What Was Your Inspiration to Live Aboard?

[michaelmrc]

as a new liveaboard i spent a long time dreaming and wishing to live on a sailboat. after spending many years doing what "society" thought i should be doing owning a house cars kids etc... i always felt that i did not fit in in what everyone thought i should be. now after divorce selling the toys and getting onto a boat i sit back and wonder why it took me so long. there is an article that describes my world to a t. its long but a very interesting read.


---Quote---
"The Awakening"
A time comes in your life when you finally get it... when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity,
you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out...ENOUGH!
---End Quote---

read the rest of the poem here
The Awakening - Poem by Sonny Carroll : Pearls Of Wisdom

[sailtotrail.com]

I wrote about your question a bit a while back...

About

[barnakiel]

Definitely not escaping anything. But one never knows which day will be the last one. So perhaps better that wait and maybe never learn what it is like I went for it and now I know. So now I can go on to other things and take this one off my list!

Cheers,
b.

[maxingout]

Living aboard was an easy choice for me. There's no other way to sail my boat around the world. Plus, I'm really bad at walking on water.

[imagine2frolic]

This was in reply to the awakening. I thought it was the original poster's words

That may have been your awakening. Mine was a divorce simple as that. I had owned the boat before our marriage, and it was mine. I couldn't stand the way she chewed food any longer, so off I went with a good hard shove from her.

I went to 12 different schools for various reasons, so it was just another move for me in life. Turned out I loved being there, and even during the storms. That was nearly 20 years ago, and have been living aboard for most of that time. Now with a new wife, and a larger boat, life is just peachyImage:

[zeehag]

high cost of renting apartments and houses and losses of freedoms living in land dwellings---boat is more freedom, and i own my own home lol--can leave whenever desired--as long as boat is ready ! and the rents are determined by the living standards--from near zero rent to 20+/foot per day week or month........and i am a water baby as far as comfort goes--i am sooo comfortable on water, as opposed to being stuck on land....LOL...and is unique....i can pick and choose my neighbors and neighborhood....~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~LOL

[s/vAngel]

Falling in madly love with a sailboat.
Also, living aboard also makes life simpler, especially after getting rid of my house and needless material "toys". Too many possessions and they were owning me! It's far easier to take off for a daysail or a longer cruise when you're right there on your vessel and have no excess other things to worry about.
Rebecca

[Born By The Sea]

Our motivation was a little more complicated. My wife and I are in out early 40s and have sailed very part time (other people's boats!) for a few years. We both love boats and talked about "retiring one day somewhere by water", without ever having a clear plan.

My wife's best friend is active navy out of San Diego, and every visit to see him and his friends leaves her more and more resentful that we aren't there! After 15 years married to her first husband, and bringing up a son, she feels that all her life has been about service to others, at the expense of her own happiness.

Me, well, I've already moved 4500 miles from my home in Scotland to start a new life once, so I'm prepared for the change required to do it all again.

So....we've set a 3 year plan to use 2 years to pay off our remaining debts (at the rate we are doing so far), with a year to save, sell the house and buy a boat. We are both members of a local sailing center and have signed up for both Fall and Spring classes to learn as much as we can. She's actually down at the marina this morning volunteering to be someone's "boat bitch" (her phrase, not mine!).

We know there's a TON of work to do before then, but that need to be less materialistic, less rushed and, I guess, more selfish is very strong. Add that to a desire to leave Midwest winters behind, and a longing for a sense of neighborhood and community both of us last felt over 20 years ago. Living aboard is calling us - what's that they say? "Better to regret something you have done, than something you HAVEN'T done"...

I fully intend posting our progress as we go along - I'm sure there is a huge collective brain here to be tapped and consulted. Any advice is welcomed.

[Ocean Girl]

The ocean (above and below the waterline) was what drew me to boats, then to live aboard and cruise.
Erika

[Jace]

Okay, new here, but I happen to be a bold kinda' guy.

I'm a writer, www.joekeck.com, as yet unpublished, and I want to live cheap (planning to live on the hook). I love the ocean, always have. So my goal is to circumnavigate the globe with two other boats - sort of tandem, if you will - film the whole thing and edit, direct, and produce it for some Discovery Channel type network. However, I have to learn to film, direct, edit, produce, sail and buy a boat first.

I went sailing with a friend on his 22' clipper and was hooked.

I'm going to sell everything I have and get something liveaboardable, find two other sailors interested in making the trip with me and head out.

