High-tech entrepreneur contemplating life as a liveaboard

[blueskiesandsea]

Hello, All! I have been cruising these forums for several months and feel like I have learnt so much. As the title depicts, I am a high-tech entrepreneur that has just recently exited. I am contemplating taking several years to travel the globe with my wife, our two kids and her parents. I know little about sailing but have a knack for picking things up fairly quickly. I currently explore the continental US by flying my family around on the weekends.

A few more details:
- We are a young family (I am under 30)
- I think we want to travel without a crew
- I have recently looked at the xquisite x5 and the lagoon 560 (we prefer cats)
- Acquisition budget is flexible but wouldn't want to spend more than $3m
- $350k a year budget for living

My question is - What does life look like for me and my family as liveaboards on a cat with our budget? Which catamaran would you choose? Where would you start your journey? What does sticking around at remote destinations for months at a time look like?

Thanks everyone!

[Mark424]

Originally Posted by blueskiesandsea

My question is - What does life look like for me and my family as liveaboards on a cat with our budget? Which catamaran would you choose? Where would you start your journey? What does sticking around at remote destinations for months at a time look like?

I'll start. The definition of cruising is "fixing your boat in remote places". No boat at any price is anywhere near the reliability of a yugo, much less a Lexus. Including new boats, see thread by the guy w/ the brand new Lagoon 52 that's spent 6 months fighting with the factory on dozens of problems on day 1. The bigger the boat and more toys, the more to fix. Since you are a techy, this may be part of your fun. But be prepared to be stuck in a remote place waiting for parts unless you have spares on board and know how to install them. Given your budget, you may seriously consider a full time crew to keep the boat running, share overnight watches, keep everyone safe. Just guessing, but $50K might do it. If you don't do that, think three times before getting a really big boat. When you screw up, and everyone does, lot bigger things to break and easier to really hurt people.

I'll watch the other wisdom come in

[Jammer]

Congratulations. I offer this advice.

- Start smaller, take a year to do some coastal cruising in a somewhat more modest vessel, figure out what you want, what you care about, what you like. Make your mistakes.

- Learn cruising in an easy area that is of interest to you. Easy = no long passages, no difficult weather, services readily available, language/cultural barriers less of a factor. Coastal regions of the USA, Bahamas, Mexico, Great Lakes. Most of the dramatic cruising flameouts are people who did too much before they had command of the basics.

- If you will be going to remote regions, you must be self sufficient. Must be able to do (& enjoy) your own cooking, cleaning, maintenance, repair. From your self-description you can probably learn all this stuff quickly, but, there are basic skills you must nurture, and you have to be in the 50% of high-tech people who are more hands-on and not just a theorist.

Remote destinations for months at a time. How remote? Here are some data points:

Remote, to me, means seeing no one but those traveling with you for an extended period of time. On foot, remote is the Big Frog Wilderness in Tennessee where there's a sign-in at the trailhead and there are 10 entries a year. Remote is the BWCA three portages in where you won't see anyone. Remote is Dryberry Lake. In these sorts of places, you're projecting civilization into the wilderness by bringing most of the things with you that you need and augmenting that by utilizing whatever natural resources are at hand (e.g. catching some fish or gathering fruit).

Less remote, would be a city or town that has most of the stuff you need but perhaps not to Western standards. If you've been to small rural U.S. towns that don't have a Walmart within driving distance, that's a starting point for understanding it. No good restaurants. No fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese, or deli meats that you would actually want to eat. Iffy medical/dental care.

You will have to think about education for your kids, depending on their ages.

The most successful cruisers have cultivated a wide variety of water skills. Swimming, paddling, skiing, fishing, scuba, snorkeling/freediving, skills with smaller craft, etc. These skills will add to your enjoyment of a life on the water.

Enjoy the journey

[seandepagnier]

If you have a boat that cost and consumes so much, you will be alien to normal people, especially in foreign places. You won't be able to make friends and enjoy experiences in the ways I do. Instead you will be targeted for your wealth, and face greater danger if you wish to visit the most interesting remote places.

[atmartin]

I feel that Cooking is second only to sailing and, possibly, mechanical/repair skills.

Best part is you can practice it at home. Or hire a cook I guess.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, blueskiesadndsea.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by Jammer

Congratulations. I offer this advice.

- Start smaller,

Best advise ever. And that will never change. No amount of money can replace experience.

[Suijin]

I agree that on your budget you might want to consider a paid captain, at least for the first part of the trip.

You have no prior experience and you're considering a pretty large complex vessel and heading off to remote places. As captain of your boat you need to be a sailor, a navigator, a weather forecaster, a mechanic, a plumber, an electrician, a rigger. The list goes on. Ocean voyaging, perhaps more than almost any other pursuit, rewards direct experience and punishes those with only book and internet learning. A carefully chosen paid captain or first mate would accelerate your learning process and protect you from your lack of experience.

Of course many people have set out with little experience and been fine. But many have not. You have the resources to insulate yourself from the latter.

As for sticking around for months at a time in remote locations, what it looks like depends on where you are, what your interests are, and what your temperament is. Some places you will fall in love with and leave with some serious regret, largely because of the people you have befriended and the rhythm of life that you have fallen into. Other places you might be happy to leave behind. It can be a little bit hard to forecast in advance. But that's the nice thing about being on a boat. You can stay or leave as you like (repairs and weather aside).

[SailsWithFists]

Originally Posted by blueskiesandsea

What does life look like for me and my family as liveaboards on a cat with our budget?

Luxury (compared to most cruisers)

Originally Posted by blueskiesandsea

Which catamaran would you choose?

On your budget, I would get an HH55. But I would not recommend it to the inexperienced.

Originally Posted by blueskiesandsea

Where would you start your journey?

