What Was Your Epiphany?

[mike d.]

my time came after i had a scurmish with my heart Feb 05. we had just sold a house and bought a boat Nov. 04. and we are now out every chance we get. not fulltime yet but getting there. the missus didn't want to do it but since she's been on the boat so much she has pretty much changed her mind. it's amazing what has to happen to put life in perspective. this is a dream (solo) for a long time 25+yrs. and i now we are finally getting to the cast off point. this especially and driving long haul seems to sets my soul free. it doen't matter what walk of life you come from, if you have an itch and i do, i come from a seafaring family in Europe, you have to scatch it. as a boy i sailed around the world on liners with the family. no we're not rich dad wanted a better life for us and finally brought to the states. and this is the only place i believe i could fulfill these urges. there is a draw to the sea for people, a yurning in the soul. maybe we all came from there at one time. sorry rambling on, but some times the urge is so great i get anxiety attacks.

regards mike

remember sail hard and live slow, cause you never know

[Pura Vida]

I had sold my boat and bought a hobby farm. I had survived another merger at the office. It just wasn't rewarding any more. I quit and went back to school to finish a MSW and just get my head together. Then one day I realized how much I missed sailing. So I'm sailing more, working less and studying when I can't sail. And on November 1, 2008... I cut the docklines. It may be for a day or a decade. But who cares how long I"m gone? I'll just sail until I don't need it any more.

[Canibul]

I thank you all for this inspirational thread, and for letting me know that I am not the only modern man who is inextricably tied to the sea. I think I was born this way. I started swimming when I could toddle to the water and let the ocean shed my diaper. My mother told me she didnt know who taught me to swim, she never remembers a time when I couldnt. I started SCUBA diving when I was 12. I worked summers for oil-patch related offshore survey companies in high school, and never stopped. I dropped out of college ( Marine Geology) because I was on a good paying job on an offshore seismic boat, and preferred it to college life. I surfed, dove, swam, and only felt at home when I was either on, under, or at least in sight of the ocean. I wanted to see the world. I worked myself into a career with an oceanographic survey and instrumentation company and moved from Texas to New England. I worked all over the planet, always on and under the ocean. I got involved with ROVs ( remotely operated vehicles) and naval mine-countermeasures. I changed companies to an underwater equipment manufacturer on Cape Cod, and continued to get in as much sea-time as I could arrange. Moving up into the company management, I started getting unhappy. I didnt understand it at the time, but looking back its pretty clear. I was spending more time in meetings, working on six month, and one year, and five year marketing plans. now, the only time I got to go to sea was on an equipment demo, and the company was bitching about me being gone for a week riding a boat, when I could be at a sales convention selling underwater acoustic tracking systems or sidescan sonar equipment. I went though an olympic class mid-life crisis, ended up divorced, and drifting. Got together with a woman I had known (on the internet) as a friend for ten years, and we got married. Right before that, her mother died at a young age from cancer, and a month later my to-be wife was diagnosed with MS. We were living in Sparta NJ at the time, and together we just said 'screw this'. Sold the plane, the house, took something like three tons of stuff to the dump. Moved to the Turks and Caicos islands a year ago this month.
Now, we are looking for a Gemini 3400 or 105, for the next chapter.
This forum helps.

[Holding Pattern]

I was in Western Samoa doing biological research, fresh out of college and young, 21. Met a group of yachties, Kiwis, and they introduced me to the world of cruising. When the grant I was working on wrapped up, I crewed on various boats.
A year later I returned to the States and was determind to find a way to keep sailing. When Heather and I met I had a crew offer to cross the Atlantic...decisions, decisions...
So we stayed together, I turned down the crew opportunity. We stayed in Dayton, Ohio for another year saving money. Moved to Florida! Lived in hovels like paupers, horrifying our families...using free time to sail with friends, getting Heather some experience along the way. We bought our 40' Challenger Ketch, Holding Pattern last year, moved aboard on our 6th anniversary, 9/11/2005. Just celebrated one year aboard cruising full time.
She is 33, I am 32.

[Canibul]

Shoot, when I was your age I was twice as old as you are!!

33? Damn...I got Levi's older than that...

[Paul Ouellette]

Group :

Mary & I went on a trip to Key West 9yrs ago, & as we usually do, we found ourselves down at the docks looking at all the boats.

