When to go? (An informal poll)

[scook1]

Go small and go now. If not now, then soon.
Spencer

[Khagan1227]

I'm choosing the younger but retired group. I could work until I'm 65, but why waste 15 years I could be seeing more of the world and meeting all the other great people out there cruising.

We'll be leaving with less money and a smaller boat, but we are going.

If you think you have the funds, buy the boat and hit the winds.

[zeehag]

i have less money and a larger --41 ft- boat--i went already --i get money every month,albeit not much, and i hoisted sails and went. is a lot less pricey to live elsewhere than in usa-- LOL. i am eating yummy fishie tacos 3 for 2 us dollars, watching folks be tourists, and waiting on crew to sail to mazatlan. is a goood life. be here now..lol

[sww914]

If you can, go now. The economy isn't doing anyone besides the top 1% any favors so you can probably make more when you return. If you're putting kids through college, stay. Otherwise, go.
I had a nice house, a great job, my wife was getting her own business rolling, had a 401K, all the insurances, etc.
She got hurt at work and almost died (in her 30's), ended up in a wheelchair for a time. Within 3 days of her injury I got laid off and found no work that could accommodate me needing to care for my wife. Now, the house is gone, 401K is gone, everything is gone. But we bought a boat and I'm damned glad we did. The dream is reviving our lives.
Go before you can't go anymore, it almost happened to me.
We're getting ready to go.

[roger.waite]

Depends on a lot of things, like how much of a kick you get out of doing what you do day-to-day. And what partners think. But don't wait too long for fame and fortune. Especially if work is becoming less of an adventure. Finances, careers, health issues, recessions, and a myriad of family 'stuff' can be huge hand brakes.

Set a date with your partner (if relevant), and make it happen.

My experience is very much like I2F's. Everything lined up to go next month, aged 55. Found a nice 'project boat' in Europe. Then the doctor came knocking.

Be a year or two now, with luck.

[boatman61]

Its all down to how you measure your life I guess...
By Quality or Quantity...
If your comfort zone involves money... wait... then wait some more..
If its all about Quality of life... new sights, memorable experiences, people and new skills... GO NOW...
One can always find some money when needed...
but no matter how much you have it can't buy health and happiness.. just the means to try..

[Kalinka1]

well said all of you!! Leaving in two months but can only do it for 2 to 3 months a year but who cares how just when!

[MSN-Travelers]

My wife and I travel quite a bit and I can't tell you the number of time we meet people who waited and saved all their lives so the could retire & travel. Many are dragging a oxegyn bottle behind them or confined to a wheelchair.

Go now while you have your health. Life has a habit of throwing you a curve ball as you get older.

[doug86]

There is nothing to wait for. Go now.

[Jon Hacking]

We left before we were financially ready because we really wanted our kids to do the trip with us. So we left when they were 12 & 15, in 2001. We wanted to show our kids the different cultures of the world, as well as the values that those cultures hold dear (a difficult job from inside the US) & we wanted to do it before the kids left to start their own lives.

FWIW, cruising is generally much cheaper than living in the US. We carry boat insurance & DAN insurance (a tremendous bargain) but not health insurance. Outside the US it's much cheaper to just pay for medical care when needed.

Life has few guarantees & we only go around once. Eat dessert first!

[Capt Phil]

Best example I ever saw was a young couple in the Sea of Cortez back in late 80's who at the tender age of early thirties both quit high paying Silicon Valley jobs, sold their cars, condo and cashed out their 401K's, bought a 40 foot sloop and headed out... name of their boat was 'Dessert First'. She learned how to maintain and troubleshoot their deisel while he handled the deck work. Absolutely delightful couple who made the decision to have fun while they were young enough and had the energy to live life to the fullest. They gave themselves 5 years to sail to Panama, milk run across the Pacific and eventually back to the west coast 'somewhere' and settle down.
They had both thought it through carefully and were on the same page in their lives. The wonderful thing about setting off cruising when you are young is that if you choose to head back ashore, you have heaps of time to earn a living and settle down. If you do it later in life and invest your hard earned $ in the boat and life style and it doesn't work out, you may not have much time to re-establish yourself shoreside.
My advice is go young, go hard and let life try and catch you... cheers, Capt Phil

[Lowcountry]

As soon as possible and as often as possible.

[kevingy]

Go now, if not now, as soon as possible.

My dad had his first stroke when I was about eight years old. He was in his mid-40s. By the time I get to sail off, in about five years (when my youngest goes off to college), I'll be in my mid-40s. That's a scary thought. I realized a long time ago that we're all racing the clock - and that the clock stops earlier for some than for others.

[roverhi]

Cruising doesn't last forever for most people. Some time, in a year, 5 or even a little longer you are going to be back on land. What will be your chances of stepping into a professional position at age 45,50,55,60. To me, the younger you leave, the better chance you'll have resuming your career when you get back.

We left when I was 30 cruised for two years and then came back to raise a family. Relatively easy to get back into the grind. Lived in a VW Bus while we finished out our W32 hull. The two years building the boat and cruising SoCal and the two years in SoPac were some of the best years of our lives. Now I'm 66, been type 1 diabetic for 20 years and suffering from the generally debilitating effects of the natural progression of age. Still reasonably fit but not as I was at 30. Wife now says the ideal cruising boat is something in the 600' range with room service. I continue to sail but now it's mostly solo and have done a single handed TransPac. Doing SoPac once again or a leisurely cruise up the East Coast and over to Europe with my wife is not going to happen.

Putting off going cruising is usually a way not to go.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by sailingaway221

You might wake up dead one day before leaving.

It's 22 months since I had a bad riding accident, and then I thought I was going to die. As they were rushing out of the wards on oxygen, I was trying to think of loose ends I needed to tie up. There was really nothing or noone that I could think of that couldn't manage without me, so I told my husband I loved him, and left it at that. Woke up in ICU.

Following academic year saw me taking tons of time off work for hospital appointments; including a 2 month stint to have a kidney out tat had been wrecked and was causing havoc. School were great, gave me an easy job for the remainder of the year - but I still lost the contract for the following year... No job protection here in Kuwait.

I've ditched it. It was a great wake up call. I have enough saved to go, and keep going for a while if I'm frugal. I no longer want to spend my time working in a closed environment full of bureaucracy and politics (which I'm rubbish at) with small minded, petty gossips. Instead, I have a cushy number now as a safety diver for a firm I worked at as an instructor over the years. Half the pay I'd get as a teacher - but I only have to work two to four days a month; and they're at sea.

And the time has given me space to prioritise. Now I nag HWMO non stop, and slowly but surely the yacht is getting fixed up; and the date is set. I'm not too pleased about having to wait, but I do enjoy the time I have been blessed with. And time spent on CF is giving me better ideas all the time