Anywhere

Originally Posted by blueskiesandsea

What does sticking around at remote destinations for months at a time look like?

Lots of fun.


Your experience might be quite different than mine. Your yearly cruising budget exceeds my lifetime cruising budget, and I already have a 20-year head start. So you can easily make due with much less. As someone already said, your money can make you a target and diminish your experience. However, it is possible to be a successful cruiser if you actually live the cruiser lifestyle: anchor out most of the time (most important), cook your own food most of the time, fix your own boat most of the time, attend potlucks on the beach, invite and be invited, walk most places or take public transportation, and don't get a dingy that is so big it takes up half the dingy dock (unless you want to piss off the entire anchorage.)

Spending quality time with your family on the ocean, in beautiful anchorages, and experiencing new cultures together is what cruising is all about. Don't let your budget or your choices isolate you from that experience.

[blueskiesandsea]

Thanks everyone that has welcomed and given feedback so far. Let me see if I can answer some of the questions and/or concerns posed:

1. I think those recommending training are spot on. My intentions are to bring my affinity for training from my aviation pursuits to sailing. For those familiar with aviation (which many here are I believe) I force myself to do an IPC every 6 months - even though I have never not been current, an annual recurrent per the manufacturers program and have slept in more FBOs then I probably had to waiting on weather to suit my fancy! .

My initial thoughts have been to hire someone to train me and my father-in-law until we are proficient enough to sail locally. For long-haul trips we would fly them in to travel with us until again, we are proficient enough for the several weeks at sea alone.. Hope that makes sense.

2. When I mentioned "remote" I meant remote to the US. Today, we really enjoy traveling to large cities in the US. We will want to mix in some of the less populated areas as well. However, I am really interested in the idea of traveling not only to the largest cities around the world but also some of the more historic ones and staying for an extended period to explore. Some spots we have talked about: Shanghai, London, Croatia, Naples, Athens, etc. I know we are all over the map, and that explains the 3-5 year stint. Are the marinas accommodating to those that want to stick around for an extended period? I also know this is probably a totally different objective then most people cruising.. What can I say we are odd!

Part of the reason I am looking in the ~50 foot range is the thought process that I do not want a crew with us for the duration of our time away (3-5 years). If we did go that route I would have to get a larger boat and just commit to a crew permanently. This may not be a horrible idea given our budget; just something I haven't really talked myself into at this point. Again, we are already a party of four adults and two children...

I grew up in a poor to middle-income household, working on a farm; mechanical work comes naturally. Cooking is a whole different story.. Have to leave that to my wife!

SailsWithFists I will check out the H55. Haven't seen that yet.

Thanks again, y'all!

[Dave22q]

55' may be too large for you to comfortably handle given your limited experience, even for local sailing. I suggest something more like 45 or 50 and plan on a hired captain for all long hauls. Attempting to cross oceans with limited experience is always a bad idea. You might consider just local sailing to build experience, flying over oceans and chartering locally in the places you want to visit. Even then, hiring local captains might make for more pleasant visits. There is much to be said for local knowledge and such charters are widely available.

[LuckyLucky]

First off I agree that a Catamaran is the best way to go. Secondly, I think that anything over 45 feet requires "proper" crew and is probably too big unless you expect an awful lot of visitors. Finally, I suggest that you might consider spending the first six months of your tour in the Mediterranean, which is pretty benign and then heading transatlantic.

[stefnieman]

Originally Posted by blueskiesandsea

Hello, All! I have been cruising these forums for several months and feel like I have learnt so much. As the title depicts, I am a high-tech entrepreneur that has just recently exited. I am contemplating taking several years to travel the globe with my wife, our two kids and her parents. I know little about sailing but have a knack for picking things up fairly quickly. I currently explore the continental US by flying my family around on the weekends.

A few more details:
- We are a young family (I am under 30)
- I think we want to travel without a crew
- I have recently looked at the xquisite x5 and the lagoon 560 (we prefer cats)
- Acquisition budget is flexible but wouldn't want to spend more than $3m
- $350k a year budget for living

My question is - What does life look like for me and my family as liveaboards on a cat with our budget? Which catamaran would you choose? Where would you start your journey? What does sticking around at remote destinations for months at a time look like?

Thanks everyone!

Hi, you might pick up quickly but about the wife and kids? any seasickness in the family?
Rent a cat with skipper and have a try.
I prefer monohulls like the Amels (faster then a Lagoon), but that´s just me.
If you ever go for a cat, take one with daggerboards!

Good Luck!!

[daletournier]

Originally Posted by boat_alexandra

If you have a boat that cost and consumes so much, you will be alien to normal people, especially in foreign places. You won't be able to make friends and enjoy experiences in the ways I do. Instead you will be targeted for your wealth, and face greater danger if you wish to visit the most interesting remote places.

You obviously experience life differently from many others, this comes across in a number of your posts. The op will experience life a different way from you, he will experience things you won't, there's no right and wrong here.

I've had little money and now I have some, not as much as the op but more than I grew up with and I prefer having more. There's no dishonor in having money and enjoying it. He will be able to make friends and enjoy experiences, as pointed out they will just be different experiences from yours.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

As others have mentioned (but I'll summarize):

1) choose a smaller boat, say < 45 feet. For a newbie, even that is big.
2) Take some courses, and interleave actual experience with the courses
3) Hire a captain for your initial coastal outings
4) Explore the coast of the southeast US, and then the Bahamas. Only then go further.
5) Learn to maintain your boat. Very important.

I would add, read a lot about sailing, and about the destinations you have in mind. I am by nature a planner, and I make very detailed voyage plans. Even if I don't follow them (well actually, I almost never do exactly), I end up accumulating a ton of information and resources in order to make the plan, and those tend to come in handy.