As we were walking along, looking...I saw they were from all over the place...Maine, Ontario, Ohio, Quebec, Viginia, South Carolina, England, France, etc...

It suddenly hit me like a shovel in the forehead (on the afternoon of Feb 5th 1997) that all of these folks "were NOT going back home" like we were on Saturday !!!

As a Great Lakes powerboater, I thought that just toodling around local waters would be all the boating that anybody would ever want to do...& then "that moment happened" !!!

Remember in "The Blues Brothers" when John Belushi has the beam of light that hits him as he stands in the back of the church... ??

Well...when this happened, I sat down on a bench with Mary...looked out at all the boats & said to her "honey, we're going to sell the powerboat & get a sailboat."

When she asked "why" I said..."because (pointing at the boats) all these folks are here in the sunshine & we're going home to spend winter in the cold."

I'd also like to thank Bob Bitchin & Jody for (being friends &) the continued inspiration.

The rest of the story is at www.winpipe.ca

We'll be out there in just a few more years !!

[Naughty Cats]

Many years ago, while "crewing" aboard a nuclear submarine, I raised the periscope to see a cruising sailboat making slow progress. Switching the scope to high power I saw three lovelies erasing their tan lines in the sunshine, and a dude at the helm with a BIG smile on his face. I offered the rest of the watch a look, reluctantly lowered the scope, and ordered a descent to transit depth.

Sailing in dim light, and breathing recycled air with 100 guys in blue coveralls just couldn't compare.

[jean1146]

Sean you are so right.Everybody is caught in this rat race,always more more more....I am a nurseryman in florida,had to deal with all the huricanes of the last two years,wich meant no business for over 3 months,the stress was unbelievable,25 employees to pay every friday,so this is when we decided it was time to start enjoying life and not worry so much about things we had no control over.even thought financialy it sounds risky,we will take delivery of our cat in November.JC.

[Canibul]

Which cat did you decide upon?

[jean1146]

Canibul we ordered the new FP mahe 36' with the 3 cabins layout.JC.

[Canibul]

oh wow. Congratulations. I was just looking at that boat on their website last week. Out of my price range, but then all new boats are. But that one is really nice. Does it have the escape hatches like the other French boats?

Just curious, do you know what the standing headroom is ?

[jean1146]

the escape hatches are in the bathroom and the port front cabin.head room is about 6'and a few inches.very airy boat,lots of light inside.JC.

[fatsuki]

In 2002 my husband and I started scuba diving. We were taking a couple trips each year to Mexico, the Philippines, Cook Islands, and other lovely tropical places. At the end of each trip we'd say that if it weren't for our cat and dog, we wouldn't be going home. In early June of this year we took a basic sailing class at the local aquatic center. What fun! Sure, we fought and hollared at each other a bit, but at the end of the day we were both really stoked about sailing.

On August 1st of this year, we sat down and discussed the possibility of cruising. We loved taking vacations, but would we be willing to forego those types of pleasures in order to go cruising? Damn straight! We made solid plans that day to change the way we'd been living (no more expensive vacations, no more expensive dinners out, no more nuthin' that wasn't associated with cruising). A little over a month later and our enthusiasm is going strong. I never realized how much money we blew on needless things. Last month alone I was able to save nearly $2000 and the only thing that changed was we quit buying items we wanted by don't really need. At this rate we'll be cruising by 2011.

Jeni

[Canibul]

Thinking over this whole thread, I think what really clinched it for us was when we got married on the beach next to Sip Sip ( restaurant on Harbour Island Bahamas) two years ago, and then took off for a week on a 42 ft. catamaran. We liked it. Made some serious decisions right then. Started the process that led to us buying an acre on a hillside here in the Turks and Caicos, then moving down here lock, stock, and barrel. Its been a hectic year, but we are still here, getting ready to break ground on a house to our own design, and looking for a catamaran.

[sailboatescape]

It was a combination of things--too many to list. But what really prevented me from doing it in the past was the cultural rat race of wanting more "stuff". For those still stuck there and those who are trying but having a hard time making the dollars work, I highly recommend a book, "Your Life or Your Money". Re reading it several years after the first time is really helping us make cruising a reality.