My husband and I bought a boat a year and a half ago with a 58 foot
hull and is 70ft over all with her
bowsprit and davit. Hubby was a
Navy sailor and my only experience with sailing was helping an old paraplegic man
rebuild a boat and then having the honor of sailing with him for a summer when I was 12. I always dreamed of sailing around the world after that experience. It never seemed possible.
We raised 5
children, have four grandchildren and adopted an infant boy 8 years ago. When our little boy was 2 we moved to the
Virgin Islands, the second best thing to sailing around the world to me because by this time in my life I didn't believe I would ever own a
blue water boat. Our boat fell into our laps as well and the
price we payed for her enabled us to put a new
engine,
generator, sails,
rigging and
electronics. She is an incredibly beautiful handcrafted boat. We had planned to have her shipshape and begin sailing in June of 2011.
Life intervened and we returned to the states in June to care for my terminally ill mother. She passed on Nov. 19, 2011.
We returned to the
Virgin Islands last week and now are back working on our boat. My husband, 8 year old son and I are all mechanically inclined. My Hubby can literally fix just about anything. When he says he doesn't know how to fix something I get worried. We all study, read and get our hands dirty.
Hubby has gone to
Captain school and passed with flying colors and also got all his endorsements. All three of us learn certain things and then we teach each other. Next week my son and I will learn to take apart our dingy
engine and put it back together. Hubby is teaching us all about our boat engine, (care and maintenance), thru hulls, what every wire and hose goes to and what it does.
Hubby was also a
Navy diver and his job was ships husbandry (repaired cleaned and painted Navy ships underwater). He will be teaching us to do all those things as well. Hubby can drive any boat with a motor and has been at the
helm of some pretty large ships however neither of us have ever sailed a large
monohull sailboat. We decided that we would handle that just like we do everything else. Learn how to sail OUR boat. We could both take
sailing lessons but it wouldn't be on our boat. We can hire someone to teach us to sail OUR boat. Our son however is taking
sailing lessons in those cute little opti sailers.
I guess this is getting a little long winded so I will end this book I am writing with, decide what your capabilities are. Read everything about sailing and boats. We are in our early 50s with an eight year old son with incredible dreams and goals for our future. We may only last a week out there or a year or circumnavigate the world. Who knows. We are not setting a time on leaving or when to stop. We are just living, loving each other and having some great bonding time plus becoming more self reliant. It feels good.
Keep looking at boats and dreaming. Find the one that falls into your lap or the one that finds you. Also, I agree with the others. Forget the dishwasher.
Take care,
Tam