How Do You Afford the Time to Sail ?

[arseneau]

I guess it is important to differentiate what kind of sailing you are trying to make time for.

I do mainly day-sailing because both my wife and I work and we have a child, so that is all we can do most days. With that said, we make it a point to schedule time both on weekdays for club racing and weekends for going out together as a family.

We plan our holidays together so that we can do more extended cruising. In our current boat (Tanzer 22) that cruising is very limited but we have done a 100nm round trip cruise over the span of 4 days in our little boat.

We are upgrading to a 34 footer with which we plan on doing two or three week cruises and going farther afield. We simply cannot do multi-month trips right now, and that's fine. There is nothing wrong with day sailing if that is all you can do. It is still a great activity and we do feel like we are getting away from it all even if it's only for the afternoon.

Besides, just because you are only out for the afternoon, doesn't mean you won't see any exciting weather, so you can still gain valuable sailing experience each time you go out. Depending on the topography where you sail, you can see some impressive and rapid weather changes close to shore. I live on the Norther shore of New Brunswick in Canada where we have lots of large rolling hills along the shoreline. Those hills can hide and funnel some surprisingly powerful squalls that can really sneak up on you.

It all comes down to planning whatever time you do have to go out, weather permitting (weather permitting is a very relative statement, so insert your definition of what weather you would be willing to go out in).

Regards,
-Mark-

[Jetexas]

My hobbies go in many different directions. If sailing was the only one, I could have afforded a fairly nice boat and spent all my weekends out on the water.

However, there's the music stuff. I still can't pass up a beautiful guitar. There's the cars I love to restore and autocross. There's the required dinners and nights out at trendy bars with ridiculous $10 beers that I have to give in to every once in a while to keep the girlfriend happy.

Therefore, I had no money for a nice boat. Instead I bought a crappy boat and spent almost a year working on it before I ever got it out of the marina.

However, it's an hour away from my landlocked neighborhood, so just getting to the marina feels like an escape from work and life.

I'm lucky in the fact that my employer has us work 9/80 schedules, so we get every other Friday off. If I take the boat out during the day on a Friday, there's hardly another boat out.

I'm never far from people, but just having the boat gives me the "get away from it all" mindset.

I used up my vacation time this year working on the boat. Maybe next year I'll get to take a 3-week cruise.

[Cormorant]

Depending on how old you are and where you are in your career, the motivation to free up time for sailing might push you toward something entrepreneurial. Instead of getting up at 6AM for "those bastards," you can get up and run your own business, which maybe . . . just maybe . . . will give you the flexibility to take off bigger chunks of time. I know a carpenter who takes two months each winter to cruise in the Carib and Bahamas. Because he can.

[rebel heart]

Priorities. I have a seven week old baby and we're going out this weekend. Next month we're gone for a week and a half. Just have to do it. Get a small dinghy to sail. They're easy to move around and cheap.

[davers]

You guys are giving me hope!! :-) Thank you!

Dave

[gettinthere]

The power boat activity on Lake St Clair is about 30% of what it was 5 to 10 years ago. Most of the traffic is on the North South corridor along the western shore. If you head east across the shipping channel it thins out to almost nothing. Weekdays are practically empty. Lake St Clair is a perfect sized lake for learning. Big enough to get going, open enough for good wind, yet not so big as to have huge seas. Once you get good at sailing, consider keeping your boat on Lake Erie or on Lake Huron. Lots of sailboats in Port Sanilac. Keeping your boat on Huron gets you closer to the North Channel but the local area is just open water. Good for sailing but no place to drop anchor. Keeping your boat on Erie means you can cruise to the islands but you are in dirtier water and farther from the North Channel. If you live in Detroit, you can be sailing in no time flat if you keep your boat in St Cl Shores. Quick access to open water sailing. Really an ideal situation if you are chained to a desk much of the week. if you want to get to the North Channel from Detroit, it takes at least a 2 week vacation, prefer 3 or more.

[Ishmael]

As others have said, "getting away from it all" is really just a state of mind. I'm self-employed (plumber), married, with two kids under 10. My get-aways are usually limited to a few hours at a time on the Daysailer. But the second I get away from the shore, I feel instantly relaxed.

