchanted atolls. I've even escaped from pirates - buccaneers of the mind who tried to steal my dreams.

In my mind, I practiced sailing around the world for more than twenty years before I actually cast off my dock lines and set sail on my eleven year circumnavigation.

So how did it feel to make my dreams come true?

First, I would have to admit it was a bit scary to drop the dock lines and set sail. This was a voyage of exploration into our unknowns, and unknowns were in abundance. During the trip around the world, we often ran out of wind, sometimes we ran low on diesel fuel, but we never ran out of unknowns.

I didn't know how much the trip was going to cost. Working for eleven years in Saudi Arabia paid for my boat and supplied me with enough freedom chips to weather any financial storms that came our way. I knew that the trip was going to cost a lot of money, especially with college coming up for my kids. Some days, I wondered if I could really afford to make the trip, but on most days, I KNEW THAT I COULDN'T AFFORD TO NOT MAKE THE TRIP. The currency of my youth was in short supply, and having an awesome adventure with my family was worth any price. And how do you count the richness of your life anyway? Dreams or dollars? Which will it be. I'll take my dreams any day.

Second, I had never made an ocean passage before I started the voyage. I had only sailed my catamaran six times before I started out on the trip. I was unproven and my yacht was unproven.

The biggest things I had going for me were that I had a positive attitude, a positive family, and I had already sailed around the world dozens of time in my mind. I quickly learned that sailing a catamaran isn't rocket science, and if we can do it, anyone can. A conservative amount of sail and a positive attitude will take a sailboat just about anywhere you want to go.

Third, in my mind, I was afraid of pirates, tsunamis, and hurricanes. As it turned out, we never met a pirate, we survived one global tsunami in Thailand totally unscathed, and there was nary a hurricane that threatened our eleven year voyage. The worst thing that happened on the entire circumnavigation was a car accident in New Zealand that broke two legs, fractured five ribs, and punctured one lung. It took me out of commission for nearly a year, but it didn't stop the voyage of Exit Only. After the fractures healed and I learned to walk again, we set sail for Fiji and continued sailing for nine more years before we completed our trip around the world.

Dreams do come true, and making them happen is within the capability of ordinary folks who have extraordinary dreams. A positive attitude and unstoppable persistence allows anyone to sail on the ocean of their dreams. All they have to do is do it. All you can do, is all you can do, but all you can do is enough.

It's a lot of work to live your dreams, but that doesn't matter, because when you live your dreams, your life is worth living. Your life keeps getting better, and before long you realize that there is no limit to how good your life can become.

[jenny2]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

I have just heard today of two good friends diagnosed with cancer. Their life and long term goals are now on hold while they sort it out.
Do it as soon as you can.

You got that right you never know what tomarrow holds for you

[jenny2]

Originally Posted by Pete7

Us too , offer on our house accepted a fortnight ago and we are now downsizing to a small town house. Unfortunately two kids still at home. Suppose we could move and not tell them

Anyone want to buy two teenagers, would swop for watermaker, post photo of watermaker

Pete

might consider trade for 6 month german shepard puppy but you would be worse off

[Krakato]

We hope to be there in 71 months and 5 days (but who is counting!). That is when the retirement plan is maxed out and it will be time to leave the rat race behind.

So I guess I've still got basically 6 years of purgatory left to get to heaven!

[maytrix]

My wife are working on it. Hoping to be living on the water within 3 years max - hopefully much sooner.

I'm considering buying a boat sooner and keeping it in the BVI if possible so we can cruise when we want. I figure the friends we charter with now probably wouldn't mind saving money by using our boat instead and that would help cover our yearly mooring/slip costs. A win for all of us!

The goal in the next couple years will be spent working on some plans so we can continue to earn income while on the water.

Bottom line - you need to figure out what you want to do and set a plan in place to do it and make it happen. Life is to short to keep "hoping" something will work out - make it work out and do it!

[ShipShape]

Exploring a reef, then coming to the surface and there is my house ... THAT's cool. So are all the fish that hang out in the shadow of my boat lookin' at me saying, "Hey. How's it goin'? Great shadow, huh?" The first time I went to a reef that was the best surprise. They just hang out and swim with you under your boat!

Even though some of the sacrifices have been tough, and the sweat (and blood ) keeps flowing, I have less than zero regrets.

[Ocean Roads]

I am buying my boat by years end, moving aboard in mid January. Then two years of getting her ready and saving money, and the first week of 2013 I am off!