As for why I'm doing all this? I'm single, no kids, never been married - not gay, by the way - and I have just the right level of imbecility balanced with insanity to think I can pull it off.

And God loves me.

[ColdFusion]

Originally Posted by michaelmrc

as a new liveaboard i spent a long time dreaming and wishing to live on a sailboat. after spending many years doing what "society" thought i should be doing owning a house cars kids etc... i always felt that i did not fit in in what everyone thought i should be. now after divorce selling the toys and getting onto a boat i sit back and wonder why it took me so long.

Although I'm still in the planning stage the reasons I'm going to do it are pretty much the same as yours. I've done the house thing several times, been part of the corporate rat race, and led a fairly conventional life (except for not being married or having kids). I've also never quite felt that I fitted in and always knew that my life was meant to be different somehow. It was only when I started sailing in 2000 that things started to fit into place. I've now been on a frugal living/saving exercise for several years and the only thing holding me up now is the sale of my house. Once that hurdle is overcome then I'll no longer be window shopping - I'll be shopping for real, and will soon be afloat. Can't wait!

[imagine2frolic]

Jace,

Sail around the world, and document it to sell for profit. We have heard that one more than once. Not that you can't, but it's a common theme. BEST WISHES in succeeding. Here's one small example of someone who thatought they would do something similiar. Remember I am not telling you you can't, but you really need to understand what you're up against. Staying close to other boats is more difficult than you might think.......i2f

YouTube - Deep Water 2006 Part 1

Be warned it's an hour long. You need to have the skills, and preperation to succeed!

[wannabesailing]

We have bought our boat, but have not moved aboard yet because my husband is in Iraq. We live in the midwest at the moment. We have both served in the military and have both moved around all of our lives. I think what is drawing us to live aboard is the longing for adventure and being able to go wherever we want, whenever we want. I had second thoughts about living aboard for awhile, but after meeting the people at the marinas and seeing their carefree attitude and their open minds I feel at home in that environment. I want my son to spend more time outdoors and learning hands on without kids at school making fun of him because he isn't exactly like them. I hate what society is becoming...everyone is too busy to care about their neighbor...yet there is that insane need to keep up with their neighbor and have bigger and better "stuff". I hate owning a home and I feel cluttered with all my "stuff". We will be living aboard as soon as Uncle Sam is finished with my husband.

[Jace]

Before I address imagine2frolic's post, just a word to wannabesailing. As for your husband, please thank him for his service to our great country, and as for you Ms. wannabe, your husband is a lucky man to have you.

Now, imagine2frolic. I've seen that show, Deep Water. It's fantastic! The artistry and cinematic capabilities of that director, at least in that film, is one of the highest I've ever seen achieved. It's gripping, provocative, evocative, even creepy at times. As a story teller, I have the utmost admiration and respect for his talent.

But your referencing that film makes the implications of my point all the more salient.

A reporter once asked Oscar Wilde whether or not a particular book that had come out at the time was a "good book" or not. His answer was something along the lines of, "There are no good or bad books, just books, either well written or poorly written." He was a very gifted writer and IMHO spot on with that answer. I think it's the same with film, documentary or fictive. If I have the talent - and I hope I do - then my documentary will be sought after by a distributor - or at least worthy of such an acquisition. If I don't, then it won't. Simple as that.

As for actually doing what I so proudly pontificated of in plangent and perorative prating, please pardon the pompous and presumptuous posturing ... ahem, sorry.

Anyway, I may never do it. I happen to be quite gifted with laziness, so who knows.

But if I do, and if I have the tremendous talent it take to tell a tale of trekking ... sorry again.

So I'm going to give it a shot. All I have to lose is my life. And hey, we all know how overrated that is.

www.joekeck.com

[imagine2frolic]

I hope you do do it Jace. I would love to have the honor to watch a well done film about my passion. I am not saying not to pursue it. What I am saying that it is not uncommon for people to come here, and say I want to sail around the world. Many unaware of the reality.

Use the Catalina to hone your skills, and then move up, and move onto your goal. Less than a year ago we had a bright young man come here, and say your exact words. Within months he was being hauled off his boat, and onto a freighter, because he tried to live the dream before he lived the reality.

Sorry I am just an ignorant old mufflerman. If you want to use those big words you have to direct them to someone else. I am a bit too lazy too. I don't care to look them up, nor do I care to know what they mean. Like I typed before BEST WISHES in seeing your goal through......i2f