[Brent Swain]

Cut your cost of living. When I was a teenager, my dads friend said "Brent, you will soon be joining the rat race, work 40 hours a week til you are 65."
I looked at his new car, house, three kids , wife, etc etc and thought "If I forgo all that , there is no way I can see my self having to work that much." That was many decades ago, and I still haven't found the rat race he was talking about.
car, ? Never owned one. Average cost in BC $650 a month. Rent. ? Don't pay any. Moorage" Anchor out. Never pay any. Wife? Never had one. Kids? Never had any ( not that I'm aware of)
Maintenance? Do all my own, about an hour a year.
Booze budget? Don't drink or do any drugs.
Food? Hunt and fish a lot. Can a lot. Buy bulk dried. Bought the bean book by Rose Elliot.
Heat? Wood stove. Runs for free.
I have worked about month a year since my mid 20s. I don't have any more time to spare for work. Too busy cruising. No one ever laid on his death bed, and said "I wish I had worked more."
This is not a rehearsal.
The rest is cruising time.No regrets.
Your environmental foot print equals the amount of money you go thru. So does your freedom, in reverse proportion.

[anotherT34C]

Originally Posted by davers

Hey everyone! I've got about 4 miles of sailing under my belt...yes that's right...4! And while I love it so far, and my second sailing class is this coming weekend, I have 1 question that the answer to may make me depressed. How can anyone afford to take the time off to go sailing? I would be on the Great Lakes...most likely starting from somewhere near Detroit. Would it take me weeks of sailing to get away from it all? I have this picture in my head of the Detroit River and the Great Lakes just over-flowing with speed boats, and young kids drinking, and beer cans floating in the water. Is that what it's like? Will I need to be able to take a month off from work just to be able to go sailing where 1000 other people aren't already at?

Dave

Assuming you don't want to live like a wild man, try to find a profession amenable to the lifestyle. Teaching is pretty good.

If you work smart, you don't really need to work that hard to get 'enough'.

[davers]

Originally Posted by anotherT34C

Assuming you don't want to live like a wild man, try to find a profession amenable to the lifestyle. Teaching is pretty good.

If you work smart, you don't really need to work that hard to get 'enough'.

Can't I both live like a wild-man AND find the right occupation? There's no reason to assume that the two are mutually exclusive!

Dave

[mbianka]

Cut your cost of living. When I was a teenager, my dads friend said "Brent, you will soon be joining the rat race, work 40 hours a week til you are 65."
I looked at his new car, house, three kids , wife, etc etc and thought "If I forgo all that , there is no way I can see my self having to work that much." That was many decades ago, and I still haven't found the rat race he was talking about.

Brent: Sounds like you discovered the secret early on to living a good life. Took me until 45 to get off that treadmill but, life has been so much better after I did. For the past few years I usually worked as a freelance tech during the summer filling in for vacationing folks during the summer at a former employer. That did not happen this year so I went sailing all summer instead. Best summer of my life!

Davers: I think you'll find sailing after labor day makes a lot of those crowded anchorages much more pleasant. There are some places I would never go to during the summer that are just delightful after Labor Day.
As far as finding the time there's the rub. It helps if you just ignore schedules as much as possible. Stay away from the "gotta gotta" This song by John Gorka kind of put it all into focus. At least for me:

I couldn't bribe a wino on what I used to make
My Fortune was as sure as the wind
But I was free to wonder and time was on my hands
It was mine to burn and to bend

Chorus:
Freedom for freedom
Call that an even scheme
Give me time to wonder and to dream
I'll take the money
They'll take the time
Down to the land of the bottom line
To the bottom line

Then there came a chance to make some steady dough
Bouncing up my alley to the door
You fill your clothes with keys and damned responsibilites
Trading the maybe for the sure **

(Chorus)

All I ever wanted was to be a kid and play
Fighting every change along the way
I don't like work, but I don't like waste
And I don't like waiting for a taste

** I change these lyrics to: "Trading the Navy for the shore" when I sing along on board my boat.

[Unicorn Dreams]

RETIRED
We try to go out for about a week once a month, mainly to ch eck out newly installed systems. Haven't been able to go out lately because of thee storms hitting TEXAS.
It can be hard to make time to go out, especially when you are still working. I used to pick a date and try to stick to it, not alwats easy.
Where I am now, it takes awhile to get to open water, 28 mi;es approximately, so that's why we male the most of going out.

JUST DON'T GIVE UP AND MAKE THE NOST OF IT

[highseas]

I agree with Brent,too many people let the supposedly "necessary?" things in life get in the way of living life.If you don't live this way you are viewed as displaying antisocial behavior.You have to prioritize what is really important to accomplish in life,if it isn't already too late...

[daddle]

"Trade in your hours for a fistful of dimes" Jim Morrison

Let's all trade in our hours for a life full of cruises.

[Stillraining]

I agree with Brent if your single...once not... the sole decision on how to live isn't yours to make any more.....not unless you want to be single again......you don't want my opinion if your that selfish towards another.

The beds we make are the ones we better be prepaired to sleep in.